Diary of a weekend gig supporting Toyah and Steve Harley.....

firepaulmusic

My band Daytona were on the same bill as Toyah and Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel last Saturday. This was at Highbridge in Somerset for the Secret World - Music in the Meadow one day festival. The PA was a full concert rig inside a massive marquee. The stage and lighting were both real pro affairs and the PA guys were all very friendly and efficient. We went on and did our spot at 1pm for an hour. Nothing was too much trouble, monitors were effortless with no feedback issues whatsoever. Several bands later and it was time for Toyah's band to set up for a 7:30 start. Their sound guy walked in with a small digital desk and set into the existing PA. The band quickly got set up and sinc'd all their iPads for the song set. The guitarist was using a Fractal AX8 and the bass player just a couple of pedals, both going direct and all on in-ears as was the keyboard player. No sound check but when they came on they sounded terrific, perfect mix and really dynamic. Toyah was absolutely great, very engaging and full of energy. The band didn't miss a beat even when Toyah teased them and started changing the set half way through. The headline act was Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. Their sound and lighting guys came in and took over the main sound and lighting desks. You could see the PA company guys just running them through the controls before they left them to it. After a line check of instruments and checking of monitors they eventually came on. They started with 'Here comes the sun' and initially sounded fabulous with the lighting adding loads of dynamics. As soon as Steve Harley started singing it was clear he wasn't happy with his monitor mix and he didn't shy away from showing it. He was constantly gazing to the side of the stage all through the first 3 songs and gesturing for more of this and less of that. I thought it was odd that he had only a single in-ear monitor and was also very reliant on the floor wedges. Anyway it ended up fine and the crowd went home happy that they'd witnessed two great acts at what was in fact quite a small festival and only £20 a ticket. It did occur to me that Toyah's band had some great tech at their disposal and they used it all to great advantage. Their on stage volume must have been next to nothing, perhaps just the acoustic drum sound. This made their performance come across as much slicker than the more 'old school' approach of loud stage volume used by Steve Harley with the associated monitor/feedback issues. I'm still waiting for my 64 Audio A3s to turn up so I can start along the route of saving my hearing and getting the stage volume down...
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ESBlonde

I think my Mate Marty still plays Bass For Steve Harley, tidy bass player if so. They don't gig extensivly but enough to be seen from time to time. Cool gig you had, hope you get many more like it.