Recently I was acquired by a company based out of Omaha, Nebraska named Theatrical Media Services (TMS) to LD the comedy tent for Bonnaroo 2008. If you don’t know what Bonnaroo is then look it up. In brief, Bonnaroo is music festival that has been annually held in Manchester, Tennessee over the years. When it started it would bring bands in that were notably out of the jam band scene with an attendance of 60,000 people. Now it has evolved into a mainstream festival bringing acts like Pearl Jam, Metallica, and The Police with a force of 90,000 fans in attendance along with the jam bands still rocking out.
The festival has a bunch of stages and tents. There is one main stage, a side stage and several tents. One of those tents I was in charge of operating was “The Bonnaroo Comedy Theater.” The comedy tent is relatively new to the Bonnaroo festival and has been run in a smaller setting traditionally. That was not the case this year. Bonnaroo and TMS put great effort into the tent by making it a “circus tent” theme with a bunch of room with seating! Every stage and tent at this festival requires you to stand to see your favorite acts (like any other festival). Whereas the comedy tent will allow enough fans to come in until it is filled to capacity. If you miss the act or the tent got full before you could get in, never fear because the routine is performed again a couple hours later. So once you get in, just find your seat strap yourself in and prepare to laugh your tail off. It was impossible not to this year considering the lineup:
Janeane Garofalo
Mike Birbiglia
Leo Allen
Zach Galifianakis
Reggie Watts
John Mulaney
Louis C.K.
Joe DeRosa
Jim Norton
Brian Posehn
Michelle Buteau
“Funny or Die” was also featured… http://www.funnyordie.com (hilarious, must see)
CREW
Lighting Company: Theatrical Media Services
Lighting Director: Tony Caporale
Crew Chief: Pat Haines
Lighting Techs: John Hansen, Mike McKelroy, George Bush
Video Company: 44 Pictures
Production Manager: Hadden Hippsley
Stage Manager: Rocky Benloulou
Set Decor: Jackie Barsotti
GEAR
Lighting Console: Flying Pig Systems Roadhog
8 Bars of 6 Source 4 575
10 High End Studio Spots 575
4 Half ton motors chainmasters
2 Genie Lifts
2 5K fresnels
4 2K fresnels
Another added treat was getting to go run lights for my guys from New Orleans on two occasions. A last minute addition to the Bonnaroo tents was the “Somethin’ Else- New Orleans” tent. This was a tent with a set built inside of it that replicates what a bar would look like in the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans. TMS’ design nailed it. I would literally have people saying, “It feels like New Orleans in here!” So Porter Batiste Stoltz was scheduled to perform the first late night set in this tent/bar. Right after my last comedy gig for the evening I went on over to the New Orleans tent to rock out a late night set for my guys, and again the following night that featured George Porter Jr. in an all-star jam with Henry Butler, Tim Green, Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington, Anders Osborne, and Johnny Vidacovich. Good Times…. GOOD TIMES!
The experience for this festival was awesome. It was extremely hectic, but it is one of the biggest summer festivals in the U.S. So if you aren’t expecting to run into some craziness over the course of a week you’re in the wrong business. I have done festivals before but nothing with this kind of magnitude in such a short time span of getting hired. I walked in, did my thing and made a great success out of it. Much of that success came from having great crew guys from TMS. They were all knowledgeable and helpful with any questions I had for them. Definitely looking forward to working with this company again sometime down the line. Thanks for reading. ~Tony
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Portfolio Slideshow:
http://www.rockyou.com/show_my_gallery.php?source=ppsl&instanceid=63793856
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