Giggs Podcast

Episodet

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  Ask Giggs #9 | What Great Crews Do That Nobody Notices 18.08.2026 12min

  On this edition of Ask Giggs, Nikki Sanz answers questions straight from the Giggs community on topics like when trying to look competent on a job site becomes the problem, how to know when to step in as a leader versus letting someone figure it out, and when to say yes or no to a gig. What you'll learn: Why pretending to know what's going on is the fastest way to look like "a big dummy" on a job siteThe line between stepping in as a leader and letting someone learn it the hard wayWhy the cat...
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  #68 Adam Wells | From Pub Sound Guy to Ed Sheeran's Audio Systems Engineer 11.08.2026 1h 10min

  Adam Wells has spent nine years inside Ed Sheeran's touring operation, working his way from PA tech to audio systems engineer, the role responsible for the entire technical backbone of one of the most complex stadium shows on earth. He was offered the job twice before he finally said yes, then stepped into it for the first time in front of a quarter of a million people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Along the way he's worked on productions for Bryan Adams, Tom Jones, Queen & Adam Lamber...
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  #67 Rachel Deeb | Why The Lumineers Media Director Can’t Stay Away from Touring 28.07.2026 1h 1min

  Rachel Deeb got fired from a cubicle job three months after moving to Nashville, sat in her closet crying, and called her dad for help with the car she'd just bought. That was the beginning. Ten years later, she's the Media Director for The Lumineers — managing a global team of photographers and videographers across a two-year stadium tour cycle — Nashville Scene's Best Photographer three years in a row, and the founder of ELEKTRIK Haus Creative, a matchmaking agency connecting the music indu...
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  #66 Nikki Boon & Tyler Corrado | The Entrepreneurial Artist Managers Behind Kane Brown, Nightly, & Restless Road 21.07.2026 1h 4min

  Two artist managers from Neon Coast — one who came up through the road with Kane Brown, one who came up through finance, record labels, and social media — and both will tell you the same thing: you just have to figure it out. Nikki Boon has been with Kane Brown since before his first show — a 750-cap club in Darlington, South Carolina that sold out in 30 minutes, then again in 8 minutes the following night. She's been with him from van and RV to his own bar on Broadway. She also manages alt-p...
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  #65 | How Rock-It Moves the FIFA World Cup & The World's Biggest Tours 06.07.2026 1h 20min

  The Rock-It Company has been the logistics engine behind the world's largest music tours for 47 years. Every stage you've ever stood in front of — odds are, they got it there. This summer, they're doing that and something else: serving as the official logistics partner for the FIFA World Cup 2026, the largest sporting event in world history, spanning three countries, 16 host cities, and 104 matches. Giggs traveled to Los Angeles for an inside look at the people and systems making both happen ...
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  #64 | Backstage at the 20th Annual CMA Touring Awards 23.06.2026 1h 26min

  For the 20th annual CMA Touring Awards, Giggs went backstage at The Pinnacle in Nashville and talked to over 20 winners, nominees, and industry leaders across one night. We open with outgoing CMA CEO Sarah Trahern — her 13th and final Touring Awards — and SVP of Industry Relations Tiffany Kerns, on peer recognition, what this event means to the touring community, and what they're building for the next generation. Winners featured in this episode: Meg Miller — Tour Manager of the Year | Lainey...
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  #63 Alex McNamara | How the Trades Saved Her Life 16.06.2026 1h 10min

  Alex McNamara is a technical director, welder, rigger, and Yale School of Drama graduate who installed the turntable for the original Hamilton production, led 600 workers on a $300 million Soundstorm build in Saudi Arabia, and built her career one job site at a time as one of the only women in the room. She's also the founder of Built Pretty — which she started a year ago on a forklift at an LA art fair and has since grown to 350k+ followers. This episode covers the tools she keeps on her bel...
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  #62 Ryan Maag | The Creative Director Who Choreographed the Olympics 09.06.2026 1h 3min

  Ryan Maag started as a backup dancer on the Weird Al Yankovic tour in 1998 and figured out fast that the person choreographing makes more than the person performing. Twenty-something years later, he's been creative director for NFL halftime shows on two continents, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and the D-Day ceremonies in Normandy, France — shaking hands with five-star generals and the President of the United States and quietly asking himself how a kid from Philadelphia got here. Now ...
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  #61 Neville Shende | What Prince Taught a Bus Driver about 5-Star Service 26.05.2026 1h 13min

  Neville Shende — known on the road as NELVIS — has spent more than 40 years in the concert touring world. He started as a guitarist and guitar tech in Winnipeg, stumbled into bus driving on a 9/11-disrupted Aerosmith run, and spent the next four decades driving for some of the most iconic artists in the world: Prince, Madonna, Alicia Keys, Black Sabbath, Shakira, Ronnie James Dio, Papa Roach, Disturbed, and many more. This one is full of stories. Prince skipping soundcheck to look at a lake, ...
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  #60 Mandi Naylor | Feeding Thousands at the NFL Draft, Super Bowl, & Bonnaroo 19.05.2026 1h 1min

