Backstage Pass

Backstage Pass is a series of six episodes that tracks the evolution in the early 70’s of an era when production and staging exploded in the ‘rock and roll’ industry. Get your own Backstage Pass and go on the road to some of the biggest and most iconic ever musical events during that time. Hear how the industry grew from the Moody Blues touring with two small trucks in the UK carrying all their equipment accompanied by just a handful of ‘roadies’ to Abba, the Rolling Stones and many bands and artists having multiple articulated or semi trucks on the road. The growth was seismic – Abba’s fleet of trucks had ‘Abba bigger than Volvo’ emblazoned on the side – tours criss crossed continents, massive crews and endless road boxes and crates of gear and specialist equipment travelled by air as well as road and shows would take days to set up and take down. With your Backstage Pass you will hear from some of those that were there. Their stories, told with warmth, affection and humour will tell you how they made it happen. You will also hear how some of the crew(s), went from being the archetypal long haired hippies dressed in blue denim to carve out long careers for themselves to become internationally recognised and acclaimed industry leaders in the field of stage lighting and production. Whatever line they are now in, all are agreed that working with the lighting company was the ‘best apprenticeship ever’. They are waiting to share their stories so grab your Backstage Pass and join them. Backstage Pass is a podcast mini-series produced by Chris Smith and Christian Swain edited by Jerry Danielsen and is a joint production with Pantheon Podcasts, the home for music lovers.