SOME OF WHAT I KNOW ABOUT ANDY POLLARD
Andrew Pollard was born at Halifax General Hospital on 24th March 1976. He died in New York, USA on 18th June 2021 of a natural but unidentified cause.
He was the second of four children: Emma, Andy, Frazer and Brian, born to mum Carol and dad David, nephew to Chris.
Andy is survived by his partner Sophie and their two children, Arlo and Ren.
Many people knew Andy. He was popular and busy in his family, social and professional worlds.
This is some of what I know about him, no doubt other people’s recollections will be quite different.
STANDING TALL
Andy was a big man, in height and reputation.
I had the unbelievable privilege of knowing him twice. Firstly as a friend since school days and secondly as a fellow professional in the lighting industry. A double-scoop of an extraordinary person.
Despite the sadness of his death, I feel intense gratitude that he helped shape my life and the lives of others who knew him.
In later life, I came to regard Andy as a bit of a saintly figure, definitely not in the ‘never-put-a-foot-wrong’ way (it’s well-known that Andy enjoyed a rock star lifestyle at times), but in his down to earth charisma and his ability to shape the world around him by giving people a lift up.
Andy had a special, almost super-human way about him. He’d overcome a lot in his life but that somehow stepped him up, not held him back.
It seemed to give him a wisdom and a disposition that could inspire people who came into contact with him — professionally and socially – on stage in the worlds biggest stadiums or on his and Sophie’s allotment in Skircoat Green, Halifax, just around the corner from the hospital where he was born.
Technically he wasn’t quite 7 feet tall, but he was always the tallest person around and a whole head taller than 6 feet, so people often assumed he was.
In stage lighting ‘reach’ is what gets noticed, which is ‘height plus arm length’, and Andy had an incredible reach.
He looked like a slim guy but his jeans could measure up to 48 inches at the waist. It all contributed to his slightly mythical giant aura.
EARLY LIFE
Andy’s first home was on Rochdale Road in Ripponden, near to Dan Casaru. Andy and Dan became close friends and they stayed that way throughout Andy’s life.
He attended Ripponden Junior and Infants, then Ryburn Valley High, which is where I first met him.
He wasn’t a natural academic but excelled at sport, especially football — he was a reliable defender who played for the school team and Greetland in the local Sunday football league, and golf, which he played at Ryburn Golf club.
He was a popular kid and became integral to a tight knit group of school friends who he stayed close to for the rest of his life: Dan, Billy, Mathew, Gareth, Gavin, Jolly, Tara, Joanne and others through their countless events and adventures together.
Jamie Brook was another popular kid in Andy’s school friend group, who died after being hit by a car while he and Andy were still at Ryburn. It was a formative experience for the people Jamie left behind and while grieving Andy, we can’t help but also think of Jamie and the life he might have lived.
The group expanded after GCSE’s, to include Malc and Mark who both moved into the house on Rochdale Road, where Andy lived with sister Emma and also Kirsty.
The scope of the adventures also expanded - to Ibiza, Mexico and beyond.
Malc, Mark, Andy and Billy went on to live together at Bayswater Terrace, Skircoat Green, until Andy got his own place, a house on Trooper Lane, Halifax, that he could call his own.
Even during the touring years when Andy was away for months on end, he kept his base in Halifax and on his return he’d pick up exactly where he left off, there was never any sense that this would change.
Loyalty was important to Andy and there are very many examples of this among his peer group and professional life.
FLEDGING CAREER
The school system wasn’t set up to realise Andy’s potential, but he defied expectations and in recent years had become an internationally significant figure in his field of expertise: stage management.
Andy was a grafter who started young and came a long way. His first job was delivering milk before school each morning, his last job was to deliver the Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden, the first post-COVID concert at ‘the worlds most famous arena’.
His stellar career made him into a bit of a celebrity in the community he grew up in and never left behind.
The transition from regular work to ‘rock and roll’ began in very un-rock and roll style. Andy knew that school wasn’t the right fit, but his future, outside school, was uncertain.
His concerned mother took it upon herself to ask John Anderton, to give Andy a trial at White Light (North), the lighting rental company he ran on Corporation Street, Sowerby Bridge (in the building now occupied by JC Joels).
It was Andy’s big rock and roll break, but an unglamorous one — cleaning, testing, repairing and coiling piles of dirty, tangled cable that returned from venues and touring productions.
He nailed it and found time to form relationships on the shop floor, especially with Alex Day, Colin Wright, Ray Wharmby and Helena Walker.
I know how tough this gig was because, when Andy was eventually promoted to ‘the bench’ (where he cleaned, tested and repaired the lighting hire stock), he changed my life forever by helping to make sure the boss gave me his old job.
Starting out at the very bottom shaped Andy’s world view forever. He went on to stage manage one of the biggest bands in the world but never forgot what it felt like to be at the bottom.
Social media content posted after his death pays tribute to the profound respect he always showed the people who deserved it, regardless of rank, on his journey to the top.
