#263 - Jake Berry

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Here we are episode #263 just
finished recording with

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legendary Jake Berry.
Not too many people in this

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industry that I give legend
status to, but he's certainly

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one of them with his work on the
Stones and all of the incredible

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stuff he did on U2, including
the Sphere and Coldplay and ACDC

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and Mötley Crüe.
And I mean, the guy's a legend

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and he's just a super nice guy.
He's a great storyteller.

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He tells some amazing stories on
this podcast, including again,

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telling some stories about AC/DC
that you may or may not have

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heard before if you heard my
podcast, but a lot of other

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stuff too, and it's a very funny
start.

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I apologize for the beginning.
Of course, we come in talking

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about racing, of which he's a
huge fan, so please enjoy it.

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Welcome to Geysers of Gear
episode #263 Today's podcast is

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brought to you by ACT
Entertainment.

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ACT is North America's leading
supplier of the entertainment

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industry's principal products to
professionals across six

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different end markets, including
professional lighting fixtures

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and lighting control equipment,
audio, video, fiber, Power

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Distribution, cables,
connectivity, metal work, custom

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manufacturing and design.
With ACT Entertainment, you get

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the industry's top performance
products as well as service,

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education and engineering
support to bring every

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entertainment professional
concept to reality.

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Visit their website
actentertainment.com and today's

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podcast is also brought to you
by Gear Source.

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Founded in 2002 with an
ambitious mission to support

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live events businesses to buy
and sell gear globally.

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Since that time, the company
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countries, selling 1/4 billion
dollars in sound, lighting,

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staging and video gear.
Gear Source continues to evolve

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the platform for massive global
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sellers, AI powered logistics
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Take full control over your gear
with a visit to gearsource.com.

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So we're welcoming Sarah back
this week.

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She was away for a week, She
strayed from us.

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She left us for a week and she
went on tour, I think with Blink

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182 in Ireland and England and
Scotland, or maybe just Ireland

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and Scotland, I don't remember.
Was talking with her this

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morning.
She had a great time.

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We might have to do a podcast
and discuss how touring has

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changed from the last time she
went out until this time.

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And so she's back and she's
happy to be back and she's happy

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to be back in her seat producing
Geezers of Gear.

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And we're working on a pretty
big event for LDI as well, which

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we'll tell you more about very
soon.

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So welcome back, Sarah.
And also right now Plaza is

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going on as I am recording this
Plaza is happening in England,

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in London, and many of our
friends are there.

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And I didn't go.
I've been to Plaza, I don't

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know, 15 times or something.
It's a great show.

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I actually miss going.
I would have liked to have been

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there.
And funny Side Story or not

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funny, but interesting fact is
that I was at Plaza during 911.

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So as the terrible events
occurred, I was getting messages

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and calls from Florida telling
me what was going on and

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eventually made my way into a
Media Center at Plaza where a

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bunch of Americans were standing
around just staring up at the

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television in total disbelief.
And so yeah, it was a nutty

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event and, and a really weird,
weird time for us all obviously

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terrible time.
And actually, as I record this,

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it's September 4th, so we're,
we're exactly a week away from

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that anniversary, which is not a
happy one AI.

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So I actually had a couple
people reach out to me thanking

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me for suggesting certain AI
apps to try.

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And hey, anytime you know, it's
something that I'm passionate

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about and I like quite a lot.
And I, I do pay attention to

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some new stuff when I have time.
I haven't had a lot of time in

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this past week, but I do want to
talk to you about a couple

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things.
Starting with scientists have

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successfully connected AI to the
nervous systems of a certain

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type of worm worms, allowing the
AI to direct those worms towards

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specific targets.
This technology showcases the

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remarkable potential of AI to
interact with and influence

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biological organisms.
This is a big deal.

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So, yeah, thought that was
interesting.

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Am I really following it closely
or anything?

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No, I'm not.
But it's obvious that AI is

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going to play a major role in
solving things like blindness

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and diseases and all kinds of
things.

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And, and of course, Elon Musk
with with the chip that he's

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inserting into humans is going
to hopefully solve a lot of

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problems and not create too many
more.

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It's a scary thought, but you
know, if you looked back 20

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years and said, hey, we're going
to insert chips into humans that

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are going to help them think
better and solve a lot of, you

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know, neurological diseases or
problems or failures or

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whatever, I don't know that we
would have believed it.

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It's happened so quickly.
All of a sudden, one of the

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things I'm looking at right now
or trying, testing, playing with

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is something called flux.
And Flux is a photo generating

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app or a, an image generating
app.

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You know, some of the examples
that they show and stuff that

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I've been playing with is where
you can insert a background into

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a photo.
And that background can be a

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cityscape, it can be a concert,
it can be all kinds of things.

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They're incredibly real.
They call it hyper real and it

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really is hyper real.
Like when they show you a

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comparison, this photo's real.
These three are made-up.

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You'd be shocked.
It's, it's just incredible how

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good it's gotten already.
They can swiftly generate

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convincing images of people and
places altering reality with a

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few clicks.
This is one of their little

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promos, I guess, or, or specs or
whatever.

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Reaching a level where
distinguishing between an

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authentic photograph and an AI
generated image is increasingly

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challenging.
And obviously this brings about

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some concerns and some
challenges and some problems.

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So Flux's Open Access nature
raises concerns about its

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potential misuse and brings
digital ethics clearer into play

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here.
So this is obviously a huge

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concern and this is something
that the whole world is is at

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least thinking about.
I would expect that there's

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going to be some regulation
involving the use of images.

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What is owned by someone
including their own image?

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You know, can I just copy images
of Taylor Swift drinking a

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drink, a soft drink that I've
created, you know, that's my

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product or whatever.
Can I have her using my product

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in an image?
And what kind of fines or

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penalties are involved if I do
that on social media or

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whatever?
So, yeah, obviously this is the,

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the potential black hole side
of, of AI, which is, you know,

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all of these intellectual
property concerns and, and just

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rights, digital rights, who owns
what it's, it's going to get

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increasingly complex and there's
going to be a lot of lawsuits

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filed over this.
So what do I say every week?

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I'm really excited about today's
guest because I'm so fortunate.

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I'm grateful for the fact that
that so many people are

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interested in willing to come on
this podcast and these people,

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some of them are legends.
Some of them are people that

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I've looked up to for most of my
career or all of my career and

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just gone, whoa, that guy's a
superstar and this guy's one of

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them.
So a career spanning almost 40

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years now.
Jake Berry is a multiple

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award-winning production
director, production designer,

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production manager, production,
all sorts of things known

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throughout the industry as a go
to guy for any successful tour.

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Jake is the founder and CEO of
Jake Berry Productions, a

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leading tour production
management company hailing from

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Devon, England.
Jake comes from modest

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beginnings.
Jake's career began as a drum

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and percussion technician.
Actually, I wonder if that's

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really true because I remember
the story that he told me where

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he was a keyboard tech for Yes,
and from there suddenly got

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hired to be the production
manager of ACDC.

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And we might get him to tell
that story again today on

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today's podcast.
Progressing through various

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international tours with groups
including The Rolling Stones,

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U2, Metallica, Coldplay, and so
many others.

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We had the pleasure of Jake
being on the podcast back in

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August of 21.
That is episode #129 if you want

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to check it out on Apple or
Spotify, it won't be on YouTube

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because we didn't start YouTube
until just last year.

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So please join me and welcome
Jake back to the podcast.

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Thanks.
You, you, you need to travel

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with him.
I travelled with him and he was

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the fucking worst.
Yeah, the worst Who?

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Scott.
Terrible 12 year old kid

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travelling.
Scott Speed, yeah, so.

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We we went to Bahrain and we
did.

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He finished third in that GP two
season, yeah.

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And the guy that won it was
Hecky Kovaleinen.

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Yeah.
And Nico Rosberg finished second

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in that in that championship
worked.

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Out for both of them, didn't it?
Yeah.

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And then Scott got promoted to
Toro Rosso, Yeah.

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And he did not hit it off with
the principal, Franz Tost.

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And there was lots of going back
and forth.

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And then Scott, I think
delivered like he had a direct

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link to to Dietrich, right?
Massachusetts had a Red Bull

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race and had a Red Bull.
And he kind of went round,

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tossed his back and went there.
And then then after a crash in

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Nuremberg where Scott crashed
and so did 8 of the other

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drivers in wet conditions, I
must admit.

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And they got into a bit of a
fight.

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So then he saw they they sacked
him, but then they put him in

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the Red Bull NASCAR program.
And that's NASCAR program was

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run by Gunther Steiner, OK.
And such a.

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Great guy.
Yeah, so.

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We got to know.
I've got to know Gunter very

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well.
And still known to these days,

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actually, yeah, Although I've
now lost my connection to get

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Formula One tickets.
So.

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So has he.
He'll always be around.

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Yeah, he'll.
Be fine.

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Yeah, yeah.
Until we went to NASCAR, and

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then you know that he managed
to.

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Actually, I went to Daytona 500
and we LED 12 laps.

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Yeah, fantastic feeling.
And then he went down to ARCA

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and he rode trucks.
I mean, in ARCA series we were

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going to win it and it was
between US and Ricky Stenhouse

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Junior, and all we had to do was
to keep ahead of Ricky Stenhouse

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and Ricky Stenhouse went after
Scott and pushed him into the

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wall.
As you do, yeah, So.

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Then Scott Speed then came out
of the pits as Stenhouse were

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coming back and made sure he
wouldn't win the championship by

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T boning him.
Jesus.

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So there's the the the newer
NASCAR people saying this is

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wrong and the older NASCAR
people going he just got what he

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deserved and then and now Scott
is he he's a works driver for

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Subaru in the GP Nitro series.
Yeah, I still.

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He's not doing GRC anymore.
Global Rallycross.

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Yes, but yeah, TRC, yeah, yeah.
And I saw him, I saw a clip from

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him.
He went to the Good Word

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Festival of Speed.
Yeah.

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And he did the hill climbing the
Subaru and he was sick.

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As well.
Yeah, I saw that as well.

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Yeah.
You know he broke his back a few

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years ago, right?
Yeah.

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Going over a bump, yeah.
And I would go to Scott and I

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would, you know, everywhere I
go, I like I, I took my friend

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Mitch Margolin to Daytona and he
goes, yeah, we'll go and see

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Scott.
And he thought that, you know, I

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would poke my nose in and say hi
to Scott.

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And I went up to the pit, you
know, the trailer.

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And, you know, I go, hey, Scott,
how are you?

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And go like, he drops everything
and comes over.

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And I introduced the Mitch.
And Mitch is, I think, a little

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bit starstruck.
And he said to Mitch, he goes

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and he Scott will tell you this
if you ask him, how do you get

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this far?
It's quite possible to say that

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00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,720
if it wasn't for Jake and
spending money me, I wouldn't

228
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,160
have made it this far.
So that's.

229
00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,000
Amazing.
You know, The thing is Jake,

230
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:43,760
like today, so you know, my
son's 20, he did last year in

231
00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:45,560
England.
He raced a couple of different

232
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,360
series in England last year.
My son, opposite of Scott would

233
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,240
live in Europe in a second like
for the next 10 years.

234
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:57,200
He'd love to, but the money now
is so much different than what

235
00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:01,840
you're talking about.
Like 75,000 for 12%, you know,

236
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,200
75,000 wouldn't get you anywhere
anymore.

237
00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,360
Like it, you know?
So right now the going rate for

238
00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:12,560
Indy is about 12 to 15,000,000
for two seasons.

239
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,280
And that's as a driver coming
in, like that's what you're

240
00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:20,280
going to pay to get in.
You're going to pay to get in

241
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,560
unless you've just won
everything in the world and they

242
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,480
want you on one of the teams.
But even like Andretti and

243
00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,280
Penske and stuff are taking paid
seats now.

244
00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,520
And so it's, it's like, you
know, I hate to say it, but

245
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:40,480
we've got friends in an IndyCar
that my kid has beaten all the

246
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,800
way through karting and, and
even in cars.

247
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:47,440
We've got some friends going
through the Formula One route

248
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,360
who are in F2 or they're even
reserve drivers in some cases

249
00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:54,760
who we've beaten in carts and
cars.

250
00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,840
But you know, I can't fund it.
Like I just don't you know, and

251
00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,720
even within our industry, like
I've got a lot of connections in

252
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,480
our industry who have been very
gracious and have helped to

253
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,640
support him.
But the money, you know, even if

254
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,240
I collect 100,000 or 150,000
from people that.

255
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,600
Erases.
Yeah, I.

256
00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:19,840
Mean Formula two now I think is
around 6,000,000 for a season,

257
00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,360
something like that.
Like it's an insane number, you

258
00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:27,320
know?
Formula 3 is around €2 million

259
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:32,000
for a season of Formula 3.
Formula 4 is almost €1,000,000.

260
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,160
You know, it's just insane money
right now.

261
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,200
It's insane.
Imagine that you're a top driver

262
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:44,000
and you have to spend 10 million
to get a seat, right?

263
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,960
Imagine if you're a college
football player and you want to

264
00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,280
go to Yeah.
You got to spend 10 million to

265
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:54,320
go play for the the.
The New York Jets want want you

266
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,360
in their team and you can come
and play for us if you if you

267
00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:01,440
give us 10 million people would
say that's not right, but of

268
00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,079
course they would.
I mean there's a couple of prime

269
00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:06,800
examples in there.
You know, I mean, look, you look

270
00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,280
at Lance Tro and Aston morning
right to you know, is he there

271
00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,599
because of his dad in the New
York second Is he he's I think

272
00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:18,359
he's an OK driver, but he's an
OK driver amidst a lot of very

273
00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:20,960
good ones he'd.
Never be in Formula One if he if

274
00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,839
he wasn't Laurence Stroll's son.
There, he wouldn't, No.

275
00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:27,119
I was very surprised because I
always thought that Lance was

276
00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:32,440
fast and he was not very good on
on tricky circuits or or

277
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,280
technical circuits.
But he always said well in Monza

278
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:37,440
and this year at Monza it was a
complete disaster.

279
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,240
Yeah, yeah.
Now he's, he's there obviously,

280
00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:44,040
because his dad's the boss and
now his dad.

281
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,640
I've just read a rumor this
morning that they're giving

282
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:54,000
Adrian Newey 25,000,000 to come
to to come to them to come to

283
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,640
Aston next.
Yeah, well, I mean it is or it

284
00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,840
isn't, but it's going to put you
in the in the conversation,

285
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,360
that's for sure.
And for him, 25,000,000 is

286
00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:05,760
peanuts.
You.

287
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,720
Know yes, so like they once said
to, I don't know, there was an

288
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,240
interview and I can't remember.
I think it was Lewis Hamilton

289
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,400
and they said what team would
you like to race for most?

290
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,160
He goes the one with Adrian
Newey.

291
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:19,120
Yeah, yeah.
If the guy's that good, you know

292
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:21,200
he really is and he doesn't.
Need the computer?

293
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:25,320
It's all.
It's all rulers and and can

294
00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:26,360
drawn, isn't it?
Yeah.

295
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,600
Well, and there's very few
people like that, you know, and,

296
00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,760
and like you mentioned earlier,
Mike Speed is one of the guys in

297
00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,160
karting who's like that.
Like he could look at a Tony

298
00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,200
cart and tell you exactly what,
how it needed to be adjusted

299
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:40,360
that his biggest thing was
carburetion.

300
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,520
Like Mike Speed in Go Karts was
a carburetion genius.

301
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,000
You know, he'd go off into a
little hidden place and he'd do

302
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,840
some adjustments to the carb and
he'd come back and you'd be like

303
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,280
3/10 faster and you'd go, what
did you just do?

304
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,920
I don't know.
I mean, MM speed with Scott.

305
00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:03,440
Mike believed in Scott.
Yeah, I mean, they had, I

306
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,320
wouldn't you know, they had an
up and down relationship.

307
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,320
They argued a lot.
I think they still like, but

308
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,920
like Mike, Mike went into so
much debt to get Scott where he

309
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,800
wanted, like a double mortgage
on a house.

310
00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,960
And you have to have the utmost
respect for people like that,

311
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,480
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean.

312
00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,240
Trouble for being a genius.
Let's face it, when your last

313
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,760
name is Speed, you've got a
little pressure on you.

314
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,840
You know you're not going to,
you're not going to make it in,

315
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,440
you know, whatever.
You're not going to make it in a

316
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:31,680
lot of industries, but you're
going.

