let me tell you of a story of a saturday night

[Dragonfly]

this is a brief story on learning the hard way .....

some several months ago got a call from a charity ... we are having a big charity do at a large local venue and wed like a disco with all the trimmings.... we are in talks with some big names to perform ... Andy bell (erasure) hazel dean (80s songsterss) we will have about 6 bands on so u wont have a hard night just linking the bands etc........


so yesterday turn up like the true professional 1pm .... spend 2.5 hours putting up the big rig lasers moving heads etc making everything neat n tidy and looking spot on..... 3.30pm leave

7pm got back to find a 5ft high stage right in front of my gear (please bare in mind we were already on a stage at least 6ft off the ground) with a stonking great drum kit on it could just about see my lights over the top and to boot ... the venues "sound engineer" pmsl had re routed my gear through the bands superdooper sound system that was aahem bigger than mine and would prob sound better pmsl.

well kicked off at 8 with 3 bands all local no one had heard of room full of 40/60 year olds with whining indie went down well. 3rd band didnt show up.

after 20 mins through prob the worst sound system ive ever heard couldnt hear my mic at all with some 18 year old trying desparately hard on a mixing desk to make it sound good i thought stuff this unplugged it all and plugged the mackies back in ..... instand 10000000000 percent improvement clear and louder than theirs (it was a large venue) .....then bear in mind my lights are about 14 ft off the venue floor at the back of a huge stage sound man muppet who apparently doubles up as stage management man comes over and says hi mate weve had a couple of complaints that the lights are in peoples eyes can you turn them off please ..... all of them !!! well .... i wont be invited back to dj at soundmans birthday .

completely pointless night was told originally "were looking at 500 people " at the highest point we managed about 40.

got paid but hate it when i feel that i havent been able to put on a 100 percent show due to other things.

thanks for listening to my vent.

[CRAZY K]

Working with Bands is an occupational hazard--

If possible best to agree with the organisers what the format is and get something agreed beforehand, in writing is helpful.

With several Bands playing spose thats not easy.

Sounds like the organisers werent errr----organised :sad:

Presumably after expenses they ran at a loss :teeth:

Im surprised they didnt cancel.

I gave a lady a lot of helpful advice on running a Charity Barn Dance function this week---in reality unfortunately a lot of these people are well meaning but just dont have the experience or think it through--selling the tickets is crucial of course and makes or breaks the whole event.

Glad to hear the Mackies came in handy!

Must come and have a listen some time.

CRAZY K

[Corabar Entertainment]

Not a lot you can say to that really, other than what Alan has already said: ie probably well meaning, but WHAT PLONKERS! :omg:

It is so annoying when you have put the effort into something and others come along and either ruin or dismiss your efforts: still, at least you got paid! :)

[spin mobile disco]

I'ts always been a cause of friction between live bands and Disco's etc. They always want center stage or they change minds at last minute and want us to move our equipment. I remember a previous thread about this when some one came back to find the band had moved all his equipment (not very carefully as I remember) and then changed where they wanted to set up.

[leighinstoke]

Can understand where you're coming from Dragonfly - I've done similar ones where have spent time setting up only to have to shift and also setup to find I play very little - so always check what's wanted - though it sounded like you were onto a bit of a non-starter with this one.

If ever at the venue where there is a singer or band I set up at the side - often on the floor and have a chat with the band to see what they are playing to make sure I don't double up.

Shame you had next to no-one there though - makes you think "why did I bother"?