White Light was a great starting point, a place to learn the fundamentals of lighting.
Andy was scared of heights when he started, which was conquered by being taught to abseil from the first floor fire escape. Within a few weeks Andy was rappelling from the roof of the McAlpine Stadium, rigging parcans for an REM / Beautiful South concert.
Alex Day in particular was instrumental in teaching Andy a science based understanding of power, rigging and light.
This foundation paid dividends later in his career when he often needed to cut through the various production bullshit that people and circumstances presented to him.
BREAKING OUT
Shipping equipment from an almost windowless warehouse in Sowerby Bridge, to more exciting places in the UK and beyond gave Andy a profound sense of what was possible.
Also, Jack Thompson worked for White Light but had legendary (to us at least) freelance experiences that filled our heads with a sense of what could be achieved in the outside world.
Our first effort to break out was when we negotiated with management to support us both doing a City & Guilds Electrical Engineering course at Calderdale College.
After just a few weeks, this came to feel like the school system we’d both escaped from and we quietly dropped out.
On the plus side, we’d earned some trust of hire manager, Jon ‘JB’ Bird, building small lighting installations in local venues.
When we didn’t mess them up, we were allowed to take on projects with more gear that were further afield.
We’d leave the warehouse in a van full of lighting equipment and set off on an adventure.
Later in life we reminisced about these trips. We didn’t realise it at the time, but they were important instalments in both our careers in the lighting industry.
I can’t honestly remember how this started, but we’d kick off each trip by buying a box of King Edward Invincible cigars from Dino’s newsagent next door. Van… motorway… LOUD stereo… big cigars…
We couldn’t believe they were paying us double time to do something we’d have gladly done for free (no doubt management were billing us to clients at double that again and more).
There was no way back from the taste of adventure and self-belief those experiences gave us.
Typical gigs were low-end boxing nights in London and elsewhere for the then fledgling Sky Sports channel. Budgets were shoestring — digs were the cheapest hotels or B&B in someone’s house.
On the flip side, expectations were also realistic and these jobs were an unbelievable opportunity to learn each aspect of a production in miniature.
Things rarely went to plan: in Norwich, the house sparkie turned the power off and went home before we’d got the truss on the floor. That was fun. In Bethnal Green Town Hall, a hard-guy boxing promoter accused us of stealing his coat. Andy stood his ground.
They were endless lessons in problem solving that money couldn’t buy. Whether it was people, technology or getting equipment out of a vehicle and into the air. Andy could sort it.
I never had the pleasure of working with him on the rock and roll gigs, but he’d describe his experiences in detail - the situations he dealt with back then were basically miniature versions of what he went on to manage at stadium scale, later in life.
GOING SOLO
Freelancing was the next logical step for anyone doing our jobs, but it was unclear how we could make it happen.
The Puzzle Hall inn was around the corner from White Light and lighting people passed through while sorting projects. We’d get talking with anyone we could in the hope that an opportunity would come our way.
I was first to get a break - freelance work for Benny Ball, a lighting designer.
If there’s one thing I did for Andy in return for all that he did for me, it was the after work sessions, in the Murgatroyd Arms in Skircoat Green working on his CV and planning the future.
Leaving secure, paid employment is a big leap for young working class people paying their own way in life, but it had to happen. Andy eventually made the leap.
Helped with recommendations from his former colleagues, Jack, Jeff, Alex, JB and others he inevitably began picking up work from Mick Habigan and one or two others.
Dave ‘Robbo’ Robinson was an important figure during this transition. As well as work, he gave Andy mentorship and became one of the influences in Andy’s journey towards being a top professional.
I did various bits and pieces with Andy around this time, including a memorable lighting installation at the Loch Lomond visitors centre with Stefan Hoohenkirk.
Eventually Andy got an introduction to Lite Alternative in Blackburn and the rest is history.
Andy started work on his first concerts and began to lay the foundations for what would become his extraordinary career in rock and roll, firstly as a general lighting professional, then, from 2009 onwards, Stage Manager – with wide ranging responsibility for everything stage related – from building it, to all the technology and people on it and ultimately making show time happen.
ANDY’S CAREER
LIGHTING RENTAL TECHNICIAN | 1994 →
- White Light North Ltd 1994–2001
FREELANCE LIGHTING SERVICES | 2001 →
- Iggy Pop 2016
- Arctic Monkeys 2014
- Stone Roses 2013
- Bjork 2013
- Leona Lewis 2013
- Kings of Leon 2004,05,07,08,09
- Will Young 2009
- Mark Ronson 2008
- Nine Inch Nails 2007
- Chemical Brothers 2007
- Arcade Fire 2007
- The Hollies 2007
- Snow Patrol 2006
- Belle & Sebastian 2006
- Sigor Ross 2006
- Raconteurs 2006
- James Blunt 2006,07,08,14
- David Grey 2005
- Supergrass 2005
- Interpol 2005
- Feeder 2005
- Mars Volta 2005
- Keane 2004,05
- Yeah Yeah Yeah’s 2004
- Inspiral Carpets 2003
FREELANCE STAGE MANAGEMENT | 2009 →
- Foo Fighters, 2011 – 2021
- Nine Inch Nails 2017
- Arcade Fire 2016
- Beck 2016
- Common People Festival 2016
- Atoms for Peace 2013
- Elbow 2012
- Tenacious D 2012 thru 2013
- Kings of Leon 2010 thru 2011
- Them Crooked Vultures 2009 - 2010
As Andy’s career took off, his confidence did too. This was the biggest change I’d seen in him since school.