317
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,960
To once, once I had an idea that
I was going to take, you know,

318
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,600
to try to get sponsors in it and
I was going to go to American

319
00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,640
Express and I was going to Scott
Speed the American Express.

320
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,640
That's a good one.
Yeah, that's a good one.

321
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:48,200
Do you know Alex as well?
His brother?

322
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,560
I do, yeah.
So Alex was like Jeremy's

323
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,800
engineer for a number of years.
My son's engineer in karts, they

324
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,560
were the best.
I mean, speed, you know, I

325
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,320
helped him come up with his
name, Speed Concept Racing,

326
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,160
because I always argued with
him.

327
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,600
You've got to use your name.
It's your name.

328
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,920
And he goes, yeah, but it sounds
so cheesy, Speed, you know, race

329
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:11,760
fast.
And I'm like, but it's your

330
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,160
freaking name, so you got to use
it.

331
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,080
So.
Mike's wife passed away, right?

332
00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:19,520
Yeah.
Yeah.

333
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,280
And then and then.
His They put their heart and

334
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,880
soul and house and name and
money on the line for their son.

335
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:29,120
Yeah, they did.
And.

336
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:31,600
Alex wasn't a mean go Kart racer
either.

337
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,160
Yeah, yeah.
No.

338
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:39,600
And honestly, you know, I'd like
to say he's the only one because

339
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,360
I did.
And so many fathers did, you

340
00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,080
know, because you just look at
your son and like, my son from

341
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:49,480
the age of seven, never wanted
to do anything else in the world

342
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,360
except be in a go Kart.
And then at 15 in a race car,

343
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,040
you know, that was it.
That was the only thing he

344
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,480
wanted in the world.
To this day, it's all he wants.

345
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:00,880
But you know, now,
unfortunately, like most of

346
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,440
them, he's on the other side.
He's coaching and so he's

347
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,200
coaching a bunch of US Formula
Four drivers.

348
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:09,240
He's SIM coaching a lot of
drivers.

349
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,960
So yeah, it's a whole thing.
It's, it's sad actually, when

350
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,440
you know, there's a lot of
talent out there that's better

351
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,280
than some of the talent is there
because, you know, with the

352
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:24,280
Formula One car, I don't know if
if you're as much a driver as a

353
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:26,800
computer genius.
Yeah, it's true.

354
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:28,280
Or.
Or, or a mixture of both.

355
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,280
Yeah.
And then it's always the best

356
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:32,880
driver and the best car will
win.

357
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:38,160
I mean, it amazes me that they
go like the Aston Martins really

358
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,400
slow because it's 9/10 of a
second slower on a lap than

359
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,080
anyone. 9/10 of a second, yeah.
It's insane, isn't it?

360
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,080
It's it's like a blink of an
eye.

361
00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:52,720
Yeah, yeah, 9/10 of a second on
a, on a minute and a half lap,

362
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,720
right or whatever.
So no, it's incredible.

363
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:57,760
It's all incredible.
And the drivers, there's so many

364
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:00,240
great drivers right now.
I think, I think a lot of them

365
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:01,760
will never make it to Formula
One.

366
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,000
A lot of them will never make it
to Formula Three because the

367
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,440
money's just not there.
You know, it's, it's a terrible

368
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,240
story right now.
Those with loads of money are,

369
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,720
are making it on and the grids
are going to end up watered

370
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:14,360
down.
You know, the grids are going to

371
00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,200
get lame.
Like I think right now IndyCar

372
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,320
is pretty exciting.
You know, there's, there's some

373
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,680
pretty good things happening in
IndyCar right now.

374
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:26,320
But even there, like if you look
at the last five, 6-7 drivers

375
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,880
usually on the on the sheets, at
the end of the day, those guys

376
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,480
are paying millions of dollars
to be in those seats.

377
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,960
And yeah, it's just not right.
I don't.

378
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,280
You know, I had a burning
ambition once.

379
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,440
Just once.
Oh, and racing.

380
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:49,200
I wanted to go to Indianapolis
from like the start or get into

381
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:54,120
like Wednesday or Monday before
the race, then walk up and down

382
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:57,200
pit row and find it.
Who wanted $25,000?

383
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,560
Yeah.
And you'll go, you have $25,000.

384
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,000
I just want my name on a car.
And going back to what you said

385
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,320
about our industry friends, I
did that with with Colin Fleming

386
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:14,240
in Formula Atlantic, I think.
Yeah.

387
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:19,240
And so I got my friends from
stage, Co-op stage in screen

388
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,840
works, cat entertainment.
And I go, you, you want to give

389
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,560
me some sponsorship money.
So we raised 100 grand and that

390
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,720
was good.
Yeah, that's very good season

391
00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:31,040
and like 20 grand for each
company.

392
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,160
And we put it over the car and
we had a great car and won it.

393
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:40,360
And then also there back in the
GP two days, Colin was trying to

394
00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:43,160
race for a Swiss outfit.
I can't remember the name.

395
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,520
And they wanted some money for a
wind tunnel test and at wind

396
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,840
tunnel testing time.
Yeah, I used to own a bunch of

397
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,280
sound consoles that I rented, so
I sold one and paid for wind

398
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,960
tunnel time.
All that got me is that my

399
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,720
company was called Fader Hire
then and I have a picture of

400
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:06,400
Colin driving around Monaco with
Fader Hire on the mirrors.

401
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:08,080
Nice.
Yeah, I.

402
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,720
Got nothing out of it except
that's fucking cool.

403
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,400
Well.
So, you know, remarkably,

404
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,440
there's a company in our
industry called Ayrton Lighting,

405
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:22,200
which, you know, is a major
automated lighting manufacturer

406
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:23,800
now, one of the top guys out
there.

407
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,080
And the founder, Yvonne, is a
French guy who was a massive

408
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,760
Formula One fan and was
obviously a massive Ayrton Senna

409
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,080
fan.
And when Ayrton died, he closed

410
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,960
the company for a couple of
weeks in mourning and then a

411
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,320
little bit later on changed the
name of his company to Airton

412
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:49,200
and just totally basically so,
so for the past couple of years,

413
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,000
one of our main sponsors was
Airton Lighting.

414
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,400
And so we had big Airton logo
on, on the car and people would

415
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:58,320
always be like, are you just
huge fans or what's the deal?

416
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,200
And we're like, no, no, look, it
says Airton Digital Lighting.

417
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,800
And so, you know, you got in a
lot of really great

418
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,960
conversations at the track.
That was for sure.

419
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,600
Like, you know, we were at I
think Brands Hatch and a guy

420
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,880
comes up to me and says, we just
delivered a bunch of those

421
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,240
lights yesterday, you know, And
I was like, oh, really?

422
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,200
And so, yeah, it's great.
Like I said, our industry's been

423
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,080
very, very good to us.
Yeah, but not good enough to get

424
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,200
us into IndyCar or into any of
the next steps, you know,

425
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:32,760
Formula, Formula 3, which we
have two or three friends in in

426
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:37,040
F31 and F2 now.
And you know, it's it's a long

427
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:38,840
expensive Rd.
Yeah, there you go.

428
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:39,760
Very.
Interesting.

429
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,320
We thoroughly bored people now,
Jake, so let's talk about what

430
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,360
they want to hear about, which
is our business.

431
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,960
So you know, I actually had you
on the podcast in 2021.

432
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,920
I don't know if you remember,
but one of my favorite stories

433
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:59,240
was, was the the ACDC story
where you're sitting in the pub

434
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:03,920
and, and you know, I think at
the time, weren't you a keyboard

435
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,680
tech for yes or something?
For Rick Wakeman, yeah.

436
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,240
Yeah, and, and what happened?
How'd you get the ACDC gig?

437
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,120
Well, sorry to make you tell it
again, but I love it.

438
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,960
We used to drink in this bar
called the Warrington Hotel,

439
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,000
which was in medieval, which is
a division of London.

440
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:27,160
Yeah, everybody drank there.
You know, it was you could pick

441
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:31,040
up a rogue crew in a good night
at the thing at them.

442
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,960
And my very good friend Ian
Jeffrey was the tour he'd worked

443
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,160
for.
When I started with Rick in 75,

444
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,720
he was the monitor guy.
And then he moved on to tour

445
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:47,000
manage ACDC.
So ACDC, we're looking for a

446
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:52,000
production manager and he goes,
I've put your name forward and I

447
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,160
go, but he and I've never.
Done production management, he

448
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:57,520
said.
But you know, I told him you

449
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,920
were a stage manager on yes.
So I go, you know, which was

450
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:04,160
stretching the truth, I would
say.

451
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,520
And so we got there and I met
Peter Mensch.

452
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,680
And then, you know, then, you
know, later in the story, you go

453
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,280
like, who's the people that
influence you the most?

454
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:17,480
And you know, you start off with
Peter Mensch.

455
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,760
Peter Mensch.
I can never have a enough thank

456
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,680
you and a huge amount of respect
for what he's achieved in

457
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,200
business.
So we kind of got to Peter and

458
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,160
Peter agreed and he sent me out
to to go and learn to be a

459
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,360
production manager in Oakland,
CA with ACDC.

460
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,160
First gig was the Oakland
Auditorium, Bill Graham

461
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:41,280
Auditorium and there he'd come
from a Peter had come from a

462
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:43,600
management company, Libra
Crepes.

463
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,320
So, but ACDC we're OK to be
managed by Liebman kept along.

464
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,080
It was Peter Mensch was the
manager.

465
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,120
So and then Peter, you know,
left and went on his own.

466
00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:57,880
They stayed with him and he
goes, I'm going to send out this

467
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:02,480
guy Joe Baptista, who was the
production manager for Aerosmith

468
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,240
and very well respected.
And so this guy was going,

469
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,240
you're going to learn from him
or you're not going to learn

470
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:13,680
from him and you're going home.
So Joe came in on that great

471
00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,960
guy, Joe, great, great guy.
And you know, don't forget you

472
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:22,600
had no, no fax machines.
You had no, you didn't even have

473
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,880
a pager, let alone a cell phone.
This was in the 80s, right?

474
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:31,280
This one in 79. 70.
Nine wow, so you know, you did

475
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:36,560
everything with a payphone.
So and then, you know, by that

476
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,440
time, you know, I think Bill
Graham organization was the

477
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,600
first to put, you know, a long
distance phone in the production

478
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:49,600
office where it was MCI or I
can't remember the name of the

479
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,280
companies where you hit nine,
you dialed the number, then you

480
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,800
put hard number.
So we advance.

481
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,720
He said, listen to me, I'm
advancing the show.

482
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,280
So I listened to him advance the
show, took down some notes and

483
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:07,320
he had this four page
questionnaire that you know, you

484
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,920
would ask the questions, you
know, do you have loading docks?

485
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,160
I mean, back in 79 most of the
answers.

486
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:17,600
What are those, you know?
And so he let me do it.

487
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,560
And I looked at he goes and he
said to the next, the next time

488
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,040
he called, he go, well, why
don't you give it a try and I'll

489
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,080
be here to back you up.
So I went through it and I mean,

490
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,440
I could write down, but first of
all, I hate writing because my

491
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,320
writing's terrible.
My spelling's awful.

492
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:38,040
So I did it and I went through
it like that and did a couple

493
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,320
more and he goes, don't worry,
you got it.

494
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,040
And he told Peter, don't worry,
Jake's got it.

495
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,440
He'll be, he'll be OK.
And, and that was it.

496
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:50,920
And many, many, many years
later, we were playing

497
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:55,320
Metallica, ACDC and Metallica
in, in, in, in Russia.

498
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,520
And I was looking for a psych
coordinator.

499
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,640
So the first person I call was
Joe Baptista.

500
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,000
I said, this is what I owe you.
And unfortunately after that,

501
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:08,360
that was the last gig he ever
died.

502
00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,560
When he came home, he had a
heart attack and passed away.

503
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,640
So.
But that's how I started.

504
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,520
So he gave you your first gig
and you gave him his last gig?

505
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:20,840
I think you said that on our
first one.

506
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:22,280
So it's not like I'm being
smart.

507
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:29,440
No, no, no, I mean it's true.
And you know, you've been

508
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,800
through, Peter mentioned.
Now you're at Joe Baptista for

509
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,160
the people that help you.
Carve your career.

510
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,520
Yeah, that's just amazing,
though.

511
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,600
Like I it's one of the things I
love about the foundation of

512
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,280
this industry is bands as big as
AC/DC, as big as some of these

513
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:49,920
bands and willing to hire a guy
who has nothing on his resume

514
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,320
that says production manager.
You know what I mean?

515
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,720
Like I.
Used to hang out with in the

516
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,560
pub.
I used to hang out with all of

517
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,480
them and they all used to come
to the same pub.

518
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,320
So when somebody goes to, you
know, ACDC and they go, yeah,

519
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:08,040
well, I've known them since 76.
So I mean, it wasn't strange and

520
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:14,320
they were quite happy, you know,
But I mean, it's, it's, it's not

521
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,800
what you who the rock behind.
I'm trying to explain this.

522
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:21,640
Been in the right place at the
right time.

523
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,960
Not your skill level because my
skill level certainly wasn't up

524
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,240
there with anybody now.
And in some respects,

525
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:35,160
technically wise, there's a
whole whole bunch of people are

526
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,040
in this business, are far
technically and in our business,

527
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,280
I always maintain that 50% of
being a production manager was

528
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,280
personality at least 50%.
How to get your point across

529
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,800
without pissing people off?
Yeah, is it?

530
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,680
Is it somewhere between, you
know, being a nice guy and

531
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:59,600
creating massive fear?
I don't know if I ever wanted to

532
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,040
create massive fear, but it's
yes.

533
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:05,720
I think being a nice guy and
listening to both sides of the

534
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:11,240
story, then making and sometimes
an educated guess.

535
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,560
And that's where I learned the
four, the four most important

536
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,680
words I ever learned of being a
production manager.

537
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,360
When somebody asks you a
question, you go, I'll get back

538
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,840
to you cuz you never wanted to
appear dumb.

539
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,000
So you can find the answer and
come back.

540
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,400
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, so many people in our

541
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:33,720
industry always say, you know,
like if if you ask them for the

542
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,480
best advice, they'll say say yes
and then go figure it out, you

543
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,600
know, and like Cosmo was one of
the ones who said that.

544
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,760
And so many people did that.
Like they just, they didn't

545
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,160
because you couldn't know
everything, especially in those

546
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,760
early days.
Just say yes and then go find

547
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:49,960
out how to do it.
The.

548
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,520
Early days were pioneering.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

549
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,920
I mean, there's a lot of people,
you know, who were pioneers.

550
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:02,400
Chipmunk, you know, Stansfield,
you know, Joe Back, they were

551
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:08,360
all pioneers.
And you know, you go to you know

552
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:16,160
the riggers like Branham and Air
Banks who were the and Travis

553
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,120
with the Disney riggers, you
know, and they they were the

554
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,040
first people to fly a sound
system.

555
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,200
You know, you had a platform,
you stacked the sound, you

556
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,000
ratched it and took it up on 4
motors.

557
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,720
Very, very basic.
Yeah, but I mean, incredible,

558
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,560
you know, it's incredible always
to like, I love, I love this

559
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,240
podcast because I get to hear
some of these stories of how

560
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,000
they created some of the
earliest sound systems and made

561
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:45,440
it work or how they, you know,
just it was always a learning

562
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,200
thing and a figure it out thing,
you know, and making park cans

563
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,200
from pineapple cans and stuff
like that.

564
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,640
So, but let me ask you, because
you you worked with ACDC from

565
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,360
early on and, and, and also
Mötley Crüe in the 80s.

566
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,160
And it's funny because while you
can't see it right now, let me

567
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,840
see if I can turn.
So that's right.

568
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:10,360
There is me and and Nikki, but
it's me next to him with the

569
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,040
long hair.
And that was a tour that you

570
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,239
worked.
That was Theodore Pain.

571
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:20,239
Well, so that was in Calgary.
That was in Calgary, by the way,

572
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:25,320
that that particular one.
So you know, every, every

573
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,120
picture tells a story, doesn't
it?

574
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:34,120
You know, so I got to know the
motley crew and, and 1st, you

575
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,760
know, probably Doc, you know, I
was out working for Aussie at

576
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:44,280
Bark of the Moon tour and the
crew were the support act and

577
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:49,920
they, they came up and they had,
I don't know who their

578
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:51,120
production manager, I can't
remember.

579
00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,280
It might have been somebody
called Roy Franks, I believe.

580
00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:01,520
And the crew wanted to hang
their motley crew backdrop and,

581
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,840
and Roy said no.
And so they were kind of pissed

582
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,840
off and I said we can do it, you
know.

