Today was a hard day by anyone’s reckoning. The crew split into 2 teams with the production crew staying for show one at Jacobs well, and the build team moving to the venue for Sunday’s show to build the massive stage structure to have it ready in time for production to go in first thing this morning.
What could go wrong?
Production Crew: show one
I think that any show you do involves being able to solve problems on the fly. Some are small, some are major. All need to be solved. The problem in yesterday’s show was a major one with our generator dying just before the main act was due to go on. Not good. Our guys, who had already worked their butts off over the last 24+ hours now had to solve a critical problem on the fly with serious time pressure and with limited resources and at a remote venue.
Because they are such pro’s the saw it through and the show went on, albeit a little late and with Noiseworks the unfortunate casualty.
Well done my colleagues. You can plan my castle onslaught anyday.
Build crew; show two…
Our day started at 7 am and finished at that site just after 7 pm. 12 hours of very hard work later (in very hot and humid Queensland) the structure was about 90% done. We had to down tools to go to show one and help pack the show down. I was lucky enough to grab a few hours sleep because once the show was packed, myself and my mate Glenn had to drive part of it straight back to Melbourne no stop. (Which we are doing right now)
The hard physical work, combined with the heat and the humidity make for an energy sapping combination like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s relentless and your whole being gets to the point where you could just lie down if only you could just bend your legs.
But the guys approach the task with good humour and a “let’s get it done” attitude. Of course occasionally someone loses their cool, but it’s usually just venting, never too serious.
As I sit here very tired, a little bruised, and with most of my joints swollen and aching, I’m glad I did it, but I’m glad it’s over for now. It was a major “dinosaur” kind of day. Let me explain.
The Dinosaur revealed;
When you spend a lot of time on the road, your mind does lots of strange things. I used to do a lot of maths trying to calculate trip times in a few different ways. I replay a lot of conversations in my head. I sometimes try to write a song in my head about what I am seeing/where I am. One trip a few years ago, I was thinking about acronyms. As I got closer to home, I landed on the acronym D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R. It summed up perfectly my current condition after a Perth to Melbourne run. I came home and told my wife that I was feeling very Dinosaur and we have used it ever since to describe various jobs that I have to do. Wanna know what it is?
Desperately in need of shower and underpants replacement.
Feel free to use it
Coffee of the day
Well gotta say that once again the coffee of the day was non existent. Very difficult to get coffee on the road. So the coffee of the day award probably has to go reluctantly to Maccas. Small latte with an extra shot. Not bad, not great. (I’m so ashamed)
Where did my thoughts take me today?
So, no long road time today. Lots of work, and banter and work and water and work and painful legs. I guess my thought were more centred in hindsight on how good it is to have such good workmates to get through sessions like that. I love seeing an empty field take shape with state of the art pa. stage and lighting, then it fills with 5000 odd punters who turn out to support Aussie music. Our guys are committed to making great looking and sounding shows. I enjoy their company and as a long suffering muso and event director I admire what they bring especially when conditions are as adverse as they were yesterday.
Salute guys!
mickmcivor.com 