Stories from the Edge of Music #61: THREE BLUES STORIES
Plus part 2 of Kayt Lucas's life high above the concert stage
My friend and neighbour Kayt Lucas was one of the first women to work in Canada as a rigger — she’ll be high above the stage, building the sets (and later tearing them down) at the next major concert you could be at.
This is Part 2 of her story — with some backstage glimpses of working with Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, and more.
A WOMAN IN A MAN’S WORK: HOW KAYT LUCAS BECAME A STAGE WORKER
How and when did you get started?
I moved from Calgary to Toronto in 1995 to study dance, and by 1998, I began combining it with climbing — something that came naturally, having grown up near the Alberta mountains. That year, I toured the Southern U.S. with an aerial dance company before joining Toronto’s High Xposure Rock Climbing Dance Theatre.
High X was a wildly creative group of climbers, spelunkers, scientists, actors, and more — I found real confidence. A year later, I took a week-long rigging course with Jay Glerum and others — I was the only woman among 45 men.
On the first day, I overheard comments that I didn’t “belong.” But Jay opened with an accident analysis involving a fatal aerial dance case. After that, no one questioned my presence.
How hard was it to win acceptance as a woman in a male-dominated field?
Initially, I was treated with a lot of cruel, misogynist taunting for not “putting out” anything except actual rigging. Although my presence was gradually, begrudgingly accepted, I was viewed as a threat. Intelligent women were considered scary, so I mostly kept quiet, but I did find allies and mentors who supported my aspirations. I quietly shared ideas with supportive colleagues, so my suggestions would be taken seriously coming from a man. By year three, my input was finally more welcome.
Within a few years of me gaining acceptance, a handful of new serious female riggers arrived, and then more and more. What I’m most pleased about is that none have had to fight quite so hard as I did — to simply be themselves. When I look back, I can recognize that there were incidents of sexual assault and coercion, but at the time I simply lived through it — I knew it could be worse; that was the landscape in stage work at that time.
I wanted to rig and that was that.
Are more women doing this work now and are you helping to train them?
In Toronto, at any rate, the rigging scene is changing — at a recent stadium concert, about 40 per cent of the local rigging crew were women. This isn’t an exception; it’s a trend. We’ve moved past the idea that only men have the odd mix of skills for this job.
Mentorship is something I deeply value and enjoy. I train women and men alike and take pride in demystifying rigging for the next generation. It matters to me that young riggers have access to the knowledge and opportunities my peers and I had to fight for.
What are the most memorable shows you’ve worked on?
Bruce Springsteen at Skydome, early 2000s. Bruce was on fire that night. He personally requested that we open the roof for him, and because the stage structure was entirely ground supported, we could. The full moon and a bright red Mars were visible, and I was operating a spotlight, hung on a downstage truss over the audience.
I’ll never forget how Springsteen howled at the moon, as he slid upon his knees during one particularly epic guitar solo. This show remains my number one favourite concert of all time.
Green Day at Molson Park, early 2000s. There was a huge storm that night that knocked out much of the stage lighting, but luckily not the sound. The band, at their peak, carried on like true pros, with the eerie half-lighting adding to the atmosphere. As the band finished, fireworks erupted behind the stage, stunning the audience. Just as they began to leave, an even bigger display launched behind them. The show seemed to expand and dissolve into the night. It was so beautiful it brought me to tears.
Iron Maiden at Budweiser Stage, 2019. They had a special rigging operation fly a full-sized replica bomber. It appeared in a brief 10-second blackout and vanished just as quickly. How did they do it? I’ll never tell.
Taylor Swift at Skydome, 2024. Hands-down the most high-functioning, professional show I’ve ever been part of. The production mixed theatrical, dance and concert tech protocols like never before and there were so many secrets built into the stage in ingenious ways.
My best memory is how kind, generous and relaxed her touring crew was. She surrounds herself with brilliant and caring people and sets the tone with her discipline, her compassion, and her poise. In a world of cheap toys, she’s built her show on integrity. Truly brilliant.
Rolling Stones, 2019. We built their epic stage up at Burls Creek, north of Toronto, with massive banks of bleachers for a stadium set-up. I was on the list of spot operators, and being the most senior, had first choice, and of course I chose Mick. So Mick Jagger and I danced together for hours into the night, my light and his everything, entertaining 60,000 joyful fans. Mick loves to turn, back to the audience, and do a move or two to his own shadow. Fun! Near the end of the show, he expressed a series of jazz hands in my direction, which I took for his way of saying thank you. I slightly winked my light in response. Career highlight for sure.
Are there other highlights you remember?
They’d include Drake’s 2017 scale model of the CN Tower on stage — the heaviest, most closely monitored rig I’ve ever worked on. And Snoop Dogg’s 2023 Budweiser Stage concert was the loudest show I’ve experienced; it even shook the spotlight platforms.
