Concert Lighting, 4th Edition

2EARLY LIGHTING PIONEERS AND COMPANIES

Touring in the 1970s was like being in the Wild West without guns. There were a small number of equipment providers and regional promoters and everybody knew who the players were. The big corporations hadn’t caught on yet as to how lucrative the touring business was becoming. “Roadies” (even though we may not like the term, it stuck) didn’t think about savings accounts or health insurance and 401Ks didn’t exist. There weren’t any cell phones, computers, or cable TV either. If you needed to make a call you went to a phone booth. We moved around the country in our very insular world traveling together in commercial planes, rental cars, mobile homes, and buses. Roaming free, we had pockets full of cash and ...