Dead Stages George Fontes on Surviving the Shutdown and Changes S3-EP13

<p>They shut down the weddings, the concerts, the corporate blowouts, and the paychecks. George Fontes (World Ablaze Podcast) ran a 27-year live events and production company with 32 people on payroll when COVID hit. The entire industry went dark. Remote Zoom galas, government-funded church LED walls, tour riders that demand a half-million-dollar console, and the slow realization that once clients buy the gear they stop renting it. Havok and LX sit down with George for an unscripted ride through the wreckage: how installs kept the lights on, why monitor mixing is the real high-wire act, what happens when artists bring 20 channels of backing tracks, the difference between Charlie Daniels and Auto-Tune country, meeting Dio (actually cool), Jerry remembering his name at NAMM, and why the hardest part wasn’t the shutdown it was the years after when budgets collapsed and the economy finally caught up. Then it gets bigger. Crowd psychology, Bernays, the herd, data-center water fights, the AI war, and why thorium keeps getting ignored. No scripts. No sacred cows. Just a guy who’s still mixing.</p>

<p>World Ablaze with George Fontes <a href="https://worldablazepodcast.com">https://worldablazepodcast.com</a></p>

<p>Chapters </p>

<p>00:00 Welcome George Fontes / World Ablaze </p>

<p>00:50 27 years in events, COVID shutdown, remote corporate “concerts” </p>

<p>03:25 Payroll of 32, hustle mode, 1099s, church LED wall installs that saved the company </p>

<p>07:00 Tour riders, Martin Vipers vs what you actually own, millions in gear </p>

<p>11:30 Why a keynote now has a rider, coverage patterns, line arrays, SMART, and actual physics </p>

<p>14:34 Motörhead walls, Jerry Only’s custom bass, and turning it up to 11 </p>

<p>16:21 The real hangover: 2025–2026 budgets, canceled festivals, businesses getting bought </p>

<p>18:33 Groceries, gas, SD cards, and the stock market vs real life </p>

<p>23:38 California venue cards, picking your battles, keeping the crew working </p>