G'day everbybody, Derek here (your friendly MichaelWSmith.com Admin),

Wanted to write a blog about the last couple days and getting out on the road with Smitty, but the more I think about it, the more I feel it should be written about the guys who work so hard everyday of the tour.

First, not sure how many of you know that I work for Smitty part time, so when I get an opportunity to hit the road I only get a small taste of what these roadie guys do every day of these tours.  I've done the day in and day out stuff before, but nothing is like working in the venues/churches that these tours go on in.

You have to remember that most of the behind the scenes guys (and gals) have families that are back at home.  They 're taking time away from their families to help put on a show that you get to experience for only a few hours on a given night.  For these guys it's their livelihoods, yes - it's what they "signed-up for," but that doesn't make it any easier.  They're missing Halloween with their kids, 2 guys are missing their kids birthdays today, anniversaries, you get the idea. 

My job today is to try and paint the picture for these gents who are definitely the hardest working people I've ever been around.  Let's go to the beginning:

Bus Call Is on Wednesday @ 6 p.m. in Franklin, TN:  Everybody meets at a local parking lot usually with their families dropping them off.  There are the customary goodbye's, "be safe's" and hugs.

The Bus then begins what is really akin to a Submarine ride to Salisbury, MD:  It's a little more than 900 miles so you hope for good weather, no traffic, and smooth driving.

Once on the bus we do get to hang out, talk, and catch up on each others lives, Smitty's crew is pretty awesome and everyone gets along so it certainly makes the trip more bearable. (generally 10 to 11 workers and 1 bus driver per bus).  This tour has 3 buses, so you do the math.

When it's time for bed you climb into a stack of beds that is in the middle of the bus.  There are 4 stacks of 3, all fairly tight, but I can't lie, they're not all that uncomfortable.  There are rules though, you sleep with your feet to the front just in case the driver needs to make a quick stop, you don't want to hit your head or jam your neck.

We arrive at the venue in Salisbury @ 10:30 (about 2 hours later than we would have liked) and set-up begins with haste. The truck (full tractor trailer of equipment has arrived first, and has already begun "dumping" equipment with the help of another challenge.  Everyday your tour crew meets 15 to 20 local crew members/workers who all have varying degree of abilities - there's little time but your production managers have to figure out how to motivate/direct, a chorus of people to get everything built and done that needs to be completed by a 2 p.m. soundcheck with 100 local choir members.  Set-up takes everybit of that time, non-stop, you eat, drink, and get no rest.  In Salisbury on this day it's actually nice because you have a blank stage (the next day we're at Liberty University and having to work around Christmas concert/pageant sets, so the show is going to be "different" - which is not easy when you're dealing with the equipment we have here).

At 2:00 p.m. Smitty and the band arrive and the crew immediately sets the stage for the second half of their day which is running the show and refining the lighting, sound, and staging to be JUST right for the show.  Michael arrives to rehearse with the local choir at that time and works with the directors to ensure that everything is set, along with planning the moving of the choir onto the stage at exactly the right time, making sure they know their visual, audible cues. etc.  This takes about 2 more hours of work.

By 4:00 p.m. the "opener" artists are working on-stage and the crew is working to get them set-up for today's show, instruments ready and everything ready to go.  

Finally by 5:30 p.m. it's time for some dinner.  The crew all comes in as they finish their prospective jobs and grab a quick bite, then get back to their stations, because doors to the venue open @ 6:00 p.m. (which means the merch guys have to be 100% ready for that, their show starts @ 6:00 p.m. not @ 7:00).

By 6:55 p.m. it's time for the pre-show music to begin and at 7:00 p.m. Matt Maher, Phil Stacey, and Meredith Andrews hit the stage to get this thing started.  They finish their set at about 8:00 p.m.; then the crew sets in motion rebuilding the staging for Michael.  This takes about 15 minutes. 

Michael hits the stage at about 8:15 p.m. and keeps it going until about 10:00 p.m. on an average night.  (Oh by the way, Smitty also enjoys having "Wild" ideas and changing the set list about 30 minutes prior to show time which means, lights have to be reworked, staging considered...  luckily the guys are used to this as it happens so often that it's truly no longer that "WILD".

OK, so 10:00 hits the final encore is done and Smitty and the band are back on their bus and heading to the next city by 10:30 p.m.  At this time the crew starts tearing everything down, getting it repacked and getting the truck loaded safely to make the trip to the next stop.

Tearing down goes much faster than setting up, but it still takes about 2 to 2.5 hours, so the truck is loaded and ready to go to the next show by 12:30 a.m.  That's when all the crew gets back on the bus and heads to the next city.  Usually everybody's too awake to go directly to bed, but usually everybody's asleep by 1:30 or 2:00 a.m.  It all starts all over again @ 8:00 a.m. (TODAY in Lynchburg, VA; Liberty University).

Tonight we'll drive to Reading, PA; then on Sunday we're in Lowell, MA (then a 1,200 mile drive back to Nashville).  It's kind of like the movie Ground Hog Day with different walls, different people, and new issues... but it's the same result.  A 3 hour show every night that fans get to enjoy - that's the goal.  And nightly these guys reach that goal.

This blog doesn't do them justice at all.  There are a lot of people that work hard in this world and make sacrificises for their families, but you'll be hard pressed to find people other than the Military who work harder.  I'm humbled to be able to simply come in and watch this happen, it really is pretty amazing.

Next time you're backstage at a concert take a moment and say "Thank You" to a crew member you see backstage, they'll appreciate it, even if the only response they may be able to muster is a grunt.