Channel AKA’s Christmas Party - Backstage Chaos
My “official” role for the day at Channel AKA’s Christmas Party was to shadow anyone doing some interviews at the event primarily in the VIP area, but also by the side of the stage.
At first there was not much for me to do as each artist went on stage at the Indigo 02 and began their sound checks, so I actually did some artist liaison. So I got a clipboard and a pen and was assigned the job of ticking off the artists names as they arrived, and sent them to the production room to pick up their wristbands, not that stressful. But then artists began to disappear, take too long for their sound checks, and not arrive in general.
Here’s where the crazy began.
I had to run back and forth from the backstage entrance to the production room to find out if missing artists were going to arrive. Then go to the side of the stage and inform Kacey, the stage manager, that we needed to somehow find more time for more artists to do their sound checks.
And now the real chaos is unleashed.
The sound checks literally ended 2 minutes before the doors opened! There was a huge confusion outside the venue so that people started queueing in the wrong lines, and people that were supposed to be on the guest list weren’t, and those on the VIP list were on the guest list. Basically only a hand full of people were in the venue, but the first act was threatening to not perform if they went on stage any later.
So the running order had to be constantly changed and I had to inform everyone of the changes, consequently we were running more than a little late. And to add to tension the crowd was not the most enthusiastic in the world.
I literally spent the whole night running from the backstage area, from the dressing rooms to the production room then to the side of the stage and even helping out upstairs, helping organise the VIP list.
I am definitely disappointed that I didn’t get any opportunity, or time to shadow interviews of the artists. But in general the event was a success but certain things e.g. the issue with the guest and VIP lists, running out of wrist bands could have been avoided if everything had been a little less disorganised. It was a chaotic day, but definitely a fun and interesting experience.
