Big stages

[chris_b]

Make sure your lead is long enough!

[Weststarx]

[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1423483127' post='2685216']
I think the problem with my first time was I was told 2 minutes before we went on stage for the first time 'its a big stage so you have to fill it by moving about'. Good job I brought my spare pants! But once I decided I was going to swim rather than sink it felt better and I'd rather do that than small pub stages where the bassist gets the least amount of respect.

At small gigs heres what I find happens:

1) I help to get all the band gear in. No-one will help with the bass amp - I have to ask politely for a hand. Not sure why as its part of the gear!
2) As soon as the bass amp gets put in place it immediatly gets disrespected ie - drummers lean the cymbals against it, guitarists put their keys and coat and drinks on it. I would never do that to someone else's gear!

[b]Thats why I prefer bigger gigs/stages - more respect for the bass player![/b]
[/quote]

Or they just have found more places to put their stuff.

It is annoying being the bass player at times because I'm always middle left or middle right of the stage depending on the layout of a venue, so every gig set up is always an argument where I am going because both guitarists want more space eventhough they both remain static the whole gig - our drummer explores more of the stage than they do!

[UglyDog]

I absolutely [i]love[/i] big stages. The bigger the better.

[ubit]

I am the singer and I was still the one who moved about the most. Our guitarist maybe struck some poses, but only in the one spot and our acoustic guitarist just did his usual standing stock still and looking like he's about to burst into tears, so yes, we certainly need lessons in using our space.
I suppose it was better than one pub I can remember when I had to hold my bass at a certain angle, so that I didnt bump into the acoustic guitarist.

[DaytonaRik]

Have wireless will travel! Even in pubs during some of the longer solos (Emerald, Suicide) I'm off and about - punters love it!

[JPJ]

I love big stages, although the first time we played one, the photographs show us huddled up around the drum kit like we were back in the local pub (early Zeppelin photos display the same effect).

One advantage of a bigger stage is that I leave with my shins intact. Our singer is a mic stand twirler in the style of Ronnie Van Zant and in smaller venues, there isn't a gig goes by without several blows to my shins

We're down to play the local O2 Academy in May and that will be a pleasure, biggish stage, in-house PA & monitors, room to breathe and no shin injuries

[Bassjon]

[quote name='Weststarx' timestamp='1423484167' post='2685249']

both guitarists want more space eventhough they both remain static the whole gig - our drummer explores more of the stage than they do!
[/quote]

Haha, to me thats unforgivable. you are there to entertain - not just play the notes but make people feel part of the show aswell.

[Weststarx]

[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1423495588' post='2685483']
Haha, to me thats unforgivable. you are there to entertain - not just play the notes but make people feel part of the show aswell.
[/quote]

I know it annoys me to, its something I have mentioned and I even suggested they put their 101 pedals behind them so they could at least do a little swivel every few songs

[BILL POSTERS]

I have played at a few big ish venues, but always in a support act or opening act. Loved the feeling of being remote from the punters, high stage, proper dressing rooms and all that. Always a had great stage sound, with sound guys who really knew the stuff.

As for having more room, well, with other bands gear on the stage, sometimes 2 other bands, then ours stuck in front / around it, theres never been all that much difference.

[paulears]

I think playing on a big stage is nice, but just very odd. Big and in daylight is different to big and audience in the dark. My first ever festival performance was a bit surreal. It never actually occurred to me I'd never done one before - done plenty as sound and lights or video, but I was about three songs in when I clicked I could see people really well, and they were spread out all over the place. I don't suffer from stage fright or even nerves, so I just remember thinking how odd it felt. I actually enjoyed it all the more because you could see when individuals liked or not the songs you started. They'd be jiggling around for one, then go still, or start to talk on the next. In a theatre venue, you only see a few rows. I also hated it when it rained and they were getting wet.

The only time I got put off a bit was in Abu Dhabi at the Grand Prix when I turned expecting to see the guitarist and there was a camera and cameraman - that seemed very odd, and even worse, seeing a huge face on a screen that is yours, but delayed a second or so put me off quite badly. Never look at the screens, it's very disturbing.