583
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:15,840
So we went and got a pipe and we
put some nails in the pipe and,

584
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,880
you know, we had the grommets on
their drop and we would hang it

585
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:21,960
and at the set change when it
was over, we would just let it

586
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,160
down.
Very simple, very basic.

587
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,680
And So what what does that cost
us?

588
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:32,480
And back in those days, it was
either $100 or equivalent.

589
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:36,800
Yeah, yeah, I got so.
That's why I need to do the

590
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,200
crew.
So after Bark of the Moon, I

591
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,000
went on and did Ronnie James
Dio.

592
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:46,560
I was at with Deal and and then
to be perfect on this.

593
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,360
Deal was to this day the only
tour that I've ever been asked

594
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,880
to leave or fired really.
Yeah.

595
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:59,320
What happened there?
Well, we were trying to save

596
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:06,600
money and we Wendy Deal was, I
don't know the complete story,

597
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,000
but her and Ronnie were
separated and a rumour had she

598
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,200
was involved with a singer from
a band called Rough Cut.

599
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,840
Rough Cut with a support act.
And then we did our first

600
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:21,880
loadout at Alpine Valley and we
were so tight in the trucks we

601
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,040
had to drive the truck down a
slow slam on a brake so we could

602
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:29,640
close the door, you know.
And then we were setting up in

603
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:35,520
Quebec City and they said they
want to see you in the office.

604
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:37,880
I mean, I can't go down the
office.

605
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,080
I'm trying to explain to a bunch
of French Canadian stage chants

606
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:46,320
how the show opens because it's
all about laser timing, opening

607
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,360
a curtain and putting in smoke.
It was had to be coordinated.

608
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,840
Yeah.
And at the end of the night,

609
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:53,480
they said, can you come to the
dressing room?

610
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,160
So I did.
And Wendy said to me, you know,

611
00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:58,040
it's not working out, Jake.
He said, I go, why are you

612
00:36:58,040 --> 00:36:59,600
getting rid of me?
She go, Yeah, I think so.

613
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:02,960
And that was it.
It took.

614
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:09,120
It took 30 years.
Later I met Wendy 30 years and

615
00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:11,520
she goes, are you still angry at
me?

616
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,360
I go, of course I am, but I
forgive you, you know.

617
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,800
So it was good, but and then I
went home and I remember so

618
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,120
there.
Was literally no reason.

619
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:22,720
Well, I think I think because
you.

620
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,720
Didn't rush to the office.
Maybe I yeah, maybe I didn't bow

621
00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:28,520
down as much.
I I don't know.

622
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,800
But interesting you.
So, you know, I went home and I

623
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:39,440
had zero money and I said to my
then wife Maria goes, I don't

624
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:47,080
know what we're going to do.
And within 4 less than 24 hours,

625
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,800
Rich Fisher was the tour manager
from the crew said, Jake, can

626
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,080
you come out and be the stage
manager for Theatre of Pain?

627
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:55,360
And I go here I go.
So off I went.

628
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,600
And then that's hilarious.
I felt that, you know, everybody

629
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,560
used to come for me to decision.
So you know, I've been a

630
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:04,960
production manager, stage
manager.

631
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,440
I had to go because I needed the
money, but that's why I got to

632
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:12,560
be the production manager for
the crew, you know, from $100

633
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,400
worth of that's.
Insane, That's so insane.

634
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,800
That's great.
Well, and you know, like you

635
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,600
said before, like, you know,
take good care of people and,

636
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,200
and you know, treat them right
and be cool with people and

637
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:28,960
stuff and, and it can turn into
a life lifetime of gigs, you

638
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,600
know, and that's worked out for
you and so many people in this

639
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:33,760
industry.
Yes, it has, yeah.

640
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:39,800
That theater a pain tour.
So that picture, you know, I

641
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,480
didn't really ever think about
it until I I read their book The

642
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:48,360
Dirt, and I had no idea how
fucked up they really were.

643
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,520
You know, like how much shit
they were doing and ingesting

644
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:54,280
into their bodies.
And I look back at that picture

645
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,560
and you can see the look in
Nikki's eyes.

646
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:58,960
He was wasted.
Now I'm going to tell you a

647
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,360
story and you right, you might
remember this because this

648
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:07,560
happened in Calgary.
And so Vince was on lockdown at

649
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:13,880
this point because of the car
accident and Tommy was married.

650
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,760
But Tommy was in love with my
secretary, whose name was

651
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:23,040
Beverly.
And so Bev and I were talking

652
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:24,720
with Tommy, hanging out,
whatever.

653
00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:26,320
And we were like, yeah, we got
to get going.

654
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:30,360
We're meeting some friends at a
club and he goes, I'm coming and

655
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:34,520
we go, OK, well, I have a
Corvette.

656
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,240
It's only got 2 seats in it.
I'm not sure how we're gonna

657
00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:39,360
work that out, Tommy.
And he goes, no, no, no, we'll

658
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,280
all come or no, he goes I'll
somebody will drive me or

659
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,160
something.
So he grabs a radio from someone

660
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,840
and he calls whoever.
And it was like everyone had

661
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,480
numbers.
Tommy was 0.

662
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:52,960
And I can't remember what the
number was of the person he

663
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:54,640
called, but it was a manager or
something.

664
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,880
And he said, I'm going to go to
a club with some friends of

665
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:58,960
mine.
And he's like, no, Tommy, you're

666
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:01,480
not going anywhere.
We're leaving and going to

667
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,720
Edmonton.
And he goes, no, no, I'm going

668
00:40:03,720 --> 00:40:06,000
to go for a couple hours and
hang out with my friends and,

669
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,640
and you know, and, and you know,
I like these people.

670
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,160
I'm going to go hang out.
No, Tommy, you're coming with

671
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:13,440
this.
We're going to Edmonton.

672
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,400
So Tommy starts throwing a fit
and he starts like flipping Rd.

673
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,720
cases, pulling him off the
truck, you know, flipped over a

674
00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:22,840
couple tables with drinks on him
and stuff.

675
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,160
He was just having a little
tantrum, right?

676
00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,280
And we were like, oh shit, like
let's sneak out of here or

677
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,840
something, right?
And so finally he convinces the

678
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,920
management to pack everyone in
the bus and the whole bus

679
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:39,040
followed my car to this local
club.

680
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,160
And so we're on our way to the
club and I called the club and

681
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:46,120
I'm like, hey, it's Marcel.
Yeah, I'm coming down me and Bev

682
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,080
and Mötley Crüe and, and the
girl goes whatever, you know.

683
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,880
And I said no, no, it's me, Bev
and Mötley Crüe.

684
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,960
And so Vince had to stay in the
bus, but the rest of them came

685
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:56,840
in and well, I don't think Mick
came in.

686
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,000
It was probably just Tommy and
and Nikki came in and a couple

687
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:04,600
couple crew guys and it was a
crazy night.

688
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:08,640
It was just a nutty night.
We had a lot of crazy times on

689
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,240
the crew.
I can't even imagine, you know,

690
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,280
did you ever see the movie The
Dirt, the Netflix movie?

691
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:18,160
It's so funny when the fake Jake
Berry is standing at the railing

692
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,760
at a motel, and he looks at the
camera and goes, you know, I've

693
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,120
been with Skid Row and Bon Jovi
and he lists a few bands.

694
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,280
He goes.
But nothing ever prepared me for

695
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,480
this, you know?
And it's just debauchery.

696
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,760
Probably been Rich Fisher.
I think no, it was.

697
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:35,880
I thought it was supposed to be
Doc McGee.

698
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,040
It was Doc McGee.
It was the manager in the movie,

699
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,200
Yeah.
Well, I mean, I saw the dirt and

700
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:46,520
because I was on the production
side, yeah, I didn't see a lot

701
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:48,440
of the stuff that was going on.
Right.

702
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,640
Yeah, yeah.
But, you know, I remember being

703
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:54,440
around the night that Nikki,
yeah, died.

704
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:57,680
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And and don't forget, that was a

705
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:01,400
big LA scene.
It was huge, huge LA scene.

706
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:02,760
Massive.
Yeah, you.

707
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:06,040
Know you had the crew you had
poison you had.

708
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,280
Roses you had.
GNR Yeah.

709
00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:13,280
I mean, it's, you know, bands
like Warrant and it was pretty

710
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:14,520
insane.
Yeah.

711
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,000
When everybody tells you about,
you know, what went on in the

712
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,520
80s and the 90s, and you listen
to stories and people go, what

713
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:23,480
do you think?
I go?

714
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:26,360
I think you've only just
scratched the surface.

715
00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:27,560
Yeah.
No kidding.

716
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:29,560
I.
Mean It was insane, what we used

717
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,480
to do insane.
Let me let me ask you this

718
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,480
though, like you were with ACDC
in the 80s and and Mötley Crüe

719
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:40,280
in the 80s, did you have any
idea that both those bands would

720
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:44,560
be doing stadium tours in in
2024?

721
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:49,760
Like, you know, did I honestly
think I'd still be around in

722
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:51,360
2010?
That's true too.

723
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:55,120
Yeah, that's true too.
I was there.

724
00:42:55,640 --> 00:43:00,720
I was very fortunate to be, you
know, an A/C DCI was there when

725
00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:02,760
Highway to Hell came out.
And that was like.

726
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:06,200
Big the start you.
Know, but we were still

727
00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:12,200
travelling around 2 trucks, you
know, and I think the first

728
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,400
American tour we had, the
support band was Molly Hatchet

729
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:21,440
and then the band from Atlanta,
what they call the Atlanta

730
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:22,600
Rhythm Section, I can't
remember.

731
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,240
So I mean, we won't.
And that was like a a great

732
00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:28,680
bill.
I mean, Motley Hatchet were a

733
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:30,400
great southern rock band.
Yeah.

734
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:31,880
They were great southern rock
band.

735
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,040
Yeah.
And so we went out and we toured

736
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:40,360
and we did Highway to Hell and,
you know, we finished America

737
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:44,680
and, you know, it was obvious
the band were going places.

738
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:47,320
Yeah.
And then we went back into

739
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,600
England and I was working for
them full time a lot of the

740
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:51,600
time.
Oh, wow.

741
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:57,560
So I was on salary and then we
went off to Paris, you know,

742
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,080
then you know where I was living
in London with my then

743
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:02,120
girlfriend.
And then, you know, in the

744
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:04,800
middle of the night, we, or
early one morning, we get a

745
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:09,560
phone call from, I think it
might have been Ian, say fucking

746
00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:12,440
Bond had died overnight.
That's incredible.

747
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,800
Crazy you.
Know and you, you put the phone

748
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:16,400
down and you go.
What did I just hear?

749
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,360
Yeah.
And because he never showed up

750
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:23,880
for rehearsals for Back in Black
and they were worried about him,

751
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:26,800
and then, you know, are they
going to carry on?

752
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:28,240
What are they going to do?
So.

753
00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:30,520
That album was written with Bon
Scott.

754
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:31,720
I didn't realize.
No, no.

755
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,200
No, they hadn't started it.
They do it in two ways.

756
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:39,120
They do the music first, OK, And
then Bon was going to come in

757
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:40,760
with some lyrics.
I see.

758
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:43,960
OK, well, let me get a look.
Bon would come and listen to it

759
00:44:45,240 --> 00:44:47,120
and we'll have some ideas for
song because.

760
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:50,520
It's funny to think like some of
those iconic songs on Back in

761
00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:53,560
Black, to think of them being
sung by Bon Scott, who's an

762
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,760
incredible singer.
It would have been so different,

763
00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,320
you know, just so different.
Yeah.

764
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,520
So.
You know, and then the band

765
00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:06,320
decided to carry on and then,
you know, then I consider to be

766
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:09,800
one of the hardest jobs I've
ever had in Rock'n'roll.

767
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:14,800
I I think it was myself and Ian,
we backed up Bon Scott in

768
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:20,200
Victoria, Bon's apartment in
Victoria and mailed or shipped

769
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,120
all his personal belongings home
to his mother and father.

770
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:25,920
In Perth, so terrible.
Yeah, and.

771
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,160
Then we had to go about finding
a singer.

772
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:33,360
Yeah.
And we did rehearsals and

773
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:37,880
auditions in the studio in
Victoria Excuse.

774
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,480
Me one SEC, Jake.
So it was never discussed like,

775
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:42,480
hey, this is the end of the band
or anything.

776
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:45,280
It was just immediately going to
be we're going to get a new

777
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:47,120
singer.
No, it was discussed.

778
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,400
Oh.
OK, yeah, it was So that had to

779
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,240
be that had to be on your mind.
Like I've got this great gig,

780
00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:55,800
I'm getting paid salary, you
know, I.

781
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:59,600
I, I think that I didn't know
what was happening on the inner,

782
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:03,720
inner talks amongst the bands.
And yeah, it went back and forth

783
00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:08,760
and, you know, the young family
being in Australia, Georgia and,

784
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:12,520
and, and the family were very
involved in ACDC with Gary

785
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:15,040
Vander.
And they go, you guys have got

786
00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,720
this great album.
It would be unfair not to let

787
00:46:18,720 --> 00:46:20,280
the people hear it.
Yeah.

788
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,280
So then we auditioned for
singers and we had a few.

789
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:25,040
So how long?
Did it take to make that

790
00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:28,000
decision that it was going to go
on like was it a couple weeks, a

791
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:28,920
month?
Yeah, yeah.

792
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:29,840
It wasn't a month.
Yeah.

793
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:31,880
Oh, OK, I.
Think we all shut down for a

794
00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:32,240
month?
It was.

795
00:46:32,240 --> 00:46:34,800
Pretty quick.
Everybody had to go home, you

796
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:42,760
know, and and then we had these
auditions and along along showed

797
00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:49,640
off this guy with a floppy cap
and he came in and 1st audition

798
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:54,320
and he did really well.
We've had some some people in

799
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,160
before.
I mean, there was talk of Knotty

800
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,480
Holder from slave, but everybody
felt that he'd always have the

801
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:03,440
slave identity.
But he had the right voice for

802
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:04,800
ACDC.
Oh Jesus.

803
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:06,800
Perfect.
Yeah, perfect.

804
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:09,920
And then we had like, Gary
Halton from the Heavy Metal Kids

805
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:13,000
and bands like that, and then
just a couple of other people,

806
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:15,360
and then Brian came along.
Yeah.

807
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:21,640
And Brian is, you know, if you
know Newcastle, you know, the

808
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,680
people are pretty down to earth.
Yeah.

809
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:27,760
So he came in, started playing
pool with one of the crew

810
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:29,440
because he thought he was a band
member.

811
00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:30,600
That's how much he knew about
that's.

812
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:32,280
Funny.
And they and I.

813
00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:33,600
Go.
Where's this other guys?

814
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:35,480
15 minutes late.
Oh, that's me.

815
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:37,120
So you're not an audition.
Ain't he?

816
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:39,160
Good.
And then all of a sudden, you

817
00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:43,080
know, they tell you, let's just
bring him back for a second

818
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:44,280
chat.
Second time.

819
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:46,880
So Brian came back for a second
time.

820
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:52,160
And after the rehearsals, we all
were headed down to the the pub

821
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,840
next to the studio.
And we're sitting, you know,

822
00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:57,640
because we all hung out then.
We were all a big family.

823
00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:01,200
Wasn't this the Rockstars in a
five star hotel and then the

824
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:03,600
crew on a bus.
We go hanging out.

825
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:07,200
And I can't remember whether
it's Malcolm to Angus or Angus

826
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:10,280
to Malcolm.
Do you want to tell him or shall

827
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:11,240
I?
Shall I?

828
00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:13,600
And somebody goes.
I will.

829
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:15,440
And they turn around to Brian
like this.

830
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,480
Hey, Brian, you want to be the
singer in ACDC?

831
00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:20,200
Yeah.
Yeah.

832
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:24,040
And that was it.
Grab another beer.

833
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:28,480
Then he they will be in touch.
And he headed back to Newcastle

834
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:34,600
and, and then we started to go
in rehearsals and we wanted to

835
00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,160
do the first show which was way
out of the way.

836
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:41,680
So we went, went to a convention
centre in a place called Namur,

837
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,600
which is in Belgium.
And we got there and it was the

838
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:48,000
fucking worst sound in all you'd
ever had.

839
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:52,400
The band came in at 3:00 for a
sound check, and Malcolm was

840
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:57,280
distraught with his arm.
And he go so distraught that he

841
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:00,960
said we can't play in here.
And then the promoter must have

842
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:02,840
been Michelle Pearl.
Then I think you know.

