Machiniste itinérant

The road crew (or roadies) are the support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This catch-all term covers many people: tour managers, production managers, stage managers, front of house and monitor engineers, lighting directors, lighting designers, lighting techs, guitar techs, bass techs, drum techs, keyboard techs, pyrotechnicians, security/bodyguards, truck drivers, merchandise crew, and caterers, among others. The road crew are generally uncredited, though many bands take care to thank their crew in album sleeve liner notes. In some cases, roadies have stepped in to help out with playing onstage. On June 12, 1993, while performing "Bullet in the Head" in Reykjavik, Iceland, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and bassist Tim Commerford switched out with their guitar and bass technicians, respectively. The Doobie Brothers' lighting roadie, Bobby LaKind, eventually became a full member of the band. After observing LaKind goofing around on the congas after a concert, the band took notice of his talent and asked him to join as a sideman for studio sessions in 1976. He became a full member in 1979 and performed as a vocalist, songwriter, percussionist and backup drummer for live shows. Pink Floyd listed theirs on the rear sleeve of Ummagumma and recorded them speaking on The Dark Side of the Moon. A roadie also delivered the spoken part of the studio version of the song "Sheep", on the Animals album. They had also written a song called "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" about a roadie, appearing on their 1970 album Atom Heart Mother. Bruce Berry was a professional roadie for the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, both as a group and individually. He died of a heroin overdose on June 4, 1973, and is immortalized in the lyrics of the title track of the album Tonight's the Night by Neil Young: Bruce Berry was a working man He used to load that Econoline van...