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Venue shenanigans

slipknotmaggot3

slipknotmaggot3

Feb 23, 2014
129
163
Florida
#1
Played a gig over Memorial Day weekend and wanted to share.

A biker bar reopened under new ownership and wanted to have a big grand opening show with live music. My band goes to play and the owner brought a sound guy in with a large PA system. Now the stage is outdoors, but right against the wall of the bar so we would use power that is also shared by the interior of the bar. Venue owner didn’t think to check to see if his breakers could handle a 20,000w PA system so right after we started the show, the breaker gets tripped and we were left with no power. Owner and sound guy creatively rearrange extension cords and show continues. At the end of the night we only got through 2 of our 4 sets due to breakers tripping.

All in all, quite a fun night!
 
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#8
That's a lot of PA for a small club, but not a lot if it's a decent sized outdoor venue and you're driving subs. We use more than that in churches around here (granted, they're decent sized churches).

The person providing PA should have know what the power requirements were for their rig, and that what was set up wouldn't work. In an ideal world, the venue owner and PA provider would have figured all that out in advance.
 
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#11
Yep, it's always sooner or later you end up carrying your own distro (power tap), and hoping for a 220 outlet somewhere, plus a handful of 220 plugs to re-wire and fit. Most fun we had was with a generator at a street dance. None of our plugs fit, but thankfully, they had terminal lugs we could tap into.

A power tap / distro box is essentially a breaker box with a super heavy cable (6-8 gauge, 4 conductor) attached for wiring to 220 mains. You're essentially tapping into the main line entering the building, bypassing all manner of under-rated outlets and odd ground loops that inevitably are lurking around the typical bar.
 
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#13
wintremute said:
What is a power tap? How does that work?
Click to expand...
Basically a breaker box on wheels with a length of heavy cable with big alligator clips that you clamp onto the line feeding the venue's circuit box. Real venues have boxes designed for tapping, but we often had to take the panels off the circuit boxes at clubs and tap in there.
 
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#14
We have played a few venues where they had no clue about power, and ran 16GA extension cords from across a parking lot, out of a shed (after we blew breakers on the stage area). Same venue also once ran an extension cord out of the men's bathroom window to give us power feed. Another time, at a raging house party, someone managed to pour beer into the electrical box we were tapped into. We kept re-starting the song, and the power kept dropping at the same place in the song, Finally, the homeowner opened the box, decided there was too much beer in the box, and ran an extension out of a bedroom window. The audience had a few beer-bongs going, along with some funky herbal smoke, and thought the whole thing was funny. We got a lot of tips!!!
Wow. I prefer to not re-start the same song 3x though. Get's boring fast.
 
#19
I played a Memorial Day block party this weekend. We played in a driveway facing a closed off cul de sac. On our soundcheck song everything cut out- the power was one extension cord coming from a garage. It took about ten minutes to arrange for another cord on a different circuit. All was fine the rest of the afternoon/evening and a good time was had by all. Can’t remember another gig where the whole band lost power. Happy it happened before we really got going.
 

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