I also can’t forget the mid-2000s Poison concerts, where the spot operators had to wear fireproof suits and gas masks thanks to the intense pyro.
I won’t dwell on the disappointing shows! Some artists and their crews have been disorganized, arrogant or unsafe, which is especially sad when I’ve loved their albums.
What’s next? Do you have a backup plan?
Backup plans? Well… how long can a woman do this job? No idea. I have no female counterparts ahead of me, so the long-term effects on a woman’s body are a mystery.
Will menopause end it? I hope not! But I do need more recovery time after tough climbing shifts and I’m not as strong as I was in my twenties — but I’m still working alongside younger folks, so I’m good for now.
Approaching 50, I wonder if I can rig another five or ten years. Could a woman rig ’til she’s 60? Guys do, so maybe. But, realistically, I do have a backup plan.
I’ve been a seamstress since my teens, hold an industrial design degree, and have some engineering experience. Combine that with my love of cars… upholstery! If it takes five to ten years to get really good, that’s fine — I’ve got time, and it would make for an appealing retirement.
But I’ll never stop loving rigging — it’s been an extraordinary calling. I’m so grateful.
++++++++++++++++
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE
For both parts of this story about Kayt Lucas, some special thanks to Mariska Martina for her editing skills, Lisa Macintosh for the photographs, and (of course) to Kayt herself. And thanks always to Jill Flohil for copyediting the stuff I write, and to Michael Barclay for coping with the technical part of getting these stories to you.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THREE TRUE BLUES STORIES ABOUT THREE BLUES HEROES: BUDDY, MUDDY & THE WOLF
I’ve told some of these stories before, but if you can’t repeat a good story…
In good company with good people
Earlier this year, Toronto musician, singer and songwriter Trombone Charlotte and I were backstage at Massey Hall with Buddy Guy. He insisted that this was his last tour. “Look,” he added, “you and I are among the last people standing. I’m 88, you’re 90, Bobby Rush down in Louisiana is 92, and there’s that guy in Austin who smokes a lot of weed… yeah, Willie Nelson, I dunno how old he is now.”
Guess I’m in really good company.
+++++++++++++++++
Meeting Muddy Waters for the first time
The cab driver outside the railway station in Chicago shook his head. “Not going there,” he said firmly. Two more cab drivers told me the same thing.
And then I realized what the problem was: 47th and Vincennes is in the heart of the South Side; I needed a Black cab driver.
“Whaddya wanna go there for?” asked the driver I approached. “It’s a bar called Smitty’s Corner,” I told him. “Muddy Waters is playing there.”
“Got any money on you? If you do, put it in your shoe,” he instructed as the car pulled away. “It ain’t the best part of town.”
When I stepped into the club, the band was taking a break. Everyone, without exception, turned to stare at me. I approached the bartender: “I’m from England, and my friend Chris Barber, who brought Mr. Waters to England, said I should visit the club, and…”
He looked up, and shouted, “MUD.” A tall man, wearing a gunmetal grey suit, black shirt and a white tie approached, carefully looking me up and down. Then he gravely shook my hand, and the room relaxed.
It was 1962. And I had met a hero from my teenage years.
+++++++++++++++++
Hearing the Wolf; saved by a Mexican hooker
Back in 1961, when I walked into Smitty’s Corner, on Chicago’s South Side, Muddy Waters’ audience were curious; what one earth was this young white kid doing here? A few years later, when I went to hear Howlin’ Wolf at a sketchy bar on the city’s West Side, folk were hostile.
Wolf’s band was offstage and in the awkward silence that greeted me, an attractive Mexican woman sitting next to the stage beckoned me over.
“You’re a stranger here,” she said. Wow, I thought, how can she tell? “Well,” she continued, “in my line of work, I deal with strangers all the time, but I’m not working tonight. So sit down, we’ll have some drinks. And if anyone fucks with you, they’ll be fucking with me, and they won’t like it.”
We might even have danced; I can’t remember. I do recall that Wolf’s band was amazing; and that he was the most powerful, scary, ugliest, biggest Black man I’d ever seen. At closing time my new friend and I kissed cheeks.
And outside the club I was mugged by a group of teenagers who stole my glasses. For $10, they gave them back, and I stopped a cab and went back uptown.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AND NEXT TIME: STORIES ABOUT THE “KING” OF THE BLUES
More blues content coming: A wonderful article by Toronto pianist, photographer and writer Bill King. He ran it in May on his excellent Substack, Sound and Reason. He took the picture too — one of the best shots of B.B. King I’ve ever seen.
BEHIND THE DREADED PAYWALL: PERSONAL STUFF FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
And, for my paid subscribers, some personal non-musical stuff behind the dreaded paywall. Maybe, if you read this, you’ll add some childhood memories of your own for a future post. (Use the comment button!)
Oh, and a party invitation as well.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Stories from the Edge of Music to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.