Day 14: Victoria BC - Alix Goolden Theatre
I don't want to jinx it, but this is a pretty fun blog. It's kind of like, oh, every day is great... things are rosy... bla bla bla... Well Victoria is no exception. In fact in one way this date is kind of exceptional: we are playing in a cavernous former church that was built with acoustics for unamplified music. In other words, once you play loud in there, things tend to get lost in the mix. As Ryan, our sound tech reiterated, he could not get a clear sound in this room (sometimes in theory you can just turn it up to essentially make the PA sound compete over the natural reverb). Not here, because the reverb is just too great.
The room acoustics gave openers The Wooden Sky a tremendous edge in this room, and indeed they received a standing ovation. That's the other thing, being a church, it is full of pews and everyone is sitting. This is very anti-BROOD like. Also, my mom is here with her husband Gerhard, and 3 other couples in their 60's. They are sensitive and cautious about volume , so I am careful to hand out earplugs to them ahead of the show. Damage control: I don't want to receive the guilt afterwards of having made an elderly person deaf, or even angry at us.
So for this show, we slightly adjusted the set to incorporate some quieter tunes, but this isn't a theatre tour this is a rock tour. We can only do so much to alter the set.
Fortunately, a certain BROOD phenomena occurred during the performance that I haven't seen since Hugh's Room (Toronto, May '07). About halfway through our set, people start to get the jitterbug and gather near the stage. At first maybe four people come out and unashamedly start dancing to a tune. Within a short time, there is a complete turnaround to the 'seated' notion, and everyone is standing, with a large component right up front, ready to receive their ritual sacrament of pots and pans to hit.
This feels good, and it sure makes blogging fun....
I don't want to jinx it, but this is a pretty fun blog. It's kind of like, oh, every day is great... things are rosy... bla bla bla... Well Victoria is no exception. In fact in one way this date is kind of exceptional: we are playing in a cavernous former church that was built with acoustics for unamplified music. In other words, once you play loud in there, things tend to get lost in the mix. As Ryan, our sound tech reiterated, he could not get a clear sound in this room (sometimes in theory you can just turn it up to essentially make the PA sound compete over the natural reverb). Not here, because the reverb is just too great.
The room acoustics gave openers The Wooden Sky a tremendous edge in this room, and indeed they received a standing ovation. That's the other thing, being a church, it is full of pews and everyone is sitting. This is very anti-BROOD like. Also, my mom is here with her husband Gerhard, and 3 other couples in their 60's. They are sensitive and cautious about volume , so I am careful to hand out earplugs to them ahead of the show. Damage control: I don't want to receive the guilt afterwards of having made an elderly person deaf, or even angry at us.
So for this show, we slightly adjusted the set to incorporate some quieter tunes, but this isn't a theatre tour this is a rock tour. We can only do so much to alter the set.
Fortunately, a certain BROOD phenomena occurred during the performance that I haven't seen since Hugh's Room (Toronto, May '07). About halfway through our set, people start to get the jitterbug and gather near the stage. At first maybe four people come out and unashamedly start dancing to a tune. Within a short time, there is a complete turnaround to the 'seated' notion, and everyone is standing, with a large component right up front, ready to receive their ritual sacrament of pots and pans to hit.
This feels good, and it sure makes blogging fun....
As one of the "elderly persons" at the gig I have to tell you that we all enjoyed every minute. Nobody wore the earplugs you so thoughtfully handed out (except me for a bit). Everybody commented on the drumming and Mom didn't stop talking about it for days! The piece where both groups were on stage, with the audience beating their toys and Hey Hey Hey'ing was electrifying.
ReplyDeleteGerhard
Steve the blog is wonderful and we're enjoying all your tales from the road.
ReplyDeleteNot to nitpick BUT couples in their 60's are NOT elderly. Watch it or I'm going to whack you with my cane. :o)
You said it Phil! I have a walking stick too.
ReplyDelete