While we’re travelling from Paris to Oslo, would you like to meet a couple of the AC/DC crew?

Well, here are Adam and Steve. Adam loads my truck at night; Steve is lighting director for the support band, and probably does other stuff, too. He’s Australian so there’s a slight language barrier. Adam, on the other hand, is American and so almost all of what he says is unintelligible.

Unfortunately, someone has allowed Adam a radio on tour, and now he habitually says ‘Copy that‘ in ordinary speech. At 1.30am, I ask him to send 2-ton motors into the rear of the trailer, followed by feeder caddies with “distros”  – tipped wheels to the side – on top. ‘Copy that,’ he says, less than ten metres from me.

You Rock, We Roll

You didn’t understand a word of that, did you? I suppose I should explain a bit of “load speak”, then. On a rock and roll tour, pretty much all boxes are on wheels – we call them “road cases” or “flight cases” – but they ride more securely if they are “tipped” up off their wheels. It saves strapping them in – well, mostly. Ah, but how to tip them?

Well, it’s really like playing with building blocks – sometimes they fit better “wheels to the back” (a straight tip); sometimes to the side (tip and turn), and sometimes “wheels to the roof” (a complete flip).

Another American on the tour is Cool Hand Luke. We worked together a lot on the indoor AC/DC tour leg, but now we just club together to tease Adam. You see, Adam walks around with a pulsating wand at night, as though directing aircraft, in an attempt to catch forklift drivers’ attention. This sort of behaviour can’t be allowed to go unchallenged.

Americans, eh?

Luke could only be from one country – he wears white socks and shorts that cover seven-eighths of his leg – but we share a sense of humour. He also totes a radio, and says things such as ‘What’s your twenty?‘ Now how on earth is that quicker than saying ‘Where are you?’

Oh, by the way, do you like my tea coasters from Paris? Roger that, over. Copy that. Out..