  Mandi Naylor has spent over a decade running food and beverage at some of the biggest events in the country — the NFL Draft, the Super Bowl, Bonnaroo, ACL, Lollapalooza, CMA Fest, KAABOO, and the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. She's managed catering for commissioners, artists, and crews of thousands. Now she leads events for the Robertson County Chamber of Commerce in Tennessee. This conversation gets into what catering actually looks like at scale: feeding thousands of people three to four meal...
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  Giggs Rewind: Rachael Bronstein | Managing Money on the Move 12.05.2026 49min

  We're bringing back one of the most practical conversations from the Giggs archive. Nikki Sanz sits down with Rachael Bronstein, founder of Life's Jam — a financial coaching service built specifically for the touring and live events community. 70% of music industry professionals are freelancers. Just under half report feeling financially anxious or stressed. Rachael has spent the last few years building the resources most of this industry never had — coaching tour managers, road crew, and mus...
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  #59 Brandon "Fitz" Fitzgerald | Rigging Beyoncé's & Post Malone's World Tours 05.05.2026 41min

  Recorded live at Rock Lititz, Brandon "Fitz" Fitzgerald is back by popular demand after his previous episode (#19) became one of the most-DM'd conversations we've ever put out. One year later, Fitz comes back with a year on the road that includes Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter, Post Malone's world tour, Playboi Carti, and a set up in New Orleans during the city's biggest snowstorm in 55 years. Fitz gets into what it was like joining a Beyoncé rigging team full of legends he watched as a 19-year-old ...
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  Giggs Rewind: Marty Hom | Tour Managing Legends… Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, Shakira, Olivia Rodrigo 28.04.2026 1h

  We're bringing back one of the most popular conversations from the Giggs archive. Nikki Sanz sits down with Marty Hom — a true legend of the touring world with 40+ years of experience tour managing The Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, Fleetwood Mac, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Nicks, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Van Halen, Olivia Rodrigo, Lionel Richie, and more. Marty started with Bill Withers in 1985 as one of the only Asian Americans in the industry. Four decades later, he's the guy making $1...
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  #58 Doug Wilson | From Van Driver to Tour Director 21.04.2026 31min

  Recorded live at Rock Lititz, Nikki Sanz sits down with Doug Wilson — long-time tour manager and Director of Touring — for a grounded, honest look at what 20 years on the road teaches you. Doug's path started with a chance encounter with a tour manager in catering in Glasgow, Scotland. He bought a Sprinter van, converted it with his dad, and four months later was on his first US tour. From there: bus tours, arenas, eight years with Half Moon Run, world tours with Fletcher, and a final show th...
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  #57 The Future of Virtual Production | Kingfisher by LEO Events 07.04.2026 45min

  Recorded in Nashville, TN, this special docuseries episode of The Giggs Podcast steps inside Kingfisher Production Studio, the new virtual production offering from LEO Events. Nikki Sanz walks through the space and talks with the team behind it to see how virtual worlds are built, lit, filmed, and finished. This episode is worth your time if you work in production, post, creative, live events, or brand storytelling and want to understand what virtual production actually takes. The team breaks...
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  #56 The Music Industry’s Health Crisis | Theresa Wolters (MusiCares) 31.03.2026 49min

  What does real support for music professionals actually look like when the gigs stop, the bills pile up, or the stress gets too heavy? In this episode, Nikki Sanz sits down with Theresa Wolters, Executive Director of MusiCares, to talk about the health, financial, and emergency realities facing people across the music industry. They get into the gap between how glamorous the industry can look from the outside and how vulnerable it often feels from the inside. Theresa shares how MusiCares help...
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  #55 Patrick Ledwith | Building Stadium Tours for U2, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Beyonce 24.03.2026 31min

  Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Patrick Ledwith, Managing Director of North America for ES Global, reflecting on a career that spans nearly four decades across touring, staging, and large-scale live production. Patrick takes Nikki Sanz from his start as a 17-year-old stagehand in London to building stages on U2’s Joshua Tree run, managing major tours, and eventually stepping into executive leadership. Along the way, he shares what has changed in live events, what has not, ...
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  #54 Kyana White | From WME Intern to Tour & Production Manager 17.03.2026 39min

  Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Kyana White, a tour manager and production manager whose path into touring did not start on a bus. It started in TV, in internships, in low-paid PA work, and in learning how major productions actually come together behind the scenes. Kyana walks Nikki Sanz through the real story: how she went from the WME mailroom and award show production into touring, how cold outreach helped her land opportunities with Janelle Monáe’s camp, and how those ...
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  #53 What Tour Life Really Does to Families | Stage Wives 10.03.2026 1h 11min

  Behind every tour is a whole other job happening offstage: parenting, schedules, safety, emotions, and the quiet pressure of “don’t make this harder for them.” In this episode, Nikki Sanz talks with Rachel Smith and Rhyan Shirley, founders of Stage Wives—a support community built for women navigating life while their partners work in the touring industry. They share what this lifestyle can do to connection, communication, and family rhythms—and the practical tools that help couples stay align...
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  #52 Suzi Meyer | Pay vs. Respect: What Crews Actually Want 24.02.2026 37min

  Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Suzi Meyer, Chief of Staff, in a candid conversation about workforce development, burnout, leadership, and the future of live events. If you care about crew culture, retention, or building a sustainable career in this industry, this one hits home. Suzi breaks down what COVID exposed, why respectful leadership is outperforming pay in recent polling, and how we can stop “accidentally” entering the industry and start building real pathways. Wha...