843
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:05,800
And he goes, well, there's
another hall I think sounds

844
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:07,800
better.
This is 3:00 in the afternoon.

845
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:09,720
So they all went over.
This sounds better.

846
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:11,680
OK, we're going to move the show
there.

847
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,000
So we took the whole production.
Oh.

848
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:20,320
My God, Oh my God talking.
APA yeah, PA and you're talking

849
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:22,320
2 genie lifts or something like
that.

850
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,960
Very small, but yeah.
I mean, it's not like today, but

851
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:27,120
still they.
Built a stage and we went over

852
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:29,400
it like 530.
Wow.

853
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,600
But they show up and played at
9:00 that night and that was

854
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:35,760
Brian's opening gig.
Wow, that's so incredible.

855
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:40,160
Yeah, the the, there were a
couple of other parts that you

856
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:43,920
told in that story last time and
you missed this time. 1 was that

857
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:48,360
Brian just sort of went there on
a bit of a whim, like he was, he

858
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:52,400
was going to be, I think he was
recording a a radio commercial

859
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:57,120
or something across the street.
No, he was doing voice overs for

860
00:49:57,120 --> 00:49:58,480
Hoover.
Hoover.

861
00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:00,000
Vacuums, right?
Yeah.

862
00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:01,720
And he goes, I don't know if I'd
bother.

863
00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:03,680
And I think somebody said why
you should go down, what have

864
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:05,840
you got to lose?
He was, he was struggling a

865
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:08,480
little bit.
So then he had to leave the

866
00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:10,520
first day because he had he had
to do a commercial.

867
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:15,680
I mean incredible though.
Like how those little tiny

868
00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:17,840
things set your destiny, you
know?

869
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:22,520
And if you think about Brian's
life, what it became with ACDC,

870
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:26,120
like, holy shit, thank God for
that Hoover commercial, you

871
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:28,000
know?
And ACDC went up.

872
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,680
They went, they went down.
I mean, there was a time when

873
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:35,040
ACDC was a hard sell that a
couple of, you know, not so good

874
00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:40,400
albums and all of a sudden, you
know, they toured Europe this

875
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:44,080
summer and I went to see him in
Germany, actually.

876
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:47,240
Yeah, Did you?
And I went and I hung out with

877
00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:50,600
Brian and I hung out of Angus
because they were the only two.

878
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:52,640
Yeah, everybody.
Else is gone and.

879
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,360
You know, and people go, what do
you think of ACDC?

880
00:50:55,360 --> 00:51:00,440
And they go, well, back in the
day, everybody used to say that

881
00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:04,560
they're they're heroes and who
they learnt most of was was Led

882
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:08,280
Zeppelin.
And now all the bands go, you

883
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,200
know, where do you get your
energy from?

884
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:15,080
And ACDC, so ACDC religionist
status and, and you know, Brian

885
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:18,560
is not, not a young man.
He's he's 7576, I think.

886
00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:22,600
But that's to sing that stuff in
your 20s is hard, let alone when

887
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:25,520
you're 70.
Sometimes some of the songs he

888
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:27,400
struggles in, sometimes he's
just great.

889
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:31,880
Yeah, and but basically, I don't
know if the people give a shit

890
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:33,320
that much.
They just really don't.

891
00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:35,400
BC.
And they want to hear Highway to

892
00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:37,280
Hell, They want to say it shook
me all night long.

893
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:39,960
And they want to hear, yeah,
they were back in back going.

894
00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:44,440
Nuts like I've only seen video,
but the fans are going nuts, you

895
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:47,960
know so they're loving it I.
Mind their legendary status.

896
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:51,720
Yeah, they certainly are.
But I mean, again, like in the

897
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:55,360
80s, you saw the debauchery, you
saw the the crazy stuff that

898
00:51:55,360 --> 00:51:58,200
crew were doing and, and whether
or not they'd even survive as

899
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:00,680
humans was questionable, let
alone as a band.

900
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:08,000
And but here they are in 2024
touring, not ACDC, not ACDC, no

901
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:10,400
ACDC.
We're always a little more

902
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:12,600
businesslike, right?
Well, no, they were.

903
00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:16,240
They were.
They were not into all the

904
00:52:16,240 --> 00:52:19,160
debauchery like Angus is always
been teetotaled.

905
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:23,040
Well Malcolm is well documented,
had a little bit of an alcohol

906
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,800
problem and a bit of pot but
nothing serious.

907
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:31,520
I mean Cliff was Cliff.
Cliff just came along and played

908
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:34,720
solid bass but he wasn't wild or
anything I'm sure.

909
00:52:34,720 --> 00:52:40,120
No, we all had our vices and
Phil sometimes could be a loose

910
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:43,840
cannon, but they weren't.
They wouldn't, they wouldn't

911
00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:47,000
have the reputation like the
crew got the reputation, right.

912
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:49,160
Not the I'm talking about Mötley
Crüe, you know?

913
00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:51,160
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

914
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,560
No, Mötley Crüe I again, I mean,
it shocks me that you know,

915
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:58,480
they've, they've retired a
couple times too and and they

916
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:01,880
just there's longevity there
that I never in a million years

917
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,480
would have pictured well.
The the pity about Mötley Crüe

918
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:07,240
now is the inner fighting with
the band.

919
00:53:07,240 --> 00:53:12,200
Yeah, yeah.
You hate seeing bands suing each

920
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:13,720
other and stuff, yeah.
I mean.

921
00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:16,280
Especially original members and
stuff like that.

922
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:19,240
Like have you seen all the
journey stuff with with Neil

923
00:53:19,240 --> 00:53:23,960
Shawn and and Jonathan Cain?
What an embarrassment.

924
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:26,840
But they're.
Playing together, they go out on

925
00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:29,920
stage every night.
Facebook and they're slagging

926
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,520
each other off.
I mean, fantastic.

927
00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:34,560
You all got inner politics in
bands.

928
00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:38,320
You don't air your dirty alert.
No, it's so nobody.

929
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:42,640
Gives a shit if Jonathan Cain
wants to put a lawsuit to Neil

930
00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:44,960
Shong.
Neil Shong, you know, he said.

931
00:53:45,160 --> 00:53:48,440
Jonathan Cain says we have it in
our deal that we get $1500 a

932
00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:51,640
night room allowance for Neil's.
Neil's overspending.

933
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:53,360
Yeah.
So Neil should pay.

934
00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:54,760
It's very simple.
Yeah.

935
00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:57,800
Work.
It out though, yeah, like why

936
00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:00,920
would you go this route?
It's just, and how do you get on

937
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:04,040
stage every night and and play
with these guys when you're

938
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:06,160
going to court during the day?
It's incredible.

939
00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:09,120
Like it's incredible.
I mean, obviously at that point

940
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:11,880
it's just a business.
It's not about the music, it's

941
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:14,360
not about the art.
It's not about anything else.

942
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:18,560
It's it's just a business.
Unfortunately, I think that our

943
00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:21,720
our industry is just a business
in a lot of ways, you know,

944
00:54:21,720 --> 00:54:23,480
Yeah.
It's definitely changed.

945
00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:27,680
It's certainly changed a lot.
You know, it's even Sarah who,

946
00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:29,240
who you met at the front end of
this.

947
00:54:29,240 --> 00:54:32,720
She, you know, she, she just
went and did a little one week

948
00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:37,680
tour with Blink 182, you know,
just to make a little bit of

949
00:54:37,680 --> 00:54:39,000
money and have a little bit of
fun.

950
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:44,200
And she spent a number of years
touring and and she said it's

951
00:54:44,200 --> 00:54:46,880
just so different.
You know, everyone's so much

952
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:50,080
more intense and it's, you know,
it's all the money, I guess

953
00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:52,960
that's either being spent or
made or whatever you want to

954
00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:55,880
call it.
But it's, yeah, it's just

955
00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:57,280
different.
It's very different, I mean.

956
00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:59,280
You look at now.
I mean, I don't know if you've

957
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:03,480
been reading or catching up on
the Oasis saga with ticketing.

958
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:06,320
Yeah, yeah, we were talking
about that this morning.

959
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:16,040
Look, the dynamic in ticket is
seller demand, isn't it?

960
00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:18,880
Yeah.
I mean, if there's a huge amount

961
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:22,760
of people requesting the same
tickets, the tickets go up.

962
00:55:23,520 --> 00:55:25,640
Well, I don't see if there's
nobody requesting them the

963
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:28,840
tickets going down.
No, never happens.

964
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:31,840
Never happens.
If you want to do it that way,

965
00:55:31,840 --> 00:55:33,840
you should pay both sides of the
fence.

966
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:40,120
Yeah, but also I think in the
spirit of longevity, you don't

967
00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:43,560
want to go up too far, you know,
like this dynamic pricing thing

968
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:47,640
where, you know, the notorious
ones like Springsteen, $5000

969
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:50,400
tickets and stuff.
It's nonsense.

970
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:53,640
It's, it's just crazy.
It's lunacy.

971
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:59,080
I, I hear that the Ticketmaster
was saying that they put it down

972
00:55:59,080 --> 00:56:02,680
to the managers and the agents
and the promoters.

973
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:07,040
You know, I, I, I don't believe
in a lot of it.

974
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:10,960
The promoters, I mean, look, I'm
sure they look, everybody wants

975
00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:14,120
to make money.
But if you look at SGM, in my

976
00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:16,920
opinion, Simon ran, I think it's
a really decent guy.

977
00:56:18,240 --> 00:56:22,520
You know, I, I think he probably
who was involved, but I don't

978
00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:25,680
think they, they thought it
would go this far.

979
00:56:26,040 --> 00:56:31,200
And, and there's the one of the
ticketing company trickets or

980
00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:34,840
something like that.
When you have 138 LB service

981
00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:37,360
fee, something's fucking wrong.
Exactly.

982
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,640
Well, everyone I think is just
saying no, it's their fault,

983
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:41,920
it's their fault, it's their
fault.

984
00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:44,320
But everyone's still willing to
take their heavy piece out of

985
00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:46,120
it, right?
Like even the artists?

986
00:56:46,120 --> 00:56:49,560
The artists.
They put the tickets on sale and

987
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:54,080
if they were 150 lbs for
standing and there were £350 for

988
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:57,080
VIP and everybody went in line
and bought it, nobody would have

989
00:56:57,080 --> 00:57:00,480
complained.
Yeah, It's when you when you get

990
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:05,720
online, when you get online and
it's 110 and by the time you get

991
00:57:05,720 --> 00:57:08,200
the tickets it's 328.
It's insane.

992
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:10,480
Yeah.
Well, and then the secondary

993
00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:13,280
market, the secondary market,
all the Stubhubs and all these

994
00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:16,760
companies out there that, you
know, are basically legal

995
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:21,280
scalpers, right?
And yeah, it's, it's

996
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,520
problematic, you know, And then
I think the artists are starting

997
00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:27,440
to, well, they started to look
at it and go, OK, all these

998
00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:29,440
people are making all this
money, we just need to raise our

999
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:31,080
prices.
So we're keeping it all, you

1000
00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:33,280
know, But I don't know that
that's the answer either.

1001
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:34,120
I don't know.
Who knows.

1002
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:36,080
What do I know?
What do I know?

1003
00:57:36,080 --> 00:57:38,440
So the sphere, I want to talk to
you about the sphere.

1004
00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:43,800
Obviously you and you too go
back a long way and you've done

1005
00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:46,520
some, you've done some
incredible things together.

1006
00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:48,720
You did the big claw thing with
that, right?

1007
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:51,960
The stadium thing it was.
Legendary about the claw.

1008
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:58,280
I mean, I remember that the the
start of the claw we'd finished

1009
00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:03,680
probably Joshua Tree and we were
in Hawaii was the last show and

1010
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:06,040
we're standing on stage and you
know, the last time.

1011
00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:08,400
Check everybody.
Hey, hugs and things like that

1012
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,040
And and Bono comes up and he's
Jake.

1013
00:58:11,040 --> 00:58:14,920
He goes, I want to talk to you.
He said can we play a show in

1014
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:21,160
the round and I go boss, we can
do anything we like knowing that

1015
00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:25,040
there were shows in the round
and I'm going this is fantastic.

1016
00:58:25,560 --> 00:58:27,640
The next door.
We're going to have a 60 by 40

1017
00:58:27,640 --> 00:58:30,000
stage with no production small
trucks.

1018
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:32,040
It's going to be an easy tour,
right?

1019
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:33,960
That was my that's.
Hilarious.

1020
00:58:34,200 --> 00:58:35,160
That's so.
Funny.

1021
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:40,520
And then, you know, then of
course, a, a, a few months

1022
00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:45,400
passed by and and then Mark
Fisher, Mark Mark called me and

1023
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:50,000
you know, my life story in the
industry would not be complete

1024
00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:55,440
without the, my take and my
respect for the greatest set

1025
00:58:55,440 --> 00:58:57,440
designer of all time being Mark
Fisher.

1026
00:58:57,520 --> 00:59:02,080
Absolutely.
So he's, he's his theory was he

1027
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:04,640
said to me, Jake, how wide is
the football field?

1028
00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:07,920
And I said, it's 68 meters
roughly.

1029
00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:12,240
That's the playing surface
football field and the, the

1030
00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:15,320
playing surface.
OK, well, we're going to play in

1031
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:17,720
the round, but we're not going
to be in the middle.

1032
00:59:17,960 --> 00:59:25,040
We're going to be two thirds,
1/3 because all these guys of of

1033
00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:29,720
the older bands who have stage
present always rely on a

1034
00:59:29,720 --> 00:59:32,680
downstage centre, a downstage
left and a downstage right.

1035
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:37,560
It's hard for them to get their
head around a 360 environment

1036
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:39,640
and that was the same with with
Mick.

1037
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:44,480
We tried in the round once and
Mick wanted a downstage edge and

1038
00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:47,680
he failed to get it and he tried
in the round, no security, hated

1039
00:59:47,680 --> 00:59:50,160
it.
Yeah, yeah, I just, I just did

1040
00:59:50,160 --> 00:59:53,960
Metallica a couple weeks ago in
or I went to it in Edmonton.

1041
00:59:53,960 --> 00:59:56,240
I'm I'm at my house up in Canada
right now, right.

1042
00:59:56,800 --> 00:59:59,800
And it was weird.
Like it was like, where do you

1043
00:59:59,800 --> 01:00:01,440
stand?
Because where's the band going

1044
01:00:01,440 --> 01:00:03,080
to be?
Well, yeah, there's a drum set

1045
01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:05,400
on all four sides basically,
right?

1046
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:08,600
I mean, but if you look at
Metallica very briefly, that's

1047
01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:12,280
going back to the Black Album
tour when Laura said two kids.

1048
01:00:12,400 --> 01:00:14,640
Yeah, yeah.
It's an entrance.

1049
01:00:15,080 --> 01:00:15,640
True.
Yeah.

1050
01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:20,440
And, and and then Mark's idea
going back to a 360, if I make

1051
01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:23,320
the stage big enough, I'll make
the stadium look smaller and

1052
01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:25,960
more intimate.
Sounds mad, doesn't it?

1053
01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:30,080
It does, yeah. 100% correct.
Yeah, Yeah.

1054
01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:33,360
And then I remember we get the
stage, go for the first Test

1055
01:00:33,360 --> 01:00:37,520
build and you know, you, you get
these towers that hold a roof

1056
01:00:37,520 --> 01:00:41,520
up, which are like maximum 1m
wide.

1057
01:00:41,840 --> 01:00:44,960
And these towers are right on
the track and you can fucking

1058
01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:47,360
stand up inside of them.
Really.

1059
01:00:47,840 --> 01:00:51,240
And we did a test build and then
we were in the middle of a small

1060
01:00:51,240 --> 01:00:53,720
village called Worktor in
Belgium doing a test build.

1061
01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:59,440
And the the law of building in
these small towns is nothing can

1062
01:00:59,440 --> 01:01:01,160
be higher than the church
steeple.

1063
01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:03,800
What Really.
Yeah.

1064
01:01:03,800 --> 01:01:05,840
If you have a Church of the
steeple, you can't build

1065
01:01:05,840 --> 01:01:08,120
anything higher.
The church steeple has to be

1066
01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:12,880
going back hundred and hundreds
of years and then, you know, but

1067
01:01:12,920 --> 01:01:16,120
our thing and you know, you
could see the church steeple in

1068
01:01:16,120 --> 01:01:19,160
the background if you went 5
kilometres away and it was

1069
01:01:19,160 --> 01:01:23,480
dwarfed by this thing.
So pictures then started

1070
01:01:23,480 --> 01:01:27,680
evolving on the very, very early
days of, you know, social media

1071
01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:29,560
and then the management, you too
come.

