Sam Roberts Day 5, Toronto/Montreal/Ottawa

At 9am I headed for the hotel exit. Eric, the keyboard player in Sam’s band, came down to drop off a couple things in the truck and to say goodbye, and then I left to head to the management office in Toronto with Kathryn, who took a break from the office to come out and sell merch at the shows.

 

It was a fairly painless trip, considering Toronto traffic and I soon made my way to Montreal. The drive seemed to go by pretty quickly, except for one massive traffic jam in Trenton, but it still took almost 9 hours! I left the hotel at Pearson at 9am and only got to Montreal at 4:45pm. I met Joe, who recorded Sam’s latest disc, and we quickly unloaded the gear in the rehearsal space and I went to drop off the truck. Fortunately everything was taken care of, so I didn’t have to worry about anything, but I did end up missing the train I wanted to catch by about 5 mins. It also happened to be the last train from Montreal to Ottawa than day, so I had to head for the Greyhound station. I’m not a fan of travel by hound, but sometimes you do what you gotta do, and I boarded the bus for a painfully long 2.5 hour drive to Ottawa.

 

Fortunately there were no children climbing all over the bus, like on my train trip to Toronto, so I was able to sleep a bit. And with that, my duties for the last few days have been fulfilled. As usual I had a great time working with the guys. There’s never anything bad to say about them. Everything is always fun and laid back and everybody’s an equal. There’s no weird sort of hierarchy like in other touring organizations. Now back to the phone lines to try and find more work…

 

Sam Roberts Day 4, Windsor

We were surprised the sun was up, let alone visible, when we piled into the van at 6:30am to go to Windsor. It’s an afternoon show, so we have to be there around 11am and the drive takes about 5 hrs. It was a very sleepy morning and a quiet ride.

 

We actually got to the venue a little ahead of schedule and had time to soundcheck. We were worried that our travel schedule wouldn’t give us the time, but things came together quite nicely. Nothing too wild happened during the day. Everyone was tired from the early drive so there was lots of sleeping going on, which in itself was a surprise because our FOH guy, Charlie, provided us with extra large double capps from Starbucks. Eventually the show happened and we got out asap.

 

We had to drive back to Toronto after the show. The guys had a flight to Vancouver and I had to drive gear back to Montreal the next day. On the way back, me and Charlie had to go to Pearson to drop half the gear at Air Canada cargo for the flight. Easier said than done. After 2 trips around the airport perimeter and careful navigation of the runways, we finally found ourselves deep in the heart of the airfield. It only took 45 mins. It doesn’t sound that bad, but when you’ve already been driving for 10 hours, did a show and have either a flight or a 7 hour drive the next day, it’s not very fun. We finally drop the cargo, sort things out, I drive Charlie home and head to the hotel.

 

When I got to the hotel a few people were still up, so we set up HQ in the hotel bar with the lads from The Stills, who opened the last couple shows for us, and who I might do some work with this fall, Sam’s schedule permitting. Great beer, great food and great people make for a great time. We agreed that the wings at the Airport Travelodge are some of the best we’ve ever had. After a couple hours of hanging out, talking and goodbyes, everyone gradually went their separate ways.

 

And so ends another trek through the wilds of Ontario. The next morning I have a trip to the management office, then to Montreal, then to Ottawa…

Sam Roberts Day 3, Fort Erie, ON

And the day starts with a drive to Fort Erie. We start off right on schedule figuring we'll have time for soundchecks, early check in at the hotel, relax a bit, etc… That all went to hell pretty fast. It started with a suggestion of a sit down breakfast, which then turned into a sit down breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake. And a round of mini-putt. Schedules be damned!

 

The mini-putt never did happen, but we had quite the drive around Nagara-on-the-Lake, which included a fantastic run-in with the locals. It really was a run-in. We were waiting for a parking spot to open up, and an older gentleman pulled into the lot and stopped right behind the car backing up. The car kept backing up right into him. It looked pretty funny, but quickly turned ugly. The man jumped out of his car and started screaming at the two older ladies who backed into him. It wasn't pretty. Being the chivalrous man that he is, Sam rolled down his window and kindly asked to the man to stop screaming at the ladies, there was no reason to freak out. This was met with "Shut your mouth! I will poke out your eyes with my keys! Enough from you!" This didn't really fly, and after a few exchanges, things settled down, the man apologized to Sam and the ladies, explained his heart condition, and Sam and iMac helped push his car out of the way. We abandoned the newly liberated parking spot (bad vibes and all) and found a restaurant for breakfast, recommended by our Tour Manager Louisa.