[xilddx]

[quote name='JPJ' timestamp='1423488548' post='2685357']
I love big stages, although the first time we played one, the photographs show us huddled up around the drum kit like we were back in the local pub (early Zeppelin photos display the same effect).

One advantage of a bigger stage is that I leave with my shins intact. Our singer is a mic stand twirler in the style of Ronnie Van Zant and in smaller venues, there isn't a gig goes by without several blows to my shins

We're down to play the local O2 Academy in May and that will be a pleasure, biggish stage, in-house PA & monitors, room to breathe and no shin injuries
[/quote]

I love big stages as well. Biggest I've played was the Larmer Tree festival. It felt huge. I love to run around a bit. But I've had great gigs on tiny stages too, like the Mau Mau Club in Ladbroke Grove where I had to play a headless bass in an almost upright position.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1423405024' post='2684371']
Although the sound is usually great on the big stages it always seems a bit impersonal and a bit lonely being 15 ft away from the nearest person.
[/quote]

I've played plenty of pub gigs where it felt like I was 15 ft away from the nearest person ...

[xilddx]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1423502291' post='2685607']
I've played plenty of pub gigs where it felt like I was 15 ft away from the nearest person ...
[/quote]

[ubit]

I did try to make use of the space, but as the lead singist, I was too often tethered to my mic stand. It rather annoyed me that my band mates hardly moved from their respective chosen spots. I think this heightens my dislike of larger stages. If we were a visually vibrant sight, then maybe the whole experience would be better .

[JapanAxe]

For me there's an optimum stage size, where there is room for you and all your kit without risk of clashing headstocks on PA speakers, cymbals etc, but you are close enough to communicate both musically and verbally with your bandmates, and the sound doesn't get lost when you move around. If I have a mic stand I tend to stay behind it even when I'm not singing - it takes a real effort for me to move away!

[TimR]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1423503177' post='2685617']
I did try to make use of the space, but as the lead singist, I was too often tethered to my mic stand. It rather annoyed me that my band mates hardly moved from their respective chosen spots. I think this heightens my dislike of larger stages. If we were a visually vibrant sight, then maybe the whole experience would be better .
[/quote]

I played a mini festival once with a band where the two guitarists set up right near the back of the stage. Complete with music stands. For 8 numbers?

The video is quite funny. The singer and I are on one side of the stage moving about quite a bit, interacting with each other and the crowd. It's like the guitarists were at a different gig in another band.

Edited February 9, 2015 by TimR

[gjones]

Big stages are fine, but not if there is a huge gulf between you and the drummer, Which means if you step too far away from your monitor, you can still see him drumming but you can't hear him.

[ubit]

At one point, I did a kind of pregnant, disabled Angus Young walk right out the front across the stage in front of the monitors and I was like, sh*t! I can't hear anything anymore and quickly reverted to using my personal square metarage of stage area. So any rock star moves have to be carefully thought out as they could potentially leave you in a musical wasteland.
I suppose big bands who do put it about a bit, have bass coming through every monitor along with a nice balance of every instrument , so that they are never left in dead areas. As long as I was in the one spot, the sound was spot on, but the guitarists obviously have a different idea of what constitutes a good sound than me.

[Allons-y!]

I don't think I've ever been payed to play on a big stage. I think all of them have been charity events for me. But even without pay they seemed to be more fun. As long as I can see the drummers body language I'm good.

[TimR]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1423551791' post='2686122']
At one point, I did a kind of pregnant, disabled Angus Young walk right out the front across the stage in front of the monitors and I was like, sh*t! I can't hear anything anymore and quickly reverted to using my personal square metarage of stage area. So any rock star moves have to be carefully thought out as they could potentially leave you in a musical wasteland.
I suppose big bands who do put it about a bit, have bass coming through every monitor along with a nice balance of every instrument , so that they are never left in dead areas. As long as I was in the one spot, the sound was spot on, but the guitarists obviously have a different idea of what constitutes a good sound than me.
[/quote]

The big band will have their own engineer and possibly a second engineer running the monitors.

