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Shadowing practice: The Absurd Logistics of Concert Tours

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  1. It just turned 10 .50pm on a warm September night when the band returned to the Usana Amphitheater stage southwest of Salt Lake City for an encore.0:00
  2. Though they make it seem spontaneous, the move is, of course, planned, and the song had, of course, already been picked.0:08
  3. It's the perfect send -off that will leave the crowd buzzing and keep the band from violating the venue's strict 11pm curfew.0:15
  4. But as the show ends and the audience makes its way to the exits, another meticulously choreographed and time -sensitive show begins, one with far less fanfare.0:22
  5. The tour's next stop is Ball Arena in Denver, 522 miles or 840 kilometers away, and that concert starts in exactly 21 hours.0:31
  6. So now it's all hands on deck to get the band, their set, and their double -digit crew to Colorado on time.0:41
  7. Really, this show, this process of getting the band and company from Salt Lake to Denver, began a few hours ago when the tour manager headed into their backstage office0:48
  8. along with the venue's promoter carrying record of the night's box office receipts to hash out the money splits from ticket and merch sales to utilities and even clean towel0:56
  9. fees before coming to a final settlement.1:03
  10. While an unspectacular process of crossing tees and dotting eyes, it's this step that makes the tour possible and really more than anything else fuels the music economy today.1:06
  11. The Usana Amphitheater, after all, holds a maximum of 20 ,000 guests.1:16
  12. That's 20 ,000 potential ticket sales of which the band will receive an already agreed -upon split somewhere in the ballpark of 85%.1:20
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  1. Once the money settled and the band's finished, though, all attention focuses on the loadout.1:28
  2. To be playing venues like the Usana Amphitheater in Ball Arena, the band has to be big and big bands tour with big staffs.1:34
  3. This group, like most touring groups of its size, is broken into three groups.1:41
  4. There's the A Party made up of the artists and their inner circle, the B Party made up of the band, dancers, and backup vocalists, and the C Party, or1:46
  5. the crew, from guitar techs to pyrotechnics specialists.1:53
  6. To maximize overall efficiency and the comfort of some, each party is taking a slightly different path to Denver.1:56
  7. For the A Party, it's off the stage and depending on timing, grabbing something to eat or a shower then heading straight north in hired suburbans to the Atlantic Aviation2:03
  8. FBO at Salt Lake City International Airport where a chartered jet is waiting.2:10
  9. For the rest of the onstage talent, the turnaround is nearly just as quick.2:15
  10. Dancers, background vocalists, and additional band members load onto tour buses that, depending on the configuration that the tour manager settled on months prior, can carry up to 12 people2:19
  11. spread across two aisles of triple stacked bunks.2:27
  12. They're off the stage and out the door quick, but won't be seeing the other side of the Rockies until they wake up the next morning.2:31
  13. For the C Party, what they brought out and put together only hours earlier now needs to be returned into their cases and rolled back into their trailers in a2:37
  14. precisely efficient order before they too hit the road.2:44
  15. Under the oversight of production and stage managers, guitar techs carefully pack up guitars and rigors carefully dismantle the set.2:47
  16. With the turnaround being so sharp, Rodi's working on the tour are joined by a hired set of local stagehands who help pack out everything from the band's audio -visual2:54
  17. assets to the tour manager's office onto the trailers backed up against backstage.3:01
  18. Once the venue's cleared, the C Party, like the B Party a couple hours ahead, jumps under tour buses headed east, where showers and clean towels await them at the3:05
  19. arena.3:13
  20. And now the time crunch shifts from the crew to its drivers.3:14
  21. None of the truck or bus drivers saw the band's show in Utah.3:18
  22. They were sleeping.3:22
  23. In fact, not until the show's end did those who were driving the B Party even check out their hotels.3:24
  24. And only after the show's conclusion did they begin their systems check, inspecting tires and timing belts before warming up the bus.3:29
  25. They've waited until the very last minutes because their driving time is incredibly precious.3:36
  26. By law, they can only drive for 10 hours before they take a required 8 -hour rest period, and with the electronic logging devices built into their dashboards and tracking3:41
  27. the buses every move, they're simply no -cheating the 10 -hour limit.3:49
  28. Facing down 500 -plus miles on the Rocky Mountain Range, Denver stretches the limits of what's possible when adding in stops, morning rush hour traffic, and the potential of anything3:53
  29. unpredictable.4:01
  30. Move the bus too early, and the next night's concert might get stuck on the side of the road short of the destination in Denver.4:03
  31. Now, to an outsider, the loadout process might look chaotic and the pace of the tour may seem unsustainable or unmanageable.4:09
  32. But though grueling and exhaustingly complicated, these massive nationwide tours function remarkably smoothly considering the variety of variables.4:16
  33. And they have to.4:25
  34. There's too much on the line for them not to.4:26
  35. This is where bands make their money, and this is where deadlines are their absolute toughest—a band can't simply reschedule in the middle of a tour during the middle of4:28
  36. the busy summer season.4:36
  37. To make these tours run smoothly, then, their managers leave no stone unturned.4:37
  38. To minimize the chaos and limit potential mistakes, the band's tour began perhaps a month or two prior on the West Coast, and had been in the works for upwards4:43
  39. of a year.4:50
  40. Knowing that dates fell quickly during the summer, their agent began negotiating fees and revenue splits with interested venues in the fall or winter prior, passing back and forth drafts4:51
  41. of deal memos like these before ultimately coming to an agreement.4:59
  42. With the concert dates penciled in, and a spot to rehearse for a few days prior identified somewhere in Southern California, the tour manager then sent their dates along to5:03
