Held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with several segments over at the Orleans Arena, Las Vegas was again overrun by the most loyal fans in music.  People were hanging out everywhere to catch a glimpse and possibly an autograph of their favorite stars.  As in years past, we got to hang out behind the scenes and check in with all of the engineers and A2′s who work so hard to make this show happen.  By we, I mean one of my Shure Associates, Jenn Liang-Chaboud and myself.  Jenn works for Market Development and has done a fabulous job at maintaining many key relationships on the West Coast and in Vegas.

We arrived on Wednesday and made a few visits to some local shows, namely Blue Man Group and the Shania Twain show.   The folks at Blue Man gave us a quick behind the scenes tour, which was amazing.  So much creativity and design goes into the many “out of the box” ideas that they create.

Thursday, April 4 was the first rehearsal day for the awards show.  If you caught the show, you saw the amazing performance by Shure Artist Little Big Town of their new single “Your Side of the Bed.”  Today, they just planned to rehearse the acrobats. The group showed up to watch and ended up singing along with the track.  Karen said to the crew “Please forgive our vocals on this as we have no ear systems.”  They were RIGHT ON PITCH!  Such talent!

Next up was Shure Artist Hunter Hayes rehearsing his new single “I Want Crazy.”  For those of you who don’t know Hunter, he learned and played over 30 instruments on his current album as its sole performer.  Quite a feet and he played them well!  This segment would segue into his introduction of the legendary Stevie Wonder, who would join Hunter and band on stage for “Sir Duke.”  Hunter and Stevie had met previously and discussed performing together one day.  That day would be April 7, 2013.  Hunter uses a UR2/SM58 on tour and that’s what he and Stevie used on the show.

The day closed with the legendary George Strait who, for this performance, also used a UR2/SM58.  He would later be joined by Garth Brooks on stage, who used the same, for a tribute to Dick Clark.

Friday Morning, we headed to the Orleans Arena to visit with Shure Artist Brad Paisley and crew. Brad would be hosting the Fan Jam concert on Sunday after the awards show.  In addition, Brad performed several slots on the show, including with Hunter and Shure Artist Dierks Bentley. Brad and Dierks both sang on a UR2/beta 58.    After that, we headed back to MGM to catch Kelly Clarkson’s rehearsal of her new single “Baby Don’t Rush” – such a great song!

Following Kelly’s rehearsal, co-hosts Blake Shelton and Shure Artist Luke Bryan were joined on stage by the Pistol Annie’s and Shure Artist Sheryl Crow for the show’s opening number called “Boys Round Here.”  Both Luke and Sheryl were on UR2/SM58′s.

Saturday’s rehearsal featured a number of Shure Artists including Dierks Bentley (UR2/SM58), Little Big Town (UR2/KSM9HS), Florida Georgia Line (UR2/SM58), The Band Perry (UR2/KSM9HS and UR2/SM58) and then Hunter Hayes w/Stevie Wonder.

All Artists on the show used the PSM1000 system for ear monitors, which were provided by ATK Audiotek in addition to the UHF-R systems.

Shure Artists that took home awards that night included: Luke Bryan – Entertainer of the Year, Little Big Town – Vocal Group of the Year, and Florida Georgia Line – New Artist of the Year.

This was a fabulous trip and it is always a pleasure to be able to maintain these great relationships and show our support at these events.

Ryan

PSM1000'S

Luke Bryan & DR. Pepper

SM57's on Brad Paisley's cabinets

UHF-R at Orleans Arena

PSM1000 packs

ACMA's from Front of House

Jeff Peterson (FOH), Ryan Smith, and Steve Anderson (Announce Mix)

Brad Paisley at Orleans Arena

Luke Bryan's Kit

There are so many stories of things that happen on tour buses that would make a great book if anyone chose to cover it.  For this blog, I was able to tap into a good friend who I’ve known for over 15 years.   Mark Harmon (not the actor) is currently on the road with Country artist/singer/songwriter Jerrod Niemann as his Production Manager and Front of House engineer.  In the past, Mark has toured with Hal Ketchum, Delbert McClinton, Joe Nichols, Trace Adkins, Sara Evans, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, and Blake Shelton. Mark has spent a good part of his life on tour buses.

I wanted to get a picture of what happens from the moment of bus call to the time when they might arrive at their destination as well as some things that can happen after the gig.

Depending on the length of the drive to their destination, bus call is usually at midnight.  If there’s a 14 hour drive ahead, call time would be 6 pm.  When they get on the bus, some of the group will go to sleep right away and some will stay up.  Playing video games, watching TV or videos, and gear “geek” talk are some of the activities they do while on the road initially.    Once they arrive in the morning at their destination, they will grab breakfast and get the day going.

Sometimes, the artist will spend time songwriting on the bus, occasionally with another songwriter.  They will lock themselves in the back lounge and hammer out ideas.  Management may tag along on any particular weekend just to keep tabs on how everything is going.

“Every day is interesting because you get to see the country.  You get to see other cities, other people, and other lifestyles. Pranks – big time pranks. We’ve had moth balls (on the bus), we’ve had over 4,000 ping pong balls on our bus at the end of a tour.  We’ve had our bus filled with packing peanuts before. We’ve had water balloon fights and played soccer on the bus. One time, we had up to 30 people on the bus. We tried Wii bowling that night.  People had to stand on the couches, tables and chairs to get out of the way of the bowlers.  Pretty funny.”

Some famous actors Mark has met on the bus included, Robert De Niro, Andy Griffith, and Clint Eastwood. He’s also met some Indian chiefs while traveling.

“It’s fun” Mark comments. “I do like it or I wouldn’t be there. If it wasn’t fun, nobody would be there.  The comradery of being able to put a show together with different people and to pull the show off, walk away going “That was a great show,” I guess it’s a fix. It gets agonizing leaving the family, especially with kids when they are younger.  When they get into their teens, it’s almost like they want to throw you out (on the road). “

Dangerous situations:

“We once had a barn owl smash through the front window of the bus.  We were once in Calgary coming down out of the mountains and the bus was sliding sideways on black ice. The bus trailer was once hit by a semi truck, while we were sleeping, and it pushed the trailer into the engine compartment.  It rocked the bus from side to side off its wheels. Once we were in Ohio and a tornado picked up the stage, moved it 10 feet and pushed against the side of the bus, lifting it off its wheels.  Scary.”

It does take a special person to load up every week and leave their home to go on the road.  Most Country tours are great in that they head out mid-week and come back home on a Sunday or Monday to their families.

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I would love for more people to chime in and share some bus stories from the road. What pranks do you play (or have been played on you), songwriting experiences, and movies you like to watch during your trips? Please keep it clean and thanks for sharing!

Ryan