It’s not all about the artist. The Sherp highlights how an efficient TEAM is essential to bring you a good show.
“The Show Must Go On” – we’re all familiar with this phrase. Every time you attend a gig or a festival, you pay to see your favorite performer in town. You even travel miles to see them. But what really makes it worth all the while? Somewhere down the line, all you really seek is a good show. And no single act is complete without an efficient production team working round the clock. It brings together the 6 Ms to satisfy the wants of the audience i.e. men, money, machines, materials, methods and markets.
There’s so much more happening behind the scenes. Dedicated teams handle absolutely everything while the artist is doing his/her job. The trippy lights you see in a club, the LED lighting and animated artworks, are all a result of a talented creative team who conceptualize the entire aura of the venue well in advance. While we all have our hands raised (probably a drink in one), there’s a sound team which is in charge of the volume flowing through the venue, which is definitely the most vital element of a show. Every artist conducts a mandatory sound check at the venue right before taking center stage. You can’t really afford to have a club full of people and the sound on mute for even a split second.
The production crew is also in charge of the main attraction to a show – the stage. An eye-catching stage usually compliments the skill and craft of the artist performing. It completes the show. Nowadays, you see most decks and stages bombarded with LED panels to add that excessive theatrical effect to a show. More equipment = more wires. There is a painful procedure known as masking which makes sure the cables that surround the stage are tactfully concealed. No one would want to see a stage that looks like a set from the Matrix trilogy!
A club usually has its own security, but a gig or a concert usually requires it to be outsourced because of the scale of people present at the venue. Without sufficient and efficient security, a gig would just seem like a riot. Also, when the gig is over and done with, a stringent team is necessary to make sure the exit is smooth and avoid cop trouble of course.
All in all, The Sherp wanted to bring out the true importance of the production crew. Like everything good in life, there’s a recipe to it, and the production team is the most vital ingredient to the success of a show.