Friday night at Comerica Park in Detroit, running sound for my friends' band at the Detroit Tiger's pregame. Slight hassle getting through security, but load-in was easy. It was drizzling when we arrived, so we pre-staged in a dry area of the concourse. Staff found a couple of nice pop-up tents, and we managed to get set up and ready to go with about 3 minutes to spare. The rain stopped just in time. The band played great, as usual – a mix of Motown, rock and dance songs. A good crowd gathered and enjoyed the 75 minute show. Loaded out and grabbed a burger and beer and watched a few innings.
Saturday night with my rock cover band, playing our 3rd annual summer solstice gig at a local farm. Perfect weather and a nice turnout of family, friends, and fans. Our social media efforts have been bearing fruit, and we see new faces at every event. Since I run sound and play bass, I was there a few hours early to set up in the blazing sun. We had a couple of snafus with the wireless...I'm guessing it was because the stage was right in front of a huge solar panel grid. The band played well – every gig gets a little tighter and everybody is more relaxed. It feels like we are really starting to perform and not just play. It was great to hear a lot of compliments that we sounded great and were a lot of fun to watch. Credit to our two lead singers, who give the crowd a lot to look at. I gigged my new Ric 4003 thru a GK Plex pedal, direct to the mixer, and thru my RCF mains and sub. As anticipated, my tone with the all-maple Ric was a lot brighter than my Jazz and May Custom basses...but otherwise, it was a fun change of pace for me. Sorry, no food pics. I had a drab sandwich wrap and a beer between sets. I rocked the white jeans for the first time (a daring move at a FARM, where everything is dirty).
Sunday was supposed to be a 3-set party in the park on a big stage, running sound for my friends' band again. I arrived way early so I could take my time setting up. We were literally powering on for soundcheck when the fire marshall came up to say a powerful storm was 15 minutes out and heading our way. He said it looked like a fast-moving storm, and that it was still very likely that we would be able to play some music after. We quickly played thru one song and part of another for sound check. My RCF rig sounded glorious at full gas. Then we frantically broke down the gear and got as much back into the cars as possible. The rest got covered in tarps just in time. The worst of the storm missed us, but it rained like hell for 30 minutes. Fortunately, everything stayed dry...with the exception of some of my cables. Unfortunately, the light rain didn't stop until 9:30PM. We hung out in our cars until we could finish breaking down and loading out. On a positive note, I got a decent fried chicken wrap from the food truck, courtesy of our bass payer. Bass homies gotta stick together. Our band leader always has a contract in place, so we should still get full pay.
A few pics from Saturday's farm gig, courtesy of my wife...
Saturday night with my rock cover band, playing our 3rd annual summer solstice gig at a local farm. Perfect weather and a nice turnout of family, friends, and fans. Our social media efforts have been bearing fruit, and we see new faces at every event. Since I run sound and play bass, I was there a few hours early to set up in the blazing sun. We had a couple of snafus with the wireless...I'm guessing it was because the stage was right in front of a huge solar panel grid. The band played well – every gig gets a little tighter and everybody is more relaxed. It feels like we are really starting to perform and not just play. It was great to hear a lot of compliments that we sounded great and were a lot of fun to watch. Credit to our two lead singers, who give the crowd a lot to look at. I gigged my new Ric 4003 thru a GK Plex pedal, direct to the mixer, and thru my RCF mains and sub. As anticipated, my tone with the all-maple Ric was a lot brighter than my Jazz and May Custom basses...but otherwise, it was a fun change of pace for me. Sorry, no food pics. I had a drab sandwich wrap and a beer between sets. I rocked the white jeans for the first time (a daring move at a FARM, where everything is dirty).
Sunday was supposed to be a 3-set party in the park on a big stage, running sound for my friends' band again. I arrived way early so I could take my time setting up. We were literally powering on for soundcheck when the fire marshall came up to say a powerful storm was 15 minutes out and heading our way. He said it looked like a fast-moving storm, and that it was still very likely that we would be able to play some music after. We quickly played thru one song and part of another for sound check. My RCF rig sounded glorious at full gas. Then we frantically broke down the gear and got as much back into the cars as possible. The rest got covered in tarps just in time. The worst of the storm missed us, but it rained like hell for 30 minutes. Fortunately, everything stayed dry...with the exception of some of my cables. Unfortunately, the light rain didn't stop until 9:30PM. We hung out in our cars until we could finish breaking down and loading out. On a positive note, I got a decent fried chicken wrap from the food truck, courtesy of our bass payer. Bass homies gotta stick together. Our band leader always has a contract in place, so we should still get full pay.
A few pics from Saturday's farm gig, courtesy of my wife...
