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Hardest load-in.

B

Buxtehude

Jan 5, 2011
484
5
Sydney
#1
I'd a gig at Sydney's Centre-Point tower last night. It is the tallest structure in Sydney at 250 meters (825 ft). The load-in parameters were these:
1. All the streets that surround it are one way with no stopping (let alone parking) so I have to wheel my heavy poweramp with pre, a 4x10 cab, my heavy Thumb bass (on back) around half a mile through mad Xmas shopping crowds.
2. Push heavy gear into the mall below tower and catch elevator to 4th floor.
3. Push heavy gear (I also forgot to mention that I also have a loaded gig bag) through more mad shoppers to tower entrance.
3. Tower security then make me empty bag and pull out bass for a thorough check.
4. Catch another elevator that takes over a minute to reach the venue at the top of the tower.
5. Set up gear and realize I have left keys, wallet and and charts.
6. Go back to car then repeat steps 1 through 4.
7. Band sets up with massive window behind where the view is similar to the view from an aeroplane.
8. Singer is late (he is lugging a guitar and small pa) so he has to do the same load in as described earlier.
9. We play lounge jazz while singer sets up pa to managerial disapproval.

That was my hardest load-in in 40 years of gigging. Anybody else have hard, interesting or weird load-in stories?
 
#3
Buxtehude said:
I'd a gig at Sydney's Centre-Point tower last night. It is the tallest structure in Sydney at 250 meters (825 ft). The load-in parameters were these:
1. All the streets that surround it are one way with no stopping (let alone parking) so I have to wheel my heavy poweramp with pre, a 4x10 cab, my heavy Thumb bass (on back) around half a mile through mad Xmas shopping crowds.
2. Push heavy gear into the mall below tower and catch elevator to 4th floor.
3. Push heavy gear (I also forgot to mention that I also have a loaded gig bag) through more mad shoppers to tower entrance.
3. Tower security then make me empty bag and pull out bass for a thorough check.
4. Catch another elevator that takes over a minute to reach the venue at the top of the tower.
5. Set up gear and realize I have left keys, wallet and and charts.
6. Go back to car then repeat steps 1 through 4.
7. Band sets up with massive window behind where the view is similar to the view from an aeroplane.
8. Singer is late (he is lugging a guitar and small pa) so he has to do the same load in as described earlier.
9. We play lounge jazz while singer sets up pa to managerial disapproval.

That was my hardest load-in in 40 years of gigging. Anybody else have hard, interesting or weird load-in stories?
Click to expand...

that hardly even sounds worth the effort.

my worst load-in experience involved an elevator in a five-story nightclub complex. the stage was on the fifth floor, and our first load-in of gear got stuck between the fourth and fifth floors along with our claustrophobic bandleader, all the guitars and my basses. they got the elevator working again just in time for last call. we were loading out of a gig we didn't get to play around hundreds of drunk people exiting the building. seven hours of nothing for a ton of hassle and no pay.
 
#5
lowfreq33 said:
That doesn't sound right. If there's a mall at the bottom there must be a loading zone for trucks delivering merchandise and such. Were you simply denied access?
Click to expand...

Venue didn't release loading dock details as this entrance requires you to drive 200 meters on a pedestrian mall: a practice they discourage except for regular deliverers. Anyhow, band worksheet stipulated street access so providing bummer load but good story.
 
#6
I played a venue in Chicago that was bar/lounge upstairs, rock venue downstairs. The only way to get downstairs was via a spiral staircase. I don't know what was worse - lugging my 80lb+ hartke 4x10 and rack down there or watching the drunk people trying to go up and down it all night.
 
#8
I played at a medium security prison once. The load in and load out took well over 2 hours each way. We hauled all our stuff to the prison gate, where they took our stuff to have it searched. They brought us to a room, where we were searched. Then we waited around while they searched every single bag, case, and piece of equipment we brought in. Once the search was done, we got our stuff and had to haul it across the yard to the stage. We repeated the same process for the load out.

Load in and load out, not including setup, took almost 5 hours for a 1 hour show.
 
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#10
Worst load-in ever for me was one I did a coupla months ago.

There was an unusually steep driveway leading down to the area where we were to play. All the asphalt had been stripped - the owner was having fresh concrete poured the following day.

Anyway, it had rained the nite befor the gig.....you get the picture....the entire driveway was a slick, slippery, muddy mess.

Had an Ampeg SVT & eden 210 cab strapped on a hand truck. While navigating down the driveway, (kinda letting the rig pull me down) i slipped in the mud, landed flat on my back and lost grip of the hand truck (& my rig) which promptly went careening down the slope.

Fortunately, aside from some mud splatters in the rat-fur of the 210 cab, my rig survived the ordeal. But i played the entire gig with my backside covered in mud.

Had to endure an entire evening of inane mud jokes from my bandmates and several people from the audience.

Didnt have the presence of mind to take some cell-phone pics of the scene, dammit.
 
