View from behind the out-front boys



Mark, Danny and Glenn during a particularly splendid rendition of 'Sonny Liston' at the last show in Barca.

After a much anticipated day off in Barcelona, particularly from the crew point of view. I'm happy to report that nearly everyone who was suffering with the dreaded bug is recovering, still not one hundred precent, but getting better. We arrived at the venue at around 4:00pm and are presently awaiting Robert to finish his line-check. Update...just off to stage now to do our sound-check.
One notable point about this venue Robert was telling me, is the decibel limit which is apparently very strictly enforced. Expect a relatively quiet show.



Today we focus on the boys who work out front, namely Simon Tutchener and Robert Collins.



This is Simon Tuchener the Lighting Director. Simon's job is (you've guessed it) to control all the lights on and above stage. He does this with an amazing little lighting desk called a Grand MA. It's pretty cutting edge in that it has the ability to deal with and translate information to the many different types of moving lights currently available worldwide. I think the real reason Simon likes it is because it has EIGHT screens and looks 'way' cool. The lights he uses for this show are Martin Mac 2000 moving lights in conjuction with many non-moving conventional lights. During the show, he also cues the four follow spot operators. As I mentioned earlier in the diary, these are operated by the drivers, namely the four truck drivers Alice, Steve, Mark, and Jason and the two bus drivers Mike and Fish. There's also Mike Humeniuk the crew cheif Mick, Ewan and Johnny 'hot-pants', the rigger, who is in charge of everything that hangs from tthe roof. He usually co-ordinates with four in-house riggers from the ground.



This is Robert Collins. Robert has been working with Mark and Dire Straits since the early days, infact he was the late, great Peter Grainger's assistant on the Brothers in Arms tour. What Robert doesn't know about out front sound is simply not worth knowing. The job he does in some of the halls/sheds/barns we play in is often beyond belief. I frequently have people e-mailing me to say they've never heard the sound so good in a particular venue. Like Simon, Robert is using cutting edge technology on the road. The mixing desk is an all digital 'Digico' made by Soundtracs.