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Hardest load-in.

#21
the yeti said:
man, that sucks. most buildings have some sort of loading dock, weird that one does not.

i thought you guys had christmas in july?
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It did. We weren't allowed to access it. No we have Christmas at Christmas but its normally freakin hot. This year it's raining just to make the load- in more fun. This function band has to play in suits so you end up looking like a wrinkled prune after a hot rainy lug. Hard to hold an umbrella while pushing a rig.
 
#22
private warehouse rave party in a business park somewhere in Long Beach, CA -Circa 2000

Cars from previous night haphazardly parked everywhere Including in front of the loading dock where we were originally supposed to unload our full PA / lights. Rental Truck could not get closer than 300 ft from the dock due to disorganized parking. Had to lift dual 18 subwoofers and touring cases with power amps, lights, etc over multiple rows of closely parked cars and SUV's and then again up to the loading dock 5ft up. Then had to load equipment one or two pieces of equipment at a time onto a cherry picker (only made for holding a few guys) to get us on the roof of the office inside the warehouse which served as the stage for the bands/DJ's.

DJ's no problem but all 4 bands that night had to load/ exit their equipment the same way, so switch over was long and painful.
 
#23
Buxtehude said:
It did. We weren't allowed to access it. No we have Christmas at Christmas but its normally freakin hot. This year it's raining just to make the load- in more fun. This function band has to play in suits so you end up looking like a wrinkled prune after a hot rainy lug. Hard to hold an umbrella while pushing a rig.
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oooh, even worse knowing the remedy is just a case of "that's not allowed..", sorry for that. you need an umbrella girl.
 
#24
Well, you asked for weird load out stories so here's mine:

Back in college, I was in the percussion ensemble. We usually had two 15 passenger vans and a large moving truck full of equipment that we had to move from the percussion building over to the concert hall and back. We did a winter concert shortly before Christmas, and since this was in central Illinois, it was always freezing outside. Due to this, we had a tradition that every year we had what were called "bow-tie loadouts". After the concert we would all take off our shirts and put on bow-ties. No jackets, hats, or gloves were allowed; only shoes, pants, and a bow-tie (girls could wear a light t-shirt). We then had to load up all the vehicles to take the gear back to the percussion building.

What do you expect from a bunch of drummers
 
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#25
*Not my band, but still difficult as all hell

I was working at an outdoor music festival in rural NC, at which Bela Fleck and the Flecktones were playing. I was on stage crew and got the job of having to load in Howard Levy's ancient, ridiculously valuable grand piano.

It had been raining pretty continously, so it was extremely muddy and slippery (good ol' NC red clay). The outdoor stage was over a half mile from the paved road, backstage was open to both the public and the weather, and the entrance at the top of the ramp was narrower than the piano.

This was all difficult enough, but we were all very nervous (I mean, no one wants to be known as the guy that broke Howard Levy's piano) and having the Flecktones' tour manager literally screaming at the top of his lungs not to drop or damage it at us for the whole hour did not help.
 
#27
Geeze, I was gonna post but after reading the previous posts, forget it. I've got nothing. I mean, I've got horror stories about getting stuck in ancient freight elevators in NYC, being denied load-in access to hotels unless wearing full Tux, kitchen labyrinth hell, etc,..... but you guys win.

Well, OK. I guess the best I could do is the Block Island Wedding Gig scenario. You know, the one where you can't bring your vehicle on the ferry, so you have to load all of your gear into what they call 'pallet boxes?'.....can I get a "Hell Yeah!?"
 
#28
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?
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used to drive a chevy truck, now i pack it in my ruck...
 
#29
I haven't had anything "as" difficult as many of these, but I've had enough that were a huge pain in the butt. In my area, we often have to play in 100+ temperatures, and that can also take a toll.
This is why I went to the LMII which I can stuff in my bass gig bag, and I can carry a single MarkBass 210 Traveler. And I ALWAYS ask if I can simply bring a DI and plug in instead.
 
#30
LothrtheTerribl said:
The former Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas. Second floor, there was no freight elevator or steps; you had to load in on what essentially served as the building's fire escape. Stairs I have no beef with; I just don't dig it when they're two feet wide and winding.
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Actually, there was an elevator there - they just didn't like bands using it. Absolutely the worst sounding room I've ever played.
 
#31
At this point in our lives (all of us being in our 50s, and me, the bass player, hitting 60 in a little over a month), we are very picky about where we will play. Situations like what have been described here would be on our "no f-ing way" list. We would jack the price up to the stratosphere, and stipulate that they must provide the muscle to move the equipment, with our supervision. All in a written contract, and if they did not fulfill their end of the contract, there would not be any music. period. I seriously doubt that we would have to worry about it, because the price alone would kill the idea.

