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Show rtrttiffcytT)tnlinMftiiinnfftrir4-w,,:f- rage 3 Bringing concerts to Dixie By Sun Burt Harvey News Editor The Dixie Center. entertainment business The center for all those just about anything exciting happening in St. George. Whether conventions or a rock concerts, the Dixie Center is where its relationships, and in the entertainment business its all relationships, so hes got a lot of it's at.. Speaking of rock concerts, ever wonder how they make their way to St. George? Youre not the only one. To answer that question, one must talk to the top man himself, Randy Lovell, director of the Dixie Center. Q: How do you get a concert like Sawyer Brown to come to the Dixie Center? A: n Theres two different ways with we deal them. Number one we will have promoters that will call us and ask us for availability in the building. Thats just a straight rent from us to them. Other ones we actually have to go out and actively pursue. Q: How do you go and get these groups? A: Right relationships and hes willing to negotiate the deals for us and we in turn produce the show. Q: Is it hard to get groups to come to St. George? A: Some of them now we are working through a partner called Lexus Music in Salt Lake City and Pat Melfi. Hes been in the business for 20 something years and he knows a lot of people. I don't have the time to try and build the relationships, and in the or Vegas promoters haven't come to. us. The United Concerts helped us with Chicago and we made some money on that, but for the amount of money that they make, this is a long way out of their normal to try and do it. so they would rather stay at Park West or Salt Lake. Q: Has the Dixie Center had more success in the past? A: The history has been in the center that years ago, people would all want to promote concerts, because thats the glory type thing, so everybody does it, but by the time you hit them with the bill for the and building, the security, the load-iIoad-oand all those types of things, on top of the cost of the ads, they backed off and basically nothing has happened. Q: How does the Dixie Center plan to expand? A: Eventually, wed like to have our own separate facility, I mean were looking five, 10 years down the road. But we will go ahead and, at some point, we will negotiate with the college and they will buy this facility and well move on and buy a bigger arena. Q: What do you like about this whole thing? A: When people walk out of here with a smile! its virtually impossible, because of the amount of seats we have. We are in a position now that we are too small in our capacity and our market is too small to go after big names, and thats why the typical Salt Lake City promoters Dispelling Pearl Jam Burt Harvey News Editor Everybody knows who Pearl Jam is and what songs they play, but not everybody knows why the Dixie Center wouldnt allow them to come to St. George. There are a lot of rumors still flying around, but what it boiled down to was safety. Randy Lovell, director of the Dixie Center, said the main reason Pearl Jam was not allowed to play in St. George was the fact that they wanted festival seating and a By Sun mosh pit. At this point there is no facility in the state of Utah that "ill allow that, Lovell added. Festival seating is where an audience can come into a concert and sit anywhere they want. And you dont have to be into the dance club scene to know that a mosh pit is., bat if you dont, its where slam dancing takes place. According to Lovell, everybody in Utah is particularly nervous about that (festival seating and the mosh pit) because of the incident at the Salt Palace where the boy ot killed. lot So now everybody backs off, says that theres a of liability in that. Theyre getting sued for millions of dollars for that type of thing. In a follow-u- p that Lovell himself did on Pearl Jam, he discovered that Eddie Vedder, lead singer for Pearl Jam, got in a fight with security people at the University of Colorado claiming that security was too close, then preceded to drop that concert. He has a habit of diving off stage and two years ago, at a concert in Seattle, Wash., they had to take 20 kids to the hospital. The point that Lovell was making was the fact that when you bring a name like Pearl Jam to St. George, you not only have to worry about the trouble you have from the locals (which Lovell felt he did not have to worry about), that the concert would pull in. but the Not that hes (Vedder) bad, Lovell added, but his type of thing (the mosh pit) seems to incite the potential for problems. Lovell added he didnt think Pearl Jam would be in concert in Utah any time in the near future. Only if he can get into Utah and talk someone into that type seating, Lovell stated. But I dont see him (Vedder), unless hes in the Salt Lake area, calling anytime soon. Going backstage at the Dixie Center By Burt Harvey Sun News Editor There is nothing, as most people will tell you, like being at a rock concert: heating the music roar, seeing the people having a great tune, and seeing your favorite performer live. Many people will tell you that theres nothing better. But backstage technicians will strongly disagree. Being able to go backstage at a concert is often a dream, but nothing is like the actual experience of being involved W'ith the entire process of a concert. There are three stages to producing a concert: the load-i- n and set-uand load-ou- t. running the show, and take-dow- n the knows what with show, thats Everyone running happens where all the performing takes place, the audience heais the music, sees the lights, and watches the performers. However, not many know' the long hours the backstage technicians and roadies put in to make what the audience sees happen. 6 a. m. The day begins. The equipment trucks begin to arrive. The lighting truck carrying some of the heaviest, most delicate, and complex equipment usually arrives first. The loading crew unloads the trucks and carries the equipment inside to where they set up. Once the vital equipment is inside, the rigging crew connects the lights that will be hoisted into the ceiling. After the lights are in and the truck unloaded, in moves truck, with all the sound equipment that will be used. This includes the speakers, the sound operating equipment, and the communication array that will keep everyone in contact with everyone else during the shows After these two trucks are unloaded, the remaining trucks, if any, are unloaded. Lights and sound are the two main parts to a concert and sometimes, depending on the conceit, these tw'o k trailers. parts can take up to as many as 8 full sie 10 a.m. Around this time, the trucks are unloaded and the loading crew' leaves. The stagehands and roadies continue to set up the show, including the laying down of miles of cords and cables, hooking up electric motors to lighting trusses and hoisting them up into the rafters, connecting the sound to the speakers, hoisting them up into the rafters as well, and finally setting up the stage itself. 2 p.m. At this time, half the crew is let go and rest and the performers arrive to practice, set up their instruments and do sound checks. The crew that stays finishes off the area by hanging the curtains that will block that audiences view backstage. 4 p.m. The rest of the crew' go home to eat dinner and rest while the performers and roadies finish up their checks of the systems. They all try to get as much rest as they can before returning to the show. 6 p.m. The full crew returns and splits up into the separate groups that they will be involved with during the course of the show. Some of these groups include the spotlight operators, the deckhands, the running crew, and crowd control. Each group goes to its separate meeting and is briefed on whats going to be happening during the show. After the meeting, the crew relaxes or finishes up any last minute problems before show time. 7:30 p.m. Show time! Everybody can see what happens then. 10 p.m. The loading crew returns as the crowd is driven out of the building. Then everything is taken down, taken apart, packed away, and carefully put back into the trucks from where they came. 2 a.m. The trucks are finally loaded, the home crew says to the roadies that have made their lives a living hell good-by- e for the past 8 hours, and everybody goes home to get some semi-truc- sleep. |
