Stage collapse and thoughts, and the Nathan Byrd memorial fund.........

• A bit of info first - this is a LONG post - it may take 4-5 minutes to read....
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• Hi Everyone - I have been getting asked by pretty much everyone what my thoughts are on the recent catastrophic stage collapses that have been happening as of late. As many of you know, I have been working around stages for the better part of my adult life - and at this point at 50 yrs. - that's a while now! I have been in one complete collapse and one near collapse. The shotgun-like sound of bolts popping and whizzing past your head at skull crushing speeds, as well as hearing that sickening, creaking sound of aluminum and steel grinding, buckling and snapping in the structure overhead  is something I do not forget easily. Although it seems as if these structural failures have been happening a lot more lately, they actually do happen more often then most people know..... Last year there was a collapse in Canada that claimed one life. Peter Framptons stage last Summer. Last Winter a collapse in Brazil during a Guns N Roses tour. Cheap Trick's stage failure. This Summer the Flaming Lips Lighting rig collapsed due to severe winds and another that I actually forget the details about....... But until the Indiana tragedy, it all has gone barely unnoticed by the major media. This is something that is unfortunately, a thing that those that work on stages think about EVERY day that we work. As I have said before many times to my friends and family that want backstage passes - "The stage is a DANGEROUS place. I really don't want you back there"!! Besides what is hanging above you there is the stage power and cabling. There are road cases and many extremely heavy items that are not always locked down. It is dark and the pit falls are deadly - for instance - Ahmet Ertegun (one of the legendary and most respected record label owners and producers)  attended a Rolling Stones benefit concert at the Beacon Theatre for the Clinton Foundation. Prior to the show Ahmet was backstage when he tripped and fell, striking his head on the concrete floor. He died a couple of weeks later from the injuries. There have been countless instances of performers walking right off the edge of the stage - before/after and during a performance. I would be here all day telling you of the Stage Crew personnel that have fallen, been shocked, hit in the head from something falling out of the ceiling from previous shows (Bolts, tools, cigarette lighters etc.). This is only a few example as there are many instances of terrible injuries that happen on the "deck" during the course of a live production. But - the tragic stage failures over the past few weeks have many people asking me quite a few questions. Here are some answers - and I hope a few solutions to some of the issues that have been addressed........
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• So - first off... I am a backline guy. I am NOT a rigger. I am not a lighting guy. I do audio/sound occasionally. But mostly Guitar tech and Tour Manage. So - that being said here is my two cents on this.... I have lifted some of the following from conversations I have had on Facebook with experienced friends that are seasoned professionals for live productions - Riggers/Musicians/Lighting Directors and local stagehands - union and nonunion - (I support IATSE all the way so excuse any bias).  I worry a lot more about many other things then the stage falling - but I ALWAYS look up. Every time I come into a venue. Always.
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  A good friend and very famous touring Artist from the UK asked me ---  What's it going to take to make sure this is the last time this ever happens?
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• Answer - Bottom line - No one can absolutely guarantee that this will never happen again - no matter what we do. Shit happens. We can do our absolute best to prevent things like this from happening, but we mere mortals are NO MATCH for Mother Nature. I think it's about time we all recognize that....huh? A major problem is that there are NO consistent regulations or procedures that are set nationwide. YES - regulations!!! At this time, most of the portable stages are "self-regulated". Ski area Chairlifts and Carnival rides have incredible safety standards that are State and Federally mandated and overseen. The Colorado Transportation Safety board inspects every ski lift and area with a fine tooth comb. The Fair rides in Indiana held up to the blast of wind very well.  Even as well built as these staging companies build their stages, and with the talents and experience of the best riggers and lighting crews-in the business...... it is NO match for Mother nature!  When I hear thunder - I know it is time to go. And if I am the Tour Manager, my Artists do not take the stage - period. These stages are no match for Ma nature. Especially when you hang all that gear from the roof and it starts moving. I have held my bands from performing just because I heard thunder - It pissed off the promoter - but ask me if I care.....

• My good friend Mike Davidson is a well respected rigger. I have trusted his roofs over my head MANY times and he is a great friend. Here is what he said to me......

