Tag Archives: Photos

Last year was a busy one…

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2022 Started off full on for me. The HS tour was in motion but on a temporary hiatus at this point. With the first 360º run under our belts, the upcoming segments would morph into a few different designs and deployments.

Before that could get underway though, I first went out with Dua Lipa to start the first few months of her Future Nostalgia tour. This began with rehearsals in New Jersey, and the tour starting officially in Miami and ending 27 cities later in Vancouver. I had some great repeat offenders on the crew as well. Stage folks Sapna, JTL, and Alex from the Mumford days, as well as PA heavyweights Owen, Chuck, and Tony. The show itself was full of gags likened to the biggest of award shows. A remote controlled personal lift, balloon drops, lasers, inflatables, and several other crazy visuals. It was trying at times fitting that much equipment into some of the arenas in this country. The end result looked pretty wild and was complimented overall by a fantastic mix from the great Will Nicholson. It was great to work with him and he consistently nailed it when it came to making her and the band sound great. Plus on top of it all, he’s damn funny. I look forward to working with him again down the road someday.

Dua Lipa 2022
Dua Lipa 2022

The DL tour carried me up to the first week of April. After that, it was immediately back to HS with our first show headlining at Coachella. Rehearsals and the first weekend’s show went great. Sooo many folks. Then it was back to more rehearsals before heading back to the polo fields for weekend two.

After Coachella, it was off to home to get things finalized on my move back up north. It had been in the works for quite a long while, but with tons of work, travel, and Covid, that just couldn’t get going in a timely manner. I literally got moved out of Houston the day before I had to fly off to start the summer run of events.

We started with two album release shows at UBS Arena on Long Island, New York, and another show at Brixton in London, UK. Special thanks to Johnny K for stepping in to help at FOH in New York. Loved picking his brain and working with him. After those, it was off to do several shows in stadiums that would then morph into a slew of arena dates throughout Europe.

Harry @ Brixton

The seven stadium shows went great with an all star cast of folks. From Rich and Josh nailing it on delays to Jonny, Owen, and Isaac on the mains and ground gear. Long days but worth it.

We were scheduled to do 15 arena style shows but our first one in Denmark…well, that got cancelled due to an idiot with a gun… This took place across the street from our venue and thanks to the quick thinking folks there and around it, they potentially saved a lot of lives that day getting those folks inside the gig fast. Unfortunately, they pulled the plug and I had to watch the faces of several thousand kids turn from anticipation to sadness when they made the announcement through the PA. I have to say, the crowd dealt with it better than most would have. They exited the building in a very orderly and efficient manner. Glad to see we went back to Denmark for our first Euro show in 2023. The shows moved on though and we finished up strong at the end of July.

The beginning of August led us right into the fall 360º tour “residency”. A redesign of our previous 360º tour but this time it was only done in 6 different cities only…

2 nights in Toronto

15 nights in New York

6 nights in Austin

6 nights in Chicago

15 nights in Inglewood

2 nights in Palm Springs

A few of those Inglewood shows were makeup shows pushed to 2023 though due to the boss being sick. So they rescheduled them and added in the Palm Springs shows.

NYC
One World Tower
MSG Residency
Griffith

At the end of our 2022 run in Inglewood, we then made our way to Mexico and South America for a run of shows there.

This run was different for me though as I became the advance system engineer. Due to time constraints the day of show and with the size of the venues, we wouldn’t have enough time to setup and tune a stadium rig of PA in time to make soundcheck. Plus, the time that it would take to make any changes would have delayed us potentially by several hours. Potentially affecting doors and showtime. So it was agreed that I would fly ahead, make whatever adjustments to the PA were needed and tune with the local PA crew onsite. That way my guy Owen could arrive the next day with the tour to operate for the show with minimal adjustments. The whole operation worked out great and wouldn’t mind doing that again.

Sao Paulo, Brazil
Beco de Batman
Banana Stand!
Lima Uber
Lima Uber

Time for an update…and there are many…part 3

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(yeah, yeah, yeah… I know I’m slow. I’ve been busy. I swear.)

2020… yeah that was a year wasn’t it? Started it off on a pretty good high with the potential of many fruitful things. Work and in life especially. I polished off the last of the Mumfords tour in March and the future looking solid shortly thereafter with dates beginning with Harry Styles. Not to say, after getting home from my last show on Mums did I come down with something that (I know now) bared a huge resemblance to the C word. This was before the testing and vaccines though but I’m pretty positive it was…it. Thankfully I was due to be home for a few weeks so quarantine engage.

Then “The Break” happened, and one heck of a rollercoaster ensued. For the first time in my working life, since I’d say around 1997, I didn’t know what my next gig was going to really be and more importantly, when it was going to be. It was honestly surreal. Getting the message that all European shows were getting cancelled and postponed… and then the US following through shortly after. Industry wide, the affects were being felt by fellow road crew all the way from the top down to stage hands that I’ve known for years. Folks that depended on those gigs week to week and the checks that followed suit. Many who I know have yet to return to this business and probably never will now. I can only hope they’ve found something better and more fulfilling.

