I thought I’d write a little filler for the travel day to Naas, Ireland. And today’s theme, I’ve decided, is bicycles.
Almost without exception, now, every driver on this AC/DC Tour has one; bicycles are pretty much essential on stadium tours – for whizzing over to Catering from our designated parking area, or for peddling to the nearest newsagent to purchase Namibian’s cigarettes. That sort of thing..
More importantly, how do you think twenty-nine truck drivers know in which order the trucks are needed after the show? Without some sort of organisation, it would be chaos – a Wacky races, if you like. ‘Load me.’ ‘No, load me first,’ we would all cry, regardless of what is actually down from the stage and ready for packing in trucks. A gridlock would ensue, chauffeurs turning puce with rage. Enter, then, the radio and…the bicycle.
Instructions are given, from the stage via radio, to bring in, say the “Backline” and “Sound 1” trucks. The “lead” driver relays this to his deputy – “Number Two” – and the loading process begins in an incredibly slick fashion. Well, slickish – there is a driver or two on this tour that can’t reverse a lorry for toffee.
Anyway, one of the radio holders may have a few hundred yards to cover to relay a message to the relevant driver. And it needs to be done quickly; another driver might be cocking up a reversing manoeuvre somewhere else and be in need of supervising. Walking takes too long. So there you have it: the bicycle is a vital component of stadium touring..