Walked out of a gig last night..

rlw

The Manfreds at York Grand Opera House.   Never, in 55 years of going to gigs, have I experienced such awful sound.

In the stalls, ten rows back and right in the middle, with the whole band playing there's a wall of noise with individual instruments pretty much unheard.  Except for a very toppy electric piano playing, apparently, out of key fiddly bits and a sax occasionally popping through but, again, seemingly at odds with the rest of the band. Backing vocals way too prominent and lead singers way too loud to the point of break up.

I thought it was my hearing aids so switched them off but mrs rlw confirmed it wasn't them, simply awful sound.    There was no mixing desk to be seen, perhaps in the wings?, and the band was playing through proper amps, some of which were miced up but not all.

We left at the end of the first half and my left ear is still ringing today.   It might have sounded like this on a bad day in the sixties but there really is no need for it today.

The audience was very muted too, some looking a bit uncomfortable, and the atmosphere in the hall was a bit strained.

GoldenEraGuitars

Given what you’re saying about the atmosphere I’d say there were a lot of people there feeling pretty annoyed that they’d wasted ticket money as well as 2 hours of their lives for it.

RocknRollDave

Saw Marcus King this year in Manchester. Not the first time I’ve seen him; he’s a fine showman who can whip a crowd up no problem.

So why was he looking out at a muted response to the first half of the Manchester gig when he should have had us in the palm of his hand by that point? He looked puzzled. I’ll solve the puzzle for you, Marcus: it was impossible to make out what was going on in most of the songs. We couldn’t hear your guitar. All we could hear was THE DRUMS AS LOUD AS HELL.


 I was stood directly behind the mixing desk, so goodness only knows what the soundman was hearing that I wasn’t.

M1ck

Yip been there, Shine On ‘Britain's foremost Pink Floyd tribute band’ - we left at the interval absolutely dire sound and so loud it was painful! Simply distorted sound with nothing recognizable. We’ve seen some great tribute acts - Shine On aren’t one of them.

The only other one as bad was Danny Bryant supporting Eric Gales! Fortunately Eric Gales lived up to the reviews.

LionAquaLooper

Everyone walks out of gigs though....eventually. 

rlw

You'd think a band celebrating 60 years would have enough experience to get it right wouldn't you.

GoldenEraGuitars

rlw said:

You'd think a band celebrating 60 years would have enough experience to get it right wouldn't you.

The sound quality of a gig is usually down to the sound engineer though? 

theatreanchor

LionAquaLooper said:

Everyone walks out of gigs though....eventually. 

But usually when the gig is over, non?

prowla

I've been to some gigs with awful sound:

• Linkin Park at the O2: the upstairs speakers weren't switched on.
• Marilyn Manson at Brixton Academy: you couldn't even tell what the recordings were that were playing through the system before the bands came on.
• Mars Volta (somewhere in London): there were no vocals.
  

ICBM

I've heard bad sound almost as often as good - there's really no excuse for it now unless the sound engineer is clueless, deaf or stoned - or more than one of those - it's not going to be an equipment problem. I find it remarkable how many seem to not be able to hear what the sound is like and fix it.

Three particularly memorable ones...

I walked out of the Swans after about two songs because they were so loud I thought I might experience internal organ failure. To be fair, it wasn't a surprise - they were notorious for it. Couldn't hear anything other than a wall of noise even with earplugs in - I went to the bar above the venue where it was still perfectly audible and the mix was actually quite good.

Roy Harper had an appalling combination of muddy inaudible vocals topped with hideous scratchy piezo electro-acoustic guitar, I left that one too.

Bic Runga - a singer with a beautiful, delicate voice - had a mix so bad all you could hear was drums and bass, no vocals or guitar at all... until most of the crowd turned round to the sound desk and started loudly berating the engineer about it. It was drastically improved after that, and I stayed. (Actually the same venue as the Swans - perhaps the engineer was still deaf, although it was several years later!)

Paul_C

The only one I ever walked out of (that I can recall) was Crass back in the 80s.

"What?" I hear you say, "surely Crass couldn't have been that bad?"

I googled to check the date and found this, so you can decide for yourselves.

https://loonies.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-northampton-roadmender-27-feb-1982

rlw

GoldenEraGuitars said:

rlw said:

You'd think a band celebrating 60 years would have enough experience to get it right wouldn't you.

The sound quality of a gig is usually down to the sound engineer though? 

Yes but I'm wondering if there was one, or whether the band just set up themselves....

EricTheWeary

The only ticketed gig I can remember walking out of was Furniture who were just very, very dull. I seem to remember The Damned as having a particularly terrible live sound but it was okay if you stood at the back of the hall. 

I saw Fairport Convention live a few times almost just because I didn’t know live sound could be that good, whole new world of clarity opened up. 

ElectricXII

I nearly walked out of Rival Sons at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh in 2019. Waaaaay too much bass drum in the mix which nearly ruined everything for me. In the end I only stayed to see what guitars Scott Holiday was going to play next. There's no excuse for having bad sound at the Usher Hall, where the natural acoustics are excellent.

Placidcasual79

Do you think the band knew @rlw? I wonder if it was ok stage or whether something out of the ordinary happened - you know equipment or sound man gets lost? If that was the case and you knew it was likely to affect the show you'd have to tell the audience no? 

Do you think others in the audience noticed? Did you speak to anyone?

Philly_Q

I don't think I've ever walked out of a gig early, but I did fall asleep watching Meat Loaf.

rlw

Placidcasual79 said:

Do you think the band knew @rlw? I wonder if it was ok stage or whether something out of the ordinary happened - you know equipment or sound man gets lost? If that was the case and you knew it was likely to affect the show you'd have to tell the audience no? 

Do you think others in the audience noticed? Did you speak to anyone?

The people sitting around us were very still. No foot tapping, no clapping out of time, just a surprised look on their faces.  It was very odd.

And I don’t think the band knew at all as I think they would have wound it back a bit if they did.

And there was no obvious sound man …

hollywoodrox

Philly_Q said:

I don't think I've ever walked out of a gig early, but I did fall asleep watching Meat Loaf.

Seems appropriate to be honest

horse

I left a Bob Mould gig at nottingham rescue rooms after 5 songs or so a few years back. Just a very loud barrage of drums, and it was so packed that there was no room on the floor to move your feet. (I mean avoiding getting cramp rather than dancing!)

scrumhalf

I walked out of a gig bt a Belgian Jethro Tull tribute band.

Nothing wrong with the sound, though. It was a perfect reproduction of an appalling load of bollocks being played in stage. 

mrkb

I walked out of a Dodgy gig at rock city, as they were crap.