July 31st, Vale, Day 3, Friday, THE CONCERT. . .

I woke up early on Friday morning and made a trip back to Boise. We needed another dimmer rack for the lights and the dogs needed to get out of the heat so I took them home. As I was driving, I couldn't help but notice that my hands have taken a beating this summer. . .



When I pulled into the the rodeo grounds around noon the 2 tour buses were parked and plugged in and the semi that was loaded with audio, lights and backline was backed up to the stage . . .




The thing that I failed to mention in the last two posts was how great the Vale Chamber of Commerce was to work with. They could write a book on how to treat a sound company. They kept our cooler filled with ice, waters and Gator Ade and continually asked if we needed anything. They were also the crew that unloaded the truck. . .

Most professional tech riders require at least a few people to help unload when the truck arrives and load back up after the show. This tech rider called for "10 competent, sober loaders". It's kind of nice to sit back for an hour and watch other people work. . .

I handed off the camera to Tyler and he took some good shots. . .

For a concert like this, our job is to provide the stage and roof, stacks and racks (speakers and amps) par cans with specific gels, and everything the opening act needs. This group was on a road tour rather than a fly tour so they brought a lot of their own gear.

This is called "Guitar World" and it comes staffed with a guitar tech that tunes and switches out guitars during the concert for the band on stage. (I imagine guitar techs are at least as good at playing guitar as the guys on stage much like backup singers are usually as good or better than the lead. . . )

This is called "Monitor World" and they bring along a monitor tech and everything needed to run monitors.

This is a REAL monitor tech. Unlike me.

They also travel with a front of house board and a sound engineer. He was pretty cool. . .

And last but not least, they travel with intelligent lights and a lighting director:

After the headlining band was finished with their sound check, we set up the backline for the opening band. . .

The opening band was Magnolia Country. . .

Everything went very smoothly and according to plan all day and I really wasn't responsible for much of anything except helping to clear the stage between bands. So, I used my spare time to take pictures. Of course.

The gates opened at about 6:30, a good 2 hours before the start of the concert. . .

The concert started right on time and the turnout was better than expected. . .

Kurt is also a REAL monitor tech so ran the monitor board for the opening band. . .

Rob had a good time out at front of house. . .

The opening band played for about 45 minutes and then we cleared all of their stuff off of the stage so the main band could take the stage for the rest of the evening. . .

Everything ran like clockwork and the band took the stage. . .

The crowd got pretty excited when Tracy Lawrence came out on stage. . .

I had a great seat next to the stage by our monitor board and I have to say it was pretty cool. . .

These guys did a great job of keeping the crowd in line and our equipment safe. . .

Kurt may have had the best seat in the house. Except he had to stand. And run the spot light. On a 12 foot scaffolding!!

I climbed the scaffolding to get a few pictures of the view from there and it was pretty amazing. . .

I couldn't help but think how far we've come from our very first show 6 years ago when we pulled up to Nampa Nights and dumped our case-less cables and gear onto the grass. . .

How the heck did we get here???????

Pretty cool.

It was a great show without a single glitch.

This crew did a great job and threw one heck of a party for Vale. . .

I think we all felt pretty good about a job well done. . .

The loaders worked quickly and packed the group out as quickly as they packed them in. . .

Teamwork. . .

One more day to take it all down and I can check off our biggest concert EVER. . .

Tracy Lawrence on YouTube: