Live At The Beach 4 - Nov 5th 2010

[Monster Zero]

Sounds like the Stoney Ale Fest was a wise choice

[Guest idol_wild]

More people than anticipated expressed disappointment at a lack of Debutant set - so I will personally apologise if you felt short changed as a result. It was my decision not to play a Debutant set, as it seemed far more sensible to focus on the three bands and give them maximum set-up and change-over time as possible, as the night was already running an hour and a half behind schedule. I also didn't trust the in-house sound tech team. The last time I played Aberdeen it was a complete disaster, and it was largely down to a sound engineer who had absolutely no notion of what it was meant to sound like and how to give a musician the monitor mix they require. I felt this would happen yet again.

I'm not going to rant in-depth about the behind the scenes mishaps that we all now know went on. Instead, the council are going to receive an in-depth letter of complaint.

I would, however, like to point out that none of the problems were in any way down to the booker and promoter, Steve (kingofdeon). He was brilliant all night, and made sure all the acts had everything they needed. He was clearly embarrassed by the council's ineptitude, and he constantly apologised, despite none of it being down to him. Steve was one of the most conscientious promoters Meursault worked with on the tour.

For the record, Christy, I still felt The Deportees played a solid set. It's just a pity that only the vocals were coming out the PA. Luckily, the band is full of good players with good gear, so you still came across pretty well.

The audience, on the whole, were incredibly patient and respectful to all three acts, despite having to wait outside in the cold and put up with a fucking terrible range of drinks at the bar. So thank you to the audience.

[Guest]

Sounds like the Stoney Ale Fest was a wise choice

Not at all. The only people that I heard complain (justifiably by the sounds of it) were the bands. Everyone in the crowd seemed to have a really good time, I know I did.

That being said, Stonehaven Ale festival did sound good...

[KinkyAfro]

Who doesn't?

Lead singer ain't bad either - for a man!

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Lead singer ain't bad either - for a man!

What about the bassist? *fingers crossed*

[modman]

The drummer from The Deportees is so handsome. I have pics of him on my wall.

Eddie, is that you?

[Moose]

Ok, it wasn't worth 7.50, but my main disappointment was the bar. I fucking hate Fosters and McEwans so I had Guinness all night which made me incredibly constipated for 2 days. Honestly, when I finally got around to it this morning, I was on the toilet for a good 25 minutes and I missed the end of Gilmore Girls. Maybe seeing that the bands weren't having a great time makes a funny atmosphere too which brought down the gig, although this was evidently not surprising.

It was nice to see Amber Wilson perform. I actually think her band could do a bit more than they are doing presently. The songs are quiet songs but I feel some bits could be really fleshed out and sound "bigger" if you know what I mean? The songs could be more dynamic is what I'm trying to say, I suppose. Maybe this was more down to the sound on the night though. Amber Wilson and the Handsome Band, regardless, could be successful and I'm sure they know what they're doing with the sound of the whole ensemble far more than my opinions matter. They seem pretty pro. Legit.

The Deportees: terrible clothes, great band. They are all really handsome but they need a stylist of some kind if they're going to do the whole "smart casual" thing. Adam Easy Wishes and Diarmid looked good though. Joking aside, I thought you guys played a great show. Keep up the good work, I know you will.

Meursault: 10/10 for performance, I just don't really like them I guess. I kind of wish I did though. I liked the first song and last songs the best but I didn't really enjoy their set overall. This maybe had something to do with the chatter that was going on and the people that were taking great exception to it and getting annoyed. In hindsight, they are perfectly entitled to tell people to "shut the fuck up" but it created a pretty hostile atmosphere which I don't enjoy along with music. Anyway, Meursault will do fine without me as a fan and I was in a complete minority at this gig.

[rcalder82]

Sounds like a fun night all round.

Dont really mind paying the extra money (more than you would to see same bands in a normal venue and afterall I pay 25 to go and see football games which are a hell of a lot less entertaining)

As soon as I walked in the venue it just felt wrong. Obviously soundchecks were still going on but the atmosphere was pretty poor for having to stand about for so long. Kind of felt like being at a wedding, not a gig, with the table set up etc. Having the tables so far away from the stage didnt really help encourage people forward during sets either.

I pretty much love The Deportees and without gushing over then too much, I normally experience a fair amount of "hairs on the back of the neck moments" during their set. Just wasnt right at all throughout this one. Clearly they were still playing well but it frankly sounded terrible. Unfortunately I had dragged a couple of friends along having enthused so much about them but they also felt it was a bit flat, which is certainly not what The Deportees are about.

Also pretty annoyed not to get to see Debutant (however understand the reasoning) and had to leave before Meursault due to over running time and having to go to DJ.

All in all a massive anti climax. I hadnt been to any of the previous Live at The Beach events and had been looking forward to seeing these bands in a bigger venue with a bigger PA. What it turned out to be was paying 7.50 to see two bands play on a PA more suited to Cellar 35, with shit beer and shit tasting vodka.

Guess sometimes these things happen but you would think a venue that size would be able to get around technical problems better than this.

[offramp]

Sounds like a fun night all round.

Dont really mind paying the extra money (more than you would to see same bands in a normal venue and afterall I pay 25 to go and see football games which are a hell of a lot less entertaining)

As soon as I walked in the venue it just felt wrong. Obviously soundchecks were still going on but the atmosphere was pretty poor for having to stand about for so long. Kind of felt like being at a wedding, not a gig, with the table set up etc. Having the tables so far away from the stage didnt really help encourage people forward during sets either.

I pretty much love The Deportees and without gushing over then too much, I normally experience a fair amount of "hairs on the back of the neck moments" during their set. Just wasnt right at all throughout this one. Clearly they were still playing well but it frankly sounded terrible. Unfortunately I had dragged a couple of friends along having enthused so much about them but they also felt it was a bit flat, which is certainly not what The Deportees are about.

Also pretty annoyed not to get to see Debutant (however understand the reasoning) and had to leave before Meursault due to over running time and having to go to DJ.

All in all a massive anti climax. I hadnt been to any of the previous Live at The Beach events and had been looking forward to seeing these bands in a bigger venue with a bigger PA. What it turned out to be was paying 7.50 to see two bands play on a PA more suited to Cellar 35, with shit beer and shit tasting vodka.

Guess sometimes these things happen but you would think a venue that size would be able to get around technical problems better than this.

Pretty much agree with Ross on this one.

The set-up with the tables just didn't encourage any kind of atmosphere at all. The whole thing was flat. Felt bad for Amber and The Deportees - things just weren't going their way. Meursault somehow managed to pull a performance out of the bag. Credit to them - did they have their own engineer? Phil?

It's a great venue (in theory), and I fully understand the intention of putting on gigs there, but it was just too big for this line-up.

[Christy]

Offramp yeah, Meursault had their own engineer. In hindsight we should have slipped him a 20 and asked him to help us out.

Nef C - yeah I have your CD. Text/PM me.

[Guest idol_wild]

Pretty much agree with Ross on this one.

The set-up with the tables just didn't encourage any kind of atmosphere at all. The whole thing was flat. Felt bad for Amber and The Deportees - things just weren't going their way. Meursault somehow managed to pull a performance out of the bag. Credit to them - did they have their own engineer? Phil?

It's a great venue (in theory), and I fully understand the intention of putting on gigs there, but it was just too big for this line-up.

Meursault do indeed tour with an engineer. We find it's absolutely vital, not only for front of house sound, but also our onstage monitor mix. He knows exactly how to use almost every desk and PA he's given, and he knows exactly how the full range of Meursault material is meant to sound. Without him on Friday, we would have struggled big style.

I'm drafting my letter to the council right now.

[Christy]

Phil, please PM me the council contact that you're writing to. I want to do likewise, but have no idea who to shout at.

[modman]

I'm encouraged by everything I've read here. This is actually one of the best threads I've read in a while and it is testament to people's enthusiasm towards local music and to their understanding of the processes involved in playing live that the problems with friday night have been attributed correctly.

Now I've had a chance to recover from the disappointment and embarrassment I felt in the immediate aftermath of the show I'm actually able to laugh about just how bad it was up on stage. I remember during the whole of our 2nd song, I had nothing coming through my monitor but bass guitar. Deafeningly so. During the next song this inexplicably changed to lapsteel guitar and piano. It was so loud it was almost painful to stand at the mic. As for hearing my own vocals, you can forget that; Diarmaid's backing vocal was pretty much the only voice I heard all night. Even after we gave up trying to implore the sound girl to make the necessary changes (it was clear it wasn't working) our mixes still changed before and during each song. During our last song, Industry, all I heard was kick drum and snare! booming!

Hailey, the sound girl did the best she could under the circumstances. However I've since been told by Ricky (our guitarist and her college teacher) that she didn't even have a channel list in front of her. She had one, then it was inexplicably taken away by her boss just before we went on. He had then made some last minute changes with the channel patching onstage, resulting in Hailey having no clue as to what was plugged in where. So when we were shouting "Hailey! Fiddle!" for 5 minutes before Strip the Willow, it is likely that she had to try every fader in turn before stumbling upon the fiddle track.

As a musician I know how we like to moan. The general paying public don't give a shit about onstage sound or monitors. Damn right; why should they? they just pay to see the music they want to see and have a right to expect a certain standard. I'm heartened to hear that most of you guys who were there thought that we did pretty well under the circumstances, Amber too. But The Deportees didn't attain our usual high standards, albeit for reasons largely outwith our control. For that I'm still pissed off and will likely join idol_wild in demanding an explanation from the Council.

[kingofdeon]

Was anyone at the Bowling For Soup gig?

how was it?

[kingofdeon]

Im reluctant to post anything in great detail to be honest for the position i am in. I obviously take some of the blame for the evening not going as planned and was as disappointed as the bands they didnt enjoy it.

The line up was amazing and to be honest i didnt think it sounded too bad out front, though being in a few bands myself i realise there is nothing worse than a shite onstage sound which can frustrate you and effect your performance, however i dont think it was too noticeble that it effected any of the performances.

Im not pointing any blame to anyone as i think most of the posts on here have said enough. I think everyone is in agreeance that the ballroom is/can be a fantastic venue in the future and hopefully the problems that they encountered on Friday are ironed out in the near future.

as for moaning about the drinks at the bar.....? Little i can do about that i'm afraid.

Adios

[Old Gold]

I imagine there's going to be a lot of nervous sound engineers at forthcoming Deportees gigs...

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

I think everyone is in agreeance that the ballroom is/can be a fantastic venue in the future and hopefully the problems that they encountered on Friday are ironed out in the near future.

I completely agree and would love to see more gigs there.

[Guest idol_wild]

Im reluctant to post anything in great detail to be honest for the position i am in. I obviously take some of the blame for the evening not going as planned and was as disappointed as the bands they didnt enjoy it.

You're not to blame in the slightest. As I have already said previously, you were immaculate all night, and we fully understood that none of the problems were in any way down to you. You did your job well - booked the bands, promoted the show, and got 300+ through the door.

Your helpful positive attitude will be highlighted in my letter to the council as an aside, to underline that we understood that you were in no way responsible for any of the problems.

[modman]

I imagine there's going to be a lot of nervous sound engineers at forthcoming Deportees gigs...

Not in the slightest. This was definately an exceptional circumstance. A total anomoly. We're not a hard band to please at all. The problems were due to the council and their reluctance to pay for a decent PA, and a council-employed sound engineer/stage manager who was clueless and crumbled under pressure. He basically left his college-student protege high and dry. She shouldn't have had to deal with all that pressure on her own while he hid up in the lighting booth.

It's already been said but I'll say it again. Kinfofdeon had nothing to do with the problems. The guy was a pleasure to deal with, was humble and apologetic throughout, and at least as embarrassed as we were.