[work-related] - What I did this weekend: Blues Traveler!
Sadly, I was unable to attend derma_tek and freakperfume37z's barbecue on Saturday, as I was working as lighting director for Blues Traveler's show at the Sovereign Bank Stadium in York, PA. See?
The show was supposed to load in at 7am, the stage didn't even make it onto the field until 9am because the access road and ramp onto the field were too narrow and too steep, respectively, to allow the 18-wheelers to easily get into the damn arena! After the judicious application of a welding torch and a ton of plywood, the trucks made it down the ramp -- but since they were having difficulty negotiating their way around the perimeter of the field, it took an additional hour to get the generators dropped into position, which subsequently led to a delay in being able to fly my rig (no power = no rigging motors). Finally, we got power, and hurdle #1 of the day was behind me. Once the rig was flown up, I encountered the day's second obstacle.
Since we had no rope-ladders on this show (long story), the plan had been to "bounce focus" the rig: raise it up, see where the lights are aiming, then lower it and refocus until it's right... unfortunately, however, the audio guys' line-array fly-bars (the brackets from which the speakers are hung) protruded a good 9 inches BENEATH my truss! You can see it in the picture above. I couldn't lower my truss without hitting their speakers, so the downstage focus had to stay the way it was. Luckily, I had rough-focused the PARs while the truss was close to the deck, and it was pretty damn close, so I let it ride. Hurdle #2 overcome.
About a half hour before showtime, the generator providing lighting power starts BELCHING BLACK SMOKE. One of the local electricians had inadvertently hooked me up to the lesser-powered genny onsite, and it just wasn't up to the task of having 150,000 watts of lighting hooked up to it. A quick swap of the feeder cables and *that* crisis was averted... the audio guys griped a little, but they still had plenty of juice for their rig. Hurdle #3, history.
Then it started raining. :) We had plenty of canopies and tents to cover the sensitive pieces of gear, and all was well.
The show went on, the bands played great sets, we loaded out from 11-2:30am (most of my gear was already on the truck by 1, but we had to wait until the stage was ready to come down before I could get my chain motors unhooked from the rigging points on the stage-roof). I got back home at 5:30am, and took a very long, very hot, very well-deserved shower.
This Friday I get to do it all over again, another 120K rig going out for Phil Lesh and Levon Helm at Festival Pier in Philly! Whee.
The show was supposed to load in at 7am, the stage didn't even make it onto the field until 9am because the access road and ramp onto the field were too narrow and too steep, respectively, to allow the 18-wheelers to easily get into the damn arena! After the judicious application of a welding torch and a ton of plywood, the trucks made it down the ramp -- but since they were having difficulty negotiating their way around the perimeter of the field, it took an additional hour to get the generators dropped into position, which subsequently led to a delay in being able to fly my rig (no power = no rigging motors). Finally, we got power, and hurdle #1 of the day was behind me. Once the rig was flown up, I encountered the day's second obstacle.
Since we had no rope-ladders on this show (long story), the plan had been to "bounce focus" the rig: raise it up, see where the lights are aiming, then lower it and refocus until it's right... unfortunately, however, the audio guys' line-array fly-bars (the brackets from which the speakers are hung) protruded a good 9 inches BENEATH my truss! You can see it in the picture above. I couldn't lower my truss without hitting their speakers, so the downstage focus had to stay the way it was. Luckily, I had rough-focused the PARs while the truss was close to the deck, and it was pretty damn close, so I let it ride. Hurdle #2 overcome.
About a half hour before showtime, the generator providing lighting power starts BELCHING BLACK SMOKE. One of the local electricians had inadvertently hooked me up to the lesser-powered genny onsite, and it just wasn't up to the task of having 150,000 watts of lighting hooked up to it. A quick swap of the feeder cables and *that* crisis was averted... the audio guys griped a little, but they still had plenty of juice for their rig. Hurdle #3, history.
Then it started raining. :) We had plenty of canopies and tents to cover the sensitive pieces of gear, and all was well.
The show went on, the bands played great sets, we loaded out from 11-2:30am (most of my gear was already on the truck by 1, but we had to wait until the stage was ready to come down before I could get my chain motors unhooked from the rigging points on the stage-roof). I got back home at 5:30am, and took a very long, very hot, very well-deserved shower.
This Friday I get to do it all over again, another 120K rig going out for Phil Lesh and Levon Helm at Festival Pier in Philly! Whee.