These Roadies Help Stars Rock ’n’ Roll All Night. They’re in Their 70s.

Some of the live music industry’s most respected and consistently working roadies, instrument techs and sound people have been on the job for half a century.

They’re the sound checkers who puff and count into microphones; the runners in black who bring guitars out between songs; the daredevils who climb into the rafters to adjust lights; the spelunkers who burrow under stages to tweak cables. Their job is to create a seamless experience for the music fan and a painless experience for the musician. They keep the live music industry humming, and their ranks might contain more Medicare-eligible employees than any other segment of the music business.

To the musicians who hire them, these seniors are often preferable to younger and less road-tested techs and sound people. “I haven’t filled out a job application in 50 years,” said Frank Gallagher, 77, who is still working on a Las Vegas residency for the B-52’s, which continues in April. (When he started live mixing the Talking Heads in 1977, he had already been in the business for 11 years.) “Somebody asked me for a résumé the other day,” he said. “I said, just ask anybody I’ve worked with, you know?”