Tech Knee Call
The Evergreen Gig was a bit of a disaster.
Mike had been told that there was a sound system, and therefore no need to bring one. He was told there would be an awning and chairs for the crowd to sit under and in respectively.
A ten inch speaker with two XLR inputs does not a sound system make, nor an assortment of PVC pipes in a bag with what amounts to a tarp tied to it.
Needless to say, things were off to a bad start. Luckily, there was a band playing later who let us use the guitar amps so we didn’t have to mic the guitars. The crowd was now non-existent, so we shifted the stage to face the line of people getting food. This let the sun pour directly on to where we would be playing. The “opener” bailed, so Marcel went first and the “sound system” died twice during the first verse of his first song. As in, the power for the stage went out. Twice. He eventually played a different song, then went back to the first where it died again during the last chorus. That was the end of his attempt.
I went up and played two songs by myself and Nashu showed up to play some other three with me. He wore sunglasses the whole time. Rawk Starr. He had to plug his bass into a Marshall stack and I was into a Fender “Cyber Twin” that was ten feet behind me. The “PA” was in front of me, obviously without a monitor.
I don’t think I’ve ever played in such a shitty situation, and my performance suffered because my inability to hear my voice and the guitar feeding back from people turning it up while I was playing.
Highlights:
Got to hang out with Marcel and Josh. Marcel got to inadvertently meet my mother, who missed (luckily) both of our sets and only started the soon to be twenty minute conversation with him in the cafeteria because he happened to have a guitar. I learned that my guitar, no matter how good my case is, will go out of tune with the slightest bit of direct sunlight. I got a tan.
Live and learn. I’ve hit what I deem to be a rock-bottom in terms of gigage. In theory, I can only do better from here. Looking back, the whole thing was like a Flight of the Conchords episode with less intentional funny and more all out awkwardness. Murray could have saved the day, methinks.
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