You've probably seen video of Katy Perry reading lyrics from a teleprompter. Or maybe a photo of Miley or AC/DC doing the same. There are actually a few of these shots floating around on the Internet, which may make you wonder: Is it really that difficult to remember the lyrics to your own songs? And what else don't I know about goes on behind the scenes at big shows? Do pop stars have personal chefs? And, most important, are "pee buckets" a real thing? Cosmopolitan.com spoke to three audio engineers for some answers: Rachel Ryan, currently touring with PHOX; Shelly Steffens, who works with Neko Case; and Mick* (not her real name) a pop and rock veteran who has worked with everyone from boy bands to Gwen Stefani to Kesha, to come up with these 10 things you probably assumed but never knew about concerts.
1. Performers use teleprompters more than you realize.
Do artists forget their lyrics that often? "It's not so much that," says Mick. "It's that, especially when you've got a huge repertoire of songs 50 or 60 songs and you don't do the same set every night, sometimes it's like, 'I haven't played this song in five years!' I think many artists don't completely rely on the teleprompter, but it's just there in case."
2. They also use backing tracks.
Depending on the artist, backing tracks are used either for singing along or lip-syncing. "I can't give away any names," says Steffens, "but [the latter] for sure still happens pretty regularly." Band members will also take some extra help. "Some drummers have audio clicks fed into their in ear monitors so they can keep a steady rhythm during a song."
3. They put textured tape on their shoes to help prevent slips and falls.
There's also lots of neon-colored gaff tape, for stage blocking and safety too. "Every day someone lines the edge of the stage, the risers, the stairs, anything that can be a potential trip hazard," says Mick. "And a lot of times they'll build a 'faux-rail,' a strip of wood that they'll bolt or screw onto the sides of the stage to keep things from rolling off because the equipment is on wheels."
4. Bad lighting might cause them to fall anyway.
"If they're being blinded by the spotlight, sometimes it's a little hard to see," says Mick. "Or even between songs, when they black out for a second or two — if you're not totally paying attention, or you are in the zone, it's one little step, and down you go." She's actually seen it happen. "I did Gwen Stefani's tour where the set had, like, a 6-foot high-rise that the band was on. At the end of the show, when the band was taking their bows, one of her keyboard percussion players was right at the edge of the riser and he couldn't see. He took a step and he went right down off. Luckily he was OK, but it could have been disastrous."
5. Personal chefs will often accompany artists on tour.
"It's tough when you're on tour and you're stuck eating dried-out chicken breast day after day after day," says Mick. "It's very hard to stay healthy on tour, so a lot of older artists will either bring full catering or a chef that travels with them. And the chef will go grocery shopping during the day to the farmers' markets and then come back and cook whatever the artist wants to eat."
6. A crew member is usually tasked with backstage decorating.
Most arenas are basically just sports venues — which means backstage is ugly. "The dressing rooms for the band are usually the locker rooms that the sports teams use," says Mick. "We generally have someone on the crew that goes in there first thing in the morning and makes the atmosphere much nicer. They'll hang up tapestries and candles and whatever, just to make it a little more homey and comfy. They'll bring in rentals of chairs and things like that too, so you're not sitting on a wooden bench. You're spending hours there, you want to be comfortable."
7. Some people are divas, naturally.
Says Mick: "There used to be a TV show called Top of the Pops in London. I was there with an artist and there was another very high-profile artist coming in the following week. I can't say who it was, but the people at the show were complaining about how they had to repaint all of the dressing rooms a specific paint color, they had to buy these 1,000 count Egyptian cotton sheets. There wasn't even a bed in the dressing room! And they also required specific floral arrangements. It was pretty outrageous."
8. Sometimes riders are actually used as a negotiating technique — and they may not come from the artist herself.
Sometimes the demands come from the crew members or the people surrounding the artist. "Sometimes when you have really high-profile artists, they tend to have a lot of people that make a lot of these decisions, and they're not necessarily making them for the artist, they're making them for themselves," says Mick. "The big thing people used to make fun of was Van Halen [wanting] no brown M&Ms. Sometimes, though, there are weird little things in contracts like that, that are kind of like an out. If all else fails, and things are really messed up and the show can't happen, that kind of gives them the out of like, 'Oh, you didn't meet our rider, you didn't meet our requirements, so we can't do the show.'"
9. Just like children, if band members are bickering, they get separated.
The managers will send them to their own dressing room. And sometimes they'll even get their own tour bus, if the budget allows. "Ironically, feuding bands makes for a more interesting show," says Mick, "because you've got that animosity up there and it creates this invigorating energy."
10. Yes, sometimes performers pee in a bucket.
"Pee buckets and vomit buckets are definitely real," says Mick. "They're not used as frequently as you'd imagine, but it's one of those things if you're onstage, especially for the artists that play long sets, you can't stop the show. So you go behind the back line, with the bass rig or under the stage or wherever you can." They don't preemptively put the buckets out there, however. "It's more of a situation like, the guitar player suddenly realizes he has to go to the bathroom and he'll run over to the guitar tech and say, 'I gotta pee, get me something!'" Rock and roll.
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