When it comes to performing, perseverance is one thing, electrocution a whole ‘nother one.
The recent performance by Prince at the Super Bowl Halftime show raises some very serious questions regarding when an outdoor event has passed the point of “the show must go on” and reached the point of “someone could get hurt here.” We’ve all heard the adage, but at what — and more importantly, whose expense — must the show go on?
Several years ago I faced this question head-on in a serious situation. Still in my first month tour managing a national act (my first tour managing gig ever), I took the act to northern N.Y. for an outdoor show that was supposed to take place on a farm. The “promoter” had absolutely no business attempting to run a show in what essentially was his backyard. Despite his best intentions he was ill prepared for the event. Earlier in the week he had constructed the stage from two-bys and plywood. He actually made a pretty nice job of it, but there was no roof over the stage. That’s a big no-no in my book because the slightest amount of rain means a strong likelihood of ending the show prematurely. There is simply no way I am sending an act up to perform on a wet, uncovered stage because if someone gets hurt (i.e., electrocuted) I am responsible.
Of course, I explained this to the promoter. His diligence was pretty impressive, and he agreed with my concerns. By the time we arrived on site earlier that afternoon, he was already tying a tarp over the wood frame to cover the performance area, but the wind was blowing, the deck was getting wet and my crew (understandably) did not want to take the backline gear out of its cases. The rain continued all day relentlessly. At one point, when I took a look at the front of house gear, I observed some pretty suspicious activity. While attempting to write programs into a Yamaha SPX990, the unit was changing programs by itself and somehow would not take my commands. After battling with this for about 10 minutes I noticed that the voltage indicator on a Furman power strip in the rack was showing power in the vicinity of 90 volts. This was my second indication that something was seriously wrong here. The P.A. was off, and we all know that when you fire that first kick drum hit through the system, the voltage is going to drop further. I had visions of a P.A. blowing up. When I learned that the electricity for the P.A. was coming from some sort of a roadside transformer, I truly experienced fear. That fear increased when (as the rain continued) I realized that I’d be standing in a big pool of water with my hands on the mixing desk during the show. Not where I want to be, ever.
Eventually, I told the promoter that I felt conditions were unsafe for putting my guys onstage (this was not too long after the tragedy in Providence, Rhode Island), and I would not allow them to perform. I wasn’t taking any chances. Thankfully, he agreed, but some of his co-workers weren’t getting the picture. It could have become ugly. Yeah, the show must go on — but not at the expense of someone getting hurt. So far this has been the only critical situation — critical due to inadequate staging and improper electrical considerations (oddly enough, we ran into another promoter who was praying for rain so he could cancel a show, but that’s another bedtime story…)
There are situations where a show can continue if there is rain, and general guidelines include a covered stage, no water actually reaching the performers and proper grounding of the electrical service. Rain or not, lightning is the deal breaker and everyone goes home.
As I watched Prince perform at the Super Bowl, I was comforted somewhat by the fact that he was using a wireless microphone. The lack of a hard wire at least meant there is no firm connection between performer and earth. I didn’t notice if his guitar was wired or wireless, and I have no idea what kind of shoes he was wearing — all of which affect potential for harm. Of course, at a venue like the Super Bowl there’s nothing left to chance — you can be sure that the head electrician at the site had proper grounding in place.
Still, it reminded me of my days working in clubs in NYC. We all know that club owners hate to spend money, so there is no reasonable expectation that the electrical service in such venues is wired correctly. Electrical outlets on stage are fed from a mishmash of circuits, and we’ve all dealt with stages where lights and sound shared AC service. Knowing this, I would often place a multimeter between a performer’s mic and the bridge of their guitar or bass to check for potential (i.e. voltage) across the two devices. On the vast majority of guitars, the bridge is grounded so it serves as a good reference point. If there was danger of a shock, it was usually easy enough to solve: either make one of those connections wireless or change the AC outlet used to power the guitar (or bass) amp. Note I did not say, “Lift the ground on the guitar amplifier.” This is not an acceptable solution, especially in uncontrolled circumstances. It always upsets me when I see one of those gray ground lifts on a guitar amp. You have to remember that the ground pin is a safety device, designed to provide an easy path for electricity that’s gone “astray.” Like if there’s voltage on the chassis, it’d be better if it was routed to earth via the ground pin where it can trip a circuit breaker and alert someone to the fact that there’s a problem — as opposed to that electricity trying to reach ground through a performer’s body.
Yeah, the show must go on — but only if it’s safe for everyone involved.
Steve La Cerra is the tour manager and front of house engineer for Blue Oyster Cult. He can be reached via e-mail at Woody@fohonline.com.