•  "Look at the size and weight of that backdrop and rig (Indiana show)......bands and production people are trying to hang their whole Arena touring show on these Temporary roofs. Save it for the arena shows! 120 K wash and 20 movers will work fine, it is a festival not an indoor venue that can handle it! These are major Arena touring bands doing arena production shows on portable stages. The production seems to be getting way out of hand for these Festival rigs. It is getting crazy".

• I agree 100% - Truer words were never spoken!! Big praise to the Bands and Artists that want to give the fans some big production bang for the ticket price and put on the same show outdoors at State/County fairs that they do at indoor stadiums! But, performers that are able to fill Arenas with roofs that do not move and are not subjected to violent weather CANNOT be expected to hang the same amount of lighting, IMAG video screen(s), backdrops and audio Line-Array from the roofs of these non-permanent structures.  That was a LOT of gear hanging from the roof and once it got moving - forget it. The Audio gear alone turns into a wrecking ball once it gets swinging. Look at the video of the (IMAG) Video screen flapping in the wind like old laundry at the Belgium stage collapse. That thing is taller than your house and weighs up to 1200 pounds. Thats what my Toyota truck weighs....  Another important thing that everyone asks me about is the roof covering and backdrops. Here are my thoughts...... The stages that get built out there in the middle of a field or race-track are a GIANT sailing ship. They are completely unprotected from wind gusts. It has NOWHERE to go. 70 mile an hour winds hit it with up to 8000 lbs. per square inch pressure - or so I have been told by a hardened veteran Production Manager (correct me if I am wrong - please) - and no matter what air holes you have in it, or what type of porous capabilities it has - it moves and catches wind like the Santa Maria discovering America. Very Simple. If winds like that can propel Columbus across the seas in a ship that weighed tens of tons, what makes anyone think that winds like this won't move a stage? And I won't get started on the aerodynamic flow that happens when the wind gets underneath the canopy and turns the roof into a giant wing. You wonder how a fully loaded 747 gets off the ground? If the wind were able to un-weight the roof at all and lift it even a tiny bit, the unbalanced weight of what's hanging would have to cause movement. That canopy alone probably weighed in at a couple of hundred pounds and was flailing like a piece of paper. The Stage had to go somewhere - it did. It went down and sadly lives have been lost.

• Another problem that must addressed is the evacuation process.  Evacuating the entire area well BEFORE the storm hits is a must. Promoters don't want to postpone or God forbid, cancel the show as they may lose BIG money.  The Summer storms in the US generally come from the West, traveling to the East. (As for the Belgian storm - I know EU weather patterns are very different so I am not sure how it would apply there.... ) They generally blow over in an hour or two. The storms predictability are almost always exact from the National Weather Service and NOAA. As a Tour manager, I have personally tracked storms via Accuweather.com well before it hit the Venue. Hell - they do it with Nascar races on National TV almost every Sunday!! With the technology we have today this is a no brainer! During this time previous to a storm front entering the area,  I am positive that just evacuating people off the stage and audience floor area (or the area that would be affected by the stage having a catastrophic failure) 30 minutes before the storm hits and for the duration of the storm - once again - usually an hour or so - would eliminate the danger for audience and crew.  Once again, my feelings are - if you can hear thunder - evacuate the stage and crowd near the stage immediately!!  Postpone the show until the danger passes. Cancel if the storm does not pass after 2.5 hours. Period. "The Person in Charge" watches the radar in real time on their phone/computer via accuweather.com etc. and makes the call to either cancel or restart the gig........... If the stage DOES come down - nobody gets hurt!

