By Courtney Ballou
While the majority of our features here at Blast focus directly on artist interviews and the concert experience from a live audience perspective, it’s not often that we get to take a peek behind the scenes. Without the hidden talent backstage, some of the most memorable rock shows in history simply would not be possible.
We recently caught up with a good friend of ours whose monumental contribution to the music industry spans more than three decades, and we asked him to shed some light on the other side of the curtain. Among the most respected and requested independent production managers in America, Mick Treadwell’s work extends from intimate charity benefits to some of the most massive stadium tours in the world.
But while Mick’s appreciation for his work with legendary veteran acts like Santana, Pink Floyd, and AC/DC is obvious, he also possesses a deep interest—and a genuine concern—for the next generation of talent. Read on to check out his thoughts on the corporate evolution of live music, life as a production manager from the ground up, and the future of the concert industry in this in-depth exclusive.
Courtney Ballou: Hi Mick! How are you doing today?
Mick Treadwell: I’m doing great, Courtney. How are you?
CB: I’m doing well, thank you. Let’s start with a little bit about your background. Where did you originally grow up?
MT: I’m originally from Birmingham, England, which is the second-largest industrial city over there.
CB: Was there anyone in the entertainment world back then who inspired you, or someone you specifically wanted to emulate?
MT: Quite frankly, no—not at the beginning. In my early years, I did have a mentor who was actually a friend at a furniture store where I worked for several years. He was the one who really pushed me into the world of being independent. As a mentor, he taught me about the world, travel, arts, and music, but there was nobody directly inside the music business back then.
CB: What was it, initially, that drew you toward the music business? Did it start out with a desire to record and perform, or were you always drawn to the behind-the-scenes work?
MT: My interest has always been entirely on the practical side—the production itself. How it works, why we need it, and who is going to physically build it and make it happen. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been a very practical type of person. I fixed things when they were broken, and that’s exactly how the foundation was laid.
CB: What was your very first entertainment-related job?
MT: It was in the music industry, and it happened purely by accident. I owned a very small trucking company that consisted of just two vehicles. One day, I was hired by a friend of a friend to haul their audio equipment down to a music festival in the south of England. That was my real introduction to the world of live music in a practical sense.
The reason it had such a profound effect on me is that it was actually the first music festival I’d ever been to in my life! It turned out the band had a lot of technical issues with their gear. I really didn’t understand much about audio electronics back in those days, but I jumped right in and tried to help them troubleshoot and work out their problems. They were incredibly appreciative, we became fast friends, and I ended up working with them closely for a couple of years.
CB: Once you started getting into the business and working regularly on the road, was there anything about the industry that truly surprised you?
MT: Yeah—the absolute mess it was in! [laughs] No, when I first started out, the modern concert industry was still very new. People were essentially inventing the business as they went along. Those were the early days of standardized touring sound and lights. There were a lot of regional companies popping up with plenty of gear, but there was a massive shortage of people “in the know”—true production and practical road personnel. I was kind of amazed by how all of this functioned with so little historic experience behind it. It was a massive trial-by-fire development stage.
CB: So it just came naturally to you to step up and push things in the right direction?
MT: Yeah, absolutely.
CB: How did you eventually come to work with a giant like Live Nation?
MT: Well, that’s a long story of traveling the world! There was a prominent company called Evening Star Productions out of Phoenix that had been promoting massive concerts for decades. They were eventually bought out by SFX, which was the forerunner to Clear Channel, which then evolved into the spin-off we know as Live Nation.
I had been working closely with Danny Zelisko—a very well-known promoter in the industry—for about fifteen years at that point. When the corporate takeovers happened, it was simply a matter of continuing to do the work. It is important to point out, though, that I am actually an independent contractor. I work strictly for myself, but Live Nation hires me directly to act as the chief production manager and promoter representative for their major regional shows. It has always been vital to me that my business remains independent.
CB: As the modern touring industry was being structured, did you find it easy to form relationships and network with other crews who shared your mindset?
MT: Oh, completely. I’ve always thrived on that. I am a person who genuinely enjoys being around people. My core approach is making sure that anybody I work with enjoys working alongside me, and that they leave the venue at the end of the night having had one of the best, smoothest experiences of their touring lives. I always love getting feedback from road crews who had a great day working with me doing what we all love to do.
CB: It sounds like you are still incredibly passionate about it. This isn’t just a standard clock-in, clock-out paycheck for you.
MT: I am all about the passion! Though, in saying that, while I definitely enjoy good music, it’s not actually the music itself I’m most passionate about—it’s the creativity and execution of the live environment. I have worked in almost every single aspect of it, including recording studios and just about every production element you could imagine.
