Stub Stories #10

STING

1991. While in college at N.C. State I got a job with a company called Set Up Productions. Basically, we would help roadies set up and tear down at concerts. It was an "if you are available" kind of job and more than the extra spending money, it was a chance for me to infiltrate the rock and roll world. 

My first chance to work with Set Up Productions was a Sting concert in Chapel Hill at the Dean Dome. I got my friend Brian Marshall in on the job and we showed up at the Dean Dome early in the day ready to work. The first thing we did was to help unload all the 18 wheeler trucks full of equipment. Then we were assign to specific roadies to help them with their jobs. I helped set up lighting trusses and learned how to deal with the giant cables involve with all the stage lighting. The roadies were great guys and put up with my inexperience. 

Next I was paired with the drum technician. I helped him set up the drum kit for whom I believe was Omar Hakim. He was a nice guy and told me stories of how he and Omar would go to the Zildgian Cymbal company and get to pick out whatever cymbals they wanted because Omar was sponsored by Zildgian. My friend Brian got to be a stand in for Sting while they got the lighting set in place. It was a cool experience to stand on the stage imagining myself in front of thousands of people. 

We had a break during sound check. During the concert we got pretty good seats to watch the show. Concrete Blonde opened up and were pretty good. Sting played his set. Branford Marsalis was his sax player. The show was ok. He played a few not so great versions of Police songs but most of the show was from his 2 solo albums. 

We had to go backstage before the show was over because as soon as the music ended we went back to work tearing everything down. Everything was taken apart, packed up in rolling crates and then we waited to load everything on the 18 wheelers. Each crate was numbered and each 18 wheeler had a diagramed layout of how all the crates fit in. We would push the crates up to the trailer and wait for our number to be called. When your number was called you had to push your cart up a metal ramp into the trailer. Some crates were a bit heavy and required running starts or extra hands. 

While waiting with a crate to go on a truck Sting pops out of a hallway 8 feet in front of me. He looks right at me, waves, and says "Great show tonight. Thanks for everything." I'm a bit star struck and I'm thinking "Wow, Sting is cool enough to thank the crew." I nervously raise my hand to wave back when I hear someone right behind me say "All right, I'll see you on the bus." I nervously lower my hand feeling like a dumbass and try to pretend it didn't happen. I guess it was the tour manager standing behind me.