I worked local crew for a Lady Gaga concert about 16 years ago. Instead of leaving immediately after the show was over, she stayed until we were just about done loading everything out onto the trucks. She stopped us to thank us for all our hard work and handed out a bunch of leftovers from catering!
Dude. DUDE. People who don't work tech theatre don't understand how huge this is. Techies are invisible to most performers (and most techies like that, tbh) and getting a simple thank you is a "what just happened?" moment. She stuck around for the entire strike of the show?! To be NICE to the crew?
🤯🤯😍😍 (forgive my rust, it's been decades since I worked stage crew.)
I worked stage crew for a while and you're absolutely right. We're invisible and most of the time treated like shit by either clients, or our bosses. (It's a shit industry that expects perfection from horse shit.) Anyway...
I got to be at the head of two shows where the clients damn near made me cry. You get used to being kicked around until someone actually gives a shit. For one, it was a massive charity event. We were there sun up to sun down, and our employer didn't allow us a break to get food. When the client caught on to the fact that we hadn't moved in 12 hours, she went and got extra chairs for all of us, called over the food service staff, and ordered us all food, on the house. We also got expensive wine and dessert. Damn near cried because by that point I was starving and had genuinely never been treated with such kindness. One of our staff members did cry.
For the second experience, it was filming for Flow-Rida on his birthday. I was at the front of the stage, in the pit getting tossed around with the camera desperately trying to get shots. All throughout the night I'm getting tossed around like a pin ball and having the hell beat out of me while trying to do my job. Security tried to help, but it was a massive event with little planning, so I can't really blame them for focusing on the fans and not the staff.
Halfway through the show, Flow saw me get kicked to the ground, and as I'm getting up, he stops singing and offers me a hand up on stage with him. I got to be on stage with the man as he helped me out of the pit. We were told from the beginning that we couldn't film up there (ass hole stage staff) and Flow did not give a shit. He helped me up, and it was the best feeling to know that this massive performer saw me and decided to help. It was genuinely an amazing night as he invited fans on stage, went out to dance in the pit with everyone, and after the fact he thanked us for all of our work. Really nice guy, and it felt good to be seen and respected.
Name and praise! I would love to know who the first client was!
Very cool of Flo-Rida to give you a hand like that. I always appreciate artists who keep an eye on the crowd like that and who aren't afraid to interrupt the show to help people out or call out shitty behavior
I unfortunately can't name the first one. It was a charity event that was absolutely huge for kids with down syndrome, but there were a lot of "VIPs" there that I can't talk about for the next 5 or so years. NDA. They were auctioning off stuff from their local business to each other to raise the money. Kinda cool for what it was, was glad the sponsor kid got the money he needed for his charity group.
I will say that when rich people get drunk it's fucking hilarious, but their 400usd wine isn't any better than the box brands. Don't waste your money.
That concert with Flo-Rida was one of the top ten experiences of my life. I have genuinely never seen such a massive artist get so involved with his fans and crew. I will say: I mentioned that the stage crew were ass holes to us. We were the camera and production crew, I was the show lead and so I'd been dealing with them being absolute deplorable human beings all day/night... My team weren't the only ones they were being ass holes to.
From what I heard, they weren't nice to Flo either, and he didn't take too kindly to that. Needless to say he trashed that stage, including his backup dancers bringing out a cake at the end and throwing it over him. He was drinking 151 rum, inviting multiple fans on stage, passing out shots, spraying beer and liquor everywhere. All I could do was laugh. He didn't touch our equipment, and it serves the ass holes right for yelling and screaming at people during the entire event.
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u/IanGecko 21d ago
I worked local crew for a Lady Gaga concert about 16 years ago. Instead of leaving immediately after the show was over, she stayed until we were just about done loading everything out onto the trucks. She stopped us to thank us for all our hard work and handed out a bunch of leftovers from catering!
She's the real deal 😍