Questions
Everything people ring to ask, answered at the length the answer actually needs.
Asked often
Six things people ring to ask
How far ahead should we book you?
Six weeks for a festival, two for a corporate show, and we keep one rig free every weekend for the call that comes in on Thursday. December is gone by September — that is not a sales line, it is just what the diary does.
Do you work outside Accra?
Anywhere in Ghana, and we have taken the small rig to Lomé and Abidjan. Beyond about three hours from Dzorwulu we build a night of travel into the schedule rather than asking a crew to drive at four in the morning and then rig.
What happens when the power goes?
Nothing, because we never take the grid as the plan. Every outdoor show gets a generator sized for the whole load and a second one on automatic changeover for the console, the comms and the emergency lighting.
Can you meet an artist's rider?
Send it. We will come back within a day with a line-by-line answer: what we hold, what we hire in, and where we would suggest a substitution and why. We would rather argue about a wedge in week one than at line check.
Do you supply crew as well as kit?
Both, and we would rather not split them. Everything on the truck arrives with somebody who has driven it before. If you already have a stage manager we will work to them and put our own on comms beside them.
What is actually in the quote?
Kit, crew, transport, generator fuel and the strike. Not in it: the venue, the artists, catering and anything you add after we have loaded. If the number changes you will hear it from us before it reaches an invoice.
On the night
Five asked at two in the morning
The questions above get asked before a booking. These get asked during one, usually on comms, usually in the rain.
It is raining. Are we cancelling?
Not because of rain. We rig to be wet — covers on the desks, IP-rated fixtures outside, and a roof that was specified for water long before it was specified for a banner. What stops a show is wind, and we will have told you the number at the site survey.
The headliner is two hours late.
Then the curfew moves and something else has to give, and that is a decision for you rather than for us. We will tell you exactly what we can hold and what it costs, in the moment, on comms — not afterwards in an email.
What do you need to hold a date?
Half, and a signed schedule. The balance is due on the day of the show rather than thirty days later, which is unusual and is the reason our rates are what they are.
Our show is tiny. Are we wasting your time?
No. Half our diary is rooms of two hundred people, and the small ones are where the next festival director is standing. Ring the office and ask for the club-night rate.
We already own some kit. Can you work around it?
Usually. Send a list and we will tell you honestly what we would keep and what we would rather bring, with the reason for each. We are not precious about it — we just will not sign off on something we cannot support.
Still asking?
The office answers between eight and six, and somebody answers the mobile at every other hour of the week. Both numbers reach a person who has rigged a show.
Next show
Tell us the date and we will tell you what it takes
A quote inside two working days, with the kit list, the crew call and the number that will appear on the invoice.
