What Looks Easy in Live Events But Is Actually Difficult? Crews Weigh In.
TL;DR:
- We asked our followers what looks easy in live events but is actually pretty hard to do. Hundreds of people answered across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
- The top response was "Higher ups making a decision." (287 likes.) Too real.
- Technical skills dominated the conversation, from power distribution to network config to the surprisingly complex act of "turning on a light."
- We pulled the most-liked responses, grouped them into categories, and turned it all into this article so outsiders can finally understand what we do.
A few days ago we posted a reel with a simple prompt: Live event folks: What's something that looks easy to outsiders but is actually pretty difficult?
We expected some solid responses. Cable jokes. A few rants about clients. Maybe something about venue space.
Instead, over 350 comments poured in across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, racking up more than 2,300 combined likes, all of people getting something off their chest.
What we discovered was a collective portrait of an industry full of people who make complex things look effortless every single day, and want their work to be rightfully recognized.
We grabbed every comment, ranked them by likes, grouped them into themes, and built this article around the responses that resonated most. Let's get into it.
THE TOP 10 RESPONSES BY LIKES
💡 Technical Skills (It's Not Just Pressing Buttons)
This was the winner in total engagement, and for good reason. Fans look at a lighting console, a mixing board, or a rack of processors and think, "so you just... press the buttons?" The people who actually press those buttons had a lot to say about that assumption.
"The steps to turn on a single stage light would baffle most of the audience." - 187 likes
Yeah. Address it. Patch it. Run DMX. Set your universe. Configure the console. Hope the fixture isn't in the wrong mode. Then, do you get light. We wish it were that simple to just "turn it on."
"Power distribution and load balancing is highly underrated, even by industry folks." - 181 likes
Not all heroes wear capes.
"Network configuration. ArtNet. Sometimes it's a theatre with HogNet and ETC nodes but the universes in the pit are luminodes. Now you have to set a Grandma that needs to communicate with everything and the venue's IP isn't in the correct range. I just wanna play with lights I didn't know I would need an IT degree." - 88 likes
Seriously. What do lasers even have to do with subnet masks and IP conflicts?
"I took my kid to a small festival the other week and he said my job looks easy, all I do is press buttons." - 26 likes
Let's have him run the lights next time.
"Definitely automation. Some of these modern shows have hundreds of axes that all have to be controlled simultaneously. It's gotta be the number one job that non-industry people just don't even know exists." - 8 likes
People are so close to getting it right when they assume the lights are automated, but never really piece together the fact that some people fought for their lives to make everything sync up.
💰 Getting Paid & Getting Things Done
The number one comment overall had nothing to do with cable, gear, or shows. It had everything to do with the people above us.
"Higher ups making a decision." - 287 likes
Just tell us what you want. Preferably not two hours before doors open.
"Getting paid by certain companies." - 129 likes
Yikes. Something that shouldn't be on this list at all.
"Pulling all the necessary permits and the inconsistencies between every city in America (why does every fire marshal have a different set of standards!!)." - 9 likes
Does anybody have any ibuprofen?
⏱ The Waiting Game & Survival Skills
If our previous post about oddly specific skills proved anything, it's that this industry runs on two things: gaff tape and knowing where the food is.
"Figuring out where catering is." - 81 likes
All things lead back to catering. Why do all the tents look the same?
"Knowing where the gaff tape is." - 67 likes
Can someone please just put it back in ONE spot? Please?
"Making lobby call hung over." - 55 likes
Nothing a greasy breakfast sandwich can't fix.
"Keeping a Sharpie from walking off." - 32 likes
Hurts the most when they're brand new.
"Tour toilet roulette. Door one no tp, door two gross beyond your wildest imagination, door three... no door." - 23 likes
A game we lose every time.
"Having nothing to do on a long shift." - 18 likes
Checking the same three apps over and over again is so fun though!
💪 The Physical Labor
Audiences see a wall of LED. A line array. A lighting truss with 40 fixtures on it. They don't see the people who moved all of that from a truck to a stage in four hours.
"Band changeovers. Would love to throw in someone from non-production in the middle of the chaos of set change. We make it look easy." - 66 likes
The idea of dropping an attendee into a festival changeover is awesome. Fifteen minutes to tear down one artist's rig and build another's from scratch, all while 10,000 people are watching and wondering why it's taking so long.
"Coiling 1000'+ of feeder." - 65 likes
Our back hurts just reading this.
"Flipping a Proteus Maximus out of its case." - 36 likes
The Proteus Maximus weighs about 95 pounds. "Flipping it out of its case" sounds casual. It is not.
"WRAPPING. CABLES. 100 feet of NL8 will have you seeing god at the 70 foot mark 10 times out of 10." - 12 likes
Been through it so many times, and yet it hurts the same way it did the first time. Can someone explain this?
"Hard out 30 minutes after the event ends and guests still hanging out in the room." - 12 likes
Closing Time by Semisonic on full volume doesn't work anymore either.
👁 The Things You Can't Unsee
This theme hit differently from the rest. It's not about the physical difficulty or the technical challenge. It's about what this industry does to you as a person when you leave the venue.
"Attending a show without being critical about every part of the production." - 115 likes
That dead pixel is going to haunt us for the entire show.
"Maintaining social and familial relationships outside of the job." - 60 likes
Jokes aside, you should always try to reach out to your loved ones. Even if your battery is drained.
"Finding motivation for anything outside of work that doesn't involve a call time." - 55 likes
It really is a struggle to do something other than sleep when it's finally your day off.
"Keeping the morale high halfway through a summer tour. Anyone outside of this industry thinks touring is a vacation." - 11 likes
Touring is a vacation the same way running a marathon is "going for a jog."
😎 Composure Under Chaos
The final theme was all about the invisible skill that holds every show together: not losing it when everything is falling apart.
"Not talking shit about the act on comms." - 100 likes
That's what group chats are for. ;)
"Getting the band's assets 5 minutes before they go on stage, uploading it, and finding out they have an intro video that's on some weird aspect ratio, but still keeping composure with the client and making everyone believe you're not mentally freaking out because you make it look like the logos go with the music." - 42 likes
Maybe the audience won't notice...
"Keeping the show going when things fail." - 31 likes
The ability to make things look like they're going just fine deserves an award.
"A visible sense of calm and control while the feral cats run around lighting things on fire." - 7 likes
Yeah, this is fine.
Honorable Mentions
These were too good to leave out.
"We do this, not because it's easy, but because we thought it was."
Yeah, we get to go to events, but at what cost?
"Getting dressed and doing your entire skincare routine in your bunk, horizontally."
How do we not spill SPF everywhere?
"Explaining to clients brown, navy or silver doesn't exist on the light spectrum."
No, we can't do black lighting. Unless you want to discover new stains.
"Costume changes, they're intentionally easy looking and seemingly instant; takes weeks to build and practice."
Let's bring back tear-away pants!
"Having a conversation in person and being able to track comm chatter while not coming off as distracted to the person you're actually face to face with."
This is a legitimate superpower. Dual-channel human processing.
Audiences see a finished product. They see lights, sound, video, performers. What they don't see is the network engineer who became one by accident, the stagehand coiling cable that weighs more than they do, the production manager still waiting on a decision that was due three weeks ago, or the FOH tech who hasn't eaten since 6 AM and is currently navigating a venue they've never been to looking for catering.
This industry is built by people who make the impossible look routine. And based on this thread, you all want at least a little credit for it.
Fair enough. You've earned it.
Tag us on social media and let us know: what did we miss? What's the one thing that looks effortless to outsiders but makes you want to scream into a road case? We'll send out a swag package to the first 10 who tag us with their answer.
LL