Production Manager Hayden Vassallo Discusses Touring with Jimmy Barnes and How Covid has Impacted the Industry
Production Manager Hayden Vassallo has just wrapped up the Jimmy Barnes Soul Deep 30 tour in New Zealand after a run of sold-out Australian arena dates.
One of our most respected and liked tour people, Hayden has an extensive career starting in 2006 as Drum and Percussion Tech for Human Nature’s original Motown tour. Since then he has been a tech for most instruments as well as stage tech, backline tech or stage manager for a variety of acts including David Campbell, The Dead Daisies, Michael Bolton, The Baby Animals and Cold Chisel. He has also managed stages for The Red Hot Summer Festival as well as the Fire Fight Festival in 2020.
“I got picked up by the Barnes’ in 2007 – I remember the first couple of gigs at the Hallam Hotel and Geelong Woolshed –and I’m still with them today!” said Hayden. “My initial role with Jim was they needed someone to drive a van and do stage but over the years the crew evolved and I ended up stage managing. Further down the track, they required a production manager and Mahalia Barnes asked if I was interested.”
Fortunately for Hayden, Jimmy Barnes is a prolific performer playing many one-off gigs, as well as tours, but when not busy with the Barnses’, Hayden picks up other work as a production or stage manager. He recently stage-managed Jessica Mauboy’s tour and has done The Aria Awards for several years.
The first tour with Jimmy as a Production Manager was the Shutting Down Our Town Tour playing large venues in 2019.
“Up until then we’d always done, festivals, outdoor shows or Enmore/Thebarton/Palais style rooms so it was a big step up to do venues such as Hordern Pavilion, BEC and Rod Laver Arena,” added Hayden. “It was a great tour with a full production set up.”
As to what makes a good Production Manager, Hayden says he is still learning but adds that good preproduction work before the tour starts is essential as well as the ability to problem solve.
“My philosophy is to make sure the crew are happy and that they have what they need to produce a good gig,” he stated. “Their job is very hard – sometimes they do a 20-hour day – and they have to make a lot of sacrifices so if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it.”
A good attitude and the ability to easily get on with people is a necessity. Hayden says he has been on tours that were far from harmonious with clashes and confrontations and the atmosphere is a killer.
“I hate to be in that position so I strive to ensure other people are not in it either,” he said. “Not only is my job about making sure the show is up and running – and successful in terms of preproduction, budget, scheduling –but also keeping the crew happy.”
Despite a few curveballs on the Soul Deep 30 tour, Hayden knows he will always look back with fondness on the tour saying he most enjoyed seeing Jimmy’s band transform from a hard rock band to a soul band, describing it as magical.
“The biggest challenge on that tour was the scheduling,” he added. “Every day was very different and we had so many support bands timing through the day was tricky.”
Covid protocols on the tour were fairly strict with everyone required to be vaccinated and fortunately, only the drum tech succumbed however a replacement was found. Most shows were at the weekend and so everyone in the band and crew had to test the day before the first show, test on each show day and test as soon as they got home and again through the week.
“Over the past six months, we have had people test positive but we have been able to contain the spread … except for Bluesfest where everyone caught it!” claimed Hayden. “We mask up as much as possible during the day and travel. We put on extra stage crew so we have people in backup roles to keep the show on the road. Many of the band are multi-instrumentalists so if need be we can shuffle them around.”
Hayden describes touring in the post-Covid lockdown era as the new normal and a different way of touring. It’s something we all have to adapt to and make work.
“Everyone is still trying to work out the best way to deal with Covid, is it back to normal or do we keep strict protocols?” he said. “When we do a festival with Jim we ensure that we have our own compound backstage strictly for Jim, crew and band only. We bring the band in 45 minutes before the show, straight to the compound, straight to the stage and they leave the site as soon as they exit the stage.”
Hayden says the problems with airlines and baggage are definitely making an impact with bands struggling to be able to fly on the day of the show as flights are not guaranteed and neither is the arrival of baggage.
“Also, in terms of supply from a production point of view, it’s hard to find crew because so many people have left the industry,” he commented. “Local crews such as loaders are difficult to secure because they can have a gig one day where they all contract Covid from the touring production and there’s no one to do the next show coming through. We had that with one of Jimmy’s Soul Deep 30 arena shows.
“As Covid is going to be here a long time, if not forever, depending on the protocols on how it is going to be treated it’s going to affect our industry 100%. We can pick up lights, PA, staging anywhere but when it comes down to a physical person whether they are deemed able to work is going to be our biggest challenge.”
When asked what was the most disastrous show he has ever done with Jimmy, Hayden is a little coy but did say that over the years there have been several instances of losing power, generators blowing up and FOH consoles crashing.
“Being a Jimmy show, the crowd likes to drink and unfortunately get carried away, so we’ve had to stop shows a few times!” he said. “We do a lot of regional shows in the middle of nowhere and it is what it is. I’m fortunate to see so many places in Australia.”
Sadly Hayden will not be accompanying Jimmy to The Maldives for a series of shows as he is booked to do the Hilltop Hoods tour.
As well as a few corporate and one-off shows booked with Jimmy, the rest of the year will see Hayden out with the aforementioned The Hilltop Hoods as their stage manager followed by a couple of Australian tours with international acts.
B&W Images: Benjamin Rodgers