They'll also have rehearsed on a big stage prior to their performance to iron out any problems.

We'll just get a rudimentary soundcheck for signals.

Going in front of the monitors isn't the best idea.

Keeping the backline together near the drummer is a good idea and there is nothing wrong with grouping in on the drums as long as you move about a bit. Watch some queen videos for how the ultimate arena band did it. They seem to cover the stage but not stay away from each other for too long at a time.

[lojo]

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1423403672' post='2684351']
Next week we are playing a social club which has a small stage only 2 feet off the ground and we won't all fit on it! So I'll be less relaxed about my kit then
[/quote]

I love these kind of gigs, gives you your own defined slightly raised space, but allows for an imitate atmosphere still, which beats a pub setting or a functions hall with a stage that's way too high stage

I don't play many larger gigs where your using in house or festival pa , but when I do I've learned to dig the experience and the tone onstage , but don't go to the front of stage to get an idea of your out front sound, it can ruin your night

Edited February 11, 2015 by lojo

[JTUK]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1423638598' post='2687218']
I love these kind of gigs, gives you your own defined slightly raised space, but allows for an imitate atmosphere still, which beats a pub setting or a functions hall with a stage that's way too high stage

I don't play many larger gigs where your using in house or festival pa , but when I do I've learned to dig the experience and the tone onstage , but don't go to the front of stage to get an idea of your out front sound, it can ruin your night
[/quote]

This is why I have a rig that can reach across the stage..it is a far easier fix than having bass in all the monitors at one point and
find they aren't there any more. I feel more comfortable if we have a mon engr and tbf, most decent festival stages will or should have
one. We tend to spec it if asked. What you don't want to see, is a solo engr, simply because the kit load and amount of work he will
be asked to do, just don't add up, IMO.
As with all these things, pose the questions and don't end up surprised or caught out

[Raymondo]

I do not have much experience of big stages....large "working mens clubs" mostly,unless you count a tank transporter as "big"....My all time favourite though is Rock City in my home town.The monitor engineer being an absolute genius....the sound was awesome.


So my vote goes to Big stage if the sound is good

[anaxcrosswords]

A big stage every time for me, much prefer it over small venues, not least because it’s a rare treat. In the 4 or 5 years of this band I reckon we’ve had a big stage about once a year.
There’s good and bad about relying on in-house PA but, as an inherently lazy git, I’m quite happy to leave our PA and lighting rigs at home.
As for actual performance, I love having all that room to muck around in and, thankfully, we’re so familiar with what we play that if we move out of sound range we still know what’s going on. The disadvantage for us is that myself (bass) and the guitarist do a heck of a lot of backing vox, and there’s little worse than finding yourself 20 feet from the mic at the point when you’re supposed to start singing.
A few years ago we did a scouts/guides festival at Tatton Park on a lovely big open-air stage. Yes, the crowd was behind barriers but they still went bonkers for us – not because we were good, but because they were there to watch the bands and to enjoy the occasion. At pubs you sometimes feel like an intrusion.
While very enjoyable for us, a Christmas gig we did at the Pavilion in Llangollen showed why big stages aren’t always great. The PA cut out completely during set 2 and it took the in-house guys quite a while to fix it. This was also before I went wireless, and my lead kept catching on the corner of the drum riser.

[blue]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1423560931' post='2686217']
The big band will have their own engineer and possibly a second engineer running the monitors.

They'll also have rehearsed on a big stage prior to their performance to iron out any problems.

We'll just get a rudimentary soundcheck for signals.

Going in front of the monitors isn't the best idea.

Keeping the backline together near the drummer is a good idea and there is nothing wrong with grouping in on the drums as long as you move about a bit. Watch some queen videos for how the ultimate arena band did it. They seem to cover the stage but not stay away from each other for too long at a time.
[/quote]

We play SummerFest on a Headliner stage every year. My take, what good are the huge sound and light systems to us locals that play the day ime slots if the systems aren't managed. We sound better with our own sound.

Blue

Edited February 11, 2015 by blue