PA Nightmares

[cheddatom]

I know we all have stories about obnoxious soundmen, painful feedback etc, but the other day I think I found the winner

PA company were still setting up the PA 5 minutes before the intended stage time. When we were supposed to go on, we were ready with gear, but the mics were on the floor and there was no DI for the acoustic guitar. We asked about the DI, and they said they'd just mic it. For lots of reasons this is less and ideal so we asked if he could get a DI. He said they'd actually forgotten their DIs so would go and get them. About 10 minutes later I asked about thieir mic stands and they said they'd forgotten these too! 10 minutes later someone leaves, apparently to get mic stands and DI boxes. He got back about 30 minutes later with stands, DIs, but no mic clips!!! He'd forgotten them!

So, we went on stage about an hour late, no problem, but this was a "professional" PA hire firm hired by the local council paid god knows how much to put on the show, and they turned up without mic stands!!

[lurksalot]

we did a show with a few other bands and a great singer who was in the west end at one point , it was a fundraiser with about 400 people , they wanted to use our PA but we declined and suggested they hire a PA in , it was a bit late but they got one set-up , the biggest issue was that the only guy they had to run it had the 2-bob bits , what a night that was , I ended up playing tracks for the singer after a manic 20 second run through of the desk , while he went of for a 20 minute run through of a different type