As a youngster, Andy didn’t have the greatest amount of self-belief, but somehow, freelancing in general and touring in particular, gave him an opportunity to shine brightly. He lapped it up and he grew strong.
Historically, Yorkshire had been a powerhouse of the industrial revolution, exporting all over the world.
Those days were over by the time Andy reached work age in the late 90’s, but some of the ‘industrial revolution’ energy was in him and he himself became a one man export
I’d moved away by then, first to Amsterdam, then London, and when he was passing through either place, Andy would pass me into gigs.
On the occasions there was no tear down, we’d make a night of it. There were some great nights.
Andy spent the next many years of travelling the world experiencing the highs and lows of rock stars and their promoters.
A notable low was the Live Nation / Radiohead concert in Toronto’s Downsview Park when a temporary stage roof collapsed, killing Scott Johnson.
I’d never seen Andy angry like that before. He wasn’t a party political kind of guy, but he could be very political in his beliefs, especially on the difference between right and wrong.
As an established professional, Andy was big on safety, big on honesty and big on the relationship between corporations, profits and both of these things. He had a lot to say about Downsview Park.
That Andy was so fearless in speaking truth to power is one of the reasons that colleagues held him in such high regard.
He was a true professional. Quality, honesty, integrity meant everything to him and he climbed the greasy pole without sacrificing any of them. The bands he left behind know who they are and why he moved on.
As time went on he got pulled into the gravitational orbit of the Foo Fighters and felt that he’d finally met his match.
I never heard him speak more highly about any production team or band and he had solid things to say about Dave Grohl in particular.
Great productions, great values, great professionalism, he even liked some of their music, which was a major compliment — Andy was a connoisseur.
Music coursed through his veins. I remember him stopping the car to play me Seven Nation Army when it was just released. No distractions — just listen. He listened to a lot of music.
FAMILY GUY
A massive shift in Andy’s life happened when he met and fell for his partner Sophie while on tour.
The bond was strong enough to overcome the complexity of the long distances that often separated them.
The bond grew stronger and together they found a way to fit their careers around starting a family.
The touring lifestyle provides many people with a refuge from the rigidity and fixed structures of normal life. It had served Andy well for many years but fatherhood and his relationship with Sophie had caused him to question it.
In more recent times he’d begun to discuss (hypothetically at least) the benefits of swapping his stellar international career for something more local, to be a more present father / partner.
Sophie had an incredibly positive effect on him, in ways that his friends hadn’t thought possible, and while he himself acknowledged that he wasn’t always an easy or straightforward partner, he spoke deeply about his love of Sophie and their kids.
This was by far the most settled chapter in Andy that I had ever known and he became more interested in fitness, diet and generally doing more of the right stuff, more of the time.
He seemed to grow into himself and became somehow more handsome, more striking. I nearly fell off my chair when he told me he’d got an allotment.
COVID flipped everything on its head and like many people who work in live events, the routine of their lives was changed beyond all recognition.
Sophie, Arlo and Ren were together in ways that had previously been unimaginable.
It was to Sophie’s considerable credit that she was able to manage an Andy who was a handful at the best of times, but was now out-of-work for the first time since leaving school.
The Foo Fighters were supportive and Andy invested the unexpected COVID downtime into his family, friends and the allotment, which bloomed.
FAREWELL
In later years I didn’t see Andy as often, but when we did come together we always picked up right where we’d left off.
Socialising with him was uncomplicated, he was a brilliant conversationalist, very insightful about his work and experiences.
My last memory of being with him was lockdown walking at Stoodley Pike, near Hebden Bridge, discussing Taichi Ohno (Toyota production legend) who I’d recently discovered and come to think of as ‘Japanese Andy Pollard’ because there was so much overlap between his philosophy and the approach to stage management that Andy had developed and embodied.
FOOTNOTE
I loved you man. You changed the whole world a little bit and you changed my world a lot. I don’t have too many friends but you were one of them.
You did the best job of realising your potential of anyone I ever met.
It was a doubly extraordinary fact, given it was very much against the odds of your background and how cut short your life was.
As Arlo and Ren grow up, although they won’t get to experience you being here in person, they will benefit from the very strong legacy that you’ve been able to create and leave behind.
