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A Year After Paris Attacks, Tour Managers Reflect On Security

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A year ago today, terrorists killed 130 people in Paris. Most of them were shot to death during a rock concert at the Bataclan Theater. It's led to some changes in how rock bands tour, as Jerad Walker of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

JERAD WALKER, BYLINE²: Will Hackney is packing gear into a van on a loading dock in Portland, Ore.

WILL HACKNEY: You can't leave any space.

WALKER: He's the bass³ player and tour manager for the band Flock of Dimes⁴.

HACKNEY: So we've got four amps and a ton of guitars and keyboards. It adds up.

WALKER: Over the course of 30 days, the group will travel 8,000 miles and visit 22 cities in the U.S. and Canada, and it's Hackney's job to get them there. Tour managers are responsible for virtually every aspect of planning and executing the trip, and almost anything can go wrong, but...

HACKNEY: You know, in all my years of touring, security has not really been something I've ever had to think about. It usually feels like a pretty safe bubble.

WALKER: For many, that bubble popped last year after the attacks in Paris. Just a few days later, Robin⁵ Laananen was on tour in Belgium with the band Refused.

ROBIN LAANANEN: There was military inside the showroom that I spotted⁶ behind our sound engineer during our show. And that's hard to see people that you love playing music up on stage and knowing that that's a possibility and that could be going through their heads. And then everyone's worried about everybody in that room. It's really hard.

WALKER: Among those killed at the Bataclan was Nick Alexander, one of the crew for the band playing that night, Eagles of Death Metal. Jim Runge was friends with Alexander. Runge's toured with the Black Keys and worked numerous shows at the Bataclan before last year's tragedy. He says it was the catalyst⁷ for some changes to industry practices, particularly an increase in the use of spotters to keep an eye out for anything unusual in the crowd.

JIM RUNGE: You know, there's somebody on stage, whether it be the tour manager, production manager, stage manager. Most shows have somebody who is in charge of calling the show.

WALKER: But he freely admits there's only so much that can be done.

RUNGE: You can check bags to make sure people aren't carrying in, you know, bombs or explosives or guns. But - I hate to even say it, but if someone's coming at your door with automatic weapons, other than having armed guys at the door, protecting that door, which none of us want, you know, what can you do?

WALKER: That sense of helplessness has had a lasting⁸ effect on the psyche⁹ of the touring community, says Chris Coyle, calling from the road on tour with band Red Fang¹⁰ in Malmo, Sweden.

CHRIS COYLE: Bataclan was devastating¹¹. I mean, I don't really know how to put it into words about how I felt about it - was - I mean, it was immediate¹² sorrow. You know, we never thought about having to deal with guns or anything at shows.

WALKER: Although Coyle says he hasn't drastically changed the way he runs tours, he has found himself more and more in the job of spotter.

COYLE: I'm the show-stopper. If I see anything, I will stop the show, and I will get the boys out.

WALKER: Back in Portland, Will Hackney is done packing the van.

HACKNEY: Just barely fits.

WALKER: True to form, he's already shifted his attention to working out the logistics of the band's next stop. But before driving off, he takes a few moments to reflect on the one-year anniversary of the Bataclan attack.

HACKNEY: The point of that attack was to make people scared to have live music and do things like this, and everybody that I know is not going to stop for that.

WALKER: He doesn't have time to stop. He's got 17 cities and 6,000 miles to go. For NPR News, I'm Jerad Walker.