Hard Habit To Break

MGM Grand Garden Arena
dressing room hallway

Today is going pretty well. Just your typical award show kind of drama. Credentials & wristbands are always a bit of a cluster. There are so many issued and every year when we think we have it down, there are always exceptions, changes, additions, subtractions. Some of it necessary, a great portion of it ridiculous, but all of it manageable.

Reba's dressing room

This year we had some oddities with who could and who couldn't eat in the Chipotle catered crew room. What should have taken 10 minutes to solve ended up taking 2 days. I blame the fact that the production manager who normally handles the full show went over to Mandalay to run the Sugarland & Rihanna portion. It was the right thing to do for the show but sucked for us, the house. He's just tremendously talented for handling things before they spiral out of control. By the time it got to me it was already a mess so I called him and he came over to fix it. You really never know how good someone is until he's gone. I think that's a lyric in the sappy Chicago love song Hard Habit To Break.

Is Blake Shelton in there?

I spent the majority of the day in my office working on Morales vs. Maidana stuff, the event we have immediately following the ACMs. I was also working on some high profile events that haven't been announced yet so I'll leave it a mystery. That's the cool thing about working for a major arena. There aren't many acts that we DON'T get simply because you don't pass up Vegas. There's too much money involved. About every hour I popped out to make the rounds, get some fresh air, a little exercise, stretch the legs. 

Door to rehearsals

Around 4ish I was up in catering checking out the catering fiasco and noticed a performance on the screen. I managed to catch Rihanna and Jennifer Nettles' rehearsal from Mandalay Bay. I'm not a fan of either but good God can those girls sing. 

8.30p Right now the team is getting ready for Taylor Swift's closed sound check. It means we have to sweep everyone out of the arena except non-essential crew. The good thing is I know all the hidden places in the arena where no one can see me so just because someone is telling me I can't, I'm probably going to watch it. It's childish, I know. But I'm pretty tired and need to entertain myself somehow.