Gig report: September 11, 2010

[Mogwix]

Tonight is George Canyon. Fall fair.

 

Spotlight fell out of the box truck (with a leco) and it's currently raining.

 

Full report and pictures to come.

[StratGuy22]

I'm doing 2 bands in the bar I do sound for.

 

I don't bother with lights, but it should be fun, indoors.

 

 

[agedhorse]

Day off, good thing cuz I am sick.

[philw44]

Didn't realise it was September 11th today

[Coaster]

Didn't realise it was September 11th today

 

it does that around this time of year, has for centuries.

[Axisplayer]

We played our "home club" where our stalkers hang out. I have a few tunes that I traditionally play right before the curtain to open the show with. Been playing them for years now. When our fans hear them they know we are ready to start.

 

Tonight I decided to abandon that. Remember we are a country band. I played Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," Martina McBride's "America the Beautiful," and then Hank Jr.s "America will Survive." As soon as hit the first song, the crowd started hollering and screaming to turn it up, so I turned it up REALLY LOUD (as in 105 db at the back of the club) and they loved it. I was really inspired by the crowd reaction.

 

My area is strongly military. We have 6-7 Naval Bases, one Air force base, 3 Army bases, a Marine Base, a Coast Guard station, and more. One of the Navy Bases is the world's largest. We always have a lot of GI's out when we play and we always thank the military for what they do for us. Tonight was especially touching to me.

 

My wife is native New York City girl. Before we married she had a condo with a window that faced the Twin Towers. On Sept 11, 2001, she sat at the window and watched it burn and fall. She drove 2 miles (it took 7 hours because of the confusion) to give blood that day because it was all she could do. She has never fully recovered from being there, and I am sure that no Americans will ever fully recover, but this day is always tough in our house. Tonight was for her....and for you.

[MainEventSound]

Bar Band 50 miles North of our shop and a 60's Flower Power Band at Oktoberfest!!

[StratGuy22]

Had a great night. 2 bands, one had a woman singer who played keys, then a guitar, bass player and drummer. Great mix, found the keyboard a bit hot, with her playing style so I used a bit of compression. They ranged from jazz, to pop to good old dirty blues. They were a lot of fun to do sound for, a real treat.

 

The next band was a three piece. Great band. They had a good sound as well! The bass player was a bi out there, but I guess that was his thing, a real introvert. The drummers were cool with sharing a kit, so the night went really well.

 

Got lots of compliments from a lot of people. One guy, who is a buddy of theirs, and plays in a lot of bands around the city said it was one of the best live mixes he's ever heard. We talked for quite a while, it was a great compliment, so I'm happy about that!

 

 

Looking forward to getting that new mixer! It would have been great to get a live recording of the night, and all the other bells and whistles that are included.

 

I definitely have some planning to do!

[Unalaska]

Loader showed up an hour and half late to get the box truck. Then because of traffic or I don't even know arrived a fully 2 hours 45 min late to the job site. With a small stage, trussing, PA etc. If ever there was a reason for me to absolutely loose it this was it. I did the best damage control I could but the best was firing him. Really best would have been not hiring him. "Oh we have 4 hours to set up, no big deal..." Selfish. what an asshole.

[DaBender]

Played an outdoor party with absolutely perfect weather and food. Ran the kick and bass a little harder than usual, but nothing the system couldn't handle, and all reports were very favorable.

[Mogwix]

Alright, finally a minute to sit down and write up my report.

 

Arrived at grandstand 8am, to help setup SL250. Stage went together quick, and rest of crew arrived to get PA up and running. I was running back and forth between the pow wow area and the indoor stage to set up and run the smaller rigs we had scattered around the grounds. Allocate personnel to watch the satellite rigs.

 

After helping fly the dV-DOSC hangs, I head back into the arena at 2pm to check on the entertainment... a singing group had arrived at 2:10, wanting to perform at 2, and was frustrated that I wasn't immediately ready for them when they sat down. Whatever. After they're done, a small fashion show goes on, and then... nothing. The woman in charge of the stage had FINALLY given me some sort of schedule, but after the fashion show... everyone disappeared. No talent had arrived and nobody was around to ask what was going on. I waited for a little while but finally gave up, shut down the rig, and headed back outside to check the main stage.

