Long, long week
Monday, February 19th, 2007It’s snowed, rained and iced over. That makes for terrible working conditions. This week we worked with country star Phil Vassar, Doo-Wop legends The Drifters and even a Bruce Springstein tribute band. Here’s a quick rundown:
Doo-Wop concerts are usually a piece of cake. The same band performs throughout the evening as different singing acts swap in for 3 song sets. No big surprises. Groups like The Drifters and The Cadillacs are made up of men in their 60’s and 70’s but they still put on one hell of a show. Matching suits, shiny jewelry and funky dance choreography are a must if you’re in a doo-wop group. We had a lot of fun and found ourselves singing along to most of the songs while running spotlight.
Bruce across the USA is a Springsteen tribute band that has no rival (at least not on the east coast of the USA). The Bruce impersonator looks and sounds almost exactly like the boss himself, except the fake Bruce is about 6ft8 inches tall (the real bruce is known to be a little guy). His band played solidly, with a real Hammond organ, backup singers and a badass sax player that looked and played like the Big Man himself. I’m not a huge Bruce fan but you can’t argue with thousands of screaming fans… his music speaks to people. I doubt his rambling storytelling songs are loved around the world as they are here in the Philly/New Jersey area, but check out Bruce or a decent tribute act for a fun concert experience.
Phil Vassar brings a lot of crap with him when he tours! This year he had us unload a giant wall of plastic tiles that changed color (4 walls, actually). What a pain! These giant light contraptions are not only tough to move, they are extremely fragile. Once up though, they look pretty damn cool. Country acts are known for having a lot of risers and lights, and Phil Vassar was no exception. Luckily Phil always puts on one of hell of show and treats everyone very well. He remained accessible to everyone and is happy to chat with the local crew during downtime. A real professional and one hell of a piano-top dancer!
technorati tags:roadie, show, live, music, rock, blues, jazz, guitar, bass, drums, keys, lights, sound, phil, vassar, doo-wop, bruce, springstein
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