• Which leads me to this - who exactly IS "The Person in Charge"??!
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• Calling a show - or postponing or canceling a show should be the decision of SOMEONE? But who? The Stage manager? The Promoter? The Tour Manager? The Bands Production Manager? The touring crew? The Local crew? My answer - well read on..... 
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• A friend told me -  "It's a hard call to make that would effectively cancel a concert, but the process of calling it off if there's a likelihood of wind, or lightning taking a stage out.... 
• It's hard to imagine, after this, any promoter wanting to be remembered as the one who argued with a technical crew saying - "sorry." It might be useful for performers like myself and others to take note and have a clause automatically added to all their live concerts allowing for last minute or on stage cancellation if their technical crew make the judgement on the day that to continue with the show would put lives at risk".
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• Another rather famous Musician friend said to me - "it's a matter that major managers and top promoters could quickly agree upon and any lawyer easily draft, a pro-forma, catch all clause that would be recognized as standard and required in all agreements, that prevents the situation ever happening again. Either artists or promoters are left to make the call. If the crew boss says the stage is unsafe, that really should be as good as a referee calling foul on a football pitch... and the decision of when to call an all clear, similarly decided".

•  They are right. Except that leaving it for the Crew to decide to "call it" would leave them liable for any injuries or deaths.  Touring crew, like the Guitar Tech, Monitor Engineer and Front of House Engineer are the least paid of all the people on a tour. These guys are making about $1300.00 bucks a week and are the low men on the totem pole in the touring world. Who would protect them from being sued and losing everything they have? Most Performance contracts DO have the "ACT OF GOD" clause in it. But when it comes down to brass tacks -- by the time everyone gets done arguing about who is suing who if "the band does NOT go on", the stage has fallen and people are hurt. That is where my opinion takes purpose ---- 
• I believe from the bottom of my heart that the Insurance companies that get paid to insure these things should have an on-site structural engineer to inspect and be responsible for making the call to postpone or cancel the show for ANY reason and be liable for what they insure!! At EVERY show!
• If the Insurance company is going to insure it - then they'd better send an expert that is under their employ to sign off on it and then stick around to make sure things don't get screwed around with by some Production Manager or Lighting Director that wants to add - "just one more thing" to the roof or hang that video screen that they said during the advancing was only 1000 lbs - not 1800lbs. They should also require that no matter what is being hung from the sky - THE ROOF CAN BE RAISED AND LOWERED AT ALL TIMES!  Some of the backdrops, video screens and audio can prevent a roof from being dropped at will - this has to end.
•   I feel the band's Tour manager should have the balls to say - "NO!! My Artist(s) are not taking the stage until everything is safe" and then walk - very far from the stage area - band and crew in tow. Also, the Stage Manager should be aware enough to say - "Storm coming in 30 minutes! Drop the Roof!" and the Promoter would take the opportunity to coordinate with his Security staff on an orderly and prompt evacuation of the Venue. Once again - if you can see the storm a brewin' and can hear the thunder - you may already be too late. 
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• But ultimately - I strongly feel that the insurance companies should be responsible and should provide the "experts". I would like to see the companies that are insuring make the final postponement call so THEY would be held responsible or Praised! - NOT US - the lowly Stage grunts! We (Tour manager, Stage Manager, Production Manager, Lighting Director, House Steward) could be a part of the decision and we could all walk off the stage if the Insurance guy is a complete tool - but I want the decisions and ultimate culpability to fall on the private insurer. Not the Stagehands that are there busting their butts making 10 bucks an hour.......   But that's my opinion - I may be wrong......

Jay P Norton - I.A.T.S.E. Local 82 Stagehand adds -  

I can input another spoke into the wheel, I think the need for the decision to make that call shouldn't lie with the insurance carriers, they as well as the other entities have a interest or should I say profit to protect. They don't want a big pay out either, so they may hold off the decision to the last minute. OR on the other hand, if the insurance provider is to be able to make the decisions pertaining to the safety and well being of a crew, then they (the insurance experts) should have to hold themselves to higher standards of training in our field, such as the Rigging and Electrician Certification programs that are available to us. We all do need to stand strong and move swiftly to come to some type of industry standards. 