  43. truck and bus -leasing companies to go back and forth on price and configuration that best matched the band's needs.5:10
  44. And with the venues locked, stage managers and production managers began assembling advance sheets that outline every last technical detail about the venue, from bus and trailer parking to office5:15
  45. space and AV capabilities and hookups that the tour could possibly need to know beforehand.5:25
  46. Months ago, the tour manager also sent along a rider to each of the touring party's hotels.5:30
  47. Essentially, a sheet of requirements that spans from ensuring late checkout or day rooms to asking about whether or not there's any construction happening nearby.5:34
  48. If meals are to be eaten at the hotel, dietary restrictions are communicated through this document as are allergies or ETAs or even how room keys should be packaged and5:42
  49. distributed.5:50
  50. If the crew has an off day, it's important to find out what the bus parking nearby looks like and what's nearby for the crew to do.5:51
  51. And if the band's famous enough, a likely scenario given the size of this tour, a rider will inform the hotel that access to back doors and service elevators will5:57
  52. be required.6:05
  53. These documents often run pages long and aren't exclusive to hotels, either, as tour managers will send ahead riders for the venue's backstage setup, from food to layout, as well6:06
  54. as a technical rider spelling out the AV and rigging needs the show requires.6:14
  55. Though sent to each hotel and venue long in advance, these riders are dynamic documents that change and evolve along with the tour, so managers will update and resend riders6:18
  56. weeks and even days before their arrival.6:26
  57. While the artists would have arrived at Centennial Airport in the early hours of the morning and quickly transferred to their hotel, the rest of the tour's day begins around6:28
  58. 9am, laying in their bunks as their bus comes to a rest beside the loading dock of Denver's Ball Arena.6:36
  59. Upon completing the 8 -hour drive through Wyoming, the driver hooks the bus up to a provided 240 -volt connection to deliver power without idling the engine, and joins the6:42
  60. tour's other bus and truck drivers for the short walk across the street to the Spring Hill Suites Hotel, where dayrooms are booked, to get their legally required rest before6:50
  61. driving onward after the concert that night.6:58
  62. The above average 8 -hour drive makes this day a particular challenge—everything must run perfectly to get the show built on time.7:00
  63. The first people into the building are the tour's leadership—the production manager, production coordinator, head of security, lead rigger, and potentially others.7:08
  64. Their first stop is the catering room, where a local company set up breakfast over the hours prior.7:16
  65. Next, the team meets with the venue's management to conduct a walkthrough and plan out the day's activities.7:21
  66. They then work their way through the backstage, posting the day sheet throughout to give a rundown of key moments through the day, and also labeling different rooms for different7:26
  67. purposes.7:33
  68. They'd need a production office, where the management would set up their desks, dressing rooms for both elite artists and their supporting acts, a storage room for empty roadcases and7:34
  69. extra equipment, a wardrobe room for the costume department to get their work done, and more depending on the size and scope of the tour.7:41
  70. In addition, they put up maps and directions to these different temporary rooms and key permanent spots like the venue's shower rooms, given that nearly everyone lives out of the7:48
  71. tour bus.7:56
  72. Nobody should need to know where they are—in fact, through the fatigue, many of the tour's members might genuinely forget.7:57
  73. Also early in the order of operations is making the final decision on the placement of the stage.8:04
  74. In North America, most large concerts occur in indoor arenas otherwise occupied by NHL and NBA hockey and basketball teams, as is the case with Denver's ball arena.8:09
  75. Given that traditional stages have, at best, 270 degrees of line of sight, these tours only sell a portion of the 360 degrees of seats surrounding the stage, but the8:18
  76. exact number can be altered.8:28
  77. Therefore, if the concert hasn't sold out, management might decide to bring the stage forward to kill some seats and make the venue appear more full, while if the concert8:30
  78. has sold out, they do their best to push the stage back to give more seats to sightline and fit more on the floor, allowing them to sell additional tickets.8:38
  79. But they'd have to make this decision quickly because they're on the clock and the setup has to start quick.8:45
  80. The arena has no stage, no lights, no audio system, essentially nothing but an empty floor and some seats, while thousands upon thousands of people are expecting a concert in8:51
  81. less than 10 hours.9:00
  82. First in the order of operations is rigging.9:02
  83. This is essentially the process of getting anything that hangs, be it lights, speakers, screens, prop pieces, or even the stage itself, up into the air.9:05
  84. Typically a tour will include a lead rigger, or perhaps a few touring riggers, who work with a far larger team of 20 to 40 local riggers to complete the9:13
  85. incredibly time -sensitive setup process for a given concert.9:21
  86. It starts with chalking out the floor, essentially, marking the exact spot on the ground where a motor should hang above.9:25
  87. The core of the rigging task involves using a combination of math and cables to hang chain motors in exact points from a grid of beams in the roof.9:31
  88. More often than not, there is not a beam directly above the exact point where a motor is needed, so riggers hang two cables to bridge the gap between two9:39
  89. beams.9:46
  90. Knowing both the horizontal and vertical distance from a beam to their desired point, the Bythagorean theorem is used to quickly calculate the required length of rope along the third9:48
  91. axis, and these lengths are marked on the floor with a standardized chalk diagram, like this.9:55
  92. They also mark at the length of rope needed to wrap around each beam, give an inconsistency in width, and, if applicable, the length of a rope to hang beneath10:00
  93. the connection of the two others.10:08
  94. Finally, the exact point is marked with this symbol if it's up to a quarter -ton weight, and this for a half -ton, full -ton, and two -tons, respectively.10:10