 

So the food was pretty good, but there was an issue with the cappuccino. It wasn't cappuccino at all really; 'twas merely a bad reproduction from a bad machine. And so Niagara-on-the-Fake was born. Other than that everything was fine in the picturesque little tourist trap in wine country.

 

We carried on to the venue, lacking time for mini-putt, and proceeded to set up the rock show. Some technical issues from the night before were resolved and the show was great. The nice thing about all these shows is that they're at Racetrack Slots venues. This entails slot machines. Slot machines take money, and the only thing to do about that is to give it money. Sometimes things work out, sometimes not so much… I only spent $20, but with all the ups and downs, I lost a potential $60, but all is good and fun was had.

 

And so another day wrapped up, with a Pizza Pizza nightcap, and we went straight to the hotel to get some rest for the 6:30am lobby call to drive to Windsor.

 

Sam Roberts Day 2, Dundas/Hamilton

The day started off in fairly normal fashion. We all met in the hotel lobby, prepared to depart for the bustling metropolis of Dundas, ON. Bags lined up, heading for the door, and we have the honour of meeting Jim. As we quickly found out, Jim is a very proud Torontonian, to the point where he composed a song about his love for the city and proceeded to serenade us in the lobby. It was a very touching moment. Armed with a dozen copies of the sheet music, we head to van where Jim somehow caught up with us and sang us a European version of his song. Spectacular.

 

And so we drive towards the Flamboro Slots in Dundas. We see the signs to turn off, and keep driving. And drive some more, and hey! We found the entrance to African Lion Safari! It was almost like a mirage; something we'd heard about all our lives but never knew where to find it... Unfortunately, this did not happen to correspond to the entrance for the Flamboro Slots. We keep driving, make a couple calls, sort things out but we keep driving. It seems we had a navigational misfunction. A rather severe one in fact, that took 45 minutes to correct.

 

We eventually got to the park, all was setup and functioning and the world made sense again. The show was good, and all in attendance had fun. Back to Hamilton we go for a night on the town, which we found out is a rather tall order for Hamilton…

But first, we had to watch some tv. Tonight Sam and the band were the musical guest on Letterman, so we all gathered in our tour managers room to watch. It was a great performance, the sound was excellent, so we cracked a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and then headed off into the night...

After walking around the streets of the Hammer for 20 minutes or so, we eventually settle on a pub called Beers of the World, and the name did not lie. It was a fantastic little pub, firmly rooted in 1960s/70s décor and they really did have all the beers in the world. I myself had a Duckstein from Germany, and other favourites included the Zelta from the Czech Republic and The Royal Challenge from India. The night finished off with a typical Pizza Pizza nightcap and the next day started with a drive to Fort Erie…

Sam Roberts Day 1, Toronto

Pulled into Toronto around 5:30pm last night, after a train ride that featured uncontrolled children, found the hotel and that was pretty much the highlight. Nobody was doing too much last night; the guys have been on the road for a while and were a bit tired so everyone just lay low. Ordered a pizza, watched the Jays game (yes, I was that bored), and now I’m getting ready to go for breakfast. Unfortunately, I have to drag my luggage and work box with me – I was hoping to leave it at the hotel while I ate, but an 11am checkout and 12:30pm lobby call don’t add up…

 

So, at 12:30 we’re off to Dundas (Hamilton) for a show tonight with The Trews, then back to the hotel to watch Letterman. Sam Roberts is the musical guest on tonight’s show which also features Donald Trump. Not bad…

Bluesfest, July 16: KC Boogie Blast

So, the last day is here, and it’s off to a flying start. Load in was scheduled for 8am, and at 8:30 we got a call from the band that said they were just crossing the border, which is about 2hrs from Ottawa by truck/bus. How do you deal with that you ask? You say “Screw this” and go to breakfast. It’s nice to be able to start the day with a solid meal and just ease into things. Once the truck pulled in, everything went pretty smoothly and we didn’t have to worry about much.

