Parcans

This was the first time seeing them for both my son and myself. The setlist was excellent, and the performance was note for note perfect.

Looking at it from over 20 years as a live production guy, there were a few things that really stood out...

I really HATE these new Line Array sound systems. I see where they make life a lot easier for the crew, but they have no warmth to them. Sound guys will always disagree, because they can dial-in the system on a computer to make a perfect readout on the computer screen. But no matter where I sit in an arena, the sound is missing the strong midrange that really fills out the sound. Arrays are great at heavy bottom-end, and crispy high-end, but the stuff in the middle (the warmth) don't exist. I suppose that since most current concertgoers wouldn't know the difference between a good Trap cabinet or Line Array, this is never going to change.

Every sound guy I know says "Mine don't sound like that". Yes they do...

The band obviously spent a bunch of money on the sound system for this tour, but it almost sounded like the system was "Clipping" from my seat. Doesn't matter, though, because I was probably the only 1 out of 16,000 that heard it that way.

Lighting was decent for what he was given to work with. Yes, the video projection was cool, and nice job on the content, but it would've made a stronger statement if the back wall was 1 section higher. It wouldn't have hurt to have thrown another 40 intelligent lights up & used them with some patterns. The lasers were old after the Wings for Marie segment. The good thing for them is that this set-up must be economical for transport since there's not much to the rig. The big LED washes were a beautiful thing, though.

I realize from experience that it's real easy when you're on the road to forget that your audience that night is really looking forward to seeing you. When you play every night, each arena feels exactly the same so it becomes really familiar and unspecial. Bands don't owe the audience anything, but it would be nice if we felt like the performers were looking forward to playing. If we're not going to see them for another 2 or 5 years, it would've been nice to actually see them having fun.

It's not a bad thing to be a rock star. When you work hard for it & it actually happens, there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's ok to have a big ego when you can get 10,000 people fire up their lighters on cue!

What I mentioned were small issues. Overall we loved the show & hope they come around again before this tour is done. Once the drunk asshole behind us finally passed out 2 songs into the set, we really enjoyed ourselves.

Best of luck in Europe after the break...

~Parcans~