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Funniest Venue or Event


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Ok,

 

This section has been empty for a while now so I thought I would start off the 1st Thread; "Funniest Venue or Event?"

 

So what is the funniest venue or event you have ever worked on or in??

 

I'll start us off;

 

I was asked if I could help light a fair/ fate so I arrived thinking it was going to be a big event, ended up it was in someones back garden and about 30 people turned up to the fate. An afternoon best forgotten.

 

Over to you;

 

Sam

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Not exactly funny but I had to provide sound and lights to a fund raising ball in a tent that was just over 10m from side to side and nearly 120m from end to end with a stage in a seperate area half way down the long side. Stage was about 6mx3m for a 40 piece big band.

 

Apparently the ball started off with only a handful of people attending, but as the numbers went up they kept adding sections to the tent..... Once set up it was OK, I feel sorry for the serving girls though, a six course meal beeing served to tables upto 250m from the kitchen, no trolleys.

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On friday we were booked by a small band (6) to made sound and lights.

So far it wasn´t a problem we decided to took a 6KW soundsystem and about 14 KW lights with us. We arrived at venue about 16:00 o´clock at venue ( a very small tent ) realizing that there was hootenanny on the stage (6x4 m) (without PA) The manager said that they will play until 19:00 o´clock and the others start at 20:00 o´clock. Then I looking for our power distribution I found a 16A schuko plug ( 1phase 16A max. ) So I asked the publican were I can find a 32A 3phase as arranged before. He shows me the powerdistributor

little way away from the tent (60m ) but there was a 32A plug and it was occupied by a shooting gallery. I asked the owner to change our plugs - ha wasn´t very happy about, at least he agreed. Then we build up our FOH mixing consoles I decided to us our XLS size matters we used 2x2m only ! then the publican gets into a tizzy about using so much space in the tent :) he was telled that if we can´t put it there we dont´t play tonight. It was OK then. We build up the rig behind the stage were the brass band still is playing . Then about 18:00 o´clock our band arrived and complained about everything ( They aren´t very good but they were the stars tonight)

 

The whole thing was a disaster but sound and light´s worked fine ...

Sebastian H.

Pro - Sound Showtechnik

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Albert Einstein

"You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun"

Al Capone

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More like a "what can go wrong topic" isn't it :)

 

Well I've got one too; 2 weeks ago we played with a band in the south of Belgium (Mons). The ride there was terrible; al the stuff loaded into a van which only did about 110 km/h tops. On a 10% slope the speed dropped to approx. 70 km/h in 4th gear :(

Once arrived the party was held in a tent in the yard of the parents of the bride, so far so good; but we could reach the tent with our van. Solution: pushing all cases through 150 meters of sand. THAT SUCKED!

We had to set up behind a screen, there was too little space but there wasn't any other solution... at first the father of the bride didn't want us to build any FOH because it would mess up the created mood. Build it anyway and threw some white cloths over FOH.

Oh well... the band was very satisfied with us, too bad that didn't really help us dragging all the cases back to the van around 4am... :x

Why don't they mention these thing when a band gets booked? :wink:

> 500 posts, time for a new T-shirt? ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Try an open air concert in November at a fireworks night - only 4 lights broke (two hit by rockets - the FOH rig and the other two - best not mention it (incase HSE are looking at this website!!!)

 

Needless to say it rained, and rained and rained.

 

Dont forget a 100m cable to source power from the main building and OH yeah... we ran a 63A 3 phase from a 13A socket - desprate times...

 

ML

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Dont forget a 100m cable to source power from the main building and OH yeah... we ran a 63A 3 phase from a 13A socket - desprate times...

 

After 100m 16mm² cable on a single phase 13A ? - the wireresistor is so high that in this case nothing should work proper, on your stage.

 

I have had a similar event last friday night. A 24 KW lighting rig plus 10KW Audio on one 32A 3 phase with about 130m cable inbetween us and distro. They connected a automated scooter to the same distro despite we were there first and said them not to put any more on that box. Thats why every time the automated scooters began to run ( remember high inductive loads) my lights went down the 50% about 100V powerloose on phase 1 & 3 my fixtures dont like blackout like these so they decided not to work proper the whole evening. All in all it looked worse but nobody noticed it despite me.

At the end of the day there where a couple of frays. Buisness as usual but no security service ! - We take down our set at 7:00 o´clock in the morning after all people was gone.

Last but not least it began to rain on the tick we opend the lorrydoors.

Sebastian H.

Pro - Sound Showtechnik

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Albert Einstein

"You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun"

Al Capone

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  • 1 month later...

