2010-05-18 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre

[Peebs]

My guess now is that we will get an 8 song set, all electric. For some reason I think they're gonna wanna rock the shit out of NYC... Small, intimate and violent.

Why do you think it will be such a short setlist?

Because if the doors open at 9:45...set up time...Weiland time...they can't go much over 11:30 or they will be playing union workers time and a half.

In NYC you have to use union roadies to move equipment from the truck to the venue and in reverse.

If we only get an 8 song set I will be pissed off big time. I just got myself a ticket for the show, and I'm expecting a nearly normal length show. As far as I know, Gramercy doesnt have a curfew. And I imagine that STP wouldnt have gone through all off the trouble to book the venue at the last minute and bump up Local H if all they planned on doing was a short set. I bet they were so insistant on Gramercy because they can go late.

it's not that the Gramercy or NYC in general has a curfew like some cities do...it's all about the union stage hands. No band or management wants to have to pay them time and a half!! lol

I remember Matt sorum telling the story on CFR when GnR played MSG. Axl was of course late...like 2 hours late. They (the band)ended up having tp pay out $200 Grand in O/T in union stage hand fees. They made no money on that show.

[cotis]

All the shows that I have been to at MSG, Gramercy, Terminal 5, and Hammerstein (except GNR) have ended before Midnight. Not sure if it is coincidence or they were forced to by law but I've seen a ton of concerts at MSG and they've always been over by 11:15-11:25PM which is just enough time for me to miss the 11:10PM train home, but not enough to miss the 12:35AM one.

Will STP play longer? I sure hope so. Can anyone confirm there is a law requiring ending at Midnight?

*edit* thanks for clearing it up . I remember on the GNR forums there was a discussion about GNR having been fined for playing late, appears it was just the union fees and stuff.

[Peebs]

NYC has VERY tight union stage hand rules.
No band or band roadies can move equipment from a truck to the venue or from the venue to the truck UNLESS you use local blahblahblah (I don't know the stage hand union name).
Unions surrounding "entertainement" is very strict in NYC.
Depending on the band and the amount of gear or staging depends on how many union stage hands present. So you can imagine with a big touring band with elaborate staging....you got A LOT of union guys milling about making $200 an hour.
Go past 11:30 and now that same guy is making $450.
and all he carried was a mic stand.

It's a racket, I'll grant you that. And the first time it was explained to me (by a non-union roadie) I was shocked!

[Rogienatural34]

Let's see some different songs for this special show

[CritterTypeThing]

I've been to many NYC shows over the years and they've all usually ended around 11:30ish (except for Axl's Roses @ MSG a couple years back which was like 1:30am).

There's definitely harsh union rules in NYC but I think it mixes into the type of venue it is, as well.  Something like MSG doesn't share the building with anyone else.  Whereas some venues have residential housing attached or next door and may have stricter settings for noise violations.  But in the end, it's all up to the type of deal the band/label makes with the venue.  If the band is willing to fork the cash over to keep the party going then $$$ will get the job done.

I honestly don't think STP will come on at 11:30 at night.  I think they'll treat the 9:45 doors just as they would their normal headlining set time.  I wouldn't be surprised if their scheduled set is 10:30pm but then throw in Weiland lag time and we're rockin by 11.  For a special show like this, just a week away from the album drop, I'm sure there's no plans to put on a 5 song set.

I'm more interested in if its gonna be greatest hits like it's been for the past 2 years, or a couple more obscure STP tracks that get played.

[DrGONZOakaRaoulDuke]

NYC has VERY tight union stage hand rules.
No band or band roadies can move equipment from a truck to the venue or from the venue to the truck UNLESS you use local blahblahblah (I don't know the stage hand union name).
Unions surrounding "entertainement" is very strict in NYC.
Depending on the band and the amount of gear or staging depends on how many union stage hands present. So you can imagine with a big touring band with elaborate staging....you got A LOT of union guys milling about making $200 an hour.
Go past 11:30 and now that same guy is making $450.
and all he carried was a mic stand.

It's a racket, I'll grant you that. And the first time it was explained to me (by a non-union roadie) I was shocked!

I understand all of this, but the show is scheduled for 10:15 says the ticket... It is possibly another crew working the STP show.

[Peebs]

NYC has VERY tight union stage hand rules.
No band or band roadies can move equipment from a truck to the venue or from the venue to the truck UNLESS you use local blahblahblah (I don't know the stage hand union name).
Unions surrounding "entertainement" is very strict in NYC.
Depending on the band and the amount of gear or staging depends on how many union stage hands present. So you can imagine with a big touring band with elaborate staging....you got A LOT of union guys milling about making $200 an hour.
Go past 11:30 and now that same guy is making $450.
and all he carried was a mic stand.

It's a racket, I'll grant you that. And the first time it was explained to me (by a non-union roadie) I was shocked!

I understand all of this, but the show is scheduled for 10:15 says the ticket... It is possibly another crew working the STP show.

not possible. Not in NYC.

No one said that Atlantic or Management is not willing to pay for O/T. They might be. If they wanted them to play in a venue that was already occupied it's something they had to consider.

