My year: the concert production director chose to get going

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My Year is a weeklong series in which Montréal residents from all walks of life talk with Brendan Kelly about how they lived through the extraordinary year 2021. Today: Preston Ward, Director of Concert Production.

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Like so many millions of people, the pandemic threw a curve ball into Preston Ward’s work life. One minute, I was helping to prepare important concerts for Evenko. The next, he was helping carry huge furniture up the rickety exterior stairs at Plateau, working for a LaSalle moving company.

Ward, who had been working for the top concert promoter since 2014, had just received a promotion in March 2020. He was ready to start working in the Evenko offices, still functioning as a production manager at club shows, but ready. to have a much more important role in summer festivals such as Osheaga and ÎleSoniq produced by the promoter.

Then everything stopped. Ward remembers the moment well. They were ready to do the shipment for a concert at L’Astral with the highly politicized Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag when news came that it was all off. (Ironically, that show, scheduled for March 12, 2020, actually happened this November at MTelus, as one of the first major shows at full capacity after many of the pandemic restrictions were temporarily lifted.)

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“We didn’t know what was happening then. At that time, festivals were still a possibility, ”Ward said. “We continue to work from home (planning) the festivals. With the passage of time, the festivals became less and less a reality, and that was when there was no more show for me and for many other people ”.

When Ward was fired in early June 2020, he had mixed feelings.

“I was definitely disappointed, because I was eager to get more involved in festivals and all of that disappeared,” he said. “There was no real vision of the finish line for when things would return. At the same time, it was strangely welcome to have a free summer, because I hadn’t had a free summer in a long time. “

Ward enjoyed some free time, and then in the fall of 2020, he began working with LaSalle-based Dynamic Moving. He could have tried to live off the CERB payment, but felt that it was not enough money to survive. Also, you like to be busy.

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He said that he actually liked raising and lowering furniture in houses and apartments.

“It was fun, to be honest,” Ward said. “It was hard work. You are tired at the end of the day. The first few months were similar to going to a gym. You are sore and tired and you go to sleep as soon as you get home. Then your body gets used to it. I had a good time doing it. Met some friends along the way, some nice guys who worked there. The boss was a just man. And I did well until the shows started again. “

Ward liked the feeling that “when the last box is finished, the day is over. It’s a feeling I haven’t had in a long time. “

As a production manager, your day never ends. If a band’s tour director sends a text message at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, you have to respond.

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The shows started again in September this year, and Evenko even did smaller versions of ÎleSoniq and Osheaga.

Ward was happy to get back to working behind the scenes at live shows, an environment that he loves.

He was inspired by how excited audiences were this fall when the shows finally returned.

“It’s always nice to see the crowd happy to be there,” Ward said. “Especially since we got back, I think the crowd has been a bit more enthusiastic. They are happy to be back at the shows. It’s fun to watch. People are trying harder at these shows. There are multitudes of surfers. It’s pretty wild. “

But he knows he could stop again at any moment. At the end of December, following our conversation, all concerts were canceled once again in Quebec due to the large spike in COVID cases.

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“I just look at what’s directly in front of me and take care of that,” Ward said. “If things are canceled and postponed, I would be very disappointed. But he wouldn’t be worried. I know there is always a place for me at Dynamic Moving if I need to work. “

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