Being a Roadie of u2

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blasciego

The Fly
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
30
Hi there
I am looking for your opinión
I have 26 years old i live in south América.. Since i was 14 the dream of my life is be a part of the staff of u2. I never tried to make that dream come true. I have a good job a beautiful girlfriend but deeply in my soul im sad because that dream is still the dream of my life. So the Last year i was saving money for the next leg of the tour. My plan is to travel wherever they are leaving all... My job my family friend, etc to tell bono, Larry edge or Adam about this and that i want to be a Roadie of them or whatever they need.
What do you think about it? You think i have a chance to make that dream come true? I feel like is not ussual for them that a strange man ask them that he want to be part of the band. You think i am right? Or you think many people dream that???

I wait your answers :)
 
The last time a strange man asked to be part of the band, they found Neil McCormack at the bottom of Dublin harbour wearing cement shoes.
 
Their crew is mostly local people and their own Dublin core crew. So your dream will most likely stay a dream mate. You could always ask, there's no harm in that, just don't get your hopes up too much.
 
You'd need to establish yourself as a reliable and capable member of local crews for smaller bands before you even have a hope in hell of working for any major international band, let alone your dream band.

Plus, any band with sense would try to avoid their crew being fanboys.
 
It's a complete lifestyle. As Axver said, you'd need to become skilled and known in the business before getting into an already established (and aging) organization like U2.

You're better off with forgetting about U2, and making friends with some local and promising acts. Find the next U2!
 
Yea just repeating what's already been said... get involved with local clubs and bands, earn a reputation of being reliable and professional, and sloooooowly work your way up the ladder.

The odds of getting to a point in your career where a band the size of U2 would bring you on before they retire is pretty slim, but hey, if that's the life you want go at it now.

Honestly you're more likely to have a run in with bigger acts by staying local and growing in the community, hoping you catch on at a decent sized venue and hope for luck.

A friend of mine has been doing gigs for over 20 years... he's done pretty much every job you can do... be it a guitar/bass tech, straight roadie, lights and/or sound, minor video production, etc. etc. He's had amazing experiences, and now has a steady gig working for an 80s tribute band in NYC that regularly plays with famous 80s acts ( Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Rob Base, Sugar Hill Gang, etc etc). Had a chance to go on tour with a semi major metal band at one point, but they broke up right before the tour was scheduled to begin.

Anyhoo... 20 years in he got to do lights for half of U2 at the @u2 show. That's as close as he'll ever get, but alas, it's closer than 99.99999% of people will ever get.
 
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Quite simply...it's not possible. I don't know about South America but in most other countries it's actually quite easy to work on the local crew though. It was even more so pre-2008 before they singed with Live Nation. However, I think your dreams of personally working with them are not possible.

I was part of the local crew for the Adelaide Vertigo show back in November 2006. Fortunately a friend of mine knew the local guy that was in charge of hiring people for the set up and pull down. It was by no means glamorous. It was basically a whole bunch of Irish and American guys telling us to unload trucks and roll out the miles and miles of cables that are needed for each show. Even if you get on the local crew there is no chance of any interaction with the band or main crew. Funnily enough I have spoken to nearly all of the bands main roadies and stage managers in recent years as an attendee and at airports rather than back in 06 where I probably walked past Willie Williams when I rolled numerous cable cars to his lighting desk. This was before I was truly immersed in the world of U2 so I didn't really know of people like him, Rocco and Jake Berry. In fact after learning of these people years later I'm pretty sure it was in fact Jake Berry who was a complete a**hole to all of us local crew :lol:

On a side note, my mate also got me a job on Robbie Williams, Pearl Jam and believe it or not, The Wiggles, which all seemed to happen in the same month of November after the U2 show. A few months later in 2007 he called the guy to see if we could get a spot on the Guns N' Roses gig but it turned out Live Nation had acquired the business and there was no chance weaseling my way into gigs any more. My summer of love ended that day :sad:
 
Only "roadie" i can think of is Dallas Schoo, the guitar tech for the Edge since late 80s (Joshua Tree tour, I think). so I can only imagine roadie for U2 as pretty tough job as Dallas changes strings for 30-40 guitars Edge carries, maintains these guitars takes care of his massive effect rack/pedalboard. He also oversees Edge's guitar rig even if Edge's in studio. so.......sounds like u2 roadie should have tough job. I don't know too much about tech'ing for other guys, though.
 