 

The entertainment throughout the day started with a Gospel act, followed by a couple locals, Drew Nelson and JW Jones, both of whom put on good shows. The last act before KC was The Kentucky Headhunters. They were awesome, both musically and personally. It was total Southern Rockin’ Country from the truckstops and roadhouses of the Bluegrass State. They were total full-on rednecks and it was great. They could play too. There was some pretty mean slide guitar going on. Probably the most entertaining set on my stage from the whole festival. The highlight was the 50-something yr. old drummer with the coon-skin hat and the white footlong sideburns. Good times.

 

KC and the Sunshine Band was an interesting end to things. It was a Vegas-style show with dancers, and airtight band and spots with Gloria Gaynor and Sister Sledge. It was a really slick production. The crowd seemed to really love it, but we were surprised at the lack of disco outfits. There was supposed to be a look-alike contest before the show, but they scrapped it at the last minute because no one entered. Oh well, big loss.

 

After that, the fun part of tearing everything apart began. It wasn’t so bad, only took about 2 and half hours. That’s pretty good time when you have 2 semi’s and a 5 tonne truck to pack and only 8 guys doing everything in the dark. We finally made our very first trip to another stage for the staff after party (we were always too busy to run away during the festival), and shared our war stories with everyone else at the open bar. Craziness ensued, rumours started flying about all kinds of things and at 4:30am it all wrapped up.

 

And, believe it or not, catering finished off with a good day. They had some pretty good ribs for lunch with a decent spread of fruit and desserts. I was surprised to say the least. I didn’t risk going back for dinner though, why take a chance; chicken stir fry could strike twice... I left with a good taste in my mouth.

Bluesfest, July 15, Wilco

So Wilco is about halfway through their set as I type this. Not bad at all. Before them was Rosanne Cash. I like that I can add another Grammy winner to my bio, the daughter of the Man in Black no less, but it’s not always fun having the manager stand behind you and tell you what he thinks should be in the monitors. But, whatever, I get paid, wasn’t so bad.

 

Before Rosanne was a man named Martin Sexton, who was actually quite talented. Great music, but his “guitar tech” pissed me off, so I didn’t really enjoy the show all that much. To anyone reading this, please NEVER put your hand over the top of a microphone when checking it, or at anytime in general really. No one is dumb enough to do that during a show, so trying to simulate feedback like that is pointless, frustrating, unprofessional and offensive. I know how to do my gig, you should stick to yours. And, if for some reason you insist on doing that, make sure your 4 yr. old daughter isn’t standing there getting blasts of feedback at 100db in her face. That’s a great way to make her deaf.

 

And you think I’m ranting now? Let’s talk about catering. Today they offered options. One of those options was chicken stir fry. This sounded good. Then they took off the lid to the tray. The three of us standing there had the most perfectly choreographed, natural and pure jaw-drop ever. It looked like roadkill mixed with puke from some unknown exotic animal. I took pictures, don’t worry. They’ll be up soon. We couldn’t believe that someone thought that was suitable to serve to humans. We were in shock for about an hour. Back to the hibachi tomorrow (it was just too hot to cook today). We were so revolted by the whole thing that we skipped dinner altogether.

 

On the brighter side, The New Amsterdams were a pleasant surprise today, as were The M’s, who are from Chicago. I had a cool talk with their drummer after about life in the city I’ve grown quite attached to over the last year or so. I can’t wait to get back and talking about it almost made me homesick, even though it’s really not my home…. Anyways, all was good today. Especially the fact we finally got a permanent wireless internet connection. So it was 8 days too late… better late than never…

 

Tomorrow will be the last night of the festival, including a look-alike contest for the disco bands. We’ll see what that brings….

Bluesfest July 14, Rihanna

I had the blues tonight for sure.

 

This was not the way to follow an incredible night. Things started out well enough. They were actually on time, and soundcheck was quick and painless. The first act, Trevor Hall, was a decent roots/reggae type, followed by In Essence, a vocal group who actually sang really well. They were surprisingly tight and we enjoyed their show.

 

Then there was Cadence Weapon. How he got nominated for the Polaris Prize I do not know. The music wasn’t that hot, not to mention his complete disrespect for the audience. In short he was an ass.

 

And then we had the spectacle that is Rihanna (which isn’t her real name, by the way. Shocking, I know). Her set was barely 40 minutes, she was only onstage for about half of that and of the 85% of the time she was onstage, her voice came off a cd. The 15% she sang was brutal. What the f***?!? How does a festival go from Etta James to Rihanna? This festival is known for booking only the most talented, best performers. This was a total joke and a waste of my time, and the time of others. It wasn’t hard or anything, it was just insulting more than anything else. There was one good thing about the whole show though, sincerely… It ended. Quickly.