 

A leco light and spotlight (in it's case) had fallen out of the truck... the leco was never tested but the spot worked just fine. Everything checked out fine and we had a couple hours to relax. Bands arrive on time (for the first time ever) and sound check... then we wait for show time.

 

Just as George Canyon hits the stage... the rain came. It rained steady for his whole 90 minute set, and finally subsided immediately after he left the stage. The rig looked and sounded great, everything went off without a hitch... that is until load-out. We shut down the stage and there's mud EVERYWHERE. Soundbox is going to have a fun time washing down all the cables that were laying in the mud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stage setup, this is after the show. 9 dV-DOSC per side, over 3 SB28's per side. Lab.gruppen power, xta processing, digidesign VENUE FOH console, yamaha LS9 monitor console (GL3300 on mons for opening band).

 

... and then MUD

[davidss1]

great pics.

i can empathise with the mud factor,,,it is wet season here at the moment

[tuchan]

Great photos, thanks for sharing:)

[shrubber]

Ran a Speaker on Sticks rig at a Cricket Tournament for background music and announcements.

 

A fundariser for our local SPCA..... my contribution....

 

Outdoors, 25-30 mph gusting wind, sand in eyes, all day suffering (08h00 to 17h00). ..... no tent....... the brick and mortar booth that I used last year being rebuilt/extended, couldn't be used.... out in the open...... sunburnt...

 

The Clubs (15's) managed to hang on to the stands without blowing over.

 

One man (me!!) load out/in..... my back on the verge of serious complaints...

 

I'm still trying to get the sand out of my eyes/hair/ears..... I'll check out the Clubs and EMX512 during the week.

[fireax]

I also ran sound for a band on Saturday.

It was at the Gold Country Fair.

AgedHorse called it.

Three songs in....The power went out in one half of the building.

The band looked at us for answers, and we were able to run extension cords, and hook up everything, except lights to keep the show going.

Everything was now on a single 30 amp circuit.

The one that blew was a 20 amp.

 

Fingers crossed....we kept going, and at the first break, we added some lights to the circuit, and things went well.

[StratGuy22]

Great pics, nice setup!!

 

A biker Christmas toy run was also going on that night with a local band. I might even end up in the band (I'm a guitarist by trade) I turned up for sound check and did a few songs with the guys. I've played with most of them before.

 

 

I'm the guy in the middle, singing...

 

[stix 518]

Band played a town "Family Day" event, sort of like a festival at the town square. Theme of the day/night was "A tribute to our Hero's" or something like that. Sound/band set-up at 4:00 for a 5:00 start. DJ was set up in same place... no time to set levels or do sound check - that SUCKS. First two -three songs sounded like a$$ (we also were breaking in a lot of new gear - I know, wrong time to do that!). But, by the middle of the first set, all was well and the rest of the night went great. Last song was Independence Day which rocked the crowd... then the announcer read a tribute to the hero's of 9/11, said Pledge of Allegiance, moment of silence, then two local female singer did an a capella duet of God Bless America, then Fireworks. Load out took about an hour and I was home on the couch at about 10:00. All in all, a good day.

 

Stix

[agedhorse]

 

I also ran sound for a band on Saturday. It was at the Gold Country Fair. AgedHorse called it. Three songs in....The power went out in one half of the building. The band looked at us for answers, and we were able to run extension cords, and hook up everything, except lights to keep the show going. Everything was now on a single 30 amp circuit. The one that blew was a 20 amp. Fingers crossed....we kept going, and at the first break, we added some lights to the circuit, and things went well.

 

 

Hope the 30 amp circuit was NOT a reagular duplex... another illegal and unsafe move if it was.

 

Fairgrounds gigs are notorious for electrical and plumbing disasters.

