Technical support staff or 'roadies' help to stage live events. These can include large pop concerts or tours. These events require the technical support worker to have an attention to detail and strong co-ordination skills.
Technical support staff may be either:
- Local crew who are registered with an agency. They carry out work at venues in their local area, often on a casual basis
- Touring crew who generally have a fixed job. They work for a band or company that rent equipment for the tour.
The work varies depending on the size of the tour. Some groups may only employ one roadie to do a range of duties.Meanwhile, large productions need hundreds of workers. This includes specialist riggers, scaffolders and electricians to work with sophisticated and complex technical equipment.
Roadies may need to operate fork-lift trucks and cherry pickers - hydraulic lifting mechanisms for installing lights on mobile towers and scaffolding. Health and safety is very important when constructing a set and roadies must work to strict rules and regulations.
