Archives

It must have been interesting for a few of the residents of Sprinfield last night when our bus broke down pulled up in the street, only to have 40 roadies climb out onto their front yard..

Luckily though a replacement was sent, and the crew were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the Foo Fighters Concert before we started our shift.

Last night I was part of the Load Out crew in the Video department responsible for the deconstruction of all of the video links, screens and cameras used throughout the show as well as the pack down of the live video feed.

Seeing the crowd empty out of Metricon Stadium in a matter of minutes was an amazing sight to behold… Not so amazing though, was seeing the amount of rubbish left behind after the show. But thankfully the great team at Metricon Stadium had it nearly spotless by the time we had finished our Load Out.

For anybody who was at the Foo Fighters concert I thought it may be interesting for you to know that the entire set-up was packed down within 4 hours of the concert ending.. Pretty impressive stuff to see!!

I had a great week working with All Access Crewing this week.

For my last shift, it was back to the RNA showgrounds for a muddy day of packing down the complete Wiggles Show. After only hearing the song once, I still can’t get the lyrics out of my head..

…Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy… (subliminal messages worked a treat)

A parting photo of myself and the All Access Fooies Crewies

- Paul

Yesterday I made my way down from Brisbane to Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast which is better known as the home and stadium of the Gold Coast Suns AFL team, but not this weekend…For this weekend it will play as the host venue for one of the biggest rock concerts of 2011.

Jack Black vs. Dave Grohl

Tenacious D vs. Foo Fighters

After having worked as a Stage Hand for the Wiggles show up in Brisbane and feeling as though the job was rather repetitive, I was coming into this gig with a mindset very similar… We clocked on at 12.30pm and immediately we were given an on site safety brief whilst we waited for the Touring Production Team to arrive from their previous nights show in Sydney!

1 o’clock came and still no show, so we waited around longer without us being able to commence work until they were on-site to direct us all.

1.30 came an went…

then 2….

then 2.30…

Finally by 2.36 there bus had arrived and immediately it was all systems go. Our crew of 40 plus their crew of around the same went about unloading Semi Trailer after Semi trailer of gear and the construction of the stage began.. After wheeling my first road-case into the Stadium I already began to feel a difference in the work that I was doing being much more grand. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was inside of a stadium or whether I was wheeling around roadcases stamped ” Foo Fighters”,  but I definitely felt as though the enjoyment level of myself and everyone else working that day was lifted with the knowledge of what we were a part of…
I was assigned to an American Production Crew member by the name of Pete, who was a really cool guy willing to show me the ropes and was understanding of the fact that this was my first week on the job. Pete was one of the many in charge of getting the lighting all powered, rigged and set up for the show with the assistance of myself and several others from All Access.

A lot of the Travelling Production Crew (inc Pete) had been on Tour for months straight touring America, Europe then Australia and with the Gold Coast being their last Australian show.  It was interesting to see, what a lot of people would assume to be one of the greatest jobs in the world (touring with two international rock bands) can also have it’s ups and downs, good days and bad days.. It kind of helped to put things in perspective for me seeing this.

It taught me that, even if you love the work you do. There can still always  be aspects of it that you aren’t particularly fond of. I guess the key to it is to think to yourself.. Okay, well I may not enjoy i.e.  paperwork or maybe the heavy lifting, etc. But if I do those aspects of the job, that will in turn allow me to start focussing on the job that I do love doing.

Towards the end of my shift Pete was kind enough to introduce me to the touring Guitar Technician for the Foo Fighters and Tenacious D.

He preceded to hand me Dave Grohl’s touring Gibson guitar and take a photo of me, with it on! So I don’t think I’ll be washing my hands anytime soon!

Towards the end of the night and in the true essence of the Rock’n'Roll lifestyle, I heard mumurs of an after party for the Touring Production Crew. So I’m kind of expecting to see a few hungover bodies within their crew tonight when I head back for the Load Out shift…

- Paul

If you’d like to check out any other photo’s I’ve uploaded to Flickr from my first two jobs simply click here.

Coming Up – Announcing Week Three!

As it turns out I was only correct about 1/3 of my early prediction of rain, rain and MUD for my days work on Thursday for the Wiggles Load In…

So with my work boots on and the sun coming out as I arrived on site, it was time to unpack the Semi Trailers which were loaded with all the the necessary equipment to start building the sets for the Wiggles 360 Stage Show, which I guess makes them the U2 for children..

Once the trucks were unloaded we got broken up into teams and each assigned to a different department. In my case I was placed on the Lighting and Audio, which I found was slightly more involved than the previous days, as it was on a larger scale and I was now working with 30-40 stagehands, lighting and audio crew members.

Here’s a pic of one of the rigs I was workinng on..

It was quite awkward at first when I arrived on site, I really felt that I was being viewed as an outsider, much like I was new kid at school. I could almost compare it to the likeness of a brotherhood/click, where before you can be accepted first you must prove yourself.

Being that it’s a very team orientated job and if the two (or more) of you aren’t on the same page of how to do things, that can then cause a lot of problems. I guess it’s the nature of the job though, where if you make a mistake (rookie error) or are not paying attention, somebody (one of the crew) could get seriously hurt.

Fortunately for me, I made it though the day and everyone kept their limbs intact, so I think I may have begun to prove myself..

I guess by the end of the week I’ll know for sure though..

- Paul

Day one with All Access Crewing started on Tuesday this week and saw me down at Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds doing Site Work in preparation for the upcoming Wiggles shows.

I was part of a team made up of 4 Site Workers (inc myself) & 2 Electricians, all who were great to work with.  It generally consisted of being able to follow instructions and repeatedly carrying 50 meter lengths of power cabling (which I’m pretty sure they weighed about a thousand kilos each. haha) to their designated areas,  eventually it will be  supplyinng the power to the entire concert site.

Unfortunately though, I found that Site Work itself wasn’t very challenging  for me, as it consisted of very menial tasks.

But today I’m back out at the RNA Showgrounds again and I’ve been told to expect a more engaging work day, so I can’t wait to see what the day has in store for me..

Although my early prediction is ‘rain, rain & mud’… Looks like it’s ime to get my hands dirty!!

- Paul

P.S . I should hopefully get a few pics today that I can post up on the site tonight, so be sure to check them out!