  95. On a typical arena tour, there can be anywhere between a few dozen to over a hundred rigging points that need to be assembled, so quickly, the team's upriggers harness10:18
  96. up and head out onto the beams above, while the downriggers start laying out motors and other equipment next to the relevant points.10:25
  97. Once in place, each uprigger lets down a rope to which their downrigger ties equipment to be pulled up.10:32
  98. First, a burlap sack is wrapped around the beam to soften the edges, then ropes are fastened around the beam, connected, and finally the chain motors are attached in the10:37
  99. exact desired point regardless of the variance in overhead grid from arena to arena.10:45
  100. Precision and safety are absolutely crucial given that within a matter of hours, both the general public and some of the world's most recognizable artists will be standing below.10:49
  101. The margin for error is essentially zero.10:58
  102. But to provide a standardized experience in a non -standard set of venues, rigging is crucial.11:01
  103. With anchor points set, the work of assembling lighting and audio trusses can go on, along with setting up the stage itself.11:07
  104. Once each element is constructed on the ground, the motors above slowly pull them up into place, also allowing the tour to hoist them to a common height regardless of11:13
  105. the venue's ceiling height.11:21
  106. Typically, and especially with the late -start in Denver, this entire process needs to be completed within four or five hours, by early afternoon.11:22
  107. Each department then takes a brief break for the lunch provided by the local caterers.11:30
  108. While the tour always strives to carry everything they need for a given show with them, reality often gets in the way.11:35
  109. That's why the ensemble of hired local labor always includes runners whose job it is to head out into the city to grab last -minute necessities, be it something as11:41
  110. simple as backstage snacks from Walmart or as crucial as fresh guitar picks from Guitar Center.11:48
  111. But all the big tasks should be completed by around now, mid -afternoon, because that's when the artist arrives from their hotel and attention focuses on fine -tuning.11:54
  112. The soundcheck is a crucial milestone as it's the first test by the artists themselves of the day setup.12:03
  113. They play a few songs, both for calibrating the on -stage audio system, which is crucial for making sure they can hear themselves properly, and testing the audience's audio system,12:08
  114. which needs to be fine -tuned both to the venue and the style of music.12:16
  115. As the afternoon transitions into evening, the countdown to doors looms large.12:20
  116. The tour's head of security meets with the venue security to talk through some key elements.12:25
  117. They're in charge of passes, so they'll communicate which get access where—who can go on the floor, backstage, the VIP room, or even to the artist's room.12:29
  118. For the security work in the stage, they'll also talk through likely moments of artist -audience interaction and what security support is needed.12:37
  119. If the artist is going to pull audience members up on stage, for example, security likes to know in advance.12:44
  120. And perhaps most importantly, the tour security communicates likely audience demographics and behavior.12:49
  121. They know much better than local security the proclivities of their fans and the likelihood of routiness, barrier crushing, mosh pits, and other potential security risks.12:54
  122. But finally, it's time.13:03
  123. The lighting department switches on a pre -programmed pre -show lighting configuration, audio starts miking up the artists, security gets in a place, and everyone else finally gets their first13:05
  124. moments of calm since Salt Lake City as the doors open, the concert begins, and the tour starts its unbelievable 24 -hour cycle once again.13:14
  125. Clearly, given that you're still here, you enjoy learning about logistics.13:24
  126. So do I, of course, which is why I was recently fascinated to learn about what went into the design and construction of the Twin Towers in New York through13:28
  127. Nioh's video on the subject.13:35
  128. It's a great watch, and right after that you can watch the latest episode from our series, Extremities, about how Tristan D 'Kuna manages to survive as the world's most13:37
  129. remote inhabited island.13:45
  130. The story of how people manage to live all the way out there is pretty fascinating.13:46
  131. Then you could give Real Engineering's fantastic series The Logistics of D -Day a Watch, where he shines a light on the perhaps less cinematic but certainly more fascinating efforts13:50
  132. that went into the Allies' landing on Normandy.13:58
  133. All of this top tier logistics content is available exclusively on Nebula, the streaming site co -founded by us creators and designed from the ground up to be the best14:01
  134. home to the stuff we make.14:09
  135. The economic model behind it means we can manage to fund things that wouldn't survive on YouTube, like videos about the logistics of the world's most remote places, and the14:10
  136. fact that it's not ad -supported means we don't have to shy away from more sensitive topics like the logistics of some of the bloodiest days of World War II.14:17
  137. Thanks to this, myself and my team have made all of these original documentary shows and videos, and we keep releasing more each month.14:24
  138. Plus, there's plenty more from plenty of other creators that you will almost certainly already watch, but what makes this almost certainly the best deal in streaming is the best14:32
  139. way to sign up for Nebula, the Curiosity Stream Bundle Deal.14:39
  140. When you sign up for any subscription at curiositystream .com slash Wendover, they throw in a Nebula subscription for free for as long as you stay subscribed.14:42
  141. That means you also get access to Curiosity Stream's massive library of top -quality non -fiction shows and documentaries like the fascinating series Inside the Mind of a Con Artist.14:50
  142. And while that's already an unbeatable deal on its own, signing up not only helps support Wendover productions, but almost the entire educational creator ecosystem.14:59
  143. So, head over to curiositystream .com slash Wendover or click the button on screen to sign up, and thanks in advance for your support.15:07

