A DJ’s Concert Day – Volbeat Behind the Scenes

Monday, June 5, 2017, Volbeat hit Grand Rapids for a show at 20 Monroe Live. I decided to take you behind the scenes of a typical concert day for a DJ, including being on the air, the Meet & Greet, introducing the band, and rocking during the show!

A concert day can get pretty busy, especially if there are bands coming to the radio station for either interviews or acoustic performances. Those are great, but sometimes bands just don't have time to do them.

Monday's Volbeat show is a great glimpse into a "normal" concert day.

10:30am: First up, get to work, do all the boring office stuff that everyone has in their jobs. Things that aren't as fun as the rest of the day, but have to get done, anyway.

3:00pm: Hit the air on GRD. Give away some stuff, edit and upload the Free Beer and Hot Wings Segment 16 video. Also write up the blog from Jami, our Rocklahoma winner, who sent her adventure and photos to share with everyone.

6:15pm: Meet GRD winners at the will call window, to get them in to meet Volbeat before the show! This is always the most fun part of my day, helping fans of bands meet the people they love! Sometimes, like this time, the meet and greet also come with early entry into the venue, so you can get right up to the barricade, if that's your thing.

Quick tip: If you win a meet with a band, and we ask you to bee somewhere at a certain time, it's because when the tour people are ready for us, there's no waiting on us. Go time is go time. They won't wait for you if you're late. The band has a schedule. So if you're late, you don't get in. We really want you to have a great experience, but you have to be there on time.

6:30pm: Get inside and meet with Britt, the tour manager for Volbeat, who tells everyone what's going to happen, and gives us some posters to get autographed!

6:40pm: The band arrives and hangs out with the winners, signing their posters or other things, and getting photos with everyone. They were great, and do this regularly, and have it down. Really nice people. And Britt is fantastic! Love her.

7:00pm: Doors open for the show, and all the winners are already up front at the barricade, in great spots for the show.

8:00pm: Power Trip hits the stage, and rocks their old-school style thrash metal.

8:45pm: I meet Britt stage left to go back and wait for my cue to get on stage and do what's called a "soft intro" for the band. There are two kinds of intros: soft and hard. Everyone likes "hard" intros, of course, but they're rare. That means while you're introducing the band, they're on the side of the stage, and come right up when you finish.

Soft intros, which happen a lot more often, are the norm, and it means we stay away from words like "right now", and go more for "up in a few minutes", or "get ready for", since the band isn't coming out right away. Every band has a set time to go on stage, and sometimes the soft intro can be quite a while before the show time. Sometimes it's not.

9:05pm: Get the cue to get up on stage, use Michael's microphone and do my soft intro. It's always cool to see everyone in the venue, and hear the cheering for the band! Thank you all for supporting live music.

9:15pm: Volbeat hit the stage, and absolutely ruled 20 Monroe until almost 11pm.

Once the "work" of the meet and greet, and stage intro are done, a DJ's day is done. Sometimes a band will have their meet and greet after the show, but mostly they're before. This means I can relax, have a beer, and enjoy the show!

I love concerts, live music, and making some noise. It's such an added bonus that sometimes we get to do cool stuff like this for a show. It's something I try to never take for granted.

Thank you guys for being awesome, and for coming to the shows and having fun!