 

Oh, the very best part… They left behind a copy of the script for the show. I have a copy of the script. It’s hilarious. Maybe I’ll post it….

 

Bluesfest July 13: Etta James

This is a day that I looked forward to, was stressed out by and then accepted my fate. We were under the impression that Etta James was carrying full production, so we thought we’d be able to sit back, relax and enjoy the show. It was, in fact, quite the opposite. They were carrying nothing. Not even a drummer. That morning, the regular drummer, Etta’s son, was denied entry at the border. So, instead of blowing out the show, calls were made and one Ross Murray was hired to play for the night. He showed up for soundcheck at 2pm, only to find out the band wasn’t checking. He took a couple cd’s, sat in his car, and charted songs for the rest of the day.

 

For the rest of us it all of a sudden meant we had to take care of a living legend. That’s no small feat on the best of days. We set up as best we could with the provided information and started the show. The second performer was John Lee Hooker Jr., no slouch himself. The son of another legend, he knew his stuff. He stood with me while his band played an opening instrumental song, listening to the mixes and just rocking out. It was pretty wild. He put on a great show and was a pleasure to work with, and the guys in his band were great. It’s always nice to get thanked after the show.

 

After another act, it was time for Etta James. Her band members came in one at a time, set up their worlds and talked to me about their mixes and we got them dialed in. What I found out really quickly was that I had nothing to worry about. They were all seasoned pros and very cool, down to earth people. So after going through the motions for a few minutes, the show begins. Without the star. Etta had not even shown up yet and the band was playing.

 

Being the pros they are, this was all carefully arranged. By the time they were finishing the first song, a big white tour bus pulled in behind the stage and out comes Etta James and she walks right on stage and gets right into it. One request for a bit more vocal and the rest of the night was incredible. For most of the show, I had John Lee Hooker Jr. sitting right by me. How often do you get to mix a living legend with the son of another in your company? I have been fortunate to have some pretty extraordinary experiences because of my job. I don’t mind being broke once in a while if I get to have stories like that.

Bluesfest, July 12, Live, Nelly Furtado

The Live truck rolled in at 7:30am. Gear was unloaded and they had a full monitor rig of their own, so I went over to offer my assistance to the touring guys.

 

Me: “Hi, I’m Tom, I do monitors here, how can I help?”

Buck: “Hi. Do you have an outlet where I can plug in a couple things?”

Me: “Yup. Here you go.”

Buck: “Thanks, have a nice day.”

 

Now there’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever. When my biggest problem is giving the guy a power outlet, I’m having a good day and he can come back to my stage any day of the week. Live being dealt with, I move on to setup for Nelly Furtado.

 

Nelly’s monitor setup was pretty wild and took a lot of work to get going. They were using all wireless in-ear monitors (see Concert Ed. Pt. 1 blog entry) and finding clean frequencies for them to operate on can take some time. A lot of the frequencies are now used by Hi-Def. tv stations, regular tv stations, radio, walkie-talkies etc… so it’s possible to turn on a pack and hear someone talking about something, or hear very painful squealing and static, etc… It took some work, but it all came together. Her monitor engineer was really happy with my work, and I can imagine he occasionally has some long days trying to put all that together… He touched and twisted every single one of the 2200+ buttons, knobs and faders on the console (and yes, he knew what they all did). That’s intense. It took me over 20 minutes to reset it all after the show was done.

 

Nelly’s show also provided the single greatest moment of the festival so far. At one point in the show, she went into the wings to take a quick break, and while she was doing that, she called out the band members names and they had their solo spots. While this was going on, she called over her makeup artist and had all her makeup touched up. It was hilarious – such a diva moment. Don’t misunderstand that… she in no way acted like one or was bitchy or anything, it was just really funny to see because that doesn’t happen on the rock side of things. It was almost a little surreal. Our guys just have blood, guts and sweat with a couple beers on the side.

 

At the end of the night, we got the paperwork for Etta James tomorrow. I found out that we are providing all the gear for the show and that I will be mixing monitors for her. Now that’s intense.

Bluesfest, July 11, Blue Rodeo

So this is about as relaxing as it gets. The band was on time, had a full crew, everything worked and the opening acts were pretty basic setups. What else is there to say?

