The countdown is on and everything appears to be on schedule as massive steel structures begin to take shape at the Magnetic Hill Concert Site.
“We’re just a few days away and everything is ahead of schedule. We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” City of Moncton spokeswoman Jillian Somers said yesterday at the concert site as a crew of about 30 workers continued the process of piecing together two gigantic sets of steel scaffolding that will form the VIP bleachers in front of the main concert stage. More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for the Aug. 2 concert featuring the Sam Roberts Band, K.T. Tunstall, John Fogerty and the Eagles. The concert site — which has in recent years been host to the Rolling Stones, Brooks & Dunn and country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill — has seen many improvements already this year.
Permanent buildings for production offices and washrooms are now in place. Another building to be used as the front gate ticket office will be moved into place today. Another new addition is a special platform reserved for people in wheelchairs.
For Pascal Dubé of Stagecrew Inc. in Shediac, it’s shaping up to be one of the busiest weeks of his career. His company is responsible for setting up the bleachers, stage, lights and sound system for the Magnetic Hill Music Festival.
And to make matters busier, he’s also responsible for setting up the Moncton Coliseum for Friday night’s concert by the Backstreet Boys. “We’ve got about 32 on site today, but tomorrow we’ll have close to 90,” Dubé said yesterday.
Work on the bleachers began over the weekend but will shift into high gear today as construction of the stage itself begins. Yesterday afternoon, the large steel structures were still on flatbed trucks in the parking area. The staging will form the basis for what is expected to be a stage nearly as large as the one used by the Rolling Stones when they performed here in 2005.
Over the next few days, the riggers will be working on a tight schedule to finish the bleachers and then move on to the stage, sound towers in the mid-field and the “front-of-show” area that includes the sound and light controls.
Dubé said the pace will continue to escalate into Friday evening when the final pieces of the puzzle — the lights and sound gear — are moved into place. Thursday and Friday are expected to be hectic as some of the crew members are moved over to the Coliseum to set up everything for the Backstreet Boys.
Overall, the job will require more than 200 workers.
Dubé said the setup and teardown crew for the Backstreet Boys will include 42 stagehands, 12 riggers, 12 labourers and one runner.
The Eagles show at Magnetic Hill Concert Site will be much bigger.
For that show, he will need 36 riggers, eight forklift operators, 174 labourers, seven crew chiefs and one runner.
And unlike most jobs, theirs just gets busier after the show. All the workers will be called back after the audience is gone to begin the process of taking everything apart, regardless of the weather.
“When we did the Brooks & Dunn show two years ago it was horrible in the rain,” he said, recalling the thunder, lightning and torrential downpour that came at the end of the 2006 country music show. The setup and teardown work has to stop if there is a lightning storm, but the workers will continue through rainy, windy weather. Riggers wear special safety straps while working above ground but it is still a difficult job in poor weather.
Dubé said most of the people hired for the job are local, but he had to call in specialists from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. to get the job done.
“The riggers are the real backbone of this operation,” he said.
The riggers could be seen climbing the huge spider web of steel girders as other workers on the ground used huge Caterpillar four-wheel-drive forklifts to move boxes and lift materials. Some of the workers are actually camping on site.
Meanwhile, preparations are also underway for the many food and beverage vendors on the concert site. The food service is being managed by the Delta Beauséjour, but Somers said there will be all manner of foods from burgers and fries to wraps and vegetarian meals available. The concert site itself will be divided into two sections — the all-ages section and the 19- and-over licensed section. Food service will be available in both areas.
Although one large tent was set up in the beer garden area, the food vendors won’t likely start setting up until Friday morning.
One of the tricks for the sound crews will be to synchronize the sound system on stage with the towers in the field to avoid the echo effect. The sound will actually be delayed at the towers so a pluck of a guitar string will be heard at the same time from all speakers.
And while there are permanent washrooms now in place at the concert site, they are for the backstage crews and band members only. Everyone else at the concert will have to rely on the big plastic porta-potties that are now in place. The green grass of the concert site hill is also dotted with blue and white trash cans. This year, the plastic cans will be used for separating trash into blue and green bags in accordance with Metro Moncton’s wet and dry program.
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