WHEN YOUR PASSION IS YOUR JOB

If you were to be backstage in any arena around this world at the time immediately before a show goes up, this is what you might see and hear.

The Production Manager is dropping by the dressing rooms to see that the artist is on track and on time and that there are no issues. Wardrobe crew are bustling about getting that show opening look right, dressing the artist, the dancers and band if this is the makeup of the show. Maybe just a band of four or five musicians who have been on the road together for years. Then it might just be some quiet time, some vocal warmups and the drummer working with a practice pad or it might be a band that love to rehearse right up to the show and so then the practice room is a busy place with crew needing to complete their pre show tasks whilst their artists are practicing. Whatever the show is that you are witnessing this time is a crucial one backstage. Meanwhile out, on, and around the stage the changeover is happening under the calm and steady supervision of the stage manager. The opening act’s gear is being removed. Set pieces that were moved are being re positioned. The audio crew are doing their checks, monitor tests and then the all important line check. Backline crew are tuning guitars, double checking all is well and that they are show ready. There are carpenters under the stage checking hydraulic lifts, others checking that the various ‘gags’ are ready. Lighting crew are repositioning floor lights, briefing follow spot operators whilst the video crew are double checking networks, screen feeds, and cameras. Then there are the special FX crew, getting their department ready; confetti, pyro, CO2, fog, whatever the design calls for, all ready to jump off. People moving about quickly but without panic. Everyone knows their job and is getting it done. These technicians and crew are highly skilled individuals at the top of their game and that game is live music. Out on the concourse, excited patrons are buying merchandise, getting themselves some food and maybe a drink for the show. The hundreds of venue staff are answering questions, pouring drinks into cups, taking tickets and showing fans to their seats. Security are monitoring everything.

Returning to the backstage, you might see those people, not directly involved with getting the artist ready for the show, going about their business. It might be the tour manager and the accountant going over some expenses, a production assistant working with the runners to re stock the tour buses, the promoter and the production manager dealing with an issue outside the venue that is slowing up the return of the tour trucks to the venue for the load out, one of the security escorting some close friends of the artist back to their seats….same as out on the stage; busy people moving quickly but calmly.

I think you might be starting to get a picture. This is a busy period for hundreds of people all working towards one point in time.

Now, after some minutes, as your observation continues, you can see that the activity is starting to slow, both here in the corridor, on the stage and out in the arena. The stage is empty now and dark; crew are quiet in their positions, all checks complete. The concessions are almost empty and the audience is now mostly seated.

Backstage, you hear a call from the two way radio. It is the stage manager calling the production manager. The message is short and the meaning obvious; “We are good on the deck” The excitement is palpable. The newer members of the crew will be nervous. Maybe the artist is as well, but we are so close now that there is no time now to do anything but be ready. Now the principal/s, the band, the dancers, are all being brought from their dressing rooms to the hallway. Here now builds quite a procession. Security are out front making sure the route to the stage is clear. Next the production manager leading the group followed by the artists and their assistants, dancers, musicians and wardrobe staff, and there is the RF tech squeezing politely past having quickly swapped out a belt pack. Bringing up the rear with some family members is the tour manager, and maybe the promoter. The procession winds its way along the various corridors (oh that is what those pink arrows on the floor are for!). until finally they arrive at the stage entry point and wait. Even here at this time there are still little checks going on; requests from the artist, the drummer is hitting a pattern on a road case. The singer is sipping tea, guitar techs arrive with guitars…everyone is poised. The stage manager pokes her head around the curtain…with a smile…always calm….Everyone is ready and it is show time.

The Production Manager speaks into his radio….”Standby House Lights….AND…Go House Lights…” You cannot see the arena from here in the dark, but you can hear the crowd roar in anticipation as the lights go out. For those of us lucky enough to work as crew and staff in the live music business this moment is probably the most exciting in our day. We have all worked hard to get to this point. It is time for the artist to deliver their art to their fans. The stage manager pulls the curtain aside at exactly the right second and the artists make their way to the stage.

This essay is supposed to be about good economic decision making, so what does all this pre show excitement have to do with that? The live music industry is largely staffed by professionals who share a common love; that of music. People who are drawn to this part of our culture, as indeed I was many years ago. These passionate people whose hard work helps today’s popular artists deliver their art to an adoring public. The job is the passion and the passion is the job. The job is one of many jobs that are part of a business; the music business and here is where the economics come in. Each touring artist or group is in effect a small business. And if we step aside from the excitement, the creativity, the emotion, and the culture that those things help to keep strong, we have to run these businesses successfully obviously. I have spoken about reconciling the art with the economics before and in today’s world musicians cannot really live like their forebears did, vagrants singing and strumming for their supper and sleeping on the floor of the Lord’s great hall. We may joke that the people have not changed, just their profitability, but jokes aside, today it is a enormously daunting prospect for any aspiring musician to commit to a life of making music, having to develop a solid live audience with very little money being made from publishing, always seeking other streams of income. The way an artist’s business is structured typically means a schedule of live performances has to be maintained to keep income flowing. There can be a lot of commissions or percentages that may come ‘off the top’ (ie off the gross income) Then the chart of expenses is long, and there can be very little left at the end of it all. Yes of course there are fabulously successful artists at the top of the heap making a literal fuck tonne of money from their tours, but for so many musical artists it is a grind. Think of that pressure to create and then perform, but it is not just that….you have to make enough to pay your way. There has to be a lot of shows to cover all the costs. This not a highfalutin ‘reconcile the art with the money’….this is an actual reconciliation…with an actual accountant.

So the artists that you may work for, or with, can well be up against it. With that being true we crew types do play an important role. Whether you are a budding production manager or an up and coming designer. You might have been given a start as an account manager at a lighting company or a freight agent. Whatever role you play, keep your head out of the clouds and think about how you can be the most useful in the development and staging of the live show. Thoughtful decision making at every stage. Smart designs, smart scheduling, smart labor management, even smart truck packing. Big is often just big….you get my point. After the crowd have left and the trucks are packed and leaving, the show’s success has to be an economic one which is definitely not as exciting or as cool as what I described at the top of this essay, but equally important.

We say we love our jobs, but just saying it will never be enough. The pandemic showed us how ‘un essential’ we are as an industry, and if the economic models of the many small businesses that make up this industry can be fragile and we can play a part in keeping them going, we would be actually stupid to do anything else.

If you have a gig, then do it well and keep an eye on your own efficiency…do what you do well and, if we all do, then the creativity will be supported. It will be self perpetuating if we do it right.

And if you want to join us and think what I was describing at the top sounds exciting, it fucking is.