ROCK CONCERTS

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Originally posted by gamalot:
...Marshall Tucker opened the concert sunday evening and began sounding pretty bad. By the middle of their set they sounded quite good.
Skynard came on and sounded fantastic right out of the box and blew the place away.
I suspect it has more to do with the tech doing the mixing then the system itself...

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hi, Gary,

Yeah, the setup/board crew can and do make or break a show, regardless of the gear used. Sadly, quite often the opening act is intentionally screwed to highlight the main act, can't have crowds going home praising the opener and dissing the main bill...just wouldn't do. Other times it just takes awhile to get it right.

Didn't know that was your stompin' grounds. Is Levon Helms' barn/studio nearby, and have you been there? Is Big Pink still standing?

The more current concerts I attend the more I am thinking the guy sitting at the mix board is every bit as much a part of the band as each member.

BF, You got me on both of those questions.

Tell me where the Barn is and what Big Pink is and I will let you know.
Most folks think Woodstock was in Woodstock, NY.
Wrong! It was here just a ways past Monticello in Bethel and 60 miles south of Woodstock.

Gary

I had to look up the locations, thought they were closer than they really are.

Big Pink was a big old house near Saugerties, NY, where some fine music was made, The Band's "Music from Big Pink", and Dylan's "The Basement Tapes".

Levon Helms (drummer, The Band) later bought an old barn outside Woodstock, NY, and turned it into a studio.

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Originally posted by gamalot:
The more current concerts I attend the more I am thinking the guy sitting at the mix board is every bit as much a part of the band as each member.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">King Crimson used to list the sound guy as a band member.

I'd have to pull out my old vinyl to get his name.

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Originally posted by CONVERGENCE:
Altec continued to dominate the Civic centres,
Forums, Movie Theaters throughout the 70's.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have to by and large agree.

My experience at the time was Altec was dominating playback installs. As the 70's wore on JBL began more and more to dominate live venues.

The exception in playback was Disco's. JBL marketed to them much more effectively.

Yea Bfish, everyone makes that mistake.
The Woodstock festival was dreamt up by the WOODSTOCK VENTURES. Businessmen and probably had some dealings in Woodstock, NY.

It should have been called the Festival at Bethel or Max's Farm Festival once they finally got site location approval.

I don't often travel near Woostock or Saugerties but I do know not much has changed up there in a long time and it is still quite the Artsy crowd.
Last time I was in Woodstock, last summer, it was like stepping back 35 years. Not at all a bad place with an odor that brought back fond memories of days long gone!

Gary

This concert by Andrea Bocelli was performed in Toscany Italy Lajatico. It was an outdoor concert surrounded by far away hills. It aired on PBS a while ago.
The interresting aspect of this concert was the use of natural lighting (sunset) with stage lighting.

The sculpture Mitoraj, in the middle of the stage, lights changing color for the effect of the spotlight; arousing suggestions and emotions among spectators abducted from music, voice and the beauty of the place.

The truss towers also served to hold the line array speakers. We are far away from the scafolding technique.

http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2008/01/3.jpg

TRUSS towers .

http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2008/01/4.jpg


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<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ January 07, 2008 09:22 PM: Message edited by: CONVERGENCE ]</font>

This thread has been an excellent reading for me. From Bocelli, to Woodstock. A wealth of history and infos. Thank you everyone for posting. Incredible

Hey Old Guy. If you are reading this, I thought you were really "old" because of the title you use. http://www.hostboard.com/forums/ I guess I am not too far a part from you. Two things for you. 1. I love King Crimson (Epitaph being my favorite song). Then I followed Greg Lake to ELP (They are very close to Classical music I enjoy the most). I saw them twice in the 70s. 2. I saw the Ramones in Jersey sometimes in the 70s. Did you do that?

Thanks everyone for the post.

Tim

Pretty nuch my title at work- "Ask the old guy..."

Did sound for the Ramones a couple times in small clubs when they were out here...they were my favorite of that genre- I liked them a lot better than Black Flag, or God forbid, the Craamps.

There were some really good groups around then.


I really liked David thomas and the Pedestrians- excellent show.

I bid the Sun Ra show for free just to be able to do it. Small club in Columbus called 'Staches.

My toughest Live Concert

I was asked to provide a portable sound system for country music star Bill Anderson, and his band. This was back in the 70s .
The venue: a football stadium with 65,000 fans.
Why ? : U of GA was honoring Bill, an alum, at half time of the TN GA game.
Oh by the way : You get two minutes to set up in the middle of the field.
Sound Check : forget it.
My response : are they crazy?
Then I found out, our adv dept had committed us to do it.

On the flight from Chicago down to GA I; thought, if this does not work ? I will not need my return ticket. Good thing I am Irish.

We enlisted the GA band members and a couple of flat bed farm wagons.
On the wagons we pre built the ?stage?: drums, guitar amps, mixers, power amps , mics
Band members ran out with AC power cords and column speakers.
The speakers were tilted with pre cut sticks, stuck in the back to lean them up at the proper angle. We plugged in the speakers and AC power, by some miracle it all worked.

Set up time 02:20. Twenty seconds over.

After it was over , I realized it was fun

Don