Mack_Again said:
Only "roadie" i can think of is Dallas Schoo, the guitar tech for the Edge since late 80s (Joshua Tree tour, I think). so I can only imagine roadie for U2 as pretty tough job as Dallas changes strings for 30-40 guitars Edge carries, maintains these guitars takes care of his massive effect rack/pedalboard. He also oversees Edge's guitar rig even if Edge's in studio. so.......sounds like u2 roadie should have tough job. I don't know too much about tech'ing for other guys, though.
Click to expand...

Stuart Morgan has beeen Adam's bass tech since ZooTv (Before that tour Dallas did both guitars). Sam O'Sullivan has done Larry's drums for ages, though he's getting old so his son should have taken over by now (during 360 he was being taught the ropes). Dallas also has an assistant now, during the IE tour a young man brought guitars over to the B-stage.
 
If I could touch Edge guitars and take one home then I'll be fine.


Edge's rig is shrinking over the years (next leg/tour, i wont be surprised if he starts carrying 2 or 3 identical strats (his sig) and couple of others, really simplifying rig), so don't give up the hopes, yet
 
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blasciego said:
Hi there
I am looking for your opinión
I have 26 years old i live in south América.. Since i was 14 the dream of my life is be a part of the staff of u2. I never tried to make that dream come true. I have a good job a beautiful girlfriend but deeply in my soul im sad because that dream is still the dream of my life. So the Last year i was saving money for the next leg of the tour. My plan is to travel wherever they are leaving all... My job my family friend, etc to tell bono, Larry edge or Adam about this and that i want to be a Roadie of them or whatever they need.
What do you think about it? You think i have a chance to make that dream come true? I feel like is not ussual for them that a strange man ask them that he want to be part of the band. You think i am right? Or you think many people dream that???

I wait your answers :)
Click to expand...
Like The Edge I'm from the future. What I can tell you is that you will be very pleased in about 5 years and look back at this thread with great memories.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
blasciego said:
I have 26 years old i live in south América.. Since i was 14 the dream of my life is be a part of the staff of u2.
Click to expand...

So you've wanted to work for them from around the time How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb was released? DUDE. That album would've put me off U2 FOR LIFE :wink:
 
mikal said:
Like The Edge I'm from the future. What I can tell you is that you will be very pleased in about 5 years and look back at this thread with great memories.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

is sound of future rock n roll?
 
I want to be Bono's personal stylist. I'd get paid to say, "yep, same thing as yesterday"

And

"Yes I want 147 of those jackets, several sizes, 100 of those jackets, and 20 of those sunglasses."

*done for the day, go hang out by the hotel pool


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
BVS said:
I want to be Bono's personal stylist. I'd get paid to say, "yep, same thing as yesterday"

And

"Yes I want 147 of those jackets, several sizes, 100 of those jackets, and 20 of those sunglasses."

*done for the day, go hang out by the hotel pool


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
Click to expand...

Will you book 147 planes for those jackets?
 
What if Dallas has already booked the first class seats for Edge's beanies?
 
Edge is only ruining coastlines by building homes in Malibu to house his beanies.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
Mack_Again said:
Only "roadie" i can think of is Dallas Schoo, the guitar tech for the Edge since late 80s (Joshua Tree tour, I think). so I can only imagine roadie for U2 as pretty tough job as Dallas changes strings for 30-40 guitars Edge carries, maintains these guitars takes care of his massive effect rack/pedalboard. He also oversees Edge's guitar rig even if Edge's in studio. so.......sounds like u2 roadie should have tough job. I don't know too much about tech'ing for other guys, though.
Click to expand...

As mentioned, most working for them have for many years. Most to Irishlocals they've known and worked with for years. And in the case of Dallas, he came recommended by Daniel Lanois, as Edge's rig was getting more complex. I think it was apparent during the UF tour that it was a bit more than Steve Raines could handle. Hence when Lanois mentioned Dallas, Edge was keen to work with him.
 
Edge_Orchestra said:
As mentioned, most working for them have for many years. Most to Irishlocals they've known and worked with for years. And in the case of Dallas, he came recommended by Daniel Lanois, as Edge's rig was getting more complex. I think it was apparent during the UF tour that it was a bit more than Steve Raines could handle. Hence when Lanois mentioned Dallas, Edge was keen to work with him.
Click to expand...

Can you tell me exactly when Edge met Dallas?

Did they start working together immediately?

Thanks.
 
In fact Daniel Lanois recommended Dallas Schoo. Dallas flew to Dublin and had a job interview with the band. Dennis Sheehan called him the other day that he got the job and Dallas started working on the 2nd leg of the Joshua Tree tour.
 
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