Transcending Music Into Survival – Leadership Is The Trick

I keep some space between my passions for leadership and music. Who is really going to believe that a jiving, jumping fool at the front barrier of a Peter Frampton concert (me on July 10th) is going to be continuing his read of “High Altitude Leadership” (Chris Warner & Don Schmincke) when he calms down the next day? I’m a strange cat in that respect.

I don’t go to concerts expecting to see examples of leadership. But on July 17th, I witnessed a wonderful example of selfless leadership during the course of a natural near-disaster at a festival rock concert here in Ottawa.

The (band) leader in this situation was Rick Neilson of the group Cheap Trick. At 7PM they launched into their show with all the energy captured in their 1979 multi-million selling live record “At Budokan”, and the sun was shining on them for the first four songs of their set. At 7:20 PM, during their fifth song, an ominous black sky quickly rolled in. Strong winds began to whip the festival grounds. And even though the PA system cut off the sound to the mass audience, Cheap Trick professionally played “Tonight It’s You” to its conclusion for those who could still enjoy it at the front of the crowd. That professional finale could have cost them dearly.

The group quickly waved to the crowd and left the stage, but before I could count ten steamboats, a blast of wind grabbed the stage like a kite and blew it to the ground in seconds.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only person in front of that stage that thought there was no way the group and crew had time to get out. My first thought was that I had just witnessed the possible death of a group I have grooved with for over thirty years.

All the people around me did the expected and ran for cover, but my counter-intuitive healthcare brain kicked into emergency planning mode and I jumped the barrier in front of the stage and headed toward the wreck to lend a hand. I spent fifteen minutes hollering for anyone trapped under the fallen stage and equipment, and then hauled road barriers away to make room for emergency vehicles.

As I paused for a moment in the pouring rain I noticed the group’s leader, guitarist Rick Neilson behaving more like emergency crew than rock star. He was searching for everyone that he knew was on the stage. He was at the hip of a fallen team member (the band’s truck driver) who was badly injured in the collapse. He was communicating with the few inexperienced festival grounds workers during those initial minutes of shock and panic immediately following the stage collapse. I thought to myself, most performers would be in their trailers, perhaps on the phones with their attorneys after such an incident.

Rick Neilson clearly considered this event a family tragedy. This probably explains why band members, crew and fans have been so loyal to him. This was not a rock personality in front of me in the pouring rain, lightning flashing over our heads. These were the behaviours of a military commander or any archetypical leader in a crisis.

Perhaps this explains why the group has survived the music business for approximately four decades. They were at the height of their rock music popularity in the late seventies and early eighties, but like most classic rock groups, as styles and commercial radio changed, the group’s space in the limelight dwindled. But here they were making a long overdue return to Ottawa Ontario, in front of 10-15 thousand fans, on a huge stage with a ton of equipment about to fall on them.
Any business or industry tends to destroy the selfish. I’m sure that holds true in the music business. But if Neilson’s actions during this catastrophe are representative of his care for the family that are Cheap Trick and the music they create, then leadership and rock ‘n roll have thankfully coexisted.

You can get more on this near catastrophe on the band’s website at http://www.cheaptrick.com