We played Annie's Frozen Custard last night. Set up was in the parking lot, out in front of the place at a busy intersection. We had one of those quick fold-up 10'x10' pop-up canopy-type-of-things for cover. Luckily, it was a nice evening and we didn't need it, but we set up under it anyway.

We arrived one hour before we were to start playing. Checked with the owner and said we'd need some power out by the canopy. She retreated to the back room and reappeared with a knotted-up 100 ft. extension cord and showed us the outdoor AC socket on the building. We spent the next 10 minutes or so getting the extension cord untaggled and straighten out and finally plugged in!

The other guys set up the mic stands and began to get their instruments in tune, while I began setting up the Classic L1/2B1 system and our Mackie mixer. Tonight, we were using 2 mics for the vocals, 2 mics for instruments and 2 directs (one for Bass, and one for the fiddle). I wasn't rushing anything and was never really concerned with getting set up in time to start playing. In retrospect, what a wonderful feeling that is to enjoy the setup for a performance. A couple of friends showed up and we had a chance to talk with them a little while we continued to set up and then tune up our instruments. When everything was ready, I just glanced to see what time it was. It had only been 36 minutes from the time we pulled into the place! We still had 24 minutes before we had to start playing!! You can't really appreciate this feeling, until you've been there with a 3-tier PA system and being right down to the last minute before you start playing, (sometimes after the first 2 or 3 songs...) finding yourself still "tweaking the system" to get a decent sound or trying to eliminate some feedback.

Normally, I zero-out everything on the mixer after our shows, just so I have a "fresh" start at the next gig. Tonight, when I pulled the mixer out from its bag, I noticed I had not touched anything from the last gig. So, rather than "zero" out everything, I just left it alone. I plugged in the XLR cables, the direct cables and hit the power switch. Bingo, instant mix!! (This must be the way everyone does it. I guess I'm just a s-l-o-w learner!) Beside a little more volume on the PS/1 channels 1 & 2, I didn't touch anything else. We needed just a little more "ummph", being outside.

We enjoyed playing for the next two hours while patrons ate their frozen custard in front of us and tapped their toes! I even noticed some folks about 200 ft. from us, over in another parking lot, dancing around to our music! For the most part, I think we held our own with the busy intersection traffic and crowd of folks in front of the custard stand. Folks came up to us afterwards and complimented how "nice" it sounded to them and they "enjoyed our music."

So another successful gig is now under our belts. We've now played several Spring and Summer gigs (both inside and outside) with the system and I feel much more comfortable with everything, like where to position the L1, B1s, mics, other do's and don'ts, etc. I think we're close to being on "autopilot," like so many other people talk about here in the forum. And what a nice feeling that is for me...knowing we sound our best with the Bose system and people are enjoying our music. Those are pretty powerful "rewards" for weekend musicians like me!

Great story,John. The L1 and T1 are amazing things. And yes, auto-pilot is a nice thing. I have a scene saved for every venue I play, and if I forget to save a change I made, it's there next time you turn it on !

My duo still get to our gigs 1 hour early.
30 min. to set up and tune, and 30 min. to shmooze with the crowd before we start. It's a wonderful thing.

I know you will have many more of these stories in the future !

Keep those cards and letters comin'.......

Hi John,

Thanks for posting this.

36 minutes. I've spent more than that just to find parking.

The aches and pains, anticipation and anxiety - arriving six hours before the music starts - I am so glad this is all behind us, well most of it anyway.

Autopilot for the details, that's okay. It is so liberating. I notice more now that I am not sweating the small stuff. At least it seems like small stuff now. Who would have ever thought that we could take hearing ourselves for granted.

PS - take a digital photo of the settings on the mixer, or just use some tape to mark the spots at least until you get your T1™.

Hey Mike,

quote:

30 min. to set up and tune, and 30 min. to shmooze with the crowd before we start. It's a wonderful thing.

This sounds like you really take the time to let the audience know that you appreciate them for coming out.

As live musicians we have so much competition from iPods to idols. I am always grateful when people will step out of their cocoons and come and join us for a bit. Perhaps they didn't come to see us specifically, but you can tell when they stayed a little longer than planned.

That's the kind of thing that it is easier to notice when not burdened by the details.

Hi ST,

WE usually have any where from 6 to 20 "groupies" follow us to all of our gigs.Most are friends that we see socially, some are friends of friends, some are family. We do go out of our way to acknowledge them and make them and anybody sitting near them feel welcome.

There has been several times, living in a resort town, that we meet people from all over the world that really and truely like our music.
Some become correspondents via e-mail or return trips, some don't. On more than one occasion, we have "closed" the bar sitting and talking with these types of folks. It's always rewarding when people recieve what you do in such a positive way. It is one of the reasons I make music. The main reason is because I love music, listening to it or making it myself.
So if someone likes what I/we do, I let them know I appreciate them!

The Bose system has helped in that area,also.
I don't freak out about getting the sound right every night, because 98% of the time it's not only right, it's AWESOME ! This leaves nothing else to do PLAY and connect with the audience.

It's a beautiful thang !

Mike

Hello John,

I love your story because those relaxed gigs are so enjoyable. When players are relaxed and comfortable, and they can hear themselves and each other, it vibrates out to the audience in that dimension that science hasn't understood yet.

And then it comes back from the audience, and the magic happens.

Thanks so much for sharing this with us all.

Ken