I will say, though, that I believe a lot of the genuine passion has been driven out of live music by the Wall Street corporate entities that moved in to capitalize on the industry. They have let go of so many old-school road veterans who possessed that innate passion, and it has literally diluted the spirit of the business in people, which is very, very sad. But it hasn’t died, and it will continue to thrive, because real music is driven by the passion of the people who write and perform it. They don’t step on stage just to earn a paycheck at the end of the week. There’s no longevity for someone like that; it has to come from a deep desire to create.
“A lot of the genuine passion has been driven out of live music by the Wall Street corporate entities that moved in to capitalize on the industry… But it hasn’t died, and it will continue to thrive.”
CB: Absolutely, and that passion is completely obvious when you watch these artists perform. Can you paint us a picture of a typical day in the life of a production manager?
MT: As a promoter rep or production manager for a company like Live Nation, the process basically starts when a show is booked in a specific city—say, Phoenix. The office looks at the act, calculates how big they are, and estimates the projected attendance. They balance that against what the band wants to be paid—which isn’t always what they will be paid, but what they’re asking for! [laughs]
Then, you have to add in the hard overhead expenses of the show: stagehands, local audio/lighting rentals, security, catering, and venue rental fees, though Live Nation owns many of the buildings now. All of those numbers dictate the final ticket prices. If you have an A-list act that can easily sell out a 20,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, and you calculate that it’s going to cost roughly $1 million to physically put on that specific show, they will factor in their target profit margin, divide that total cost by the 20,000 available seats, and that’s exactly where your ticket pricing comes from.
Once the venue is locked and the show goes on sale, they officially hand the file over to me. At that moment, it becomes my absolute responsibility. I am the central middleman for everyone involved—the security firm, the staging company, the venue management, the artist, and the artist’s personal road production manager. They all talk to me independently, and I pull all of those chaotic threads together.
I condense it all into a single-page master sheet that outlines the entire day: Load-in at 8:00 AM, soundcheck at 4:00 PM, doors open at 6:00 PM, show starts at 7:00 PM, curfew at 11:00 PM. We need 100 local stagehands, 56 security personnel, specific catering requirements, etc. I make all of those advanced logistical calls. On the actual day of the show, I technically shouldn’t have to do anything at all. If I did my advance work correctly, my only job on-site is to make sure the plan is being executed smoothly.
Of course, live production is unpredictable, and massive problems can occur at any second, so I always have to be mentally prepared to extinguish fires. For example, if a headlining artist wakes up incredibly sick, I am the one getting in touch with our on-call specialist doctors to come to the venue and treat them immediately so the show can go on. At the end of the night, I “settle” the show—meaning I calculate the exact final local expenses, review the box office sheets with the artist’s business manager, and issue their check. Once the trucks roll out, I send the completed show file back to the corporate office, and that gig is officially done. But remember, I am usually advancing about ten different shows at various stages simultaneously, so the wheel never stops turning.
CB: That is an immense amount of moving parts to balance at once. Your days must absolutely fly by.
MT: They really do, and I love every single moment of it. Right now, I’m actually standing in the middle of the Mandalay Bay lobby in Las Vegas, getting ready to load a massive show into the arena tomorrow morning!
CB: Not a bad place to be at all! Looking at your unique position in the industry, we have to look at the digital landscape. With illegal downloads hurting physical CD sales, do you feel there is a heightened pressure for the live concert experience to be absolutely flawless to compensate for those lost record revenues?
MT: Well, no, and here is my take on it: The music industry is evolving rapidly right now—faster than humans can realistically calculate. When people talk about illegal downloading, it’s only labeled “illegal” because an artist wrote a song, recorded it, and naturally wants a fair return on their investment. We are currently navigating a massive media transition that forces us to think completely differently.
In the near future, I think we are going to see a lot more heavy corporate sponsorships stepping in to support independent musicians and artists financially so they can sustain themselves. I don’t claim to have the perfect magic answer, but the revenue models are shifting.
First of all, it is becoming fundamentally impossible to pay an artist enough purely through traditional ticket sales to sustain a massive, bloated lifestyle. That pressure is exactly what has pushed modern concert ticket prices so high that everyday fans are starting to push back. People just don’t want to pay $130 to sit in an uncomfortable arena seat for two hours, no matter how much they love the band. Now, a hardcore fanbase will always pay whatever it takes, but we have to look forward to the next generation of 15, 20, and 25-year-olds. What do they want? Do they want to deal with the immense aggravation of expensive parking, massive traffic, and standing in lines that are getting longer due to venue staff cutbacks? Or are they going to look at a 60-inch television with an incredible home theater sound system, grab a high-def digital recording of their favorite band, and just sit at home comfortably? Because of this, we are staring down major structural changes, and not everyone in the industry is open to it. Personally, I find the shift incredibly exciting, and I’m constantly looking at where to pivot next.