1072
01:01:29,560 --> 01:01:32,320
I said, Jake, we're seeing
pictures of our stage on media.

1073
01:01:32,320 --> 01:01:33,800
You got to block it out if you
can't do it.

1074
01:01:33,800 --> 01:01:37,160
I said, well, we're in a yard
and there's a road that goes by

1075
01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:39,880
and then suddenly said to me,
well, you need to put up a

1076
01:01:39,880 --> 01:01:42,920
drape.
And I'm going, you're talking

1077
01:01:42,920 --> 01:01:47,520
about a dress or you're talking
about something 120 feet tall

1078
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:50,040
and 80 feet long.
First of all, it lasts 2 minutes

1079
01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:53,600
when you win game 360.
And it's amazing.

1080
01:01:53,600 --> 01:01:56,240
I was talking to Hedwig, the
mayor of Stageco the other day,

1081
01:01:56,680 --> 01:02:00,920
Dirk to Decker and a Stageco and
somebody else.

1082
01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:05,200
And we were kind of, we, we do
this, we relive our past.

1083
01:02:05,680 --> 01:02:10,760
And I sent some pictures of this
the of this stage that made the

1084
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:13,280
city look small and everybody
wrote back.

1085
01:02:13,280 --> 01:02:15,560
Still my favorite project to
work on it's.

1086
01:02:15,560 --> 01:02:17,840
Incredible.
It's such a beautiful project.

1087
01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:19,360
You know what that was a trend
set.

1088
01:02:19,360 --> 01:02:23,240
Are we set to go for, you know,
big trucks, 4750 trucks on

1089
01:02:23,240 --> 01:02:27,200
production, you know, 38 on
steel for each system.

1090
01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:30,080
Yeah, and and then.
Jesus, no.

1091
01:02:30,320 --> 01:02:33,440
Everybody goes, oh, I got, I got
50 trucks of production.

1092
01:02:33,440 --> 01:02:35,960
I got 40 trucks of production.
Is it great?

1093
01:02:36,880 --> 01:02:39,080
But I did it first.
Yeah, yeah.

1094
01:02:39,280 --> 01:02:42,200
And then so then then, you know,
with you 2 going, that was

1095
01:02:42,200 --> 01:02:43,840
great.
And then the next thing you

1096
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:46,760
know, we did the Joshua Tree.
We did innocence and experience

1097
01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:50,200
all groundbreaking shows in in
their own respect.

1098
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:54,160
And so then came the big offer
of the sphere.

1099
01:02:56,320 --> 01:03:00,280
So the sphere, I mean, we were
there.

1100
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:04,240
We were the first, you know,
when we first started doing our

1101
01:03:04,240 --> 01:03:08,320
advance to the sphere, There was
no screen.

1102
01:03:08,880 --> 01:03:11,160
Well, let me ask you though,
going back a little bit.

1103
01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:15,320
So the sphere did Did the sphere
come looking for you 2 or did

1104
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:18,280
you 2 say we want to be the
first to play in this incredible

1105
01:03:18,280 --> 01:03:20,640
thing I.
Think it was kind of mutual, to

1106
01:03:20,640 --> 01:03:21,880
tell you the truth.
Yeah.

1107
01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:25,160
I mean, you know, Bono is very
creative.

1108
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:28,760
The sound system appealed to
Edge where he could play in

1109
01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:32,600
stereo and get through stereo
and things like that and just

1110
01:03:32,600 --> 01:03:35,920
the whole vibe of doing it.
And of course also being the 1st

1111
01:03:35,920 --> 01:03:38,960
is a big advantage when.
It had to be somebody huge too.

1112
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:42,440
It couldn't be, you know, it
couldn't be some, you know,

1113
01:03:42,440 --> 01:03:46,120
medium act.
It had to be the Stones or U2 or

1114
01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:47,840
somebody that big, you know
well.

1115
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:52,880
I mean, I think I think there
both parties put their balls on

1116
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:56,160
the line.
You know, like Jim Dolan, you

1117
01:03:56,160 --> 01:03:58,280
can say whatever you like about
Jim Dolan.

1118
01:03:58,720 --> 01:04:03,120
He had big balls to put 2.22
point 3 billion money on this

1119
01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:07,480
amazing unique way of seeing a
concert.

1120
01:04:08,440 --> 01:04:11,960
And then you 2 had to go in and
make sure that all the hype of

1121
01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:14,600
the venue didn't override what
they were producing.

1122
01:04:15,880 --> 01:04:18,960
So a lot of discussions, a lot
of things.

1123
01:04:18,960 --> 01:04:22,560
And also there was a lot of
technology that had to be

1124
01:04:22,560 --> 01:04:27,000
invented how to get the the
content, because the content,

1125
01:04:27,320 --> 01:04:32,800
they all wanted it in 16 K and,
and you know, 16 K, the

1126
01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:35,480
rendering time for one song was
nearly three days.

1127
01:04:36,120 --> 01:04:38,440
Jesus, wow.
And all of that.

1128
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:44,360
And we, we started, we, we went
to look at it.

1129
01:04:44,360 --> 01:04:48,360
I remember.
Well, even just like pre vis and

1130
01:04:48,360 --> 01:04:51,560
stuff like how you know because
you can't replicate being

1131
01:04:51,560 --> 01:04:54,760
inside.
This well, what what what we

1132
01:04:54,760 --> 01:05:00,200
what Willie did and and and Rick
and and the team we use virtual

1133
01:05:00,360 --> 01:05:03,360
virtual reality ah.
Yeah, that's smart.

1134
01:05:03,760 --> 01:05:05,480
Yeah, that's.
Smart.

1135
01:05:05,600 --> 01:05:07,120
Yeah, You know, that makes
sense.

1136
01:05:07,640 --> 01:05:11,840
You know our whole feeling was
you 2 got such a heavy schedule

1137
01:05:12,000 --> 01:05:15,080
of other commitments outside the
ban, especially B.

1138
01:05:15,600 --> 01:05:19,520
So the thought was we can't get
them all to Vegas at the same

1139
01:05:19,520 --> 01:05:24,720
time, but we can all send them
glasses and and a virtual

1140
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:26,800
reality and we can show the
footage that way.

1141
01:05:27,120 --> 01:05:28,440
Interesting.
Yeah.

1142
01:05:29,240 --> 01:05:32,600
So, you know, you have to
remember about the sphere when

1143
01:05:32,600 --> 01:05:38,000
we went into when we installed
the lighting, we were working

1144
01:05:39,680 --> 01:05:43,520
first of all, they had an in
house lighting and they had fuse

1145
01:05:43,520 --> 01:05:46,240
through the lighting.
And the reason we went with fuse

1146
01:05:46,240 --> 01:05:49,320
because we thought if they put
the install lighting, they can

1147
01:05:49,320 --> 01:05:52,080
then run our cables for our
lights when we want to go in,

1148
01:05:52,240 --> 01:05:54,680
which was the case which saved
us a couple of days.

1149
01:05:54,960 --> 01:05:58,080
You know, the lighting behind
the screen.

1150
01:05:58,360 --> 01:06:01,960
We did a test of the screen in
New York on Bono's book tour,

1151
01:06:02,280 --> 01:06:06,120
you know, at the Hammerstein in
another ballroom, and found that

1152
01:06:06,120 --> 01:06:10,200
the the spotlights weren't as
good behind the screen as a wash

1153
01:06:10,200 --> 01:06:14,200
light because, you know, we're
talking about putting spots

1154
01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:16,760
behind.
But with the screen and the

1155
01:06:16,760 --> 01:06:19,520
framework, they would be so frag
fragmented.

1156
01:06:19,960 --> 01:06:21,240
It didn't work.
Yeah.

1157
01:06:21,240 --> 01:06:23,280
It's better when it's not
focused so.

1158
01:06:23,280 --> 01:06:26,400
Then, you know, we go there and
we're there while they're

1159
01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:30,400
putting the screen in.
And so when it all came, we

1160
01:06:30,400 --> 01:06:35,800
installed the lighting behind in
the stage box behind which they

1161
01:06:35,800 --> 01:06:38,680
call a stage box.
And the rigging behind the stage

1162
01:06:38,680 --> 01:06:42,680
box wasn't really very conducive
to hang in lights because

1163
01:06:42,680 --> 01:06:46,520
they're the big hollow plot
proceed sound system over the

1164
01:06:46,520 --> 01:06:49,640
pre 8 proceeding.
If you imagine going back to the

1165
01:06:49,640 --> 01:06:52,600
Grateful Dead, the wall of
sound, that's what you had

1166
01:06:52,600 --> 01:06:56,600
behind you, but up high, which
was another problem a little

1167
01:06:56,600 --> 01:07:01,120
later.
And so in putting the lights in,

1168
01:07:01,120 --> 01:07:04,640
but we're putting the lights in.
And then they had this movie

1169
01:07:04,640 --> 01:07:07,520
that they were producing called
Postcard, Postcard from Earth,

1170
01:07:08,920 --> 01:07:10,760
and they were finishing building
a building.

1171
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:16,280
So we used to have meetings
every day, you know, on what was

1172
01:07:16,280 --> 01:07:19,360
going to happen the next two
days and you get the next day

1173
01:07:19,360 --> 01:07:22,400
change.
So OK, so you, Jake, what time

1174
01:07:22,400 --> 01:07:25,600
do you want tomorrow?
You can have 8 hours and I go,

1175
01:07:25,600 --> 01:07:28,520
we'll take from 4:50, whatever
it is.

1176
01:07:29,480 --> 01:07:33,840
OK.
And then from 5:00 to 5:00 till

1177
01:07:33,840 --> 01:07:38,960
midnight they would be showing
the movie on the screen to to

1178
01:07:38,960 --> 01:07:42,360
test the movie, colourize it,
edit it and things like that.

1179
01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:47,400
And then from midnight till 9
would be construction.

1180
01:07:48,200 --> 01:07:51,600
Jesus, wow, I.
Mean and we all worked around

1181
01:07:51,600 --> 01:07:54,000
each other and it was a
fantastic experience.

1182
01:07:54,000 --> 01:07:59,280
We all everybody accepted it and
you know somebody once said to

1183
01:07:59,280 --> 01:08:05,760
me you're giving the building
too much time and I go OK so and

1184
01:08:05,760 --> 01:08:10,720
if I don't give them the sign
time then the seating would not

1185
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:13,360
have been inspected and been
ready for the opening night.

1186
01:08:13,960 --> 01:08:17,800
So therefore we would be
cancelling an opening night and

1187
01:08:17,800 --> 01:08:20,200
and I said to somebody you don't
want Adele too.

1188
01:08:20,200 --> 01:08:24,920
You remember in Adele capital to
show Vegas we all work together.

1189
01:08:25,279 --> 01:08:29,000
You know, the ban were so
enthusiastic about making this

1190
01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:32,240
whole thing work and believing
in the construction and believe

1191
01:08:32,240 --> 01:08:34,920
in what they're doing.
It all had to be, right?

1192
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:37,800
Yeah, you couldn't.
You couldn't make you 2 happy

1193
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:40,399
but not make the building happy.
The building had to be happy

1194
01:08:40,399 --> 01:08:41,640
too.
It was also new.

1195
01:08:41,920 --> 01:08:45,439
And the film people and.
And Jim Dolan, he'd invested

1196
01:08:45,439 --> 01:08:48,000
money in the movie, so he wants
the movie, right.

1197
01:08:48,240 --> 01:08:50,240
He had it produced by Darren
Aronofsky.

1198
01:08:50,720 --> 01:08:52,520
And Darren Aronofsky wanted his
way.

1199
01:08:52,960 --> 01:08:55,279
Yeah.
So, you know, that makes sense.

1200
01:08:55,720 --> 01:08:57,680
We always did.
Monday to Friday.

1201
01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:00,200
How?
Early did you start though?

1202
01:09:00,200 --> 01:09:03,240
Like how far in advance of the
first show?

1203
01:09:05,800 --> 01:09:08,359
Probably in the concept design a
year.

1204
01:09:09,359 --> 01:09:13,080
Wow.
And then and then we did some

1205
01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:19,640
band rehearsals in Nice.
And what they what they've done

1206
01:09:19,640 --> 01:09:23,080
is because you know, the hollow
plot sound comes at you from

1207
01:09:23,080 --> 01:09:26,720
360.
So nobody ever had that.

1208
01:09:26,720 --> 01:09:31,399
So with the help of the sphere
and the sphere engineers, sound

1209
01:09:31,399 --> 01:09:35,680
engineers, we went to a found I
found a great film studio at

1210
01:09:35,680 --> 01:09:41,439
nice, fantastic, fantastic.
So we had the band rehearsing in

1211
01:09:41,439 --> 01:09:46,439
one room and I built a mock up
stage which which is the same

1212
01:09:46,439 --> 01:09:49,120
size as the one we're going to
use in a sphere, except it

1213
01:09:49,120 --> 01:09:52,319
didn't have the video floor, but
it got everybody used to the

1214
01:09:52,319 --> 01:09:55,040
rate which everybody goes back
then.

1215
01:09:55,040 --> 01:09:57,520
You know, that's a lot of money.
I don't know if you can afford

1216
01:09:57,520 --> 01:10:00,200
it.
I go you will you all wish you

1217
01:10:00,200 --> 01:10:04,320
had the best U2 rehearsals we
ever did is when we could do it

1218
01:10:04,320 --> 01:10:08,680
on a mock stage just bangers.
So we did that and in another

1219
01:10:08,680 --> 01:10:13,440
studio across the street, we set
up this trussing system and then

1220
01:10:13,440 --> 01:10:20,520
hung speakers, put a console in
the middle and then like a couch

1221
01:10:20,840 --> 01:10:24,080
where the band he'd come and
listen to the the the asthma

1222
01:10:24,080 --> 01:10:29,040
asthmaceric sound.
And so we set that up and the

1223
01:10:29,040 --> 01:10:34,800
speakers were all this
measurement scaled down so you

1224
01:10:34,800 --> 01:10:37,680
could get the feel and do the
mix because then you have to

1225
01:10:37,680 --> 01:10:40,840
turn the mix like like, you
know, Edgewood goes, I like my

1226
01:10:40,840 --> 01:10:46,240
guitars to come out high section
right in streets, then then then

1227
01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:48,880
augment it with high left and
down low.

1228
01:10:49,080 --> 01:10:51,960
So you used to play with very
much like a surround sound, but

1229
01:10:51,960 --> 01:10:55,520
way more complicated.
We rehearsed that in Nice for

1230
01:10:55,520 --> 01:10:59,640
three weeks while we did
lighting rehearsals and lighting

1231
01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:05,560
install in in Vegas.
And the show was going to open

1232
01:11:05,560 --> 01:11:08,480
September the 29th.
And we're not building

1233
01:11:08,480 --> 01:11:10,600
contractors.
You know, if somebody comes to

1234
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:12,480
do your bathroom and they're
going to be finished in three

1235
01:11:12,480 --> 01:11:14,560
weeks, they come up to you and
go, there's going to be another

1236
01:11:14,560 --> 01:11:15,840
fire.
It's going to be another three

1237
01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:18,800
weeks and it's $2000 more.
That doesn't happen in our

1238
01:11:18,800 --> 01:11:21,560
world, Yeah.
No it doesn't. 8:00 No matter,

1239
01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:27,600
it had to happen.
And so we were doing lighting

1240
01:11:27,600 --> 01:11:32,240
and we were building the stage
in the sphere and working around

1241
01:11:32,240 --> 01:11:36,920
construction and working around
some of their installs, like a

1242
01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:41,120
little bit of lighting and some
a lot to do with seats.

1243
01:11:41,120 --> 01:11:43,960
And then for the movie, I don't
know if you've ever seen it, but

1244
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:45,360
you should.
It's well worth it.

1245
01:11:45,720 --> 01:11:49,080
They have these big effects
machines that are they've got 20

1246
01:11:49,080 --> 01:11:52,120
of them and they're 8 by 8 by 8
and they all have to be

1247
01:11:52,120 --> 01:11:54,720
connected underground and they
stand up.

1248
01:11:54,720 --> 01:11:57,080
So there to put them through
test.

1249
01:11:57,440 --> 01:12:00,400
And so then we had the seating,
then we had the test, then we

1250
01:12:00,400 --> 01:12:02,080
had the movie and we had you
too.