#11
I live in North Texas. Snow confuses us around here. I had a private party gig back in 1991 or '92. When we set up the gig, the weather was still supposed to be nice. By the time of the gig the weather had turned into a cruel joke. There was snow and sleet everywhere. Some was trying to melt into slush. But mostly it was still acting like it wanted to stay till spring.

My rig was a Randall 2x15 cabinet under an Acoustic powered 210 cab under an Acoustic B4 head. All in all about 300 lbs of bass rig.The driveway was deeply inclined and covered in ice. The yard around it was slushy mud. I was at the bottom of that incline with two basses on my back in a Levy's double bag and the aforementioned 300 lbs of bass rig.

You can picture nearly everything that happened pretty easily. Parts of it have shown up in earlier post already. But did anyone else have their amp fall over on them while halfway up an ice covered slope? How about sliding most of the way down the driveway like you're a sled and your amp is an eight year old kid? I did those parts.

Is it redundant to say it sucked?

We eventually got in and set up. Remarkably my amp still worked. My bag was trashed, but my basses were OK. I warmed up and changed back into my work clothes to do the show. Everyone knew why I was dressed that way so they only kind of gave me a hard time for it.
 
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#12
jive1 said:
I played at a medium security prison once. The load in and load out took well over 2 hours each way. We hauled all our stuff to the prison gate, where they took our stuff to have it searched. They brought us to a room, where we were searched. Then we waited around while they searched every single bag, case, and piece of equipment we brought in. Once the search was done, we got our stuff and had to haul it across the yard to the stage. We repeated the same process for the load out.

Load in and load out, not including setup, took almost 5 hours for a 1 hour show.
Click to expand...

Commiserations man. You win so far. Hope it paid ********* of money. Bet the the load out of jail felt better than the way in .
 
#13
Hibernian Hall, Charleston, SC. It's a historic building, so no elevator. And the ballroom is on the second floor (very tall ceiling, LOTS of stairs, a spiral staircase at that, so that means even MORE stairs). Loading out is out the back down a narrow metal fire stairway. Slippery when wet. Somehow it always rains.

We have boycotted playing there anymore. Sorry, no thanks.

EDIT: we now call it "Highhernia Hall," LOL.
 
#15
There is a hotel in downtown Denver called The Brown Palace. Several U.S. presidents, various world leaders and dignataries, and The Beatles have stayed there.

But it's old and funky.

To get your gear up to the floor you are playing on, you have to start at the street level elevator. Yes, the sidewalk has a trap door that opens up. You go down two floors below street level into the kitchen/service staff catacombs. You work your way through smoke, grease, slippery floors, and hot ovens clear to the other side of the building. You then take a service elevator up to your floor. It's a real odyssey, especially after three or four trips. I think last time I was there, we spent more time loading in and out than we did on the performance.

Also, the Clocktower Building in Denver (like a minature Big Ben) has a very popular party facility comprising the top four levels. The problem is, the elevator stops about three floors short, so you could be facing up to seven flights of narrow stairs to get gear to the top party level (where the clockworks are). It's bizarre, like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I have hauled a full P.A. to the top and back down--alone--to DJ a wedding reception. I thought I was gonna die.
 
#17
Did a local charity Cancer 24-hour walk-a-thon gig last year at a 3rd rate soccer field. The organizers were about as clueless about the needs of live music bands as possible. First they put the stage in the middle of the field and would not allow anyone to drive any where near the stage for fear of hurting the crabgrass infested soccer field. Second they would not allow anyone to even park close to the event and wanted all the bands to carry their gear from a dirt parking lot a 1/2 mile away and roll your gear down a gravel road and across a large grass field to set up. Then if you tried to get closer to drop off your gear...the event promoter would come over to scream at you at the top of her lungs to move your car - very unprofessional. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and someone ponied up a golf cart to move gear in and out however the golf cart disappeared after our set and had to load out with no help. All this drama for a free charity event. Unfortunately I was just a sit in player and was not aware ahead of time of the lack of attention paid to the load in situation. As they say "no good deed goes unpunished."
 
#18
Stiltsville, Biscayne Bay (Miami) FL.

Step one: unload gear in a marina parking lot and roll/carry it out to a boat far out on a narrow pier.

Step two: load gear into boat whose deck is five feet down from surface of dock. Boat can't get scratched, so have all sorts of blankets and cushions placed everywhere. Put tarps over everything so salt spray doesn't get on it.

Step three: 40 minute boat ride to Stiltsville out in the bay. This normally would be a 5-10 minute trip hauling a$@, but because of gear have to go at idle speed.

Step four: Arrive at dock at stilthouse; load gear onto dock 5 feet above boat deck.

Step five: Carry gear up flight of steps from dock to main level of stilthouse.

Step six: set up 50 square feet of gear in 30 square feet of space.

Steps 7-12: repeat above in reverse; except you go back in two different boats because the guy who took you out left the party early.
 

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