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Old 05-13-2006, 12:15 AM   #11
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: California
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Re: 2006/05/12 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre

Well, I just want to say, I was one of those who at first totally disliked the new album, and after seeing the songs performed live along side older songs, I have gained a new respect for 10,000 days. The songs were really powerful, albeit not as uniformly groovy as the older songs they played. I can't remember the entire setlist, but they opened with rosetta stoned, then went into stinkfist, and they played these songs in no real order throughout the night:

schism, sober, aenima, lateralus, the pot, vicarious, jambi, the patient.

The show was pretty short, only around 1 hour and 45 minutes or so, which was dissapointing for everyone there. Maynard made some comments about Minneapolis and about why they started the tour there, but I couldn't understand hardly a damn word he said. That leads me to my only quarrel with the night:

THE SOUND WAS FUCKING HORRENDOUS. The band's performance was pretty good considering they hadn't played together for so long before coachella, and i've seen videos of them playing the songs much worse. BUT THE SOUND!!! Danny's hi-hat took center stage, as it was the loudest, crispest most high end laden instrument on stage. It overpowered at times both the guitar, maynard's voice and the rest of danny's drums. In fact I'd have to say that all of his cymbals had way too much high end on them, not enough mid. As for the kick/bass interplay, it was equally bad. The entire theater echoed a muddy low end that was grossly indistinguishable as music. The bass was both muddy and resonant in the low frequencies, and also had too much high end on it.

The only thing the sound person (people?) got right was adam's guitar. It sounded decent. Maynard's vocals were also an extreme dissapointment, as there seemed to be no compression on them whatsoever. Sometimes the quiet parts were way too quiet, then you could tell they adjusted the volume, and then he'd scream and it was way too loud, so they'd turn it down... READ A DAMN FUCKIN BOOK ABOUT HOW TO MIX A LIVE BAND OR STOP SHOOTING FUCKING HEROIN BEFORE DOING IT!!! I mean seriously, a decent compressor/de-esser would have worked WONDERS out there tonight.

Also, I don't know what the F happened but at the end of aenima something happened to the entire board mix and it was all cut out, so all you could hear was the guitar and bass. (because of their amps) danny could have been playing air drums for all the audience knew at that point. Luckily they stuck it out like professionals... (unlike some certain SOUND PEOPLE I CAN THINK OF!!)

Some of you might think that I'm just bashing some dudes that probably have it really bad or something, like they're doin g their best... bullshit. I have a decent amount of live sound experience and I can tell you that many sound guys I know whould have done much better not knowing the gear, the theater or the band they were mixing for.

In the end, it only dissapoints me so much because the band and their performance was so good. Even with the terrible mix job, I'd have to say the show FUCKING ROCKED!!

I flew in to the Mini-Apple from Hilo, Hawaii just to see this show and I'd have to say it was well worth it. The songs rocked my ass off and it was wonderful to be amongst fellow fans.

Keep up the good work guys! (you know who I mean... :-| )
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