1251
01:12:02,600 --> 01:12:05,960
So we took 8 hours.
We would took eight hours.

1252
01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:09,840
And if they were doing in store
work and they weren't doing a

1253
01:12:09,840 --> 01:12:13,000
movie, we used to get screen
time to edit the video.

1254
01:12:13,240 --> 01:12:18,120
Wow, you know.
It was just, for me, it was just

1255
01:12:18,120 --> 01:12:23,960
a fantastic journey.
Yeah, for me, everybody to get

1256
01:12:23,960 --> 01:12:28,600
where we got by September the
the 29th was a minor miracle.

1257
01:12:28,600 --> 01:12:30,560
And I'm saying that from the
YouTube band.

1258
01:12:30,800 --> 01:12:33,680
They sacrificed rehearsal time
to make the deadline.

1259
01:12:35,880 --> 01:12:38,320
We couldn't sacrifice getting
the seats Commission because

1260
01:12:38,320 --> 01:12:43,000
we'd have no show.
And, and Brian was the head of

1261
01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:45,680
construction.
And and because I worked on Bob

1262
01:12:45,680 --> 01:12:47,920
the Builder, I used to call him
Bob the Builder, you know.

1263
01:12:49,480 --> 01:12:51,560
So.
We how many goes where do you

1264
01:12:51,560 --> 01:12:54,280
want me to start tomorrow?
Because we used to store our

1265
01:12:54,280 --> 01:12:59,200
stage downstage so for so they
could watch if we had to.

1266
01:12:59,560 --> 01:13:01,560
And then the seedings were in
three sections.

1267
01:13:01,560 --> 01:13:04,800
She goes, Jake, can you push
your stage down left and we'll

1268
01:13:04,800 --> 01:13:08,800
work on the centre or or we'll
work on the right, then we'll

1269
01:13:08,800 --> 01:13:11,240
come to the centre and when we
finish, you'll just move your

1270
01:13:11,240 --> 01:13:13,760
stage on the other side.
And that's the sort of things

1271
01:13:14,160 --> 01:13:16,200
that we did.
I mean, which sounds simple

1272
01:13:16,200 --> 01:13:18,000
enough.
Become the mover the first time

1273
01:13:18,360 --> 01:13:22,480
and it was on is on a rolling
stage, 2 level rolling stage.

1274
01:13:22,840 --> 01:13:26,440
All the back line, all the all
the hollow plot sound, bass

1275
01:13:26,840 --> 01:13:29,880
floor fill, all the video
processing.

1276
01:13:30,120 --> 01:13:31,840
Everything was underneath the
stage.

1277
01:13:32,200 --> 01:13:33,760
We become the pusher.
We all went.

1278
01:13:33,800 --> 01:13:37,520
We are well, we'll get 20 people
around this 123 ports fucking

1279
01:13:37,520 --> 01:13:39,840
nowhere.
Keep it moving in a.

1280
01:13:40,240 --> 01:13:42,240
Little heavier than we thought,
perhaps, when.

1281
01:13:42,240 --> 01:13:44,720
We tried a forklift and then it
wouldn't work with a forklift.

1282
01:13:44,760 --> 01:13:45,480
Oh.
No.

1283
01:13:46,240 --> 01:13:50,400
Then we had to get 2 forklift
people, but we found a way and

1284
01:13:50,400 --> 01:13:54,880
it was it was a little painful.
Yeah, so.

1285
01:13:56,240 --> 01:14:01,920
I mean, I'm guessing house
lights go was pretty exciting on

1286
01:14:01,920 --> 01:14:08,080
September 29th, you know, did
anything go wrong massively?

1287
01:14:09,520 --> 01:14:12,800
You know, we were all expecting
and, and we all explained to the

1288
01:14:12,800 --> 01:14:18,080
band with this many video tiles,
this many pixels, you're going

1289
01:14:18,080 --> 01:14:21,520
to have a show where there's a
tile out and there's nothing you

1290
01:14:21,520 --> 01:14:25,080
can do about it until the next
day because all of it has

1291
01:14:25,360 --> 01:14:27,760
there's only a few tiles that
you can get to.

1292
01:14:28,160 --> 01:14:30,760
One of them is a boom lift that
has to come in the floor.

1293
01:14:32,120 --> 01:14:35,400
And one is you have to have rope
access guys hanging down from

1294
01:14:35,400 --> 01:14:39,840
the ceiling because the Dome
went like this, but the sphere

1295
01:14:39,840 --> 01:14:42,840
inside went like this.
So it'd be 30 feet from the

1296
01:14:42,840 --> 01:14:47,200
ceiling to the to get the the
look.

1297
01:14:47,800 --> 01:14:54,040
So, so, I mean, but the first
night, you know, we had a DJ, we

1298
01:14:54,040 --> 01:14:58,520
set him up and we played in and
then when the band were ready,

1299
01:14:58,520 --> 01:15:04,400
we had the intro tape and, you
know, and, and then our creative

1300
01:15:04,400 --> 01:15:07,360
people go.
Jacob, we want to start the DJ

1301
01:15:07,360 --> 01:15:11,080
stage right and we want to push
him across the floor, across the

1302
01:15:11,080 --> 01:15:15,240
crowd to finish stage left and
the sphere of people going it

1303
01:15:15,240 --> 01:15:17,320
can't be done, can't be done.
And I looked and I'm like, go.

1304
01:15:17,640 --> 01:15:21,000
Evidently you've never been to
EDC Electric Daisy Carnival.

1305
01:15:21,560 --> 01:15:23,200
Yeah, no.
Shit, Disney World where they do

1306
01:15:23,200 --> 01:15:25,520
the Disney parade, we can do
this.

1307
01:15:26,360 --> 01:15:29,880
So I think we talked them into
it and it worked pretty well.

1308
01:15:29,880 --> 01:15:33,240
I think we only hit a couple of
people's knees and that one or

1309
01:15:33,240 --> 01:15:37,240
two toes that nothing that
nothing that a great poster or

1310
01:15:37,240 --> 01:15:40,320
program wouldn't solve right
until we opened.

1311
01:15:40,320 --> 01:15:45,320
And you, you know, the first
reaction to the screen opening

1312
01:15:45,840 --> 01:15:47,800
was really fucking nerve
wracking.

1313
01:15:49,240 --> 01:15:53,280
But you know, I, I had to say we
had a fantastic first show,

1314
01:15:53,280 --> 01:15:55,640
which is scary.
And normally it's the second

1315
01:15:55,640 --> 01:15:59,920
show is pretty average, but we
had the first one or two shows

1316
01:15:59,920 --> 01:16:02,320
and and then the bandwagon
started.

1317
01:16:02,320 --> 01:16:05,600
The reviews were the best
reviews I think you 2 ever had

1318
01:16:05,600 --> 01:16:10,120
and the bandwagon was moving so.
Yeah, it was.

1319
01:16:10,160 --> 01:16:13,080
That thing picked up a lot of
energy along the way, that's for

1320
01:16:13,080 --> 01:16:13,400
sure.
If.

1321
01:16:14,160 --> 01:16:19,280
That if that opening night had
not been great, then it could

1322
01:16:19,280 --> 01:16:24,680
have been trouble, I think, for
the U2, for the career, but it

1323
01:16:24,680 --> 01:16:26,600
would have been the demise of
the sphere, I think.

1324
01:16:26,960 --> 01:16:29,680
Exactly.
And you know, there there have

1325
01:16:29,680 --> 01:16:32,520
been a ton of naysayers.
You know, I'm still on the fence

1326
01:16:32,520 --> 01:16:35,920
with the whole concept of.
The sphere, I mean, I, I saw the

1327
01:16:35,920 --> 01:16:38,440
U2 thing and the people I took
said it was the best thing they

1328
01:16:38,440 --> 01:16:41,920
ever saw.
I mean, you, you have to go

1329
01:16:41,920 --> 01:16:43,760
about it a different way than
touring.

1330
01:16:44,080 --> 01:16:46,400
You have to go with the aspects
that you're sharing.

1331
01:16:46,720 --> 01:16:50,520
You have to go with the aspect
of your gym and sphere team will

1332
01:16:50,520 --> 01:16:53,000
not let anybody hang lights in
front of his screen.

1333
01:16:53,440 --> 01:16:55,240
So no lighting trusses in the
air.

1334
01:16:55,240 --> 01:16:56,760
It was front lighting and
backlighting.

1335
01:16:56,760 --> 01:16:57,760
Yeah.
Yeah.

1336
01:16:58,040 --> 01:17:00,200
So it was very, very minimal.
Yeah.

1337
01:17:00,680 --> 01:17:07,480
And.
But my my argument, basically

1338
01:17:07,480 --> 01:17:11,160
not argument, but I guess where
where it hits for me and I

1339
01:17:11,160 --> 01:17:14,040
didn't see it in person.
So I've seen video and pictures

1340
01:17:14,040 --> 01:17:19,040
like galore, but doesn't it make
the band look small?

1341
01:17:19,040 --> 01:17:22,520
Like Because I remember when I
first saw the very first video

1342
01:17:22,520 --> 01:17:27,040
of might have been the opening
night and I had to look a while

1343
01:17:27,040 --> 01:17:32,360
to find Bono.
Well, I mean this is what makes

1344
01:17:32,360 --> 01:17:35,120
the sphere so special.
It's a different way of

1345
01:17:35,120 --> 01:17:37,240
experience in a show it.
Is.

1346
01:17:37,440 --> 01:17:39,240
Yeah, it's.
An immersive experience.

1347
01:17:39,240 --> 01:17:43,600
So the band become part of the
of the building, part of the

1348
01:17:43,600 --> 01:17:47,160
screen, part of the whole thing,
part of the whole way.

1349
01:17:47,200 --> 01:17:48,560
I never looked at it.
Like that.

1350
01:17:48,600 --> 01:17:51,320
I never looked at it like that.
I just looked at it as a concert

1351
01:17:51,320 --> 01:17:52,480
stage.
You know you.

1352
01:17:52,480 --> 01:17:55,680
Could look at all the videos you
wanted for the next 200 years.

1353
01:17:55,840 --> 01:17:58,840
Yeah, none of those videos that
ever did the show justice.

1354
01:17:59,200 --> 01:18:03,240
The only way you could say, the
only way you can honestly say to

1355
01:18:03,240 --> 01:18:05,840
yourself this is not a great
show is by seeing it live.

1356
01:18:06,200 --> 01:18:09,840
So, you know, we went in and we
did 40 shows there.

1357
01:18:10,080 --> 01:18:12,880
Yeah, it's incredible.
Which is great.

1358
01:18:12,880 --> 01:18:16,200
And then, you know, then they
got Dead and Co.

1359
01:18:16,200 --> 01:18:18,520
And, you know, we help the dead
and Co people.

1360
01:18:18,520 --> 01:18:22,040
We we would let people come and
see how we're doing it and, you

1361
01:18:22,040 --> 01:18:24,400
know, show them the layout and
come to see the show, say,

1362
01:18:24,720 --> 01:18:27,840
because we had to move the stage
up and down stage while the

1363
01:18:27,840 --> 01:18:30,800
movie was playing.
Yeah, which in the end was the

1364
01:18:30,800 --> 01:18:34,760
show would finish at 10:45 and
we'd be in the hotel at like

1365
01:18:34,760 --> 01:18:35,920
12:15.
Yeah.

1366
01:18:35,920 --> 01:18:39,600
And like, and then it was great
for me because having toured

1367
01:18:39,840 --> 01:18:46,080
pretty hard ass for 44 years, 43
years, whatever, I think this

1368
01:18:46,080 --> 01:18:49,720
fear helped me.
We wean off the desire of going

1369
01:18:49,720 --> 01:18:52,920
on the road and then throw in my
life to consultancy and things

1370
01:18:52,920 --> 01:18:53,560
like that.
Yeah.

1371
01:18:54,000 --> 01:18:58,080
Good for you, good for you SO.
And then I wanted to see, I went

1372
01:18:58,080 --> 01:19:00,560
to U2 and I watched it as a
production manager.

1373
01:19:00,640 --> 01:19:05,320
Yeah, I went and saw Dead and Co
and watched it as a a thing.

1374
01:19:05,320 --> 01:19:09,720
And I said, I said to Derek
Featherstone, I go, you know, I

1375
01:19:09,720 --> 01:19:12,080
think I must be a secret dead
head because I thought it was

1376
01:19:12,080 --> 01:19:14,400
fantastic.
Yeah, I liked it.

1377
01:19:14,640 --> 01:19:19,360
Well, I again, I only saw video
and pictures, but the just the

1378
01:19:19,360 --> 01:19:23,480
images were incredible.
You know, the images of that

1379
01:19:23,480 --> 01:19:26,360
were just like Holy Christ, you
know, now you can see why

1380
01:19:26,360 --> 01:19:29,200
everybody's high on acid and
mushrooms and stuff.

1381
01:19:29,920 --> 01:19:31,360
You know, it looks pretty
tremendous.

1382
01:19:31,520 --> 01:19:34,840
My only thing really against the
sphere, and I don't know what

1383
01:19:34,840 --> 01:19:37,120
I'm going to say anyway because
everybody must have a say.

1384
01:19:37,480 --> 01:19:39,320
I think it needs to be more
diversified.

1385
01:19:40,800 --> 01:19:45,040
Yeah, yeah, it does seem to like
everything becomes sort of

1386
01:19:45,040 --> 01:19:47,920
similar to the same.
Well, it's the same age group.

1387
01:19:47,920 --> 01:19:51,400
The same age group of bands.
Yeah, they they need to do.

1388
01:19:51,760 --> 01:19:54,360
You need a Taylor Swift in there
or something, you know.

1389
01:19:54,680 --> 01:19:57,400
So if you want a bit of hip hop,
you want a bit of rap, Yeah, You

1390
01:19:57,440 --> 01:19:59,680
want to get some, some that you
want some Latin?

1391
01:19:59,680 --> 01:20:03,320
You want a female as well?
Yeah, yeah.

1392
01:20:03,840 --> 01:20:06,000
You know, well, there's a UFC
fight going.

1393
01:20:06,000 --> 01:20:07,840
In there in a month or so I
think, right?

1394
01:20:08,240 --> 01:20:09,880
Yeah.
So they're starting to load in

1395
01:20:09,880 --> 01:20:11,080
now, I think.
Yeah.

1396
01:20:11,160 --> 01:20:14,800
But you, you know, you look at
it and, you know, also has been

1397
01:20:14,800 --> 01:20:16,600
fortunate to be around a long
time.

1398
01:20:16,920 --> 01:20:18,280
And I don't think I'll ever
happen.

1399
01:20:18,280 --> 01:20:22,480
But this is the ideal place for
Pink Floyd.

1400
01:20:23,120 --> 01:20:27,240
Oh hell yeah, hell yeah.
They're the perfect band.

1401
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:31,160
There's a band For 50 years,
they've been searching for the

1402
01:20:31,160 --> 01:20:33,400
perfect sound.
Perfect.

1403
01:20:33,560 --> 01:20:34,920
It's there.
Yeah.

1404
01:20:35,160 --> 01:20:37,120
Visuals.
I mean, I was thinking you're

1405
01:20:37,120 --> 01:20:37,960
right.
About that.

1406
01:20:38,280 --> 01:20:41,560
The wall and you see the visuals
with all the hammers walking

1407
01:20:41,560 --> 01:20:42,800
along like that.
Incredible.

1408
01:20:42,800 --> 01:20:44,880
Imagine what that would be like.
That incredible.

1409
01:20:45,040 --> 01:20:47,320
You know, I don't think that'll
ever happen, but Brickman.

1410
01:20:47,320 --> 01:20:51,560
'S in, I think in Rome with
Gilmore right now.

1411
01:20:52,600 --> 01:20:55,920
I think they're either at the
Colosseum or next to the

1412
01:20:55,920 --> 01:20:58,440
Colosseum or something.
Like it's some incredible

1413
01:20:58,440 --> 01:21:01,480
backdrop for a Gilmore show.
What's that?

1414
01:21:01,920 --> 01:21:03,600
Circus Maximus or something like
that.

1415
01:21:03,600 --> 01:21:07,720
Yeah, yeah.
But that'd be pretty incredible

1416
01:21:07,720 --> 01:21:09,680
too.
So this other thing that you're

1417
01:21:09,680 --> 01:21:13,320
working on that you were telling
me about earlier, this thing in

1418
01:21:13,320 --> 01:21:15,840
India, tell me, tell me about
that because that's really

1419
01:21:15,840 --> 01:21:17,720
interesting.
I have, I have a couple of

1420
01:21:17,720 --> 01:21:21,720
employees in India and it's it's
always a challenge.