Last may. Colchester's prime venue held an outdoor party in one of the smaller parks in Colchester, 12KW sound system. 24 movers.....the movers were not tested before let out on hire and wouldn't move.

Lamps were gone, and motors, so we resorted to generics already set up by a private lighting company on site. Anyway when i thought it cudn't get any worse, the left side of the FOH system blows up, well the bass speakers did, creating pretty much a riot on stage....Lovely evening overall.

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Last may. Colchester's prime venue held an outdoor party in one of the smaller parks in Colchester, 12KW sound system. 24 movers.....the movers were not tested before let out on hire and wouldn't move.

Lamps were gone, and motors, so we resorted to generics already set up by a private lighting company on site. Anyway when i thought it cudn't get any worse, the left side of the FOH system blows up, well the bass speakers did, creating pretty much a riot on stage....Lovely evening overall.

 

Lamps and motors were GONE!!?! What the duck is that? Ok I've heard about hired lantern returning dead or beaten-up but stolen lamps & motors is really bad... weird folks u guys are, driving on the left, stealing parts :P :P

> 500 posts, time for a new T-shirt? ;)

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STAIRS, LOADS OF STAIRS

 

 

once we had a show in Bremen On venue they had have a broken(!)

elevator and we have to push all our stuff about 10 Stairs above.

I sugessted to use the other elevators of house, but the staff of hotel says that this is not possible while guests are rolling.

 

about 3 hrs. later the elevator was repaired.

Sebastian H.

Pro - Sound Showtechnik

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Albert Einstein

"You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun"

Al Capone

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Not once but two times a year we're doing a show in the Horta-hall in Antwerp, they have an elevator but the doors are to small to put a flightcase in, so we have to drag everything (two trucks with equipment)two floors up using the fire-stairs :cry:

Den Pipo

Pro Light Design

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Hi folks,

one of my "funniest" experiences I tell now!*:-)

 

About 14 years ago I did my first tour with Pierre Moerlen´s Gong as backliner.

 

It was a small tour, and so were the venues (Between 100- 1800 guests)

 

There was one really crazy club manager in Speyer,South of Germany, This guy wanted to book the act without limits!!!!

 

The club was build in a cellar for about 80 people stage size a triangle in a corner about 3,5m deep in the center and 4m broad!!!! :twisted:

 

clearence 2,3m!!!!

 

Power was installed esspecially for this gig.

 

We had an 7,49t truck overloaded as usual. Four technicians for the whole production. 2x 3,5kW PA, about 60 PAR64 mixed CP 1k´s and Raylights, an extra monitormix with 6 monitor sends. Monitors were 6x EV FM1502 and 2x double 15"/1" fills.

 

Backline 1x Standard DrumSet, 2x Vibes, 1x Trace BassStack(2x18"/10"),

1x Marshall Top+4x12"",last but not least a giant gong with 1,8m diameter!!!!

 

I stop describing here! :lol:

 

Try to imagine the whole stuff on that UUUUUUGE stage!!!! :twisted:

 

The complete desks were setup at the FOH (FOH+Lights+Monitor)

Distance FOH to stage ca. 3m!!!!!

 

only snakes were used to plug the instruments to the sound desks.

 

It ended up with 50, in words FIFTY guests!!!!

 

What a imtimous rehearsal!!!

 

 

It´s only Rock´n Roll,..... :wink:

 

Cheers

Sven

Sven Paulsen

Klangfarbe Vienna

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

but everything that happens here is!

 

i work at the acme comdy theater in los angeles. all i do is work on comedy shows. i tech 8-12 shows a week, every week, all comedy.

 

who else can say they get a good laugh every time they go to work? i mean a "wow! that was a funny show!" laugh, not a "wow! can you believe they wired this like that?" laugh.

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  • 1 month later...

I'll just give you my input as well:

 

Did an outdoor concert at a University. Started at 08:00 in the morning, the stage was up by 12:00 and show start at 16:00 - no need to say, we were slightly pressed for time. The concert was over at 00:00. We were done packing at around 06:00 where we loaded the truck and drove to next gig - a concert in a sports complex.

 

We had enough time for setup but there were tons of small things that went wrong, thus no time to sleep. The party was over at about 02:00 where we packed the truck, drove to the wearhouse for unload. I was home at about 08:00 - slept for about 4 hours before goint to the airport for PLASA.

 

All in all it went well I it was my our fault for going tow gigs back to back.

Kresten

Kresten Bager

Polyteknisk Scenelys

www.scenelys.dk

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