Day Of The Showcase (Part 1)

I was emailed earlier this week by the venue manager and told that if the band play "too loud" and don't turn it down if asked, then we won't be getting paid. I felt like writing back and saying "you do realise this is a rock band?! It isn't an acoustic trio...! How the #*#@!% do you make a rock band play "not loud"??!" I was starting to wonder if maybe this wasn't the right type of venue. To be honest, it put a real dampener on the show and now I had a lead singer (also doing their sound) who was now trying to focus on getting a great sound - but not too loud!

Anyway, Thursday morning we picked up the PA at 8.30am, loaded the van with everything else and hit the road at 12.30pm. It all seemed to be going to plan, we were right on schedule and had everything we needed (I credit the lists we made - lists are great!!).

We arrived up in Auckland at about 2.30pm and started unloading the van and getting the PA set up. By 5pm the guys were ready for sound check - although we couldn't do a thorough one unfortunately as the venue was already receiving complaints about the noise! Crazy!

After sound check, we were approached by a young couple who asked if we had a banner for the band. We had silver backing and 'drop' banners on the side with the band name - but no backdrop as such. They told me they had their own print company and would love to print off a massive 3m x 1.2m banner for the back of the stage! Not only that, but they would do it free of charge! Full colour, anything we wanted! What a fantastic offer and I was so grateful for it. They surprised me even further by leaving right then to design one up and print off - all for the show tonight! [...to be cont...]