Post by Jon on May 6, 2010 16:13:26 GMT -5
Um, where to begin? 
We played a charity music festival (in aid of leukemia research) on Sunday 2nd May. Loads of bands on the bill, playing for gratis of course, in a country pub car park on the back of a lorry! Well, if you recall, it was bloody cold and we were due on just before 9pm for an hour set. As the event started at 3pm, let's just say that the locals were well oiled and up for being entertained. Sad, then, that the band before us were a heavy metal covers band...
Albeit good at what they do and an entertaining front man, metal is a form of music that you either like or dislike. So, it wouldn't be our first choice of warm-up band. The PA speakers were also starting to distort and the sound wasn't the best. It also didn't up our confidence when another band wished us good luck as they couldn't hear themselves on stage. Well, hey, you've got to expect this sort of thing when you share equipment and have a variety of acts. It's nice to have your own kit and control over the technical side of things but, then again, less responsibility is also great from time to time!
However..... in the final analysis, our slot was sadly marred and nigh-on destroyed by technical difficulties as it seemed all the problems the other bands had been having all came to a head in our set! It also didn't help that everything was over-running meaning our slot had shrank by 20 mins and we were playing in the cold murky darkness. Oh, and just before we started up, the sound guy told me that one of the main PA speakers was just about shot. So, off we went...
We couldn't hear anything on stage from the off, which made it extremely difficult to play. No matter, we charged through the first three numbers and people were starting to dance and get into it. Then it all went horribly wrong. We just about got through the Queen song 'Don't Stop me Now' when the keyboard started to disappear in the mix. One more song and then a big delay to sort out several technical failures. The keyboard wasn't working at all now. Somehow we managed to play a few without Mike, as we desperately tried to keep some sort of momentum but more delays and issues followed. In the end, Mike had to borrow the MCs keyboard and we played two more songs which went down really well and suddenly (in the middle of the last song!) the sound improved 100%. What could have been, eh? Frankly, it's to our credit that we kept our sense of humour throughout and gamefully tried to put on a show despite everything!
So, a weird, frustrating and disappointing night. It's not always fun being in a rock n roll band!
I think we played (or tried to play!):
Travelin' Band/You Really got Me/It must be Love/Don't Stop me Now/Proud Mary/Midnight Hour/C'mon Everybody/Hard Day's Night/Get Back/Keep on Running/Rocking all over the World/Whole lotta Shakin'
Sigh
You win some, you lose some... Looking forward to playing on our own again and with our own kit! ;D
We played a charity music festival (in aid of leukemia research) on Sunday 2nd May. Loads of bands on the bill, playing for gratis of course, in a country pub car park on the back of a lorry! Well, if you recall, it was bloody cold and we were due on just before 9pm for an hour set. As the event started at 3pm, let's just say that the locals were well oiled and up for being entertained. Sad, then, that the band before us were a heavy metal covers band...Albeit good at what they do and an entertaining front man, metal is a form of music that you either like or dislike. So, it wouldn't be our first choice of warm-up band. The PA speakers were also starting to distort and the sound wasn't the best. It also didn't up our confidence when another band wished us good luck as they couldn't hear themselves on stage. Well, hey, you've got to expect this sort of thing when you share equipment and have a variety of acts. It's nice to have your own kit and control over the technical side of things but, then again, less responsibility is also great from time to time!
However..... in the final analysis, our slot was sadly marred and nigh-on destroyed by technical difficulties as it seemed all the problems the other bands had been having all came to a head in our set! It also didn't help that everything was over-running meaning our slot had shrank by 20 mins and we were playing in the cold murky darkness. Oh, and just before we started up, the sound guy told me that one of the main PA speakers was just about shot. So, off we went...
We couldn't hear anything on stage from the off, which made it extremely difficult to play. No matter, we charged through the first three numbers and people were starting to dance and get into it. Then it all went horribly wrong. We just about got through the Queen song 'Don't Stop me Now' when the keyboard started to disappear in the mix. One more song and then a big delay to sort out several technical failures. The keyboard wasn't working at all now. Somehow we managed to play a few without Mike, as we desperately tried to keep some sort of momentum but more delays and issues followed. In the end, Mike had to borrow the MCs keyboard and we played two more songs which went down really well and suddenly (in the middle of the last song!) the sound improved 100%. What could have been, eh? Frankly, it's to our credit that we kept our sense of humour throughout and gamefully tried to put on a show despite everything!
So, a weird, frustrating and disappointing night. It's not always fun being in a rock n roll band!
I think we played (or tried to play!):
Travelin' Band/You Really got Me/It must be Love/Don't Stop me Now/Proud Mary/Midnight Hour/C'mon Everybody/Hard Day's Night/Get Back/Keep on Running/Rocking all over the World/Whole lotta Shakin'
Sigh
You win some, you lose some... Looking forward to playing on our own again and with our own kit! ;D