 

This is the day we got the hibachi, and it has to be the single best investment in the history of festivals. On site catering is often bland, if not plain revolting (a tub of beef and bean paste? No thank you.), so we took it into our own hands to make sure we’re well fed. In the past years, it wasn’t so bad (except for the chork: not quite chicken, not quite pork), but this year they decided to have separate catering arrangements for the staff and the artists. Dinner last night was *a* chicken “drumstick” (really just a glorified wing) with *a* spoonful of salad and *a* strawberry. Now, understand I’m not saying we’re better / more important, etc… than the other folks there. The problem is they only work 4 hour shifts and we work 17 hour days. We need to eat well to make it through. It’s absolutely essential. So, it’s nothing against the other staff, there just needs to be a logistical improvement somewhere. When you’re there at 7:30 am til at least midnight and you only get one meal provided, it has to count.

 

So, excuse my rant, back to the hibachi. We have dogs, burgers, fajitas, bacon, steaks, name it, it’s there and it’s great. We have a full line of condiments and we bring in daily desserts. Things are looking up. It’s been attracting a lot of attention. The bands think it’s great, and a couple of them have even decided to bring their own on tour. If you go back there, you’ll notice it behind the police tape, and don’t even think about crossing the line. Get your own hibachi.

Bluesfest July 10, Sam Roberts Band

The day has finally come. The boys are coming in and I’m pretty excited to do the show with my old touring friends with Sam, Matt Mays and The Stills. I’ve been looking forward to this one.

 

That excitement turned to stress though, as the band had a 1pm load in and weren’t there. At 2 pm, we found out their gear hadn’t been released by the cargo dept. at the airport and the guys were running late. Really late. Like they-wouldn’t-be-there-for-soundcheck-and-we’re-gonna-have-to-pull-this-one-out-of-our-ass late. SRB has a pretty involved setup and it’s not the kind of thing you do over a 15 minute change over. But, there was nothing we could do about it, so we moved on and got Matt Mays’ gear up and did a quick soundcheck for The Stills and we were ready to start the show. Having worked with the guys from Matt’s band and The Stills numerous times, we were able to put together a workable plan for the show to make the headaches as minimal as possible. Eventually Sam’s gear got trucked to the gig courtesy of an Ottawa Citizen newspaper delivery truck and we were able to start minimal preparations.

 

The Stills and Matt went off with no problems and he we were. 25 minutes to make the impossible happen. You have to understand that pulling this off is the equivalent of trying to pull a full 53’ tractor trailer with a 1983 Ford Escort. Thankfully we all knew each other and understood all our capabilities and expectations. It was a pretty insane changeover with lots of problems and troubleshooting, lots of yelling back and forth and blind faith that it would all fall into place. It took about 45 minutes, so the show started late as a result, but everything worked and after some initial running around all was good and the show was great. There was so much going on that I didn’t even notice the show go by. What felt like 10 minutes was actually 75.

 

It felt so good to finally be able to relax after the show. In fact, I dare say Best Beer Ever. We hung around for awhile backstage, on the bus, went to the Aloha Room then to Dunn’s Deli, where a Paris Hilton wannabe provided some pretty snobby attitude for us to laugh at/about as we ended the night. During the course of all that, I was able to strike a deal to go back on tour with the guys, so after the insanity of Bluesfest is over, I have three days off, and then I go to the airport.

 

Life Behind the Scenes

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes at a major festival like Bluesfest and I thought I’d talk a bit about that. People don’t really know what’s involved in putting all this together, and to get an idea about that, you can check out my earlier blog entries about Concert Education.

 

Festivals are a little bit different than the standard touring show though. Because of the number of performers every day, things get pretty hectic. We have a stage manager who tries to keep it all under control and running smoothly, and 8 stage hands to make sure all the band gear gets setup and torn down and all the microphones get patched and tested before the bands go on. Not every band gets a soundcheck; usually only the headliners do, and it’s early in the morning before everything else starts. As a result, there’s a period of 15 to 30 minutes between acts when all hell breaks loose, but somehow everything all comes together, which is a result of the skilled and talented guys we have on stage.

 

Once a band starts their show and everything is working, we get the paperwork provided to us for the next band, which is called a Technical Rider. It has all the information about required microphones, monitors, stage positions of the performers, etc… We spend a few minutes making a plan which is then executed during that 15-30 minute window. So, really there’s about 1 hour of work to get a band on stage and functional. It’s a pretty heavy load when you think about it, especially when doing multiple acts per day and not all of them are compatible in a technical sense. Sometimes we can make up time if the band setup is similar to the band playing before or after, but we’re not always that lucky.

