Looking after Flea\u2019s kids, holding onto Dave Grohl\u2019s guitar and being blessed by the Dalai Lama were all in a day\u2019s work for Darryl Butler, who spent 15 years as a concert and event security guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I started doing security in 2007. They were advertising in local newspapers for security guards to start at Vector [now Spark] Arena. I hadn\u2019t done security [before]. I was a music fan. I\u2019d been to hundreds of concerts \u2013 Gwen Stefani, Pink, whatever tickled my fancy, I\u2019d go. I wanted to be on the other side. It was something different and I guess I\u2019m a bit imposing. They paid us $14 an hour. We had to wear these horrible green shirts.<\/p>\n
Six months before it opened, they got us all into the main bowl at Vector. There were 40 of us. Guys were painting the floor, putting seats in up the top. They were like, \u201cThis is the best thing since sliced bread\u201d. They explained the production corridor and the green rooms. They told us, \u201cDon\u2019t talk to artists, don\u2019t annoy them\u201d. We were taught that you could be doing anything, scanning tickets, bag searching, or you could be on the barrier.<\/p>\n
On the barrier, you\u2019re basically looking for anyone trying to signal you. When they all pack in at the front, the crowd moves as one. It\u2019s quite eerie, yet within that, you\u2019re looking for someone with an arm up waving. The worst nightmare is somebody going down in the middle of the moshpit, because the crowd generally moves forward over them and they get punished. You\u2019re looking for people panicking. I\u2019ve pulled kids out of the front before the show\u2019s even started, puking, out cold, fainted. Their night\u2019s done, they\u2019re not coming back.<\/p>\n
The Red Hot Chili Peppers show [in 2007] was my first experience backstage. The lights went out and everybody went crazy. Then they came out the door and walked past me. I was like, \u201cHoly shit \u2013 that\u2019s the Red Hot Chili Peppers.\u201d My supervisor said, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to watch them,\u201d and I had to stand and watch Flea\u2019s wife and daughter. I had to make sure no one came through and disturbed them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I got called up to the barrier one night and they said, \u201cA hole has opened up in the middle of the crowd, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, can you go and have a look?\u201d So I\u2019ve got to go in. Someone had puked on the floor. The cleaner\u2019s got to go in, so you\u2019ve got to escort the cleaner \u2013 \u201cGet out of the way, move, move, move\u201d \u2013\u00a0because they\u2019ve got to go clean up this mess.<\/p>\n
When the Dalai Lama came in 2007, me and five others had the highest security rating in New Zealand to be around him. My bosses weren\u2019t allowed around him. There were protests outside. We worked with the diplomatic protection squad. They had a car backed up with an AK-47 loaded and ready to go in case he was threatened. They took it seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dalai Lama came out with his entourage. He was cackling away. Then he stopped right in front of me, and an almighty calm came over me. It was really weird. He reached out and touched my arm, smiled at me, and walked off. Later that day, one of his entourage caught up with me and goes, \u201cDo you know you were blessed by the Dalai Lama? And it wasn\u2019t scripted? He saw something in you, and he blessed you.\u201d I didn\u2019t feel any different.<\/p>\n
At a Split Enz show [in 2008], a couple had come up from Rotorua and they were up in their seats. They had a couple of young kids behind them. Split Enz came out and it must have been the first or second song, and one of the kids leaned over and covered them head to toe in spew.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They took them out, cleaned them up and said, \u201cLook, we\u2019ll give you free tickets\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You\u2019re not supposed to talk to [the stars]. Their security gives our security a brief and says, \u201cThis is what we\u2019re looking for, this is what we want.\u201d The general rule is, you\u2019re nice to them, you say hello to them, but you don\u2019t engage them, you don\u2019t talk to them about the weather, because they have a job to do. They come in and they\u2019re focused. They can walk past you and not even know you\u2019re there, they\u2019re so focused on what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are always exceptions. Eric Clapton walked around the arena before the show by himself with no security. I swear, no one recognised him. Justin Timberlake bought this massive big entertainment cabinet, it had everything he needed. They just wheeled it straight into his dressing room. He was there playing video games. He told my supervisor, \u201cCome sit and play with me.\u201d They\u2019re there playing games on the couch. He was a real kid backstage.<\/p>\n
