Backstage Pass is a series of six episodes that tracks the evolution in the early 70’s of an era when production and staging exploded in the ‘rock and roll’ industry. Get your own Backstage Pass and go on the road to some of the biggest and most iconic ever musical events during that time. Hear how the industry grew from the Moody Blues touring with two small trucks in the UK carrying all their equipment accompanied by just a handful of ‘roadies’ to Abba, the Rolling Stones and many bands and artists having multiple articulated or semi trucks on the road. The growth was seismic - Abba’s fleet of trucks had ‘Abba bigger than Volvo’ emblazoned on the side - tours criss crossed continents, massive crews and endless road boxes and crates of gear and specialist equipment travelled by air as well as road and shows would take days to set up and take down. With your Backstage Pass you will hear from some of those that were there. Their stories, told with warmth, affection and humour will tell you how they made it happen...
episode 4: Remember, Remember
In this episode, Backstage Pass lifts the curtain on how those from a theatre background bought their experience and expertise into the world of rock and roll, how life on the road wasn’t all glamour and glitter but was hard and gruelling with some bands and artistes easier to work with than others and how some were just downright and unnecessarily aggressive, how the police suspected possible terrorist activity and questioned one crew member’s mother and how Frank Sinatra’s lighting control board exploding led to a car chase across London and the crew feeling that they narrowly avoided being cast in concrete boots by the superstar’s ‘henchmen’
Part of Pantheon Podcasts
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