Tour Diary: Lee Ranaldo

One thing always in the air backstage, for the crews, etc. is the time schedule of everyone’s set; making sure the whole show runs on time, and that no-one steps on anyone else’s stage time. Hole ran over in Hartford, and Courtney stayed on stage after the rest of the band left and did a song by herself. I was out at the sound board at the time and it was actually pretty wild because the sound men were made to shut off the PA, so all you could hear were the monitors onstage, and the crews began tearing down Hole’s stage settings, the overhead lighting rig coming down while Courtney played on and all the kids surged forward to see what was happening, enthused by something a little out of the norm. Finally she launched herself and guitar into the pit and spent the next five minutes or so rolling around by the barricade up front, as kids all craned to get a glimpse of whatever was happening. It was pretty funny, overall.