At a Foo Fighters show [in 2008], Dave Grohl came out. I was holding onto his guitar and heard him go, \u201cCome on, motherfuckers.\u201d He hadn\u2019t played a note and he just got this eruption from fans. I have never experienced anything like that. It was unbelievable. He was God before he\u2019d even done anything. He\u2019s the nicest guy you\u2019ll ever meet. He\u2019s wonderful. He spent two and a half hours with these kids he\u2019d met on Queen Street after the show, mentoring them.<\/p>\n
I heard horrible stories about Metallica. The crowd was mental. It was just out of control. The guitarist for Matchbox 20 flicked guitar picks off my head all night. You\u2019ve got to cop it. You can\u2019t react. The drummer for P.O.D broke his drumstick, kicked it off the stage and it hit me. Thank you very much, I\u2019ll have that. Finders keepers. I\u2019ve got the only setlist from when Lady Gaga opened for The Pussycat Dolls in 2009.<\/p>\n
Art Garfunkel made a security guard cry. He didn\u2019t know what the hell he\u2019d done wrong. Paul Simon\u2019s lovely, but as you may have noticed, there\u2019s been no tour from them [together] since 2009. It\u2019s something to behold, watching them on stage, but Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always issues. There are issues with ticketing, issues with drunk people, issues with drugs. It\u2019s all the time. People are trying to test you. You always get people that will probe security. It\u2019s one of those things. They tell you, \u201cYou\u2019re a bastard,\u201d or, \u201cGo get fucked\u201d. It is different. It depends on the act. Swifties aren\u2019t all going to be blazing up joints, you know? Someone like Kings of Leon, everyone\u2019s tooting on the old whistle, and you have to deal with that. They\u2019ll go, \u201cSomebody\u2019s smoking weed, can you go in there and have a look?\u201d You immediately know who they are. I\u2019d tell them, \u201cYou\u2019ve got two options: I can bring the police in, or you can share.\u201d They\u2019d always share, \u201cOh, here bro!\u201d<\/p>\n
Nine Inch Nails [in 2009] is one of my top concerts. I\u2019ve seen 600 concerts and that\u2019s up there. Trent Reznor was so mad, he was just raging. The best one is Leonard Cohen [in 2009]. I got goosebumps. I get goosebumps now talking about it. Him singing \u2018Hallelujah\u2019, it was just mind-blowing. I was standing at the sound desk watching this 74-year-old cranking it out.<\/p>\n
I worked for Vector Arena for two years, then I went to Auckland Live and worked with them through to the World Cup in 2011. I\u2019ve seen guys turn up to a rugby game at Eden Park. They were carrying a coffin filled with beer. It was full-size. I\u2019ve held up the Bledisloe Cup, I\u2019ve held up the Tri-Nations Cup, I\u2019ve held up the Rugby World Cup. No one saw.<\/p>\n
I did mobile patrols for a while. I went to a site one night, and there was a guy having sex in a car with a prostitute. I knocked on the window and said, \u201cI appreciate what you\u2019re doing, and good on you, I appreciate the effort, but you can\u2019t do it here.\u201d He goes, \u201cBro! Can I just finish and leave?\u201d \u201cYeah bro, finish up.\u201d I got called to a bloody pig running down the side of the airport.<\/p>\n
I did security for 15 years. It was a good time. It was fun to do, but it wasn\u2019t really strict. It\u2019s obviously gotten stricter as time has gone on. Why did I leave? You\u2019re just treated like shit. Everyone treats you like shit. It\u2019s full of sharks.<\/p>\n
\u2013 As told to Chris Schulz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Looking after Flea\u2019s kids, holding onto Dave Grohl\u2019s guitar and being blessed by the Dalai Lama were all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69,1066,96594],"class_list":["post-606397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pop-culture","tag-spark-arena"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}