1421
01:21:21,880 --> 01:21:24,120
So I can't even imagine putting
a show on there.

1422
01:21:24,800 --> 01:21:32,720
So my first venture into India
was probably Shakira way back

1423
01:21:32,720 --> 01:21:35,240
when.
And it was very basic local

1424
01:21:35,240 --> 01:21:41,520
production.
And we, you know, we, we, we

1425
01:21:41,520 --> 01:21:45,120
struggled a little bit because
there wasn't very many people.

1426
01:21:45,120 --> 01:21:48,280
The infrastructure, it might
have been The Rolling Stones

1427
01:21:48,280 --> 01:21:50,840
actually.
We played Bangalore and we

1428
01:21:50,840 --> 01:21:57,080
played Mumbai.
And those were challenges, not

1429
01:21:57,080 --> 01:22:00,560
because of the Indians, believe
it or not, for Bangalore is

1430
01:22:00,560 --> 01:22:06,680
because we had our freight
arrive in, oh, I can't remember

1431
01:22:06,680 --> 01:22:08,280
the name of the city.
It'll come to me.

1432
01:22:08,880 --> 01:22:12,040
And then it was 200 kilometers
away from Bangalore.

1433
01:22:12,200 --> 01:22:14,720
OK.
And our our steel, steel, steel

1434
01:22:14,720 --> 01:22:20,200
containers are so overloaded, it
took them nearly four days to

1435
01:22:20,200 --> 01:22:23,160
get there.
Jesus, 200 miles.

1436
01:22:23,840 --> 01:22:27,400
So on Friday, a Friday show, we
got our containers on Thursday

1437
01:22:27,400 --> 01:22:32,120
morning and then everybody on
that Rolling Stones crew except

1438
01:22:32,120 --> 01:22:34,000
some of the people, you'd never
think we'd do anything.

1439
01:22:34,000 --> 01:22:37,640
We all jumped in and we got to
with the Indian labour, which

1440
01:22:37,640 --> 01:22:42,000
was not that great, but willing.
But they didn't understand.

1441
01:22:42,480 --> 01:22:45,360
So, you know, Cartner,
Marlborough's, you get a guy

1442
01:22:45,360 --> 01:22:47,080
carrying four decks at a time,
you know.

1443
01:22:48,240 --> 01:22:51,040
But we did show and it worked
and we played Mumbai and it

1444
01:22:51,040 --> 01:22:53,080
worked and it was a great
experience.

1445
01:22:53,080 --> 01:22:57,720
I get, I get to meet one guy who
was his first ever guy gig, a

1446
01:22:57,720 --> 01:23:01,360
guy called Vincent Samuels, who
now comes and does some of our

1447
01:23:01,360 --> 01:23:04,920
shows in EDC in Vegas and he's
done fantastic.

1448
01:23:05,560 --> 01:23:13,640
And then so with Shakira and
then we took EDC to India and,

1449
01:23:13,640 --> 01:23:18,560
and then on my way to India on a
plane, I didn't feel that that

1450
01:23:18,560 --> 01:23:21,600
great.
So I go to the stewardess and I

1451
01:23:21,600 --> 01:23:26,880
go, I'm not feeling great.
So I this dull ache and it

1452
01:23:26,880 --> 01:23:30,120
doesn't matter if I sat down,
stood up, stood on my head, laid

1453
01:23:30,120 --> 01:23:34,240
down, lay on my stomach, lay on
my back, had this dark ache

1454
01:23:34,240 --> 01:23:38,280
here.
So they put me up on the galley

1455
01:23:38,280 --> 01:23:42,760
seat and then they give you the
customer aspirin and then some

1456
01:23:42,760 --> 01:23:46,120
oxygen and some nitrous pill to
clear up if you're, if you're

1457
01:23:46,120 --> 01:23:48,640
blocked.
In the end it didn't work.

1458
01:23:48,640 --> 01:23:53,880
So I was on my way to Delhi and
then they said this, they got a

1459
01:23:53,880 --> 01:23:57,280
lady doctor said it seems to me
like you either have bad

1460
01:23:57,280 --> 01:24:00,600
heartburn or angina.
And they set up for a hospital

1461
01:24:00,600 --> 01:24:04,600
to ambulance to pick me up at at
Delhi airport.

1462
01:24:06,520 --> 01:24:10,680
And the stewardess came to me 30
minutes later.

1463
01:24:10,680 --> 01:24:13,440
She goes how you feel?
I go this is not getting any

1464
01:24:13,440 --> 01:24:16,280
better.
And then the plane, the plane

1465
01:24:16,280 --> 01:24:19,560
veers to the left or right, left
I think as I was on the left

1466
01:24:19,560 --> 01:24:22,120
hand side and the captain comes
on the radio.

1467
01:24:22,120 --> 01:24:24,880
You probably see that we're
veering and don't worry about

1468
01:24:24,880 --> 01:24:28,680
that, that liquid, you say
outside we're dumping fuel

1469
01:24:28,680 --> 01:24:31,600
because we have to.
We have a medical emergency and

1470
01:24:31,600 --> 01:24:33,360
we have to make an emergency
landing.

1471
01:24:34,000 --> 01:24:37,960
Oh wow, just like that, huh?
Yeah, so I got the flight guide

1472
01:24:37,960 --> 01:24:40,840
directed to Baku in Azerbaijan.
Wow.

1473
01:24:41,600 --> 01:24:49,320
So there in, in you could go on
forever, but in the end of the

1474
01:24:49,320 --> 01:24:53,000
day, I got the stories of like,
they wouldn't let me in the

1475
01:24:53,000 --> 01:24:54,400
country because I didn't have a
visa.

1476
01:24:54,400 --> 01:24:56,960
So I had to get $25.00 to pay
for a visa.

1477
01:24:56,960 --> 01:25:00,200
Then they'd let me in and then I
finished up in a hospital, which

1478
01:25:00,200 --> 01:25:02,920
was amazing.
And four hours later I had three

1479
01:25:02,920 --> 01:25:04,800
stents put in.
Wow.

1480
01:25:05,400 --> 01:25:08,680
So did you ever actually have
the heart attack or was it just

1481
01:25:08,680 --> 01:25:10,840
like, oh.
Yeah, they they say we you had

1482
01:25:10,840 --> 01:25:11,640
one.
Yeah.

1483
01:25:11,880 --> 01:25:14,320
Wow.
So that was my first.

1484
01:25:14,400 --> 01:25:18,480
I never got to India.
So the next time we we, well,

1485
01:25:18,480 --> 01:25:19,640
you never even.
Got there.

1486
01:25:20,120 --> 01:25:23,080
Oh my goodness.
Wow, crazy.

1487
01:25:24,080 --> 01:25:28,040
So.
Then we came to do in 2019.

1488
01:25:28,040 --> 01:25:35,840
It picked up a bit and Bono had
expressed a desire to play

1489
01:25:35,840 --> 01:25:43,440
India.
So we went through it.

1490
01:25:43,440 --> 01:25:46,840
I met this guy who owned a
company called Book My Show

1491
01:25:46,840 --> 01:25:50,200
which is basically an Indian
ticketing agent.

1492
01:25:50,760 --> 01:25:53,800
And ever guess how many tickets
they do a month in the peak

1493
01:25:53,800 --> 01:25:57,120
season?
No idea. 30 million.

1494
01:25:57,640 --> 01:26:00,160
Thirty million bigger than
tickets.

1495
01:26:00,680 --> 01:26:01,400
Christ.
I mean, look.

1496
01:26:02,040 --> 01:26:05,200
The ₹1.00 cinema ticket, it's
not the gross may be the same,

1497
01:26:05,200 --> 01:26:07,040
but they actually do that many
tickets.

1498
01:26:07,040 --> 01:26:11,400
So we went there in 2019 and
then it was very similar to what

1499
01:26:11,400 --> 01:26:16,640
you said about taking everything
there.

1500
01:26:16,640 --> 01:26:20,840
We took the whole Joshua Tree
tour and we took a lot of the

1501
01:26:20,840 --> 01:26:23,720
infrastructure, yeah.
Yeah, that seems to be what's

1502
01:26:23,720 --> 01:26:26,680
missing in India, for the most
part, is infrastructure.

1503
01:26:27,440 --> 01:26:30,920
This this guy, this guy at
BookMyShow Ashish is very

1504
01:26:30,920 --> 01:26:32,880
forward thinking.
He has a very forward thinking

1505
01:26:32,880 --> 01:26:36,520
staff.
And then he he does Lollapalooza

1506
01:26:36,520 --> 01:26:41,600
there.
So he, he does big shows and

1507
01:26:42,160 --> 01:26:43,760
then the infrastructure is
growing.

1508
01:26:43,760 --> 01:26:49,760
Like this year there's been,
we've had 24 people pass a

1509
01:26:49,800 --> 01:26:53,160
scaffolding high, high
scaffolding test.

1510
01:26:53,160 --> 01:26:55,800
We've had people passes rigging
tests.

1511
01:26:56,040 --> 01:26:58,240
There's company with a bunch of
chain motors.

1512
01:26:58,600 --> 01:27:00,560
There's something.
You're involved in training

1513
01:27:00,560 --> 01:27:02,920
people over there now we.
Talk about it and they do it,

1514
01:27:02,920 --> 01:27:04,880
but it's the same company.
Interesting.

1515
01:27:05,320 --> 01:27:09,160
And yes, yeah, I do want it and
I talk to the people and I'm not

1516
01:27:09,160 --> 01:27:12,240
in on a day-to-day basis, but we
talk about it all the time.

1517
01:27:12,800 --> 01:27:16,680
And, and then they bought more,
more lights.

1518
01:27:16,680 --> 01:27:19,480
They've got more sand.
There's a, there's a great bunch

1519
01:27:19,480 --> 01:27:24,040
of L acoustic D&B sand in India
along as K1 and everything like

1520
01:27:24,040 --> 01:27:27,480
that lightning.
Everybody's, you know, gone down

1521
01:27:27,480 --> 01:27:32,240
to like everybody has a bunch of
Sharpies, you know, and you just

1522
01:27:32,240 --> 01:27:36,520
swap them out their video in
everything across the world.

1523
01:27:36,520 --> 01:27:40,360
I would have to say that videos
come the furthest because it's

1524
01:27:40,360 --> 01:27:45,040
now more affordable and, you
know, they buy the new stuff.

1525
01:27:45,040 --> 01:27:50,120
So it's all 5 mil, 4 mil, 3 mil,
you know, you know, you hang it

1526
01:27:50,120 --> 01:27:52,720
on a scaffolding and you get
prepared to do that.

1527
01:27:53,120 --> 01:27:57,720
But yeah, so Ash asked me if I
would help him consult.

1528
01:27:57,720 --> 01:28:00,600
So I did that last year.
And basically he was starting,

1529
01:28:00,600 --> 01:28:02,880
he was promoting Ed Sheeran in
Mumbai.

1530
01:28:03,120 --> 01:28:07,240
OK.
So we, you know, we went there

1531
01:28:07,240 --> 01:28:11,000
and also, you know, it, it gave
people, I hope, a little bit of

1532
01:28:11,000 --> 01:28:14,600
confidence that I was involved,
you know.

1533
01:28:15,040 --> 01:28:18,840
And so he did Ed Sheeran and
then I was out, you know, as I

1534
01:28:18,840 --> 01:28:22,480
know, I started the Coldplay
tour and he wanted Coldplay, so

1535
01:28:22,920 --> 01:28:25,840
I introduced him to all the
right people to get Coldplaying.

1536
01:28:27,120 --> 01:28:28,960
And so they did Ed Sheeran last
year.

1537
01:28:29,600 --> 01:28:32,800
They did Sting at Lollapalooza
last year.

1538
01:28:32,840 --> 01:28:37,160
And then Ed came and played and
they they built an arena from

1539
01:28:37,160 --> 01:28:40,440
the ground up from the in a dirt
field in the middle of the horse

1540
01:28:40,440 --> 01:28:43,600
race track.
And Ed did like 50,000 people

1541
01:28:43,600 --> 01:28:47,640
and it was a big mixture of
local and touring production

1542
01:28:47,640 --> 01:28:51,440
that they brought in the stage.
All the sound was local.

1543
01:28:51,800 --> 01:28:53,640
The video over the stage was
tore.

1544
01:28:53,640 --> 01:28:58,440
The video support on the towers
was local and the lighting was

1545
01:28:58,640 --> 01:29:02,320
5050 and and all the stage hands
came in.

1546
01:29:02,320 --> 01:29:06,280
So they've improved the
stagehands now to an acceptable

1547
01:29:06,280 --> 01:29:09,880
level.
And then you just bring in, you

1548
01:29:09,880 --> 01:29:16,800
have to have more people that
translate because, you know, so.

1549
01:29:17,200 --> 01:29:20,280
But it's come a long way.
I mean, for the Coldplay

1550
01:29:20,280 --> 01:29:24,160
adventure, it's exactly the same
production that they'll bring in

1551
01:29:24,440 --> 01:29:28,680
what they take to Asia now,
like, you know, to Thailand and

1552
01:29:28,680 --> 01:29:32,200
what we did in, in, in, in, in
South America.

1553
01:29:32,480 --> 01:29:37,560
Yeah, so we, and then you know,
the, the Indian promoter, we

1554
01:29:37,560 --> 01:29:42,560
bought a stage, we bought a star
live a 25 meters, you know,

1555
01:29:42,560 --> 01:29:46,760
stage so that you can do
Lalapalusa, you can hang a bit

1556
01:29:46,760 --> 01:29:49,240
more weight.
And on Coldplay, we use the

1557
01:29:49,240 --> 01:29:53,320
infrastructure to help with the
stage and you know, with a new

1558
01:29:53,320 --> 01:29:56,440
found scaffolding company and
there's 20 guys we can build

1559
01:29:56,760 --> 01:30:01,800
scaffolding structure, you know,
so I, I would have to say that

1560
01:30:02,320 --> 01:30:06,800
if you went there 15 years ago
and you went back there now, you

1561
01:30:06,800 --> 01:30:08,960
would be really pleasantly.
Yeah, Yeah.

1562
01:30:09,160 --> 01:30:12,120
Well, one of the things I
noticed in our industry in in

1563
01:30:12,120 --> 01:30:16,520
India is like, I would expect
that they'd have all Chinese

1564
01:30:16,520 --> 01:30:20,600
knockoffs of video screens and
Chinese knockoffs of lighting

1565
01:30:20,600 --> 01:30:22,440
fixtures and stuff.
And there is some of that of

1566
01:30:22,440 --> 01:30:26,400
course, just like there is here,
but they have all the top brand

1567
01:30:26,400 --> 01:30:29,320
stuff over there now like they
really are buying the top brand

1568
01:30:29,320 --> 01:30:30,800
equipment.
Investment, you know, it's a

1569
01:30:30,800 --> 01:30:34,280
mixture of the Acme Chinese
lives, knock off and stuff.

1570
01:30:34,640 --> 01:30:39,040
You know, there's, you know,
Chinese motors in some place and

1571
01:30:39,840 --> 01:30:43,640
you know, I was talking to a
trussing company there and and

1572
01:30:44,960 --> 01:30:49,000
all their trusses is designed
and engineered to the the German

1573
01:30:49,000 --> 01:30:52,160
European spec.
Yeah, and they make them.

1574
01:30:52,320 --> 01:30:56,760
In India, and they have the
biggest plan of trust, man, they

1575
01:30:56,760 --> 01:30:59,200
could be the biggest trust
manufacturer in the world.

1576
01:30:59,320 --> 01:31:02,840
Wow, Interesting.
Yeah.

1577
01:31:02,840 --> 01:31:05,280
That's interesting.
So what's your grand vision for

1578
01:31:05,280 --> 01:31:07,360
India then?
Just to help them create enough

1579
01:31:07,360 --> 01:31:11,640
infrastructure to be able to do
massive shows all year instead

1580
01:31:11,640 --> 01:31:13,240
of just one or two a year or
whatever.

1581
01:31:13,560 --> 01:31:17,080
I think that the infrastructure
would be to take the big show,

1582
01:31:17,080 --> 01:31:20,120
the medium show and the small
show and keep working.

