I started out in theatre and have moved in to Rock and Roll so find myself as an interpreter between the two ways of working!! I live on a tour bus for a lot of the time so feel I can put that side across. Im taking the scale of show that could turn up in your ATG venue as well as concert halls Etc. Some named artists and some large scale tributes. A typical day..... 10AM load in. 8PM show, 1 Artic. Set alarm for 9.30 Get up, Dressed and head into the venue to use the loo, Brush teeth etc. 10AM Open truck, tip LX. Then rig All overhead LX. 11.30AM go for breakfast whilst the rest of the crew tip PA and Backline. 12.15PM return to put floor package out (theatre crew will have had there tea break) 1PM focus generics with the venue lx. Then sit at the desk and do positions etc. 2.30PM done. Go for lunch/ sight seeing. Back at the venue for 7.30 4PM sound check for half an hour ( LX dont need to be there) 7.30 doors 8PM gig. 10.30PM load out 12AM Shower in the venue. 12.30AM back on the tour bus. So with this lifestyle you get 5 hours off in the afternoon that you can fit a really good nap into! A lot of crew will pop off after soundcheck for a hours nap. You also finish work and are insanely "home" there is no travelling to and from work. When I worked in theatre as casual crew I was an hours drive away. There are 9 clear hours from getting back on the bus to my alarm going off. Plenty of time to have a couple of beers and a good nights sleep. And as for 6 day weeks, Ive never done a tour that has 6 in a row. 5 is the most I've done and that was a stretch! Its normally 3 on then day off. Sometimes 4 sometimes 2. This tour I've just done went gig- day off- gig - day off - gig gig - day off 2 gigs in the same venue- day off then 4 in a row. So I understand that there are tours out there that have 2 guys in a van doing way to much driving and I do think that needs sorting but as soon as proper tour busses are involved with beds in then Im always happy with the amount of sleep I can get. As a contrast when I was a casual I would do 10 till finish ( for the schedule above) but have to leave my house at 8.30 to drive to the venue. Then do there load in. Hang about all afternoon with nothing to do, Then load out. Finish at 12.30am Drive home, so in bed for 2AM, then I might have a different job at a different venue at 9am the next day. There is nothing to stop that and in the low paid theatre casual world then the not saying no thing applies as well! You have no way of knowing what your theatre crew do in there spare time! Another strange one, and I've been meaning to pop on here and get peoples thoughts for a while, is the number of crew we get which is massively inconsistent and plays a big part in how people see Rock and Roll. ( should be a new thread??) If our rider says 4 crew what we get varies between theatre and Gig venues. Theatre we will get 4 crew, One will be LX one sound, A Flyman and a casual who will end up loading. So when I fly stuff I loose 2 people up stairs and the other 2 help rig lights. On the load out when everyone is working at the same time I still loose 2 people, but Backline need some one on the truck and PA need help and the multicores need doing so its never enough. In a gig venue or concert hall (apart from Nottingham) you get 4 Crew from a crew company who are there to tip the truck and generally do stuff. you then get an LX guy to sort power and stuff and a stage manager who will fly in truss etc (and no flyman needed) and maybe even a PA guy. So we have almost double the crew but the rider has been interpreted differently. As a theatre person I understand why there is a flyman and a loader but the rock and roll PA guy dosent and is getting grumpy that there is no one to help him! and then the theatre crew feel like they are being pulled in 3 different directions. I have just about got through to the promotor that if we are in a Counterweight theatre then we need to ask for 6 crew. but if you just change the rider to 6 then we will have way to many people in concert halls! It all gets very confusing and rock and roll think theatre is slow and theatre think rock and roll is all shouty! What would your venue supply if the rider said 4 local crew? Long post.... Ive not been on here for a couple of years!! Pete