English Listening Practice with a Fast American Narrator on Concert Logistics

This clip is a science and business narration from Wendover Productions, rated C1, moving at 218 words per minute, faster than 76 percent of the catalogue. The speaker is American, and the topic is the unglamorous machinery behind a stadium tour: settling box office receipts, splitting a touring crew into three groups, and racing 522 miles to the next arena in 21 hours. Nothing here is scripted dialogue between characters, it is one voice building an argument line by line, which is exactly what makes it demanding english listening practice for anyone used to slower, conversational clips.

At C1 and 218 words per minute the sentences run long, some stacking several clauses, packed with logistics vocabulary such as inconsistency, unsustainable and demographics. That density is what makes it useful english speaking practice: if you can keep pace with this narrator, shorter, slower clips get noticeably easier afterward. Treat the opening lines below as an entry point into the wider report, not the whole story, since the full transcript runs to 155 lines.

How the Narrator Talks About Money, Time and Crews

This is american accent training in a form you rarely get from dialogue: one continuous voice stringing clauses together with almost no pause, so shadowing this narration means learning to breathe where the sentence, not the speaker, decides to.

  • "another meticulously choreographed and time -sensitive show begins, one with far less fanfare." The stress falls hard on "meticulously choreographed", a run of unstressed syllables that forces careful mouth movement if you want to keep the narrator's speed.
  • "it's all hands on deck to get the band, their set, and their double -digit crew to Colorado on time." "all hands on deck" is a fixed idiom, said fast and flat, worth repeating on its own before trying the full line.
  • "the band will receive an already agreed -upon split somewhere in the ballpark of 85%." "ballpark of" is a colloquial way to say approximately, and the numeral at the end is good practice if you want to improve your english accent on percentages spoken aloud.

A Line by Line Order for Shadowing This Clip

Work through the opening of the transcript in this order rather than jumping around, since each line adds a layer the next one builds on.

  • Start with line 1, "It just turned 10 .50pm on a warm September night when the band returned to the Usana Amphitheater stage southwest of Salt Lake City for an encore." Read it once at your own pace just to place the scene.
  • Move to line 4, "another meticulously choreographed and time -sensitive show begins, one with far less fanfare." Shadow it slowly first, then again at the narrator's own speed.
  • Take line 6, "it's all hands on deck to get the band, their set, and their double -digit crew to Colorado on time." Say the idiom alone a few times before attaching the rest of the sentence.
  • Then line 10, "it's this step that makes the tour possible and really more than anything else fuels the music economy today." Break it at the natural clause boundaries first, then say the whole thing in one breath.
  • Finish with line 12, "the band will receive an already agreed -upon split somewhere in the ballpark of 85%." Repeat the numbers until they land as smoothly as the rest of the sentence.
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