Did you know? The Rolling Stones did Glastonbury with a cut touring crew of 150.
That’s one of the few things our music students learned from Steve Cheney, a tour and production manager, and a tour accountant with 30 years of experience in the music industry.
He has spent many years working as the production contact for promotion companies such as Asgard, 3A Entertainments and Kilimanjaro. He has also done stage management for the main stages at Glastonbury, Latitude, Big Chill and Reading and Leeds Festivals.
We put together a list of tips Steve gave to our music students.
• What do you have to be to work with Duran Duran (and other major acts)? Be good, nice and always on time.
• Stage Managers at festivals need to ensure the everything runs on time at whatever the cost. Otherwise, the cost will be rather colossal: overrunning the curfew charges the promoter £1000 a minute.
• Be lucky and get lucky. Some of it does come down to being at the right place at the write time.
• Never be afraid to ask questions. People like to see you’re interested and keen to learn.
• No matter how badly it’s going wrong, there are only 24 hours in a day and it’s going to end at some point.
• We’re not saving babies in the music industry, so you have to keep a straight perspective. It’s important but it’s more important to stay calm and not overthink something.
Find three more tips: Solent Music: An afternoon with tour manager Steve Cheney | Southampton Solent University | Blog