1583
01:31:20,440 --> 01:31:24,760
Yeah, you know, because if you
have like a show like Sting, and

1584
01:31:24,760 --> 01:31:31,120
while it's Sting, it's it's
experience, you know, and, and

1585
01:31:31,120 --> 01:31:34,240
things like that.
And Ed Sheeran was, you know,

1586
01:31:34,320 --> 01:31:36,800
the, you know, the things they
learnt, like they built all the

1587
01:31:36,800 --> 01:31:38,960
temporary dressing rooms and
offices.

1588
01:31:39,960 --> 01:31:42,760
And so they were doing a loadout
and we'd come back next morning.

1589
01:31:43,000 --> 01:31:46,240
The dressing rooms are dressing
rooms are intact, but they taken

1590
01:31:46,240 --> 01:31:48,720
down all the production offices.
You know, just.

1591
01:31:48,760 --> 01:31:51,720
Ass about face, but I I enjoy
it.

1592
01:31:52,160 --> 01:31:56,000
Like you say, like I said
earlier, if we can, if I can

1593
01:31:56,000 --> 01:31:58,640
just give back a little bit of
what I got out of this, then I'm

1594
01:31:58,640 --> 01:32:02,120
gonna Yeah, well.
India, I would expect that one

1595
01:32:02,120 --> 01:32:04,080
of the biggest challenges is
venues, right?

1596
01:32:04,080 --> 01:32:06,960
Like they probably don't.
You can't piece a tour together

1597
01:32:07,200 --> 01:32:11,160
in India very easily.
You know, you play cricket

1598
01:32:11,160 --> 01:32:12,240
grounds.
Yeah.

1599
01:32:13,280 --> 01:32:19,280
And.
And that is as to the Indians,

1600
01:32:19,280 --> 01:32:24,280
that's more sacred than the New
York Yankees baseball stadium.

1601
01:32:24,280 --> 01:32:26,920
Yeah, you've got to think it on
par of that.

1602
01:32:27,360 --> 01:32:29,200
And then going back to the
infrastructure, and you

1603
01:32:29,200 --> 01:32:32,960
mentioned generators.
When I was there, they had the

1604
01:32:33,200 --> 01:32:37,160
Cricket World Cup there.
I, I don't know if you're,

1605
01:32:37,240 --> 01:32:38,880
you're not very familiar with
cricket.

1606
01:32:38,880 --> 01:32:41,200
No, I know what it is but I'm
not a fan or anything so.

1607
01:32:41,360 --> 01:32:45,120
So they had to do like 16 venues
for a world wide broadcast.

1608
01:32:46,480 --> 01:32:49,760
That's a big deal.
Yeah, so they've all bought new

1609
01:32:49,760 --> 01:32:56,960
generators, silent generators,
In Sync generators to run TV

1610
01:32:58,600 --> 01:33:03,560
and, you know, so I don't worry
about power like I used to, you

1611
01:33:03,560 --> 01:33:06,120
know, and then, you know,
because every show then had

1612
01:33:06,120 --> 01:33:10,360
Pyro, so you would have a Pyro
display.

1613
01:33:10,360 --> 01:33:13,320
So they're not.
So you can't import Pyro, but

1614
01:33:13,320 --> 01:33:16,400
you can use the local products
and it's quite good because they

1615
01:33:16,400 --> 01:33:19,520
had to have lighting all the way
around there for this thing.

1616
01:33:19,520 --> 01:33:26,240
So the Cricket World Cup 2 years
ago was a phenomenon boost to

1617
01:33:26,240 --> 01:33:29,200
the industry.
Yeah, yeah, That's really cool.

1618
01:33:29,200 --> 01:33:32,520
That's good to hear.
And what about Insomniac?

1619
01:33:32,520 --> 01:33:34,040
That's still a big deal for you,
huh?

1620
01:33:34,440 --> 01:33:35,600
Big deal for me.
Love it.

1621
01:33:35,880 --> 01:33:39,000
I love going to hear that thump.
I love to get my trousers flat.

1622
01:33:39,440 --> 01:33:44,680
And, you know, and I think that,
you know, the different genre

1623
01:33:44,680 --> 01:33:47,000
music, I always thought it was
one genre.

1624
01:33:47,000 --> 01:33:49,600
There's like 98 different
variations of yeah.

1625
01:33:49,640 --> 01:33:52,080
I'm with you though I don't know
them so.

1626
01:33:52,480 --> 01:33:55,880
You know, I always like look at
the wasteland stage because I

1627
01:33:55,880 --> 01:34:00,240
feel that's a 20, that's 2024
heavy metal version of ACDC

1628
01:34:00,400 --> 01:34:02,240
doesn't want you to go there,
you know?

1629
01:34:02,240 --> 01:34:04,440
Yeah, yeah.
It's incredible, though.

1630
01:34:04,440 --> 01:34:08,840
Like again, does that surprise
you how big EDM has become?

1631
01:34:10,000 --> 01:34:14,400
Oh yeah, it's, it's shocking.
To me, like it's shocking.

1632
01:34:15,320 --> 01:34:17,920
Vegas.
I mean we did 180,000 a night

1633
01:34:17,920 --> 01:34:19,160
last year.
Wow.

1634
01:34:19,680 --> 01:34:23,800
That is incredible and.
We're trying to get it to 200 a

1635
01:34:23,800 --> 01:34:26,800
thousand a night, but that means
moving around a bit of it

1636
01:34:26,800 --> 01:34:31,160
because it's played in the inner
bowl of Las Vegas Motor

1637
01:34:31,160 --> 01:34:36,840
Speedway.
And yeah, so if we move a little

1638
01:34:36,840 --> 01:34:39,480
bit more stuff out that we don't
need there, we'll, you know,

1639
01:34:39,480 --> 01:34:40,640
we'll we'll get that.
But.

1640
01:34:40,960 --> 01:34:43,560
Insomniac does a lot more than
just Vegas, right?

1641
01:34:44,240 --> 01:34:46,560
Oh they do.
Probably 300 shows a year.

1642
01:34:46,640 --> 01:34:49,160
Yeah.
And so you're consulting sort of

1643
01:34:49,160 --> 01:34:51,440
at the top level on how to make
all of.

1644
01:34:51,440 --> 01:34:54,800
Those shows great.
I work for mostly with two guys,

1645
01:34:54,840 --> 01:34:58,240
Justin Spag and Forest Hunt,
who's the executive producers,

1646
01:34:58,680 --> 01:35:00,360
and I'll do whatever they want
me to do.

1647
01:35:00,480 --> 01:35:03,680
Yeah, yeah.
What a what an operation though.

1648
01:35:03,680 --> 01:35:05,720
I mean, it's incredible what
they've built.

1649
01:35:06,160 --> 01:35:09,600
You know, it's not that long ago
that this all started like, you

1650
01:35:09,600 --> 01:35:16,040
know, the Miami, the Miami one
and and then EDC in in Vegas.

1651
01:35:16,440 --> 01:35:18,680
It's not that long ago.
And look at how big it is.

1652
01:35:19,000 --> 01:35:21,920
It's insane.
Like Insomniac have like 3 big

1653
01:35:21,920 --> 01:35:31,360
brands, they have EDC, they have
hard summer, nocturnal, beyond

1654
01:35:32,200 --> 01:35:36,880
and escape, right?
It's Escape from Wonderland,

1655
01:35:36,880 --> 01:35:41,200
Beyond Wonderland and Countdown
Countdown's New Year's Eve and

1656
01:35:41,200 --> 01:35:47,840
they're the three major brands.
So in in EDC Vegas there's like

1657
01:35:47,840 --> 01:35:51,440
7 different brands of music.
There's Kinetic Field which is

1658
01:35:51,440 --> 01:35:54,960
the product which is all scenery
and and looking pretty.

1659
01:35:54,960 --> 01:35:59,080
You have stage 2 which is a
little bit of scenery but just a

1660
01:35:59,080 --> 01:36:01,640
lot of video.
Stage 3, it's video and

1661
01:36:01,640 --> 01:36:03,800
lighting.
It's a production stage, so

1662
01:36:03,800 --> 01:36:06,680
you're allowed to bring in your
own video content as long as we

1663
01:36:06,680 --> 01:36:10,040
like it, which you're not
allowed to do on stage 1.

1664
01:36:10,920 --> 01:36:14,640
And then you have stage 4, which
is like Neon Garden, which is

1665
01:36:15,000 --> 01:36:18,040
another genre.
The people with the DJs like

1666
01:36:18,040 --> 01:36:20,400
people on stage.
So you can have 50 people on

1667
01:36:20,400 --> 01:36:23,400
stage around the DJ Crazy, you
know?

1668
01:36:23,400 --> 01:36:29,280
And then stage 5 is it's one,
it's five, it's base pod, so

1669
01:36:29,280 --> 01:36:31,160
it's a pretty base pod.
And then you have Wastelands,

1670
01:36:31,160 --> 01:36:34,440
which is fucking drum and bass.
I love that fucking.

1671
01:36:34,440 --> 01:36:39,960
They get down and you know.
It's, I find it rather humorous

1672
01:36:39,960 --> 01:36:43,400
that you're kind of like the
king of, you know, king of EDM

1673
01:36:43,400 --> 01:36:47,600
and you're, you're 70 years old,
you know, it's, it's, it's

1674
01:36:47,600 --> 01:36:50,600
awesome.
Music has no age barriers.

1675
01:36:50,600 --> 01:36:53,560
No, of course not.
It's it's amazing.

1676
01:36:53,560 --> 01:36:55,080
Do you still spend time in
Greece?

1677
01:36:56,120 --> 01:36:58,800
Yeah, well, my my girlfriend is
a promoter in Greece.

1678
01:36:58,960 --> 01:37:01,440
Well, I didn't want to say, do
you still have the girlfriend in

1679
01:37:01,440 --> 01:37:03,000
Greece?
Because I always stick my foot

1680
01:37:03,000 --> 01:37:04,680
in my mouth saying those things.
So yeah.

1681
01:37:04,800 --> 01:37:07,680
Well, we do.
We we're, I, I was there most of

1682
01:37:07,680 --> 01:37:11,400
the summer because, you know,
she has a very, she's very

1683
01:37:11,400 --> 01:37:13,360
experienced, but they have a
small operation.

1684
01:37:13,360 --> 01:37:16,920
Yeah, she had, you know, a lot
of shows.

1685
01:37:16,920 --> 01:37:19,480
She had Rammstein at the Olympic
Stadium.

1686
01:37:19,720 --> 01:37:21,640
Fun.
What a what a show.

1687
01:37:21,760 --> 01:37:24,280
Yeah, what a show.
That is, that's another

1688
01:37:24,280 --> 01:37:27,200
phenomenon.
You know, it's just like just

1689
01:37:27,200 --> 01:37:30,360
keeps getting bigger.
East German death, death medal.

1690
01:37:30,360 --> 01:37:33,360
And of course she had two Nike
Coldplay, which I helped her

1691
01:37:33,360 --> 01:37:37,160
because I knew how it worked.
Yeah, and then that was the

1692
01:37:37,160 --> 01:37:39,080
stadium show.
And then she had her small

1693
01:37:39,120 --> 01:37:44,000
boutique festival with Lenny
Kravitz for about 7000 fun and a

1694
01:37:44,000 --> 01:37:47,960
couple of nights with Sting.
So you're still sort of working

1695
01:37:47,960 --> 01:37:49,800
when you're there.
No, I'm not.

1696
01:37:49,800 --> 01:37:53,440
I'm I'm Ms. Moral Pretend.
Working moral support, Moral

1697
01:37:53,440 --> 01:37:56,920
support.
So Sarah, who you met earlier,

1698
01:37:56,920 --> 01:38:01,920
our producer, she, she lives on
Crete so.

1699
01:38:02,480 --> 01:38:03,960
We live right in the middle of
Athens.

1700
01:38:04,440 --> 01:38:10,680
Nice nice, awesome.
So for the rest of 2425, any big

1701
01:38:10,680 --> 01:38:13,800
plans besides the India stuff
and Insomniac?

1702
01:38:14,400 --> 01:38:21,240
India, EDC, Orlando, I might go
to escape and then probably

1703
01:38:23,240 --> 01:38:26,800
figure out where I'm going to be
for the rest of the year and,

1704
01:38:26,800 --> 01:38:32,680
and hopefully when a lot of
stuff dies down, that Nana, my

1705
01:38:32,680 --> 01:38:34,880
girlfriend, will be able to come
and spend some time here because

1706
01:38:34,880 --> 01:38:36,320
she loves it here.
Fun.

1707
01:38:36,920 --> 01:38:39,280
You're in Arizona, right?
Yeah, Yeah.

1708
01:38:39,760 --> 01:38:40,280
Nice.
I.

1709
01:38:40,280 --> 01:38:42,640
Used to have a desk set up here
where she used to work and then

1710
01:38:42,640 --> 01:38:45,440
she goes I can't work, you're
working all the time well.

1711
01:38:45,440 --> 01:38:48,880
Yeah, and you probably have a
more boomy voice than hers too,

1712
01:38:48,880 --> 01:38:53,080
so you can't you can't compete
with her over The Who gets to

1713
01:38:53,080 --> 01:38:54,960
hear your phone call better or
whatever.

1714
01:38:54,960 --> 01:38:56,080
No.
Should we set an office

1715
01:38:56,080 --> 01:38:58,400
upstairs?
And she, she loves it up there,

1716
01:38:58,440 --> 01:38:59,320
you know?
Nice.

1717
01:38:59,520 --> 01:39:02,960
I sent a picture of her office
say your office is missing you.

1718
01:39:03,000 --> 01:39:06,840
So I hope, I hope that inspires.
Long distance relationships are

1719
01:39:06,840 --> 01:39:08,400
tough.
I mean, sometimes they're OK,

1720
01:39:08,400 --> 01:39:09,800
but sometimes they're tough.
I.

1721
01:39:09,800 --> 01:39:11,280
Haven't known any different.
Yeah.

1722
01:39:11,280 --> 01:39:13,040
Of course, yeah.
I mean touring.

1723
01:39:13,240 --> 01:39:15,600
Yeah.
Well, Jake, it's been amazing

1724
01:39:15,600 --> 01:39:17,880
catching up with you.
I appreciate it so much and

1725
01:39:17,880 --> 01:39:20,640
appreciate you.
And you know, you're you're a

1726
01:39:20,640 --> 01:39:22,800
legend.
There's few peoples in our

1727
01:39:22,800 --> 01:39:25,600
industry, few people I'd call a
legend, and you're one of them.

1728
01:39:26,440 --> 01:39:27,880
Thank you very much for the
compliment.

1729
01:39:27,880 --> 01:39:29,000
I appreciate it.
Yeah.

1730
01:39:29,520 --> 01:39:33,440
You know, legend or not legend,
if I can leave a legacy and

1731
01:39:33,440 --> 01:39:37,280
return that legacy to make this
industry grow because it's a

1732
01:39:37,280 --> 01:39:38,960
fantastic industry.
Yeah.

1733
01:39:39,240 --> 01:39:41,760
You know, it's, it's it's
amazing what it does.

1734
01:39:41,760 --> 01:39:43,840
It's amazing what it produces.
Got amazing.

1735
01:39:43,840 --> 01:39:46,240
A bunch of people from the top
through the bands to the crews

1736
01:39:46,240 --> 01:39:49,160
all the way down, and it needs
to maintain so.

1737
01:39:49,440 --> 01:39:52,800
When you've pushed the envelope
so much like with the size, the

1738
01:39:52,800 --> 01:39:56,120
enormity, the, the challenges of
some of these projects you've

1739
01:39:56,120 --> 01:40:00,720
done the U2 claw, the U2 sphere,
all the big stones tours, you

1740
01:40:00,720 --> 01:40:04,680
know, you've just done some,
you've really made things much

1741
01:40:04,680 --> 01:40:08,720
more big and, and much more like
you made people, I think, expand

1742
01:40:08,720 --> 01:40:10,880
their visions with some of the
projects that you've been

1743
01:40:10,880 --> 01:40:13,360
involved on.
I hope that's be the case, and

1744
01:40:13,360 --> 01:40:17,400
not necessarily in large shows,
but in the medium shows and the

1745
01:40:17,400 --> 01:40:20,480
small shows, yeah.
It's all about the personality

1746
01:40:20,480 --> 01:40:21,640
and the attitude.
I Yeah.

1747
01:40:21,920 --> 01:40:23,240
I agree.
I agree.

1748
01:40:23,240 --> 01:40:25,280
Well, thanks, Jake.
We'll see you very.

1749
01:40:25,320 --> 01:40:26,680
Well, see you.
Again soon, I hope.