The Rock and Roll Was Excellent! The Jam Was Perfect!

I ran sound for a show this past Friday. I didn't have to set it up, which I would have been able to do (though I'm glad not to have the hassle of doing it), so all I had to do was just turn things up or down if the musicians asked me. The first two guys were great. They were both using exclusively electronic instruments, and were solo acts, so all I had to do was raise the volume of the whole output. Simple. And they were both real pleasant to be around, so that was cool too. But then the headliners (if you can call a group finishing out a college show held in a cafe "headliners") were up. And they were dickheads.

First, let me say, our PA system is garbage. It can't really handle any large input, without blowing out. Second, let me say that it blew out when we were setting up for the last act, so we knew exactly how loud it could go before it would blow. Once we got the power back on, the group started, and immediately started telling me to turn everything up. Now, I'm not an electrician or anything, but that sounded like a fucking retarded idea. But hey, when you have a million assholes coming up to you every five seconds to tell you to turn up the vocals, what do you do? You say no a couple times, and then you figure, "fuck it," and you give them what they're askin' for.

So it blew out again. And as we all rushed around, looking for another usable outlet, the band got cranky. I understand that, though. I mean, they want to play a show, that's the whole point. And they can't do it, because they don't have power.

But, on the other side of the coin, fuck them. I was trying to help them out, and they were rude as fuck. At one point, I had an extension cord, and was going to run it out the door to another outlet. I was then told by one of the facility staff that that outlet was dead, so I should try another. This required me walking back through the bands setup, behind their amps, so that the cord could reach another outlet. One of the guys from the band was in my way, so I started asking him to move. "That outlet's dead," I began. He immediately responded, with a really adorable Aussie smirk, "Yeeah, I know." The condescension coming from this guy was so thick, I could have shoved it back down his throat and choked him to death with it. But I'm not really an asshole, and I'm trying to get this guy to play a ROCK AND ROLL SHOW so I just continued on. "I'm gonna plug it into that outlet," I said, as I pointed past him to my destination. He said something like "alright," in such a manner that I could tell he was thinking "Why is this fucking moron telling me this." I was one more exchange away from just yelling "SO FUCKING MOVE!" but I figured he would get the idea if I made a gesture that said as much. I made a sweeping motion with my arms for him to get out of my way, and he finally did. I don't think he got the whole idea of why I was telling him what I was doing. Maybe he thought I was just trying to keep him updated (which would have apparently been such a dumb fucking thing to do, judging from his reaction), but other than that, I'm out of ideas.

So, other than that, it was an awesome time. I'd gladly run the board for the openers anytime, but if you're in an Australian electro-punk band, and you expect me to help you with sound again, you can get fucked.