Day tour workers came in early to spell them so they could make the funeral.
Local celebrations were slightly soured, however, when, for reasons not yet clear, a motorist drove his car into barriers near the stage's finish, injuring two policemen, one spectator and a Tour worker.
Tickets for these events can be pricey, but the Steinway factory -- in Astoria, Queens, since 1870 -- offers free tours showing workers as they assemble the approximately 12,000 parts that go into a new concert grand.
Jayaben's nationwide tour encouraged workers from all over Britain, outraged that the strikers had been sacked, to join the picket line outside the factory.
At every stop on the tour, six workers take five hours to transform a cinder-block holding room into an exotic tented emporium to greet fans.
There was plenty of noise inside the spheres on a recent tour, as workers welded steel, pounded bolts into place and sawed concrete inside the half-built structure.
During the tour last week, workers with Scaled Composites, the company founded by Mr. Rutan that is building the plane, were positioning panels on the twin fuselages of the plane and grinding surfaces down to a smooth finish.
Normally a passive lot trying to log hours and get paid, during the two superstars' Legends of Summer tour, the workers were dancing, rhyming and singing along with the 60,000 or so others.
The tour comprised 140 workers, 125 crew members, 14 tour buses, 16 dancers and 2 band members.
Travel agents are preparing package tours for oil workers for weekend shopping trips here.