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• So..... if PRIVATE insurance companies won't provide the Inspections that are now being demanded - WHO WILL!?
• What agency in the good old USA is going to be the one to grab this one by the short hairs? After all - we are living in the "Everything must be de-regulated days" here in the U.S.A. 
•  I.A.T.S.E ( International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) won't touch it - they are barely hanging on due to union busting and Venues going non-union. Department of Homeland Security (which is actually the responsible agency to oversee this stuff - really!) is non-existent for this type of inspection service as they don't have the "resources"- and the individual States - especially those with the new "we want Government out of our lives" mentality (like Indiana) don't want anything to do with it - and EVERY one of them shudder over the liability of it all! Lawyers are salivating here..... People vote for less Government until something like this happens and then they all say - "Shouldn't someone be inspecting these things?? Welcome to the deregulated world..... I think I hear the private Insurance Corporations slithering towards the door..... hear it? Ya KNOW you do! 

• So - here is at least ONE solution that I have to hopefully prevent lives from being lost and injuries to be drastically cut UNTIL some type of structural change can be made to these outdoor stages- I mean we can all do the finger pointing, but let's start to try to figure SOMETHING out........ Here is what could start happening --- TODAY!
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• One of the biggest problems for promoters is this - How do you evacuate 10,000 people out of a venue and then get them back IN, not knowing if the guy coming through the gate actually bought a ticket or not and is now trying to snake into the show for free? --- 
• EASY!!! 
• You know those wrist bands that they give to you for all the different VIP areas and Beer gardens?  Institute a new ticketing policy where-by special wrist bands MUST be worn by all concert attendees so in the event of a weather related evacuation they may exit the venue to seek shelter.  With this wrist-band they may re-enter the concert grounds as it would act like a ticket and show proof that they had been in the venue prior to the evacuation and presented a valid ticket. This would NOT mean the audience member could come and go out of the Venue as they please for any other reason but an evacuation. You leave the Venue without the Evac order being called - goodbye!
• As for audiences complaining about weather delays and/or wanting their money back due to a show that goes on late because of an evacuation - tough shit! Make sure via website, ticket agent postings, etc. that each ticket holder KNOWS that a show may be postponed up to 3 hours before cancellation with NO refund. I am positive that audience members would return to see the show as well - even if the show was to start 2 hours after it's scheduled time. As soon as it was safe to do so and the storm had passed then off you go - SHOWTIME!. And how would the audience know when they can return - Easy!! They log onto the Venues account on Twitter and Facebook to await notification. The Venue can also have an assigned instant messaging account and an automatic text that goes out - if they can do this in Egypt and change a Government I think Venues that have a whole seasons worth of shows could do this VERY easily. I know any Junior High School kid could set this all up in an hour. Mine could.
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• All in all - this has been a very sad time for those of us in this crazy business. I know so many incredibly wonderful and dedicated people in this business that put everything they have into "getting the show done".... If only HALF the musicians that play on these stages would begin to acknowledge and pay homage to what their crews do all day before they get there for sound check and after the show while they are partying I would drop to the floor in disbelief - I am VERY blessed to be a part of not one - but TWO touring Artists that treat the crew as peers and as professionals - I am so honored to work for them.....
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• I also HIGHLY recommend the following blog - http://www.jimonlight.com/ VERY insightful and I agree with him 100%%.
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• But as Henry Rollins said ---
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• "Listen to the Stage Manager and get on stage when they tell you. No one has time for the rock star bullshit. None of the techs backstage care if you’re David Bowie or the milkman. When you act like a jerk, they are completely unimpressed with the infantile display that you might think comes with your dubious status. They were there hours before you building the stage, and they will be there after you leave tearing it down. They should get your salary and you should get theirs.

• Thank you Henry - and thank your local and touring crews now and often!! - cause without us - you're just the radio.........
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• PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REPOST THIS BLOG ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA!! 
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• Please note the following --- and donate if you can!!!!!!
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• Nathan Byrd Memorial - 
• Our stage Brother Nathan was the spot-op 
• that was in the roof of the Indiana fair Stage collapse. 
• He passes leaving 2 children and his nephew....

If you wish to make a donate to a fund for his kids - 

I.A.T.S.E. LOCAL 30                                                                                               ATTN:NATHAN BYRD FAMILY-(MUST SPECIFY)                                                                  1407 EAST RIVERSIDE DRIVE

INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46202-2037

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