CB: Do you think there could ever be a catastrophic point where the live music industry collapses entirely?
MT: No. It might experience a harsh economic crunch or a massive transition phase, but it will never truly end. At the end of the day, there will always be a talented musician or a raw poet who someone will stop to listen to and decide to promote, and the whole cycle will just naturally reset itself. That is fundamental human nature. We need to be entertained, and we need that shared human experience.
CB: I know you also dedicate a lot of your professional time to charity work. Can you tell us a bit about that side of your career?
MT: Yes, absolutely. Every single year I act as the production manager for Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding event. It’s a fantastic fundraiser for kids that we’ve been doing for ten years now, and I jump onto other charity events whenever they arise. It is incredibly important to volunteer your time and give back to the community using the skills you have.
CB: Moving forward, what avenues do you feel are the most critical for the future of live touring, and what specific role do you want to play as it progresses?
MT: Based on my decades on the road, I am currently drafting ideas to create live events that are entirely hassle-free for the fans. I want events where people go strictly to enjoy the pure music, rather than attending a bloated, over-the-top light show that forces a $200 ticket price onto a kid. I want kids today to experience the raw excitement of live rock that I enjoyed when I was younger, without the financial headache.
I also want to heavily incorporate green, environmentally responsible infrastructure into these events. The absolute abuse of plastics, single-use bottles, and paper waste has got to be phased out of the entertainment sector—it is one of our biggest industry faults. We have to utilize technology to find ways around this, especially through digital ticketing and paperless promotions. Pretty soon, everything will roll over into mobile technology, where your phone acts as your secure ticket and they just scan it at the gate. That eliminates massive amounts of paper waste. I want to actively help develop those eco-friendly standards as something positive to leave behind when I hang up my clipboard.
CB: Are you planning to rally other veteran industry figures to help push these changes through?
MT: You can’t just tell people what to do in this business; you have to lead entirely by example. My goal is to find hungry, talented younger bands who genuinely just love playing their instruments and feeding off the audience’s energy. If I can break bands that don’t arrive with a ridiculous $50,000 equipment rider and demanding absurd amounts of luxury food and alcohol backstage, we can spark an incredibly important change.
That financial entitlement is what is hurting the industry right now. Too many acts are burning through money way beyond what they actually need because they have the mindset of, “Who cares? Live Nation has deep pockets, so let’s just milk it.” The professional sports industry is no different—paying someone $20 million for four years is completely out of balance with reality. Nobody deserves that kind of inflation, and it’s the same with music. It has to remain relative to the fans. The problem is that managers and agents are constantly whispering in an artist’s ear saying, “You’re hot right now, let’s see if we can make you $60 million this year,” instead of focusing on sustainable metrics, which drives ticket prices right through the roof again.
Look at the bands dominating the stadium touring circuits today. How many headliners under forty years old do you actually see out there? You’re looking at U2—who are essentially the youngest “old” stadium band left—alongside legacy acts like The Rolling Stones or Jimmy Buffett. These are aging musicians, and it’s a shame that legacy prices are draining the wallets of everyday music fans. It leaves them with absolutely no money left over to go out and discover or support brand-new, emerging local acts.
CB: With all of that valuable perspective in mind, what advice would you give to a young kid trying to break into the live production and promoting world today?
MT: To be perfectly honest, it is an entirely different world now. I couldn’t give them advice based on how I got my start because the landscape has completely shifted. I learned entirely from the ground up on the road, surrounded by genuinely good, experienced people who looked out for me and taught me the ropes. That loose, organic mentorship structure barely exists in the corporate touring world today.
But the one timeless piece of advice I would give to anyone starting out is this: get a crystal-clear idea of exactly where you eventually want to go, and let the right job find you. If you are young and hungry to work in entertainment—whether as a label owner, road manager, promoter, or booking agent—open yourself up completely. Put yourself directly in the path of the lane you want to be in, and start quietly absorbing absolutely everything you can see and hear. You will eventually discover exactly where you belong within the machine. Don’t rush out of the gate making loud statements about how you’re going to be the absolute best. Keep your head down, work hard, creep up quietly, and the right opportunities will come to you.
CB: Mick, thank you so much for sitting down with us. This has been an incredibly insightful look at the industry.
MT: Thank you, Courtney. It was a real pleasure talking with you!
And that wraps up our exclusive behind-the-scenes look with one of the hardest-working men in live rock. A massive thank you to Mick Treadwell for taking some rare downtime out of his insane arena schedule to chat with us. Stay tuned to Blast Music Coalition for further updates on Mick’s upcoming green production initiatives. Until next time, keep it loud!
