06.09.11 Paul McCartney for Hewlett Packard Convention @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

Paul McCartney playing for HP

Paul McCartney did a private date for the Hewlett Packard convention at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. I was worried about this show in particular. Pair McCartney with a bunch of crazy convention managers and it makes for one big nightmare. But it turned out to be one of the best convention/concert dates I've ever done. Everything worked out almost flawlessly and I looked like a frigging rockstar. Now I know I'm good but what makes me so good is my team and my ability to bring people together, convince them that I know what I'm doing and to trust me. 99% of the time that works out. And for the other 1% when I fail miserably, people around me don't let it get out. They cover for me. That's what a team does. They don't let each other fail, or if they do fail, they don't let others know about it. I am so proud of the people I work with. They're my friends, my colleagues, my confidantes and my saviors. If it weren't for them, I would have quit years ago. This job is fun and yes, I'm appreciative to have a job, but let's face it, after almost 6 years it's not really challenging. I should have probably moved on years ago but the people, the family in the Grand Garden Arena keep me coming back day after day, hour after hour, week after week. Here's to them.

Paul thanking the HP crowd

So back to McCartney HP date. The big concern for McCartney's team was that there wouldn't be butts in seats by the time Paul when on stage. He's a BIG stickler for that. I remember 5 years ago when he did a 2-date Thanksgiving weekend stint for both shows we had to fill seats with people from the upper bowl down on the floor. Now that seems cool for those people but what happens is when the original seat-holders show up, those inadvertent seat fillers get kicked back to their shitty seats. They are fully briefed of this before we ever bring them down but they don't seem to remember that part. It's a nightmare. But luckily none of that happened. 

About 8,000 HP attendees were having dinner in the MGM Grand Conference Center. It was my job to get them all into their seats in an hour and to make sure there were no gaps in the seats that Paul could see. Sounds simple but imagine 8,000 all coming at you thru 2 entrances, checking all their badges, making sure all have a wristband and scan each and every ticket. But the team I have assembled did just that - flawlessly. 

Paul took the stage around 8.40p. The entire HP crowd was into it for the full 2+ hours. Whew. Mission accomplished. Another successful event. And we'll do it again tomorrow.