That said, it's always smart to scope out the gig ahead of time. That way, these kind of issues can be addressed beforehand, and you have the option of just saying "no". I love to play, but not to the point where I would go through that kind of hell to do it. I don't need it that bad.

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#32
Wedding reception in Omaha, Nebraska on New Year's Eve. The reception was on the 10th floor of an office tower. Load in wasn't too difficult other than having to search for power in the room. At load out time, we all got in the elevator to get our vehicles out of the parking garage to load into - only to discover that the elevators had been switched to "down only". This was before cell phones, so we had to wait in the elevator for 30 minutes before someone called it up to the floor our gear was on.

Once played in a club that was originally a Baptist church. Load in was up a 24" wide staircase that led to what was once the baptismal font.

We play several marinas in the summer, all of which have lousy load ins.
 
#33
I haven't had anything near as bad as most of these...my worst one was in TX...it was a bar along a lake, I had a really long run down a slope and at the end had to get on this 3 foot wide walkway with my handtruck and it was on the water so it's wobbling back and forth as I'm walking, meanwhile people see me coming and don't turn back or anything, so then we have to play twister so they can get by, it was ridiculous. I was really in a pissed off mood until the gig started and the 200 hot bodies in small bikinis laying out by the pool and getting into boats started walking around. There was a girl watching us who looked so much like Britney Spears I actually thought it was here, but it was a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.
 
#36
Hand carrying full stage/roof/PA/Backline for a national act out to the middle of a baseball field after the game 9 pm. We could not use any forklifts or motorized vehicles of any kind. We were lucky to have a plywood path to walk on!

Set up the stage and roof only to find out the newly constructed additions did not fit the old stuff by about an inch.

Take down the stage and roof and put back together again in a different way that somehow worked out. Leave at 11am the next day.
 
#37
Oh wait, I thought of another one that was worse than the one I already posted---Daufuskie Island, off the SC coast. OMG, it was awful.

First of all, it was cold as hell with a 20mph constant wind along the coast and intercoastal waterways. We drove our equipment truck (the biggest size box truck you can get), full to the gills, to a dock where we were to meet a boat to take us over to the island. Oh, but first we had to put everything that was in our truck in these four-wheeled covered dolly things (they were big things with car tires). It took five, I think it was, to hold all our gear. Then, those things were pulled onto the boat with a tractor. Good grief, we were absolutely frozen by then. I can't believe we had to do that instead of being able to drive our truck onto something instead.

Well, after all that we had a nice freezing boat ride for about twenty minutes. There was a cabin we could all sit in out of the wind, though. Not too bad. BUT...once we docked on the island we had to unload the dolly things into another box truck. So, that was twice we had moved all our stuff. Again, unbelievable. Why we couldn't pull the dollies to the gig place, I dunno. So, again we rode, this time in the truck and some other vehicles to the big house we were to play at. Sheesh, then after about two hours we could finally load our stuff (again, in the cold) into the house.

Played the gig---four hours. Packed up and began loading the truck, all the time thinking how we had to undergo the same routine again with the dollie things and the boat ride back, AND then reload our truck, too. Except this time it was dark, and really freezing in the wind. And also including the fact that...

THE TRUCK WOULDN'T CRANK!!!! Godamighty!!!

Here we were after all this and then had to wait another hour for a tech to get there to work oh their truck. By then it was almost becoming comical---but no, it was maniacal. It was like being imprisoned in the underworld..."Despair all hope..."

The only good thing I saw in all this so far was a really dark, clear sky while riding in the back of their equipment truck back to the boat (I'm an amateur astronomer, so...). Anyway, we unloaded their truck, reloaded the dollies, got them on board, rode the boat back, reloaded our truck, and got back home around 7am. I was still freezing. I made $300, and told the band leader that he'd have to get a sub for me next time, not worth it. He said he didn't wanna go back, so...

That was even worse than the time we had to ride a WWII landing craft over to another island (but we had our truck with us that time) and then three of us rode in the bucket of a front-end loader down a sandy road to the gig site, LOL. The rest got to ride in a car. Another $300 gig that was about $300 short, IMO.

I'm keeping a watch out for scenarios like that nowadays, so I can avoid them, yessiree.
 
#38
Factor88 said:
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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I've played on a boats before, and luckily never had an experience like this. However, I still feel apprehensive about loading and unloading my rig and instruments on a dinghy.
 

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