our tour has us traveling this country with no rhyme or reason to its path. Minnesota to chicago to Wisconsin to kansas to south Dakota...you get the idea.
So i had some fun in Appleton Wisconsin. We had played there a few times before with in the mood and also with Christmas Carol. it was nice to get back and see old friends. the day had pressed on like every other. sound check went fine. setup went fine. dinner was...well..dinner. and then time came for the show. its a huge venue. nearly sold out. it was set to be a great night. i arrived up at foh 5 minutes before the start of the show and did my normal pre-show check in with the cast and made sure they were all good to go. me and andi did our normal check list and we cued the opening speaker to do her speech on stage. it all went great. she talked for about 5 minutes and introduced the show. she walked off like we had done so many times before and AJ started his pre-show speech from off-stage...asking everyone to turn off their cell phones and such. nothing out of the ordinary. the house lights dropped and the theater went dark as normal. the band began to play the march in as they walked by me playing "Saint Louis Blues". as soon as the band walked by...something just didnt sound right. something was off. i didnt know what it was...but i knew something wasnt right. i was a bit far away from stage...about 100ft or so. with the band playing acoustic at the front of the stage for the first number...it always sound a little different because they arent mic'd...but the rhythm section is. but it was eerily quiet. i tried to push bud and the drums in the mix. as the fader moved up...nothing. no change. that was odd. by this time the band was back at their seats and the number had ended. maybe it was just me i though. bud played the first chords of the opening number and it still sounded strange. the singers came out in darkness just like the other 800+times ive done the show and the band clapped along in rhythem. the lights came up and as i moved the faders to their correct position...the singers opened their mouths...but nothing came out! my head shot up like a startled deer! something was definatly wrong..VERY wrong! my fingers shot over buttons...checking to see what i had missed. maybe i forgot to unmute something. but things had worked perfectly 5 minutes before when our 2 speakers were doing their thing. i got on com and told andi that i had NO PA! the sound system just simply wasnt working. she told me that she was aware of the problem and they were working on it. she had 3 technicians from the house working on the problem in the control booth where she was...3 stories above me. there wasnt anything i could do...but sit there. the singers and band seems un-phased by the sound issues. the show went on. over the next several minutes..the band and she singers continued on like nothing was wrong. andi made the call to keep the show going...so on we went. i could hear some sound coming from behind me...from the ceiling speakers that covered the cheap seats far under the balcony behind me. the audio feed that feeds the control booth was out...so i had my headset mic on so andi could hear the show to call the light cues (because she is behind soundproof glass) while i still tried to talk her through what was going on with the PA and with the techs working on the issue...as well as try and mix the show for the people who still could hear the show via the small ceiling speakers. it was juggling at its finest. over the next several minutes...it was mix the show, check with andi, mix the show, where are the techs, i still dont have power...over and over. after about 15 minutes of silence from the massive sound system...andi reports to me that the control units (3 of them) for the pa fried and wiped all the settings. they were able to switch them out and i should have full PA by this point. for me though...it was still silence. the house techs insisted that i should have full power by this point. still nothing. i had to walk them through basic trouble shooting steps like i was babying a tech for their first day on the job. checking to see where we had power...were they saw signal...where there wasnt signal...trying to follow the chain of sound from me to the speakers. 30 minutes after the silence started...a routine check in with andi revealed they had gotten the building blueprints out and were looking for power breakers that might have tripped. i couldnt do anything but just sit there and mix the show as if nothing was wrong. it was very strange...the crowd applauded at all the normal spots...as if nothing was wrong. you could hear the singers...but you defiantly could hear that something major was wrong. finally....45 minutes after my initial second of panic i received word they had found the problem and fixed it. i slowly brought the rig up to full power...section by section. sure enough...the hall filled quickly with the sweet sounds of the band and singers. i couldnt do anything but bow my head in relief. after the act ended...i got the chance to talk to one of the techs that was working on the problem. this was the ultimate course of events that had occurred . perfectly timed with the downbeat of the opening number...there was a power surge in the downtown where we were. one of the techs just happen to be looking at the racks in the control room when the lights on several of the pieces of equipment actually exploded. this is how they were right on top of it before i was. the power spike took out the 3 controllers that handed the audio TO the sound system. the sound i was hearing was the ceiling speakers...which was the only one of the 7 audio feeds that leave my board that didnt go through the controllers...it went right into the amps. they got those fixed relatively quickly. when they kept insisting i should have had full power...they didnt know that the power spike had also taken out a power conditioner that actually supplied power to the physical speakers themselves. they eventually found the damaged conditioner and were able to feed power to the speakers from other locations. the conditioner did its job...it sacrificed itself to protect the speakers. ive only seen this happen one other time...and it destroyed the conditioner but saved about $15k worth the gear. it was a wild first act. bud knew something was up but he didnt believe me at first when i told him what had happened. none of them knew differently since by board stayed up...thus the monitors and mics and audio kept flowing to the stage and stage monitors. to them...nothing was off. later we learned that we dropped one of the legs of power to the audio power service. its 3-phase...so there are 3 actual power lines that come in. one had died and that caused an imbalance. thankfully my leg stayed un-effected and my gear was spared. it was a wild night. but when something like that happens...all you can do is laugh and keep pressing on. as we left the theater that night...all the stop lights in the downtown area were flashing and had been reset. apparently we were not the only thing effected by the power that night.
here are some pics!!!!
so why are there doors that lead to nothing? kinda dangerous if you ask me! Remember...its not the fall that get you...its the sudden stop at the end
Double Vision!
My usual front of house setup
this was in the dressing rooms somewhere
Seattle Opera house...it was just stunning
someone please tell me how this was a good idea?
All set up and ready for the show
swapping bags in Appleton Wisconsin
Sign...step left...repeat
AH...so thats where normal is!
hard to see...but its bud and the band watching the world series during intermission
L' Acoustic Kiva/Kilo rig...sounded AMAZING
this really was a more "Mystery Science Theater" photo...but i didnt really have time to frame it right.
mixing in "sound man time-out" in Emporia Kansas
Tacky...yet useful
they felt the need to take a photo of someone using the dispenser...and tape it on
Chipotle and frozen custard made Saint Joseph Missouri tolerable for the crew
