Back Stage with Gene Provencio, Sting's Percussion Engineer

Today I met with Gene Provencio, he is Sting's
"Percussion Engineer." Gene generously agreed to bring me on stage just after Sting had completed his sound check. He walked me through the technical aspects of his job and let me in on the various pieces of equipment that he tunes on a daily basis. In the past Gene gained such skills with bands such as: Ozzy Ozbourne, Sublime, Rob Zombie and many others. When Gene isn't touring he spends his time in Studio City, CA.

Check out a clip of our meeting below!

How we get around the country..

On a day to day basis the Sting crew navigates throughout the country by either bus or truck. The truck and bus drivers travel thousands of miles within the given tour period. A typical day would be something like this:

1:00 AM- Drivers Arrive to Venue
2:00-4:00 AM- Trucks are loaded with gear
4:30AM- Trucks depart for the next city/ venue

( Depending on how long the run is, the drivers arrive, drop their trailers, and head to their hotels. Typically drivers aren't seen very much unless it is very late at night or if we have a long drive during the day. 6:00AM- 3:00PM drivers sleep and prepare for their next drive.On drives longer than 8 hrs we have a co-driver that helps take some of the pressure off getting to the next city on time.


We have 7 trucks and 4 crew bus's. My bus is #3. The bus's are considered everyone's "home." Throughout the day when the crew's responsibilities are met, you can find them relaxing and getting out of the heat until show time. I share my bus with 8 other guys, primarily my bus holds the video crew. We also have merchandise and some of the crew chiefs on tour.

Behind the scenes with Sting's sound Engineer, Sean Prickett

Today in St. Louis I ran into Sean Prickett, the sound Engineer for Sting's production. He introduced me to what his day to day is like within the " Sound World." Sean has been touring for numerous years with bands such as Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, as well as with me in 2008 on Jonas Brothers.

See Sean take me through what Sting's sound set up looks like backstage, what their load-in looks like as well as what his role and responsibilities include on Sting's tour below.

Red Rocks..

Red Rocks Ampitheatre is a venue that everyone should visit. The drive in alone is breathtaking enough, however once you arrive and hike to the top (6300 feet above sea level!) of the venue you know that this is a special place.

The venue was established in the 1940's and has welcomed numerous classic acts. Behind the scenes at Red Rocks there is a board in which you can view by year and day to see what bands have played. I found out the Marhsall Tucker Band played the day I was born!


This photo was right before sound check began..

Xerox Brand Ambassadors Welcome Consumers & Sting Fans!

At every tour stop, we have Xerox Brand Ambassadors (BAs) assist us. Upon arrival, BAs are trained on the Xerox brand, as well as the Sting program deliverables.

Fans are welcomed by Xerox BAs wearing blue branded Xerox polos explaining the accompanying post card and greeting people into the show.

The Xerox/ Sting post card allows fans to take home a free souvenier and customize their show experience at:
www.xerox.com/about-xerox/sponsorship/sting-live-symphonicity/enus.html

The postcards have been receiving great response and all fans love hearing that Xerox is behind the scenes with Sting!

Below, see a clip of a Xerox Brand Ambassador in Portland, OR.

The Sting/ Xerox Sound Check Experience

In 10 select markets, Xerox guests enjoy Sting front row, live and uncut at his soundcheck. Upon completion of the Xerox Real Business Live event, guests are brought to the venue where they can sit front and center and watch Sting rehearse with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. It is truly a once in a lifetime experience that these Xerox guests will cherish for a lifetime.

This past week in Hollywood, we spoke with Bill Garcia. We had a chance to catch up with him at the hospitality event that followed the soundcheck. Check out his feedback below!

The 27 Hour ride to Minnesota...

6.19.10

It's 1:45am, we are just pulling out of the MGM Grand parking lot, beginning our trek of 27 hours to Minnesota. When we have these long drives, our driver Tony has a co-driver that joins the tour for a day or 2. In this case, our co-driver is Roger Mees- my old driver from 2 yrs ago (when I worked for the Jonas Brothers)- Small world!

Upon his arrival, we caught up and he let me know he is now in the Guinness Book of World Records for the " Human Voice Lowest Decibal" He had been training for this since I saw him last. After a good night's sleep, I awoke to find out we were in the middle of Wyoming and still had 20 hrs left. With any luck we will be in Minnesota at 6am!

Behind the Scenes with Sting's Video Crew!

6.18.10

Today we are in Las Vegas. Sting is performing at the MGM Grand Arena. We arrived yesterday morning very early and were lucky enough to have a day off. After catching up on some sleep, I was able to head over to the arena to see some of Sting's video crew loading in their equipment.

This video features Graham Howill, Sting's video engineer showing me around his world. I caught him right before he was getting ready to work on a technical aspect that allows the video cameras to white balance to ensure proper colors for the show.

Xerox on the Road with Sting's Symphonicity Tour Featuring The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Conducted by Steven Mercurio

Welcome to the Xerox/Sting Symphonicity 2010 Tour Blog!

My name is Brian Samuelson and to give you some background on me, I have been traveling with music tours on behalf of corporate partners for close to 8 years. I'm thrilled to be representing Xerox on the 2010 Sting Symphonicity Tour and hope to give all of you fans a behind the scenes look at life on the road with Sting and the business of producing a global tour.

Stay tuned for updates, photos, interviews and more as we travel around the globe.