John Hendow

Hot! This was the hottest gig day so far this year, with temperatures hitting 90 on the outdoor stage at the Ballard Seafood Festival. It was hot enough that I could feel the stage burning my feet, right through my shoes. We did a great set of fun material and had a number of friends join us in the crowd. Most of them wisely stayed on the shady side of the street. Festival gigs can be a little random, and this one was no exception. I usually take a good look at the stage and sound system to assess whether there will be any issues with those elements, and it seemed like this was going to be a pretty standard deal.

Parking
The organizing team thoughtfully provided parking near the stage, which would have made it possible for us to leave our cars nearby while playing. Unfortunately the first band of the day left four cars parked throughout the event, occupying most of the available parking. We did manage to squeeze one of the cars into a spot vacated by a vendor. I guess the lesson is to be kind to your fellow musician and move your car after you’ve loaded out. Once we finished our set we left in search of showers and dry clothes.

Amp Gymnastics
During our setup time I placed  my amp on stand that tilts it up slightly. This makes it easier to hear without being loud, and is something I do at pretty much every gig. Because the stage seemed somewhat wobbly and prone to vibration I decided to take it down and put in on the stage to prevent any possibility of  it tipping over. I did this right after our first song, which took about 30 seconds to move it and replace the microphone. A well-intended stage hand came up and adjusted my amp by tipping it back against a monitor, presumably to improve my ability to hear it. Within 2 songs my amp had falled over backwards and was facing straight up. The sound guy came back up and replaced it in a leaning position, then put the mic back in to place. 2 songs later it fell over again. When he returned to monkey with again I shooed him away and left it lying on its back. Argh. My poor tubes, baking in the heat and being repeated impact stressed. Remarkably, my amp survived these drops without complaint. That’s a good amp!

Sound Operators
After our second song we wanted to make a few adjustments to the monitor mix. Stefan attempted to get the attention of the team at the front-of-house mix position for about fifteen seconds, without success. The production crew was having some kind of conversation in the mix tent and didn’t seem to be aware of the stage. Eventually the whole band waved and shouted into the microphones, which seemed to get them to notice, but it took a while. Strange. Most of the time the sound operators are on top of things. It might have been the heat.

Overall I had a great time playing. It’s always a gas to work with DMQ and I’m enjoying my time with them. Everyone in the band has played at these kinds of festivals and no one seemed affected by the random strangeness. We delivered a good show and the audience seemed to have fun as well. Another fine day, well spent!