 

So, as you can imagine, things can get pretty stressful backstage, even more so when bands are late, gear doesn’t work, etc… To cope with that, we have a few ways to relax and enjoy our *very rare* downtime. One of the guys has a hammock slung under the stage, our stage crew has a hibachi and one of the guys cooks for us, I brought in a coffee maker, and we all have books, newspapers, laptops and dvds to help ease the tensions. When the stress hits, it hits hard, there’s a lot of yelling back and forth, etc… but we’re all pros, we can deal with it and 5 mins after we’re all on good terms again. It’s a delicate balance of personalities that’s needed to make these situations workable and not everyone can cut it.

 

I’ve been taking a few pictures to show how it all comes together and at the end of the festival I’ll put them up in the photos section of my website.

 

Bluesfest, July 9, Michael Franti

So at 8:30am we were waiting for Ani DiFranco to soundcheck. After a little early morning clouded head syndrome, everything came together and we got set for Michael Franti to check. It was a little odd because Franti played last, and usually bands soundcheck in the reverse order of the performance, for a number of reasons…

 

By this point, it already seemed like Great Big Sea played a week ago. Coffee was mandatory at all times and the feeling of walking around dazed all day had become the norm. Thankfully we have a pretty solid stagecrew, so we’ve been fairly lucky at averting disaster.

 

The other thing that’s fairly uncomfortable is the heat. When you’re sitting in tents all day, it gets pretty humid and pretty smelly. You take a shower first thing in the morning, but by the time you’ve been in the tents for 5 minutes, you smell like you’ve been camping for a week. It’s not too pleasant, but at the same time it’s part of the deal; just another thing to get used to that you don’t really think about until it happens.

 

Bluesfest, July 8, Bonnie Raitt

Day 2 featured Bonnie Raitt. If you don’t know who she is, you’ve been living under a rock for about 30 years. Rock n Roll hall of famer, 20 million records sold, etc… The drummer and keyboard player in her band played with Bob Dylan. This was the real deal. Absolutely amazing show. It’s not every day you get to see that caliber of musicianship.

 

I think the coolest thing about the day was the roadcases. I’ve been doing this a while now, so I don’t get starstruck anymore, but these guys had cases that were handpainted for Bob Dylan, multi-colour spraypaint, stencils, really wild stuff. The bass played had a case labeled ‘Michael Jackson World Tour 1982’. Insane. You just don’t see stuff like that every day. It was really something and for some unknown reason, I didn’t think to take pictures. I’m a loser.

 

Again, it was a pretty low key day. The touring crew had everything nailed together and we really didn’t have to do a whole lot. It’s nice when that happens. Towards the end of the night, the Michael Franti techs came by to say hi and we started getting ready for tomorrow….

 

Bluesfest July 7, Great Big Sea

6am: Load in. What a way to start. The stage only got installed late last night, so we had to let the lighting crew do their setup overnight and we came in at sunrise to set up the audio. Everything went fairly smoothly, save for some tents and scaffolding that were not supposed to be built on the stage yet, so we had to wait while they were dismantled and rebuilt in the proper spot. They had to be moved because they took up the space where we had to fly the PA.

 

The first night was headlined by Great Big Sea. Thankfully, we knew everyone on their crew so it made for a low key, low pressure day. We all had a pretty good time and it was good to see some faces we hadn’t seen in a while. About 30,000 people showed up and it made for quite the show. The highlight was when the band started talking about Beavertails on stage (if you’re not from Ottawa, it’s a sugar covered pastry that’s shaped like a beaver tail). The security guy on stage thought it would be great to get the band a Beavertail, so he went out, bought one and brought it back to the stage. I was looking at this guy holding the Beavertail at the side of the stage, and I commented to one of my crew guys that it looked like this guy was going to run on stage between songs and give the band a Beavertail. We opted not to intervene, choosing instead to watch how things would unfold. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to not run on stage between songs. He did, however, wait til the band started playing the next song, ran out, grabbed Alan Doyle by the arm while he was playing guitar and gave him a Beavertail. The security guard was not back the next day.

 

18 hours later, show was done, gear was tarped and we got to head home. Not for long though; load in on Saturday morning was 8am….