MF #16
Boomshaka 2018
Date
February 19th, 2018
Location
San Diego, California
Reason
Pro Systems
It took a little while, but I had found my way into an interesting role in San Diego. While I had applied to all sorts of jobs and even gone to bartending school for a few weeks, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my dream job was to set up audio equipment at music festivals. I found a local audio, lighting, and video production company, Pro Systems, that set up a few local music festivals. They had no job openings, but I emailed the CEO directly explaining my event experience and asking him how to break into the production industry.
I sent the email on a Saturday night and received a response back in 30 minutes, inviting me to come help out at the warehouse Monday morning. I showed up, helped empty trucks, checked in gear, and got to witness the unloading process from a music festival. On my first day I was paid in cash, and I did a good enough job to get an invite back for the next day. The next day was similar. I showed up on time, worked hard, and was made an official contractor at the end of the day. I received a 1099 and an invitation to come back on Wednesday. I made sure to show up early on Wednesday, worked hard, asked questions, and continued to show my interest. At the end of Wednesday, I received a full-time offer to join the company which I immediately accepted.
While I joined in October of 2017, winter was the slow season. I worked on a few small events, but nothing substantial was happening until the spring. I spent a lot of time in a warehouse learning all the various equipment as I cleaned, checked items in and out of inventory, and learned the production house processes.
I set up the speakers pictured here during the show.
BoomShaka was the first music festival our company was setting up since I joined. This was a one-day reggae music festival at Sports Arena, a mid-sized hockey arena/mixed-use venue in San Diego. We had a full day to setup the event, so I arrived with a truck full of equipment on site at 7:30 am the day before the show. This is a union run venue, so at precisely 8:00 am we could begin loading in our equipment.
Working with union crews is very interesting. Our production company was not part of the union. If you were a lighting guy and the audio team needed help, you stepped up and did as good of a job as you could to help make the show happen. Working with union members, they are explicitly not allowed to do someone else’s job. The people who push road cases only push road cases. The guys who hang lights only hang lights. Almost immediately, I began to find the attitudes of this crew rather annoying. Multiple of our union hands were lazy, hungover, or just downright rude. I was glad to be on a team where everyone pitched in equally to help pull off the event.
Setup was straightforward and relatively easy. The stage was already set, we had set points to hang our equipment, and all the heavy lifting was done using motors. It took all day to setup the full video wall, lighting, and sound equipment.
Don Carlos and The Original Wailers performing at Boomshaka Music Festival
Soundcheck started early the next day. For a music festival, soundcheck goes in reverse. The headlining band is the first to soundcheck in the morning, then the support act, then any additional openers. If the headliner runs long in soundcheck, everyone else’s time gets compressed. This is a much better alternative to the scenario in which the openers run too long during soundcheck, delaying the headliners ability to prepare for the show.
I helped out as best I could, but mainly I just watched. My job for the show was to help switch out equipment during set changes. With only six acts, there were only going to be five set changes. However, getting the stage changed over quickly was crucial. The show had strict timing and a curfew. We couldn’t be late.
Luckily, this was a professional crew and we were prepared. The first few set changes went by without a problem. As the night went by, the allotted set times grew in length. I found myself free during the music. I recently got a DSLR camera for Christmas. While the show had professional photographers, they didn’t have the access I had as a member of the audio team. I could go anywhere I wanted. I went on stage, in front of the stage, up to front of house, and even to the top row of the venue as I attempted to capture cool images of the show.
On Stage with Tribal Seeds at Boomshaka – a perk of working in audio production.
Don Carlos and The Original Wailers were the first truly amazing performance of the night. Tribal Seeds followed up with a high-energy set before Stick Figure closed out the night. Stick Figure is a San Diego-based band, and the crowd just went wild for their show. I photographed the show as best as I could, but with the headliner act on stage we had to get ready. Our real work was about to begin.
While we had a full day to setup the stage, all of the equipment had to be out of the venue tonight. With the show ending around 11 pm, the race was on to get out of there as quickly as possible. We quickly disassembled the audio equipment and video wall, and were already loading up the trucks with the first of the equipment while the lights were still getting struck.
I was impressed by the efficiency of our team. I left the venue with a truck full of gear by 1:30 am. It had taken almost 10 hours to set everything up. It took less than three hours to take everything down, put it back in road cases, and drive it back to the shop.
The night was a massive success. I made it back to my apartment around 3:00 am buzzing with excitement from the show. I loved my role and I couldn’t wait for my next chance to work a music festival.