[Rezrover]

 

My wife is native New York City girl. Before we married she had a condo with a window that faced the Twin Towers. On Sept 11, 2001, she sat at the window and watched it burn and fall. She drove 2 miles (it took 7 hours because of the confusion) to give blood that day because it was all she could do. She has never fully recovered from being there, and I am sure that no Americans will ever fully recover, but this day is always tough in our house. Tonight was for her....and for you.

 

 

I was living in St.Paul at the time and I didn't live to far away from the local Red Cross and by 11:00am Central time, the place had a line a mile long to give blood.

 

I ran sound for 5 bands, my band included from 3pm to midnight. It was a Poker Run and Street dance. Beautiful day.

Center clustered the subs in front of the stage, puts the mains on the "Home Depot stands", which worked out great BTW. No issues with volume, if anything was turning everything down until the end of the night. Drummers loved the drum mix out front. The overhead mic was overkill, but worked great.

Plenty of questions on the "blue mic cables".

First time I ever ran a violin(Devil Went Down to Georgia) thru the PA, just set the EQ flat, sounded fine.

Guess my only issue was a female singer. Sings well, doesn't project her voice well. Said she couldn't hear herself in the monitors and she was cranked from my end. Basically said to quit singing like a pu$$y and she'll be able to hear herself.

[fishmanrod]

Did DJ sound for a friends end of summer out door party. Four powered speakers sprinkled over the back yard, small Alto mixer, my computer, a CD player, and an extra input for anyone who wanted to plug their Ipod in with their favorite song. A very mixed crowd, 19 to 69, so we had reguests from Jefferson Airplane to AC/DC to Lady Gaga. Was not loud at all, but due to having all the speakers here there and everywhere it sounded full and good. My one mistake was thespeakers were not matched, and I put the higher power ones in the area where most people were standing, so I had to keep the volume down for them, but the ones more out in the open could have been louder. Attenuators on the higher powered Yorkvilles all the way down, on the lower power Alto's all the way up. I should have sub fed them, so I could have worked it like two zones. Live and learn!

 

Hung up a couple of DMX led's on 'sound' and let them follow the music in a few spots, which became 'dance islands'.

 

Put a couple of sm57's on the table in front of them mixer and people just picked them up and sung along if they knew the song.

 

And, being in the same area as Mogwix, it rained. But being Canadian no body really minded too much, we just said 'better than snow' and kept drinking.

 

The hostess was please, the cops arrived at 9 to ask us nicely to keep it down (but did not shut us down), and we shut it down at 11.

 

Was a good time.

 

But there was a lot of debate ahead of time about even having the party on the 11th. I think we did the right thing having it. A few quiet reflections from some of the cops and volunteer fire fighters attending, which was good.

[SteinbergerHack]

Played an opener gig in Milwaukee, used house sound, so I didn't have to work as hard as usual. I was pleasantly suprised with the quality of the rig and the house tech - he did a great job for us. Unfortunately, we were an 8-piece band playing on a stage sized appropriately for a power trio.... What is it about Milwaukee and postage-stamp stages?

[soul-x]

Two shows on Saturday: one at a local art walk, then a private party a few blocks away. Packed up after the art walk shuts down at 10:00 pm, then moved down the street to our second show.

 

Good thing for us, I guess. Around midnight, four people were shot on the street at the block of our first gig. Sickening.

[agedhorse]

 

Two shows on Saturday: one at a local art walk, then a private party a few blocks away. Packed up after the art walk shuts down at 10:00 pm, then moved down the street to our second show. Good thing for us, I guess. Around midnight, four people were shot on the street at the block of our first gig. Sickening.

 

 

Yup, I saw this too. Doesn't take but a few scum sucking a-holes to ruin it for everybody else.

[Ryan.]

I heard about that. Is 2nd Sat gonna be shut down now?

 

Just found this: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/13/3024285/sacramento-mayor-johnson-vows.html

 

Sad.

[Gadget]

And, being in the same area as Mogwix, it rained.

 

Thanks for the heads up. We'll stay clear of Mogwix!!