Did anyone ever see the BIG digital clock that's always in the wings?

See the clock beyond Perry's head? It's for the bands.....

[Stpilots98]

NYC has VERY tight union stage hand rules.
No band or band roadies can move equipment from a truck to the venue or from the venue to the truck UNLESS you use local blahblahblah (I don't know the stage hand union name).
Unions surrounding "entertainement" is very strict in NYC.
Depending on the band and the amount of gear or staging depends on how many union stage hands present. So you can imagine with a big touring band with elaborate staging....you got A LOT of union guys milling about making $200 an hour.
Go past 11:30 and now that same guy is making $450.
and all he carried was a mic stand.

It's a racket, I'll grant you that. And the first time it was explained to me (by a non-union roadie) I was shocked!

I understand all of this, but the show is scheduled for 10:15 says the ticket... It is possibly another crew working the STP show.

not possible. Not in NYC.

No one said that Atlantic or Management is not willing to pay for O/T. They might be. If they wanted them to play in a venue that was already occupied it's something they had to consider.

Did anyone ever see the BIG digital clock that's always in the wings?

See the clock beyond Perry's head? It's for the bands.....

If they only play 8 songs I'm going to be pissed.  I HIGHLY doubt that this all wasn't taken into consideration when they booked this gig.

[CritterTypeThing]

STPs current road crew and stage set is calibrated for huge arena stages.  Now, the Gramercy is a decent sized stage for such a small theatre, but I really can't imagine they will have their standard Arena stage setup going @ the show tomorrow.  Heck, I don't even know if the Gramercy could even host the electrical requirements necessary to use their Arena set.

Although, I can't say I'd be too surprised if they were to insist on trying to squeeze every bit of their current road production into here either lol.  But I'm just speaking on behalf of my initial assumption.

It's being billed based on the intimate size of the venue, so I'm picturing a stripped-down set.  It's gonna be hard for them to set all their stuff up when Local H's show still has to go with their own setup.  Unless....poor Local H may have to perform their "headlining" set with an STP riser & drumset behind them.  Lol.

[Peebs]

they could play 5 songs and I wouldn't be pissed or disappointed. You hardly ever see a band of their magnitude in a venue this size (in NYC). It's going to be like STP is playing in your living room.

[Peebs]

STPs current road crew and stage set is calibrated for huge arena stages.

They're not going to be bring all that for this.

The only band I ever saw at Gramercy was Street Sweeper Social Club. They are no frills. Well except for Boot Reilly dancing. But he could do that anywhere  

[robschmidt]

As STP fans, its justifiable that we always look at the worst case scenario. The last three times I've seen STP (Reading PA, AC and Mohegan Sun), Scott has come out right on time.

Last time STP came to the tri-state area in 08, we had the PNC debacle. They then came to Jones Beach and you could tell Scott was trying to make up for it. I really hope he doesn't make the same mistake twice.

With all of that said, I saw Scott at Irving Plaza and he was an hour late.....

I still can't fathom them only playing 5 songs or so.

[CritterTypeThing]

Yeah I was at the Irving show.  I honestly think that Scott & STP have their set times booked 45 minutes to an hour after whatever opening act finishes.  Because each time I've seen them it's been 20+/- minutes to change the set around and do a quick mic check and then you wait about 40 minutes.

I only think that because at the Irving show he was scheduled for a certain time (I forget what it was at this point, but I was working for K-ROCK back then so I remember knowing when the paperwork said to expect him) and from that time he was 45 minutes late going on stage.  But what seals the deal for me is that when he came on, he made some comment about unlike Axl, he'll only make his fans wait 40 minutes.

Even with Velvet Revolver, it was almost like clockwork that an hour after the opening band finished, they'd take the stage.  So I really think in their heads it's like 'we're just 40 minutes late' but to the fans, it's been an hour and 40 minutes since the live music stopped.

[CritterTypeThing]

STPs current road crew and stage set is calibrated for huge arena stages.

They're not going to be bring all that for this.

The only band I ever saw at Gramercy was Street Sweeper Social Club. They are no frills. Well except for Boot Reilly dancing. But he could do that anywhere  

I saw a couple shows there over the past 2 years, and each one had nothing more than a standard backdrop and maybe some crates at the front of the stage for the singer to stand on.  So STPs Arena road crew will prob be enjoying the night off.

I think the band has to be aware of how intimate this is going to be, so I imagine (maybe moreso hope) that they'll be excited for this special night.  But because I'm sure they get the royal treatment when they come to NYC, I'm just hopin Scott skips any happy hours with any execs for after the show.

And yeah, in whatever trouble the management had to go through to book this show (piggy-backing Local H/late start time) they could've booked somewhere else much easier if the plan was to do just a 5 song set.

[Peebs]

I had checked around and saw that Bowery was open for tomorrow night (as is Irving but that's 1100 ppl not as intimate   ) so if they wanted small and intimate and hold the same amount of ppl as Gramercy, Bowery would do (besides I love the lounge/bar area at street level)
Highline is booked.
I dunno about Webster Hall, I never checked there....