Abbey Wright
Photo Credit: Shawn Whitton
Lighting Tech, Upstaging Inc.
Recent Tour - Pearl Jam
CHANGEOVER: Tell us a little about what you do, where you're from and a bit of your history in this industry.
Abbey Wright: I am a touring lighting technician for a company called Upstaging and I’m based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I started out at a venue that’s no longer open but it was called Uptown in Minneapolis. I started learning how to do sound there. Then I moved onto an internship at another club downtown, that’s also no longer there, where I learned the ins and outs of how to patch a stage, how to run sound, and got the basics of the show atmosphere of being on stage. Then I got onto a local labor crew where I was building scaffolding structures, steel structures, roof systems, stages, and got a lot of training in rigging. From there I got hired into a production company called Slamhammer. I worked as a shop hand for a couple of years and then moved into a lead position. That's when I got into lighting. I sort of just fell into lights and became an L2 [lighting technician] for that company. Two years later I was picked up by Upstaging and I've been touring ever since.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans in the industry?
We actually started the Pearl Jam tour. Lighting made it out and loaded in. Audio and the band never made it. It was just lighting doing programming basically for rehearsal time. Then we all had to go home. I love what I do and I think bringing music to people is bringing happiness around the world, which we so desperately need.
I don't get to go back to work until it's safe to bring people together again. We see some of these different possibilities for shows, like the drive-in concerts, which is an avenue to see concerts like we're used to but we're not going to have that lifestyle back. I sort of feel like a caged bird right now, honestly. You take a roadie off the road and you're just like, now what? What do you mean I have a summer off? What?
It’s been interesting. I feel like a lot of roadies, including myself, are doing a little bit of soul searching because we really didn't have a choice in the matter. We'll be the last ones to return to our normal lifestyle, if that even happens. We just don't have enough knowledge about the virus.
Photo Credit: Jesse Thayer
What have you been doing in the meantime now that the entire industry is basically on pause?
I spent the first two and a half months in my room in Minneapolis. It was starting to crush my mental health. I really felt like I was a bit of a bird in a cage. Without having the proper avenues, and with everything being up in the air as to what was really going on, everything was just so intense the first couple of months.
I'm a professional traveler so I got on an airplane and went out to Reno for about seven weeks. I got out into nature and did some camping with my best friends. Obviously I stayed out of high volume areas but felt if I can be responsible then I could keep moving around and stay somewhat attached to the lifestyle I'm used to.
Photo Credit: Sid Pryce
What do you feel the future of the industry might be?
That's really hard to say at this moment. I feel like we're really not going to get anywhere without a vaccine. When that happens, none of us are really sure what the outcome of that vaccine will be. I think, for now, the music that we're used to seeing in public is probably going to be seen online. There's going to be a lot of online shows. I don't really know where that leaves stagehands, or technicians, because everything is going to be live streamed. That doesn't really leave a place for us.
What is the best piece of advice that you've ever been given?
Take it out on the gig. I had a crew chief that said to just take it out on the gig. That really put me in a state of mind to just put your head down and do your job to the best of your ability. I've been able to surpass some of the shit comments that people say, as well as the underestimating of me because I'm a small girl. If you're able to just look past those things, then you really can just take it out on the gig. For me, I'm able to focus more and sort of put out those outside distractions that may cause drama. I just take it out on the gig.