We Are The Road Crew - A History of Roadies

There are plenty of thankless jobs out there…think about the people who have to work outside in all kinds of weather…line workers for power companies…garbage collectors… construction workers.

Same goes for prison officers, nurses, teachers, and first responders of all types…i could go on, but you get the idea…so much needs to go on behind the scenes for us to be able to live our lives. 

There are dirty jobs but someone’s gotta do it…for the most part, they do their jobs so well that we don’t even think about them…but if not for these people, society wouldn’t function. 

Now let’s look at the music industry…the performers get all the glory, but we’d know nothing of them if it wasn’t for the massive support they get from people in the background. 

That includes support staff at record labels and management companies,  publicists, assistants, and thousands of other positions that helps make the music happen. 

One of the most important positions is paradoxically both visible and invisible…if they do their jobs well, they’re ghosts…but if they don’t, things don’t go so well…in fact, they may not go as well. 

I’m talking about roadies, members of the road crew, the people who enlist in the army that’s necessary to put an act on tour…without their expertise, long hours, and willingness make sure everything always goes smooth, there would be no live experience. 

They say that if there ain’t no audience, there ain’t no show…but if there ain’t no road crew, then their ain’t nothing at all.

This is a history of the men and women who make live shows happen…it’s the story of roadies.

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