Re: Seeking to upgrade from a B rig to an A rig
As far as labor goes let me put it this way.
You book a 5 band outdoor festival for a promoter that is expecting 5000-8000 people to attend. These are B or C level national acts, with loosely enforced riders, but are happy to play on PA-du-jour. No hard rock or metal.
You will need maybe 8 per side large format line array cabs or 10-12 medium format cabs. These will be flown from the roof system, using motors rented from the roof company and hung by their riggers.
You will need two 48 channel consoles and a split snake.
You will need at least 12 monitor mixes plus a 3-way drum fill. Maybe 16-18 wedges. (this is where your current powered stuff can find a home)
You will need 60k of standard par can light rig. (folks nowadays want lots of moving lights and fancy stuff, but 60k will do the job)
That's the basics of the system. For labor you WILL absolutely need a FOH guy, a Monitor guy, a Patch guy, and a System tech. Then for lighting you'll need an LD.
That's 5 people right there. And you could stop there if you want them exhausted and doing a poor job at the actual show, because they've worked in the sun all day. Realistically you need probably 4 more "hands". Which are your basic labor force. It helps if they know how to coil a cable, but it's not necessary. Now these guys can get get cut during the show and come back for load out, That saves you money, but the smart thing to do is to charge them to the client and have them load the band's gear on and off stage all day. That way you can keep an eye on them and make sure they are there for load out.
So now you have 9 people in the crew to pull off a basic small festival.
