It's 1:00AM, the crowd is long gone, and the rock stars are back in their hotel rooms celebrating another great show (or sleeping it off in the luxury suite). Tomorrow their private jet will whisk them away to their next venue, where all they have to do is show up and play.

 

Don't draw the short straw and get stuck with balloon and confetti cleanup. (Source)

And you, faithful roadie, you're stuck sweeping mounds of confetti off the arena floor, scraping gum from the sides of the drum kit, and making sure every last nut and bolt and block from the set is packed up and ready to go. You do this resignedly and carefully, as though your job depends on it—which it does. Such is the life of a roadie, or should we say "sound engineering technician?" Nah, roadie will do.

The roadie life pays better than you might expect, with the average grunt earning around $57,000 per year (source). The pay might not start out quite that high, but experience and know-how is everything in the roadie game; the old-timers working stadium shows for the biggest rock bands take home salaries in the six-figure range.

Of course, that assumes the roadie in question is working on a tour that stops at bigger venues with lots of paying customers. If you're touring with starving musicians who are just barely scraping by, you'll also be just barely scraping by. But if you do find your way onto a steady tour, it can be a pretty good life—even if you tend to work up a sweat that no amount of aerosol body spray can tame.

Bigger shows often include massive sets, lots of sound engineering, and a ton of pyrotechnics, so the crew needs to be well-trained and well-managed in order to prepare a giant arena before the crowd shows up (source). Roadies get there early and stay late, setting up whatever needs to be set up and then packing it all up such that nobody can tell they were ever there.

Roadie crews can range widely in size; you could be looking at a tight group of about fifteen or over a hundred people for a big act like The Rolling Stones. Because there are so many details to cover, crew members have different jobs or specialties within a larger chain of command.

At the top of the hierarchy are the tour coordinator and the stage production manager. Those two are running the show (literally), so if one of them tells you to grab a cable or get them a soda, they're not going to wait politely until after your twenty-minute break ends.

Then there's the front of the house, also known as the sound engineers. These techies are in charge of the sound board, the mics, and lots and lots of cable. They do all the live mixing of the show and are supremely talented and important. At the other end of the venue are instrument techs, also known as the "backline," who are in charge of each and every instrument and amplifier.

There are also roadies who specialize in lighting, or in projectors and visual effects, or are in charge of building and striking sets. Finally, there are a few general shleppers who haul equipment around and generally help out, sort of like production assistants on a movie set. And let's not forget the bus drivers and truck drivers who keep the circus moving down the road.

Alright, so all of that sounds pretty cool, right? If you want to be one of the chosen few who gets to say the magic words "I'm with the band," how do you make it happen?

 

Which ones go to eleven? (Source)

It helps to be a friend or relative of a band member, or to know someone already on the crew. Roadies don't exactly have résumés; most hiring is done by word of mouth. If you do a good job with a band, you'll likely be asked to travel with another. And so on, until you've established yourself as a capable roadie.

You might try offering your services on the cheap to a small band or opening act to get your foot in the door. That's worked for a number of roadies who have moved on to make big bucks working for major name acts.

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