From guitar techs to road managers to crew chiefs, a year without work devastated live music's behind-the-scenes workers, and many may never recover.
Timeline of a comeback: historic cancellation of an entire season, painful layoffs, transformation into a recording studio, a whirlwind race to reopen.
“It’s been way too easy to sit at home and stress,” said Geoff Bruce, 52, the longtime drum tech for the metal band Testament and a sound engineer at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood. “It’s lean, man. All the side jobs were just inundated, everybody applied to be a delivery driver. I called so many places that said, ‘We’ll put you on the list.’”Bruce said he’d barely made ends meet in 2020.
“Festival dates are fine, but it’s awkward for crew because that isn’t enough work to downshift from whatever they’ve been doing for months,” said Jason Bell, 50, the San Francisco-based tour manager for folk legend Billy Bragg. Bell has been living off savings and stray handyman work around the Bay Area. “Things need to come back to a level where people can afford to stop doing what they’ve been doing for a year.
He’s drained his 401 to survive, but going back to partial, risky work might be worse than staying the course and getting his real-estate license, he said.“Everyone sees ‘tours’ going out, but they’re not. It’s a couple weeks or weekend-warrior stuff,” he said. “A band can’t break even on a sporadic tour when they have a show in Florida and the next night’s in Texas. I can’t tell you that I’ll be back.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Colorado is smashing down barriers to help undocumented immigrants live and workSupporters say the new laws will make the state a more equitable place. Opponents argue they will siphon money and services from other residents.
Read more »
Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis Cook Live to Celebrate ‘Bobby and Giada in Italy’After spending a month in Rome and Tuscany for their recent show BobbyAndGiadaInItaly, chefs Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis share their love for Italy and reveal the best place to get gelato | VarietyStreamingRoom presented by discoveryplus
Read more »
Wait, Does NYC Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams Really Live in New Jersey?Internet sleuths were quick to point out that he owns a suspicious-looking fridge.
Read more »
Premium Sports & Entertainment Live Streaming✓ 1,000+ live events per year ✓ 4M strong fan community ✓ Watch: Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr, Impact Wrestling: Slammiversary 2021, Official Celebrity Boxing: Lamar Odom vs Aaron Carter, A7FL Football: Road To The Championship Pack, Third Coast Grappling 7: 8 Man Tournament Middleweights, Tribute to the Kings: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs Anderson Silva ✓ Statistics & interviews
Read more »
Live updates: Biden at the 2021 G7 SummitLeaders gather today for the G7, which represents some of the world's major economies — Britain, France, Germany, the US, Italy, Japan and Canada. Follow our live coverage here:
Read more »