Myself? Well I went through the initial phase of “it’ll be over soon”, then it was “welp, this is a heck of a staycation”, to the “time to do some things I’ve always wanted to try”. This included a bunch of online classes and seminars that helped fill the days. I managed to gain some work as an online audio consultant for a company that helps design all facets of venues. From the ground up on some and some preexisting. It was a great expansion to my knowledge of audio and all that it affects in and around a venue. I also was able to help a popular YouTuber with his gaming servers and all those that were members. Many hours focused on coding data packs and plugins with even more hours of troubleshooting. That ended up being pretty consuming but in the end, hopefully, many found some joy in the projects I contributed to and for it.

The year became a modern day corralling of the wagons for me though. Watching what I spent and what I did became even more important. My focus narrowed severely. The most ever from what I can guess. The deep fear being that I was going to have to change my career after 20+ years into something I wasn’t ready for or worse yet, prepared to do. I mean, I’m not opposed to manual labor of most types. My job is littered with various amounts of it on a daily basis…but to stop and shift gears in a completely different direction takes planning, patience, and drive. And being stuck at home due to a nationwide quarantine, just isn’t the place to shift into a higher gear. I know now, that I was in a total mode to make sure that directional arrow didn’t change for me. I was determined to come out the other side in some sort of one piece. All in all, I ended up making it through the year with the hopes for a better 2021.

This took some getting used to...
Wha happened?

2021 started with much of the same drive and determination to stay afloat with the sanity and savings I had. Managed to to keep things on course thanks to some early days investing in crypto and stocks. Personally, the times were trying and I learned some things about me that I realized I needed to work on heavily. Work in progress I suppose even to this day!

Thankfully by the middle of the year things started to come back online work-wise for me. Started off with the opening of MSG with Foo Fighters filling in for a fellow co-worker Mr Smith who was dealing with the lockdown still in the UK at that time. What a heck of a start back I tell you… To not be around very many people for over a year and a half, and then start up with a show with upwards of 20,000 screaming fans was a humbling and surreal experience. Something I’ll never forget. Hearing that band fire up with the crowd cheering really doesn’t beat much out there.

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The reopening of MSG. Such a good show.

Unfortunately, before the show could happen, we had a massive loss to the camp near the end of rehearsal prep. One of the best stage managers I’ve ever had the privilege of working with passed away before we could get the show in at MSG. Andy Pollard was a legend and a driving force on the crew. I’ll never forget your stories of the carrot fly Andy and that look of victory on your face when telling the story. RIP sir and thanks for all the great experiences…

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Miss you Andy



After a few weeks of doing shows with Foos, Mr Smith was finally able to get across the pond. At that point I immediately turned my attention back to the tour I was supposed to do before the C thing… Mr Styles. After a few weeks of prep and rehearsals, we hit the ground running with me at the helm of another 360º tour. I’m starting to see a trend at this point of my career.

This carried me through the end of the year with a brighter future hopefully moving into 2022…



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Harry Styles – Love on Tour 2021 360º





Time for an update…and there are many…part 2

Posted by Screaming Monk on

2019 started off strong with more shows with Foo Fighters, some lengthy runs with Mumford & Sons in the US. Did another round with the awesome folks of TED Talks up in Vancouver before heading over to Europe for Mums shows and some supplemental gigs with Pink while I was in the UK. Later on in the year, I did the start up for another Game of Thrones tour but only had to do a couple weeks of shows as I was jumping back out with Mumfords again for another fall run. We did some great festivals that year including Bottlerock, ACL, and iHeart in Vegas. I ended the year with the Late Show gig and some much needed time with the relatives.

Time for an update…and there are many…part 1

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So yeah, it’s been a bit. Since my last real post, I’ve done a bunch of shows, had a longer than expected break, and then did a bunch more shows (thankfully). In and around that, I’ve had some ups and downs and thanks to many, I’ve managed to retain some sort of sanity in the process.

2017 finished up strong with some great runs with GoT, TED Talks, and Matchbox 20. See CV page for a little more in depth info.

2018 went just as well doing tours with Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, TED Talks again, GoT, as well as the start of a lengthy journey with Mumford & Sons. In and around those shows were a few other great events that helped fill in some gaps along with some R&R trips as well.

Matchbox 20 2017

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Crew pic
Crowds looked great every night
Bees!
Sinkhole!
Skunk!
Rain!

After a few weeks off, I was able to join some old tour friends who I admire greatly. They offered me a gig as a monitor tech for Matchbox 20 on their 20 year anniversary tour. We played most of the shows with Counting Crows with Matt Nathanson or Rivers and Rust opening. Was nice to get behind the board in monitors again doing ears for the openers and helping the great Bob Lewis as he did his thing for MB.

