Gig: Goole Leisure Centre - Friday February 2, 2007.
On a blog about gigging it feels like it has been a while since i put up a post about doing a gig. But last night i actually did a gig!
The venue was Goole Leisure Centre. This place can only be described as a rabbit warren of corridors and mazes to aid you in getting lost. Maybe even a labyrinth, which is designed to keep people in. This can also be said of Hull. Once you are in you cannot escape. Or at least not without wasting a large amount of your time sat in pointless lines of gas guzzling cars.
On the way to the show Hull and its suburbs were all in gridlock because one junction on the only road out of the city was closed. After finally negotiating out way though this a new junction being installed on the only road in and out of the city was also a car park. We dived off the road and took back roads, only to get stopped at a complete random set of traffic lights which had blatantly been put there just to stop that road becoming a "rat run".
Anyway we eventually arrived. Only to find the lift was out of service. And to make things worse we hadn't exactly got the lightest equipment every invented. But hey, these things happen and we got on with carrying it up the stairs. the stairs were pretty narrow, but getting five people round the mixing desk made moderately light work of it in the end. We were all still shattered before starting to rig though.
There is something about Goole though. Last time I was here, in a venue we drove past on the way, it involved lots of lifting. Very unamusing. Dodgy town. Lesson learnt, avoid...
With the traffic and the lack of lift problem we were now running slightly behind, but we got on with it. Everything was running and when the first band to be sound checked turned up we only had the monitors to EQ.
Four bands were playing and they were all sharing a drum kit. This was possibly the worst drum kit I have ever heard, ever! The snare sounded like a metal spoon hitting a rotten cardboard box and the first tom hadn't been tuned since at least five years before the kit was built!
We sound checked the last band, and then the first band. And then one of the parents of the middle bands came along disgruntled that we hadn't sound checked them. Describing the band as the best thing you will ever hear I gave them a one song sound check just to shut him up. A right waste of time as we then had to reset the stage to a band we had already checked. Pointless. Rant rant rant!
The show started and it went really well. The best thing was, the band we didn't sound check were by far the best. Some clever arrangements and a lot of personality on stage. The headliners were without a doubt the worst act of the night, including one song where it appeared each member of the band was playing a different tune, in a different key. The organiser even came up and asked if everything was OK. We were like there is nothing we can do about that love!
And some pictures from the show:
One of the acts on stage
The window behind the drum kit was horrific. The overheads were not used at all.
The Mixing Desk - Midas Verona
"FX 1"
Then came the end of the show and packing up. I find the end of a show can create a mixed reaction depending on how good the show is. Sometimes you do not want it to end because there is a good act on who you enjoy. Others you want it to end because you think of the prospect of sleep being ever closer. However this show was a little different because I was not quite sure. After 3 good bands, the final act were quite simply appalling, and i had become extremely bored. Que lots if inappropriate delays in the last song! But in reality i didn't not want this show to end. The reason, cos it meant carrying all the equipment back downstairs. Not a fun prospect!
Luckily the organiser had sourced lots of people to help us carry the gear and we made fairly light work of it, but i was knackered by the end, and the prospect of wrapping up in bed kept me going. All in all a fun but very stressful show.
On a blog about gigging it feels like it has been a while since i put up a post about doing a gig. But last night i actually did a gig!
The venue was Goole Leisure Centre. This place can only be described as a rabbit warren of corridors and mazes to aid you in getting lost. Maybe even a labyrinth, which is designed to keep people in. This can also be said of Hull. Once you are in you cannot escape. Or at least not without wasting a large amount of your time sat in pointless lines of gas guzzling cars.
On the way to the show Hull and its suburbs were all in gridlock because one junction on the only road out of the city was closed. After finally negotiating out way though this a new junction being installed on the only road in and out of the city was also a car park. We dived off the road and took back roads, only to get stopped at a complete random set of traffic lights which had blatantly been put there just to stop that road becoming a "rat run".
Anyway we eventually arrived. Only to find the lift was out of service. And to make things worse we hadn't exactly got the lightest equipment every invented. But hey, these things happen and we got on with carrying it up the stairs. the stairs were pretty narrow, but getting five people round the mixing desk made moderately light work of it in the end. We were all still shattered before starting to rig though.
There is something about Goole though. Last time I was here, in a venue we drove past on the way, it involved lots of lifting. Very unamusing. Dodgy town. Lesson learnt, avoid...
With the traffic and the lack of lift problem we were now running slightly behind, but we got on with it. Everything was running and when the first band to be sound checked turned up we only had the monitors to EQ.
Four bands were playing and they were all sharing a drum kit. This was possibly the worst drum kit I have ever heard, ever! The snare sounded like a metal spoon hitting a rotten cardboard box and the first tom hadn't been tuned since at least five years before the kit was built!
We sound checked the last band, and then the first band. And then one of the parents of the middle bands came along disgruntled that we hadn't sound checked them. Describing the band as the best thing you will ever hear I gave them a one song sound check just to shut him up. A right waste of time as we then had to reset the stage to a band we had already checked. Pointless. Rant rant rant!
The show started and it went really well. The best thing was, the band we didn't sound check were by far the best. Some clever arrangements and a lot of personality on stage. The headliners were without a doubt the worst act of the night, including one song where it appeared each member of the band was playing a different tune, in a different key. The organiser even came up and asked if everything was OK. We were like there is nothing we can do about that love!
And some pictures from the show:
One of the acts on stage
The window behind the drum kit was horrific. The overheads were not used at all.
The Mixing Desk - Midas Verona
"FX 1"
Then came the end of the show and packing up. I find the end of a show can create a mixed reaction depending on how good the show is. Sometimes you do not want it to end because there is a good act on who you enjoy. Others you want it to end because you think of the prospect of sleep being ever closer. However this show was a little different because I was not quite sure. After 3 good bands, the final act were quite simply appalling, and i had become extremely bored. Que lots if inappropriate delays in the last song! But in reality i didn't not want this show to end. The reason, cos it meant carrying all the equipment back downstairs. Not a fun prospect!
Luckily the organiser had sourced lots of people to help us carry the gear and we made fairly light work of it, but i was knackered by the end, and the prospect of wrapping up in bed kept me going. All in all a fun but very stressful show.
posted by Dave Cartwright at
7:36 AM
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