I'm off to see the wizard
It's been a busy 6 weeks here at home, working with the guys at
Audio Images Sound & Lighting. We have been doing quite a few festivals providing staging, sound, lights, backline, etc. Long hours but also some good times and laughs.
Well now it's back on the road on Sunday with the band
YES. The tour is kicking off in Toronto and will run till August 22 when it finishes in Mexico City. A North American tour in the summer and fortunately most of the shows are indoors. I hate the heat.
After the YES tour I will be heading out with the band
ASIA. Steve and Geoff from YES will obviously playing with them too. The tour will kick off in Japan in the middle of September with a North American tour after that and the UK in December.
So it looks like the rest of my year will be fairly busy. I have begun looking for a different house and have been going back and forth with the credit union on a mortgage. It looks like I have finally been approved. So hopefully during the weeks between legs of the tour I can find the new digs.
Labels: Concert, Home, Road, roadie, Roadies, Stage, Toronto, Tour, Touring, YES
Toronto.....Not again
It's been a couple of days since another stage collapse. This one in Toronto, Canada happened during the afternoon just before the band Radiohead concert was to take place. Four people were hurt, one of them Scott Johnson was the bands drum tech and he lost his life. I didn't know Scott but in my business we all consider ourselves "brothers and sisters" and refer to each other that way.
Scott was a brother, one of us. We all feel a sense of loss. I can't imagine what his family is going through. My family has and still worries about me when I'm on tour. It's incidents like this that make you step back and look at your own life.
I am one of those people that is always looking around my work situation and making sure that things are safe for me and those around me. If I see something that doesn't look right I speak up. The last few years I have been even more aware.
As I have mentioned before in previous post I help build and set up these outdoor stages for a production company here at home when I'm not on tour. So I guess my senses are heightened a bit more.
I will be heading back on the road in a few weeks with the band YES for another round of shows. There are a couple of outdoor shows where we will be on stages built by someone else that I probably don't know. I will be the one guy who will be looking over everything with a keen eye.
Labels: 2012, Collapse, Crew, Lighting, Musician, Radiohead, roadie, Roadies, Stage, Stage Collapse, Stageline, Toronto
Stage Collapse's my view
As someone who has been in the music industry as a touring crew person I have seen a lot of things in my time. The last month has been tough for people in my industry. Today another stage was damaged, this time in Belgium. In this case and also in Indiana and Ottawa it appears that weather played a major role in these stages collapsing.
Several people including concert patrons were killed and injured. No one wants to see this happen especially us who are responsible for building these stages.
Most of these years I have worked as a lighting director and or tech. I also have worked in other areas too. The last few years I went back to working for a regional production company when I am not touring. We provide all aspects of production, sound, lighting, backline, trucking and yes staging. Matter of fact we own Thomas staging just like what was used in Indiana. We also use
Stageline.
I can tell you we take great care and time when setting these up. Granted there is a difference between the two types. One of them you build from the ground up and is comprised of trussing. The other is self contained and when closed it is basically a tractor trailer.
Neither type of stage will withstand a tornado but they are rated to handle certain weather and wind speeds to a point. Some people have been blaming the stages and the people that put them up as the fault in their collapse. Granted I was not personally involved in any of them. I will say that most of these people have no idea what they are talking about.
Whenever I step foot onto someone else's stage I make sure to look and all aspects of it. How is in setting, are there ballast supports, is the sound and lighting hanging correctly on it, etc. I also keep and eye on the weather especially when I am involved with one of oupr companies stages.
Just yesterday we set up a Stageline 260 for a Barenaked Ladies show and everything went off without a hitch. That stage will get set up again for a show and then on Saturday. One of our Thomas roofs is setting up for a show on Saturday. Our concern will be the safety of all the people on or around. Not because of what has recently happened, but for the fact this is always what we have done.
If weather becomes a factor we will take the necessary action to assure every ones safety.
Labels: Collapse, Crew, Stage, Stageline, Thomas
