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| View from the tip of the stage |
Tonight is ACM Presents Lionel Richie and Friends @ the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Funny that I got more ticket requests for this than the ACM Awards show. I got in around 9.10a which for me is a miracle. I didn't have my guy Dave to come in early to babysit the kids and because I don't have an assistant, coordinator or any backup, it's just me so I hauled my ass out of bed and made it in.
The day was remarkably quiet. Steve popped into my office for some housekeeping business on security deployment. He and Richie along with George head up the security for the ACMs. They're great guys. They totally 'get it' and aren't assholes. Calling some of the people we work with on shows assholes is an understatement so when you get good guys, you appreciate them even more. They fit right in with the entire ACM group. It's part of why I love this show so much.
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| Lionel's special seating |
Once I made sure everyone was where they were supposed to be I headed back to my office to catch up on emails, budgets and schedules for upcoming shows. Although I loathe being in so early (especially knowing how late I'll be there) it does give me some undisturbed quiet time to work on stuff. Even though it's Monday it doesn't feel like it. My days are all screwed up having worked all weekend.
My sups start trickling in around 2ish. They are totally self sufficient so other than stopping in to say hi and check on me (read: my mood) I don't see or hear too much from them. I'm actually in much better spirits today. Granted, it didn't take much but at least it's progress.
Around 5.30p I'm sitting in Zippy's office, bored out of my mind. We're watching them rehearse Brick House for the show tonight on his TV. 5.45p rolls around and they're still on stage rehearsing. We're supposed to open doors @ 6.00p. Great. No biggie though. We can get the production tables, monitors, printers, trash, cables & coolers out of the way pretty quickly to reset chairs.
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| Rehearsing Truly |
All seems to be going well until the box office rep comes down to check on seating. Before every show they come down to count the rows and seats to be sure they're correct before doors. Every show is different and if we're off by a chair or a row, it can cause major problems after we open doors. Imagine trying to fix seating issues when people are already sitting in seats or trying to add rows or chairs with people around. Not pretty. So we try and catch it before doors.
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| Resetting chairs |
Good thing we did check because we were off by 4 rows in the front section. Major. It's a long story but we had fixed it with the Academy for the awards show the night before but no one caught it for the Lionel Richie show tonight. Luckily we had built a couple of extra rows in back so we just kind of shifted everything back. Not physically. We took 2 rows off the front of the side sections and relettered the rows so they matched up, did a little reconfiguring to the section we had the original problem in and voila. Problem solved. Unfortunately by now it's 6.30p and our line to get in is backed up pretty far. But our excellent ticket scanning staff did a stellar job getting everyone in.
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| Entertainment outlets doing 1-on-1s |
At 7.25p I meet the production manager down at the front of the stage. "Looks good" he says. I'm so afraid he's gonna tell me the producer is going to do the 'voice of god' asking people to move to open seats to dress the house for TV. This is nothing short of a nightmare for the venue. What happens is people make a mad dash for open seats and when people who actually have tickets for those seats show up, it's a mess. It's one big ripple effect. The production couldn't give a fuck, nor should they I suppose. All they care about is that the house looks good for TV. I get it. Me, well I get to deal with all the complaints, threats & grumblings from guests about their experience at the MGM. The venue has zero control over this and people don't understand this, nor do they care, nor should they. I'd be furious if I went to my seat that I paid for and someone else was sitting in it who refused to move. It's a part of my job I hate because I agree with the people and wish I could change their experience but there isn't anything I can do but listen to them & try to be understanding.
Once again I didn't see any part of the show. Not a single bit, hence no show pics. I didn't really care to. Hell, it's going to be on tv next week on the 13th anyhow so if I really want to, I'll catch it then. Instead I spent some time with a guy I haven't seen or talked to in quite a while. Enter Motorcycle-guy...
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