WORKING EVENT SECURITY;
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE MEMORABLE Part II
On a different level, Kanye West performed his Saint Pablo Tour at Rogers Arena on October 17, 2016. I am not a Kanye fan, but I was looking forward to taking in the energy and excitement. However, as a concertgoer you expect to at least see the performer and get a sense of some personal connection. If there is no personal connection then the special effects ought to be next level. His show had neither connection nor stage effects due to his suspension on a small b stage riding high over the crowd. People on the floor, complained that they could not see him and wondered if they were seeing an impersonator. To make matters worse, as the concert ended, myself and other security were directed to use large ropes to push back the crowd as Kanye descended from his stage then fled out the Zamboni tunnel on a golf cart. Kanye’s lack of audience interaction caused many fans to grumble and complain especially the corral upon his exit.
Then there are the memorable moments for the wrong reasons by annoying fans that should know better but somehow feel entitled to tell others how to do their jobs. Three Dog Night played at the River Rock Casino July 23, 2007. The River Rock goes by the moniker, “Where the stars come out to play.” What you really get are falling stars doing the casino routine after their career has hit its twilight. Usually, the first questions are, ‘I did not know they were still around’ or ‘Are they still alive?’ However, Three Dog Night was a great group from the seventies with outstanding vocal harmonies and a string of hits. I grew up enjoying many of their songs, so I was delighted when I had the mixer board position. The mixer board is one of the best spots for security in the house, a perfect view of the band, good sound and little responsibility; just keep people out of the area. Everything was going great until one disgruntled, blue haired senior ambled over to me and demanded, “Can you tell them to turn it down, it’s too loud!” Sure, I will get right on that, I bet the sound engineers just cannot wait to take direction about that. The joke amongst staff at that venue was, “cotton heads’ for the senior attendees and ‘get out the oxygen equipment, grandpa’s going to rock’.
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While security can deal with fan issues as mentioned earlier, artist issues are another matter. On November 17 2006, Lisa Marie Presley played the Red Robison Theatre now the hard rock café. The show started out like a love affair between an audience reliving memories about her famous parents and which parent she more closely resembled. Lisa Maria played her first set, then sat down at the stage front and made a speech about, ‘rules being meant to be broken’ then invited all the ‘people at the back to come down to the stage front’. Of course, the back rows were thrilled, but now the people in the front rows were pissed off because some had spent $300 on tickets and now could not see. As the stage front security, the situation was out of my hands, all I could offer is that this is the artists request and they get what they want. Once an artist goes against protocol, security can only go along with the direction given. To make matters worse, Lisa Maria was supposed to do a meet and greet after the show and reneged. Again, security had to deal with an ugly situation with disappointed and upset fans,
Roger Waters brought his Us & Them tour to Rogers Arena on October 28 & 29 to Rogers Arena. The first time I worked his concert our supervisor issued the staff a warning that he was, ‘very political and against religion’, so be aware of any political content, banners, flags supporting any causes coming inside the building. The show had all the Pink Floyd classics from Dark Side of the Moon and all the special lighting effects that made for an amazing and unforgettable night. However, when he brought the, “This is Not a Drill Tour on September 15th 2022 the atmosphere was much different. Even though the stage was amazing and he played some good Pink Floyd sets, his solo work on the last half was overtly political, preachy, boring and depressing. I felt like I was attending a funeral dirge and did not even bother to stay on the floor, instead I returned to the gate for company that is more enjoyable.
A Black Sabbath concert is always an invitation to a wilder crowd. The End of the Road tour came to Rogers Arena on March 7, 2016. This time I had the suites roving duties consisting of walking in a circle outside the suites, checking in with the hosts and ensuring that alcohol does not go downstairs or outside. Suites roving is usually a quieter night with the festivities confined within private rooms. This night however, the Hell’s Angels had a suite and were in a partying mood helped along by copious among of alcohol and two private strippers. Reports came in about smoking, loud noise, property damage and one individual swinging from the ceiling lights. The concierges attempted to investigate but they had the door barricaded. The police forced their way in and made several arrests. My partners and I had the dubious honor of escorting the women out of the building by way of the elevator. They relished the attention, “All this security attention for just us.” The ride was somewhat uncomfortable when they made a point of flashing their skimpy outfits and handing out business cards.
On Similar, rowdy terms were the Dropkick Murphy’s backed up by Rancid brought their From Boston to Berkeley Tour to the Thunderbird Arena out at University of British Columbia on August 15, 2017. The Dropkick Murphy’s are an Irish drinking man’s party band with great upbeat Celtic music and fun lyrics. The Thunderbird Arena holds Five thousand people and is a typical hockey arena. Once again, I was on the floor for this show along a fence line designed to funnel crowd surfers out of the pit to the back of the arena floor. The concert had a hard rock party atmosphere led by Rancid with lots of crowd surfing and head banging. By the time the Dropkick Murphy’s began, playing the atmosphere was hectic. The arena had so many people jumping from the stands onto the floor that they looked like grasshoppers. Our security was so busy dealing with floor jumpers it was a steady stream of evictions. While a roving team dealt with one eviction, several others would get past them, we were completely overwhelmed. By the end of the show, the seats were almost empty and the floor was packed.
Another annoying fan moment was the Who at Rogers Arena on their 50th Anniversary concert in May of 2016. I was roving the upper bowl when I noticed a fan among the crowd facing away from the stage making funny hand gestures. I watched him for a few moments then caught on that he was next to the spotlight making shadow puppets onto the stage. The fellow looked to be in his mid-sixties and definitely an old rocker. Somewhat bemused I asked, “What do you think you’re doing? He offered a lame excuse, so I rejoined, I’m not here to babysit, so grow up or get out”. Many old rockers, forget they can’t party like they used to, they become entitled citing they, ‘spent a lot of money on tickets’, become intoxicated, then belligerent when told not to block the aisles or you can’t go outside for a quick smoke. The majority of smokers know the by-laws but feel the need to ask anyway. Then there are the, ‘really’, ‘seriously’ quizzical looks of others who truly think they can come and go as they please. As an aside, security prefer to deal with smokers over drinkers any day. Intoxicated guests make for the messiest evictions, they are loud, argumentative, aggressive, non-compliant, throw up, require medical assistance, police back-up, cab rides and an eviction report.
Sometimes, you never know with who or under what circumstances you will be dealing with at a concert. ZZ Top came to the Abbotsford Event Centre on April 7 2016, for their aptly named Hell Raisers Tour. This night I had a good position on the floor by the mixer, my duties to keep an eye on the sound engineers and the aisle host. The show started right on time and the band sounded great. The show had a general admission pit so the hosts checked patron’s tickets on their way to the floor. I noticed a fan push his way past the host and disappear into the crowd before I could intervene. I confirmed with the host about the issue and made a report to my supervisor. Near the show’s end, I noticed the same fellow and approached him, stated that I saw what happened and that he had breached the floor. He denied all knowledge and refused to show his ticket when asked. I then noted that the show was over and that it did not matter but at least apologize to the host. He continued to deny any responsibility and became very agitated at my proposal. Suddenly, his friends recognized me and started calling out my name. He looked at me and suddenly realized we had gone to High School together. I did not recognize him either until that moment as it had been over twenty years since we last saw each other. He put his head in his hands, apologized profusely and said how he felt so embarrassed. However, he was still the same way I remember him in High School with the same group of friends. Occasionally, I do see old friends but generally on much better terms.