Crazy circumstances hit from all sides on this run though. From bees infesting our speakers one show day, to sinkholes preventing our trucks from entering the venue. A few massive downpours, to even a skunk problem one day after a storm…we encountered enough delay of games to last us a couple years at least. Plus on top of that another wonderful flood situation at home in Houston put things on high alert. In the end, I came out ok but several friends lost a lot. Tough to watch from afar when you are working on the road.

TED 2017

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TED 2017

TED 2017 in Vancouver

After the run for GoT was over, I ventured out into the corporate world for a few shows. One of them being the yearly event for TED Talks up in Vancouver, BC. An absolutely great bunch of people on the crew here and a great event overall to work on. Amazingly good talks here with live acts occasionally playing on the same stage. They actually build the entire theatre seating area in the convention center there and they do it in under a weeks time. PA done and floated in one afternoon with a few tweaks done a couple days later.

Game of Thrones US Tour 2017

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GoT 2017 1
GoT 2017 2

The start of 2017 brought me my first freelance job as System Engineer for the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience. This featured conductor Ramin Djawadi who is the main composer for the show as well as several other projects such as Westworld, Pacific Rim and Iron Man. We deployed 8 main hangs of Meyer Lyon speakers for the in-the-round setting that was needed for the show. Long days and nights as this was a pretty huge production. Tons of video, pyro, and lights here and the crowds seemed to enjoy the shows quite well.

A Change of Pace… 2017 onward

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Voodoo Fest 2016.jpg

After deciding long and hard about my current location and career, I decided at the end of 2016 to join the freelance world of live audio. Mostly decided out of the need to get closer to family. Being closer to help out when needed especially when I am home was the driving factor. Traveling back and forth from Wisconsin was getting expensive and only going to get worse over time. Losing the security of a staff position and the yearly jobs that contributed to my growing experience was going to be tough to match but something had to happen. So, with that all weighing on me I decided I wasn’t getting any younger and put in my notice. LD Systems was a great company to grow up in and I am very thankful for all the opportunities they offered me throughout the years.

With the passing of the new year, I began as a freelancer and it didn’t take long thankfully, to gain employment. First job being as the System Engineer for the Game of Thrones US tour in 2017. A big change of pace and speaker systems but I learned a lot and continue to do so. Pics to follow!

 

 

Time flys…

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… when you are working your tail off.

Sheesh. It’s been forever in a month (or so) since I’ve posted. Been truthfully very, very, busy with work and it has not allowed me much time to sit, write, and post  like I have before. To be honest, it’s also been a lack of energy in the evening when I get to the casa that has let me wander to the bed instead of writing or posting a pic or two…

So, before I crash for the evening this time, I think I’ll put up a couple I’ve taken recently that stick out as favorites of mine, from the past few weeks….

 

Xmas Downtown

Went for a quick photo op downtown on the way home last night…

Parade dragon...

One of the better inflatables from the Turkey Day Parade downtown…

IMG_2422

The evening was beautiful but way too warm for the last week of November. I wanna wear a long sleeve please…

 

Another couple weeks of crazy shows coming up starting with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill this weekend. Then on to some smaller gigs with Sara Evans and The Band Perry next week. I’ll see about trying to put up some pics from that when I can. Have a nice weekend folks!

 

Legos

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Drinking a nice cup o’ joe, windows open, bit of cleaning done and now listening to some music while working on some pics….

Looking at these, I realize I must have looked pretty crazy when touring in Asia. Snapping pics every other minute. Constantly looking around taking in as much as possible. The enormous amount of architecture differences there compared to here in the states is pretty mind blowing. Engineers who constantly push the boundaries to create some of the craziest structures. Places like Germany and several countries in Asia throw my OCD (of order) needle into the red. I can’t help that I like angles. It’s not as bad as it used to be mind you. I’ve learned to embrace it and I still do like my rounds. Just look at my logo : ).

I blame it solely on my extensive experience as a child having a large collection of those Danish delights known as Legos.

Lego /ˈlegō/

n

a construction toy consisting of plastic bricks and other standardized components that fit together with studs

[from Danish leg godt play well]
It is an abbreviation of “leg godt”, which means “play well”

Coincidentally, “Lego” is also a Latin verb which means, “I assemble”.

I guess you could say [I] “Lego” audio systems as well, considering that’s about half of my job. The other half consists of designing them, making them sound good each show, and making sure I or other engineers have a good show with said systems. I guess that’s where the “play well” part comes in, but I digress…

Back to my other love. Photography. Here’s a few I’ve been working on:

Taipei 101

Taipei 101

Incheon Trip

Bridge nearing Incheon

Great Wall 1

The Great Wall – very photogenic…

I’ll be working on more European and stateside photos in the coming days. We’ll see what I can find in my toy box of pics. Hope you had a good weekend! Godnat alle!