Saw Stevie Nicks concert last night
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:01 amI know what you're saying.... and yes, I went because my Mrs likes her... ;-)
But she put on a good performance - esp. when you consider Ms Nicks is 63. Times have changed - when I was a lad (generally) musicians packed up their traps and gave the game away long before reaching that age - it's good to see that there's life after 60.
But to the audio side of it - the band (9 + Stevie) was tight - there were no show-offs and they played the support role well and enjoyed themselves judging by the smiling faces - and scarcely a fluffed note all night. Wollongong ent. cent. was the venue - first time I've been there and, I'd describe it like a smaller version of Sydney ent. cent. - a bit better than average acoustically but a bit woolly in the middle / a tiny bit lacking in top end. We were in the 5th row and I'd say the levels were perfect - for the first time in years we didn't need earplugs (we did have them with us of course). I'd guess it was the house PA - flying arrays either side of the stage and a pair of what used to be called big quad boxes on the floor either side of the stage. Perspex screens around the drummer and percussionist - MD421s on the toms and I think an Audix on the BD - pair of pencil overheads.... but I forgot the binoculars so I can't tell you the brand/model. Previous times I've seen F/wood Mac they used MD441s for vocals but this time she had an Audix-like mic that was fairly sensitive (i.e. she didn't have to swallow it like a Shure) and still gave that "reedy" sound to her vocals (lots of 'verb and delays to make it "bigger"). IEMs all-round for the band - it's looking more like the days of stage foldback are dying. And a smack on the wrist for the mixer - he had the mic level pulled down before the encore (1 song....) and didn't get it up in time so Stevie was mouthing away for 10 seconds introducing the encore song..... not good.
The eeriest thing was the crowd - they sang along on a number of the songs!! Just softly and without any prompting from Stevie - it was a really strange feeling having all that chorus of voices filling the hall.
Dave Stewart was the support band and they were also good - the singer was very good but it's a hard act to fill Annie Lennox' shoes - she has such a distinctive voice and you come to expect it in their "offkey" songs. There was too much bottom end in their mix and it was creating a standing wave at ground level and they were louder than the main band. Whatever happened to the days when the support band got 4 channels and the compressor cranked to 4:1? I can remember hearing a fellow mixer back in the 70s being told not to touch the compressor or any of the other channels under threat of broken fingers.....
Next time I think I'll go to Sydney though - it just felt a bit too much like being in Deliverance there........
But she put on a good performance - esp. when you consider Ms Nicks is 63. Times have changed - when I was a lad (generally) musicians packed up their traps and gave the game away long before reaching that age - it's good to see that there's life after 60.
But to the audio side of it - the band (9 + Stevie) was tight - there were no show-offs and they played the support role well and enjoyed themselves judging by the smiling faces - and scarcely a fluffed note all night. Wollongong ent. cent. was the venue - first time I've been there and, I'd describe it like a smaller version of Sydney ent. cent. - a bit better than average acoustically but a bit woolly in the middle / a tiny bit lacking in top end. We were in the 5th row and I'd say the levels were perfect - for the first time in years we didn't need earplugs (we did have them with us of course). I'd guess it was the house PA - flying arrays either side of the stage and a pair of what used to be called big quad boxes on the floor either side of the stage. Perspex screens around the drummer and percussionist - MD421s on the toms and I think an Audix on the BD - pair of pencil overheads.... but I forgot the binoculars so I can't tell you the brand/model. Previous times I've seen F/wood Mac they used MD441s for vocals but this time she had an Audix-like mic that was fairly sensitive (i.e. she didn't have to swallow it like a Shure) and still gave that "reedy" sound to her vocals (lots of 'verb and delays to make it "bigger"). IEMs all-round for the band - it's looking more like the days of stage foldback are dying. And a smack on the wrist for the mixer - he had the mic level pulled down before the encore (1 song....) and didn't get it up in time so Stevie was mouthing away for 10 seconds introducing the encore song..... not good.
The eeriest thing was the crowd - they sang along on a number of the songs!! Just softly and without any prompting from Stevie - it was a really strange feeling having all that chorus of voices filling the hall.
Dave Stewart was the support band and they were also good - the singer was very good but it's a hard act to fill Annie Lennox' shoes - she has such a distinctive voice and you come to expect it in their "offkey" songs. There was too much bottom end in their mix and it was creating a standing wave at ground level and they were louder than the main band. Whatever happened to the days when the support band got 4 channels and the compressor cranked to 4:1? I can remember hearing a fellow mixer back in the 70s being told not to touch the compressor or any of the other channels under threat of broken fingers.....
Next time I think I'll go to Sydney though - it just felt a bit too much like being in Deliverance there........
). I think the bottom heavy sound might have been the bass rig coming directly off stage. I remember the FOH engineer grumbling about this a few times, and none was needed in the mix (and hey, he was up the back).