A meme from the past would have the standard: what my friends think I do, what my parents think I do, etc and these range from hanging out backstage drinking beer and partying with the artists, or wandering around the festival watching anyone I want to.

In reality, it’s a very long day and night without any real breaks, with endless questions and solving many critical problems, whilst being on your feet all day and only leaving the stage area in emergencies (including the loo)

But it could be seen as playing Tetris on a huge scale with very heavy and expensive pieces of equipment, whilst looking at my stage clocks and wrist watch, and reminding busy visiting production folks how much time they have left to do the things they need to do.

And pointing. A lot of pointing. In fact, I think I got RSI in my pointing finger one season, so I switched to using the aerial on my walkie-talkie. The show must go on, after all.

In reality, it’s a lot of pre-planning by the production manager & team for the festival, negotiating with the headliners for what they plan to do and bring to the show, and then working down the bill to see what everyone else wants to do, and checking that it will all fit on stage and that we have enough time to do it.

So what actually happens?

Months before a festival opens, the production team advances and plans every inch of it.

They’re speaking to the headliners first:

• What they’re bringing and what they plan to do

• Using Festival audio/lighting desks, or using their own

• Space - what’s the footprint going to be like

• Load-in & set-up time

• Power requirements and where

• Lighting & rigging

• Special effects (SFX)

• Video walls and visuals

• Truck and Tour Bus numbers and arrival/departure times

• Crew requirements for loading in and loading out, including number of forklifts & drivers

• Number of dressing rooms

Then they work down the line-up doing the same thing for everyone else, but ensuring that the plans of the artists lower down on the bill do not affect those above them.

My job as Stage Manager is to take all of that planning and make it happen safely, smoothly, and on time.

The best way to explain my role

A Stage Manager is a bit like Gary Lineker. I’m there to tap it in from two yards out and claim credit like I planned the whole thing, while the festival production manager and team, plus visiting artist production teams, have done all the hard work getting the ball into the box.

They’ve spent months planning it; I turn up on site a day before the show and deliver it.

So as a stage manager, you need the trust of the production manager, and you need to trust the production manager - it’s a tight bond, one that moves across festivals and shows, often for years. But you are only as good as your last show; if you fuck up and break that trust, you won’t be asked back. Sometimes, it works the other way too.

My preparation

Failure to prepare, prepare to fail is my mantra.

I go through all the pre-production documents and technical riders before arriving on site, understand what has been agreed in advance, and condense everything into a one-sheet for each act that includes;

• on-stage/off-stage times,

• the time they have to changeover, where we roll the last band off stage and roll the next band on,

• the stage plot,

• the number of trucks they are bringing,

• whether they have their own audio/lighting desks for front of house, monitor desks for stage,

• flown and/or floor lighting,

• power requirements & locations,

• special effects,

• names of key artist personnel (people like it when you remember and call them by name) and everything else that I need to know before they arrive.

Continue reading “What A Festival Stage Manager Actually Does” on my blog, The Stage Clock: backstage stories, anecdotes, near misses, and hard-earned lessons from 30+ years as a Stage Manager at festivals and live events.