Sometimes there are great articles online, and that’s where I come in to point you in their direction. This is one of those times, for you see, The Guardian over in the U.K. is running a series titled “How to Put on a Mega-Gig” and it’s told from people directly involved in the process, such as the venue manager, the security guard, and the promoter, among others.
Here’s the lineup, along with a few choice quotes from each article.
The Booking Agent
“Once, with Pink Floyd in Italy, we couldn’t get their mirrorball into the stadium. We couldn’t drop it in by crane – which we’d done before – because the streets were too narrow to get a giant crane down. The only way was to destroy the entrance where the footballers walk in. We destroyed it, got the mirrorball in, did the show, rebuilt it and got out. The fans had no idea. Neither did the stadium until we did it, but they were very happy – they had Pink Floyd.”
The Promoter
“The biggest priority and main focus for any event producer is always the safety of the public. We work so hard along with all of the involved parties – like the emergency services, stewards, licensing – to ensure our events are staged to the highest standard.”
The Band Manager
“The bands don’t generally check out the venues before a show, but we did go and take a look at Manchester Arena to get a feel for the place before the Courteeners first played there, because we live nearby. You want to know what it looks like from the stage and where the screens will be. It’s such a big venue, and it looks much bigger from the stage than it does when you’re in the seats.”
The Roadie
“You’ve got to fix things in the heat of the battle – we’ve got guys 100 feet in the air, fixing things. We’ve had a generator go down before and you lose the power, but usually when something is wrong only we notice. We try to fix it as soon as possible. But the average concertgoer wouldn’t even notice and it doesn’t affect the concert.”
The Lighting and Show Designer
“Brian [May] once said to me that they never made any money out of touring until they reached the Wembley stadium era, because they used to spend it all on lights and stuff. So they have this tradition of it being huge. But that show would be nothing without their songs, so the ideal is to make a great spectacle that hopefully suits the music very well. You want people to have a really special evening.”
The Venue Manager
“The number-one priority is safety. People want to enjoy a big night out and aren’t thinking about safety, but we are their custodians. The show requires specialist technical knowledge, from power requirements to the load-in space and times needed for equipment. Everything is risk assessed – especially where there are pyrotechnics or hydraulic platforms.”
The Security Guard
“I’m a stand-in-the-shadows guy. If you see a picture of me, I’ve screwed up. If I’m in the photo, the person I’m protecting isn’t far away. It’s a feather in my cap when nobody knows I’m there. At gigs, I need to be within six strides of the band because it will take eight strides for someone to get on stage.”
(Image: Kmeron/Creative Commons)
