Who makes the show go?
They sound like referees talking about a football game after the night is over, when the stage comes down the guys that make the show are still analyzing the fine points. The people that make the show go take their job seriously; they are the air-traffic control of a kamikaze concert. Hours after the show is over, they load cases into trucks.
"The hours are brutal, and the work is tedious, but it is the people that make it worth-while," says Pat Dickinson, Union Steward for the Fillmore. He has met more rock stars in the past week than most people ever do.
Right: Dickinson rolls road cases
from the stage to the truck.
Hours before the doors open, the crew and the engineers work hard to make sure the bands play without a hitch. If you have ever been to a show where the sounds or the lights go out there is a person who scrambles to get it back. If this person does not lose his or her job, there is someone breathing down his neck until they solve the problem.
Problems are rare on the scene because preparation is extensive. First on the set is the sound crew, at most shows, they stack and raise the PA. This speaker system is controlled from a mixing board in the middle of the room, and blasts the audience during the show. The sound crew also sets up the on-stage speakers, called monitors that allow each musician to hear the other. This system is controlled from a mixing board on either side of the stage. Each system requires its own engineer and is checked and re-checked before the doors open to the public.
The lighting crew arranges the light truss and raise high powered spotlights above the audience and stage. The lighting engineer programs each light for a separate motion to create rolling effects or set the mood.
between bands, the stage crew replaces one band's equipment with the next band's gear. The sound board must be patched over for each different set. Each band has different set lights as well so the sound guy and the lighting tech all have something to do while the house music plays between sets.
At the end of the night, all of the crew has to clean up after the bands. (Famous bands don't move their own gear.) Often this process, called loading out lasts for hours, but there is still no job they'd rather do.
The applause can last minutes after the show; it would be nice to think that some of that appreciation is for the people who ensure the show.
Left: Jay Sayler and Pat Dickinson move more cases at 1 a.m.
"The hours are brutal, and the work is tedious, but it is the people that make it worth-while," says Pat Dickinson, Union Steward for the Fillmore. He has met more rock stars in the past week than most people ever do.
Right: Dickinson rolls road cases
from the stage to the truck.
Hours before the doors open, the crew and the engineers work hard to make sure the bands play without a hitch. If you have ever been to a show where the sounds or the lights go out there is a person who scrambles to get it back. If this person does not lose his or her job, there is someone breathing down his neck until they solve the problem.
Problems are rare on the scene because preparation is extensive. First on the set is the sound crew, at most shows, they stack and raise the PA. This speaker system is controlled from a mixing board in the middle of the room, and blasts the audience during the show. The sound crew also sets up the on-stage speakers, called monitors that allow each musician to hear the other. This system is controlled from a mixing board on either side of the stage. Each system requires its own engineer and is checked and re-checked before the doors open to the public.
The lighting crew arranges the light truss and raise high powered spotlights above the audience and stage. The lighting engineer programs each light for a separate motion to create rolling effects or set the mood.
between bands, the stage crew replaces one band's equipment with the next band's gear. The sound board must be patched over for each different set. Each band has different set lights as well so the sound guy and the lighting tech all have something to do while the house music plays between sets.
At the end of the night, all of the crew has to clean up after the bands. (Famous bands don't move their own gear.) Often this process, called loading out lasts for hours, but there is still no job they'd rather do.
The applause can last minutes after the show; it would be nice to think that some of that appreciation is for the people who ensure the show.
Left: Jay Sayler and Pat Dickinson move more cases at 1 a.m.
posted by Nelsmart at
4:20 PM
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