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

Funny place, the music business — it devours the young and ignores the old. Or at least that’s how it may appear. Aside from a handful of entrenched executives and a circuit of legacy acts, employment opportunities in the industry for those of AARP age might seem slim. But there’s a fascinating exception: Many of the industry’s most respected and consistently employed roadies, instrument techs and live sound people are well into their 60s and even 70s.

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.

Kevin Dugan, 70, has been working with the onetime Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony since Jimmy Carter was president. Dallas Schoo, 71, has been in the business for 52 years and has served as the Edge’s guitar tech since U2 was playing clubs and ballrooms (he’s been moonlighting with Bruce Springsteen). Betty Cantor-Jackson, 76, first worked a soundboard for the Grateful Dead in 1968, and she’s still doing plenty of local gigs in the Bay Area. “We don’t always have to fade away, you know,” Cantor-Jackson said. “I’ll do this until I can’t crawl in there.”

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?”

Danny Goldberg, the veteran music manager and label executive, said these roles entail a remarkably personal relationship with the artist. “It’s like having a doctor — you want somebody who knows you intimately. It’s a huge advantage to the artist to have continuity, and you don’t want to start with somebody new if you don’t have to,” he said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Right?”