The first set was really loud. I'm not sure exactly why, but everything just felt like it was blasting, and even when I turned my volume up to balance it, things still felt out of whack. I think that the mains were turned inward a little more and were up louder, and then the stacked subs kind of made a wall around me. It just felt weird. Dannells was louder than than usual and Cobb was loud, and…it just made it rough.
I had some really stupid moments in the first set--a few songs we haven't touched in a while felt really foreign, even though I'd practiced them at home. I don't think I was unprepared, but I couldn't really get parts to fit into the band. It was kind of like I was playing against the band.
We went on break and the Schooner guys showed up to hang out and play a few songs. Eric Frampton played my keyboards. I was hoping he'd impart some keyboard mojo on my stuff! Maybe he did…I played much better in the second set.
Unfortunately, the band played a really bad second set. I don't think we ever came back from the break, but we still had to keep playing. We were really bad.
Last night was the debut of my new rack--I have been looking for a way to keep more of my stuff set up so that I don't take so long setting up and tearing down. This new system has my laptop/EWI set up already hooked together, along with the mixer I run everything into, and my wireless receiver for my saxophones. All the cables stay plugged into the mixer, so at the end of the night, I stuff them in the box, put the lid on it, and I'm done! Way faster, especially on a night when I couldn't wait to get out of there.
Speaking of wireless, some guy wanted to know what I was taking pictures of with my saxophone. He thought that transmitter on the bell was a camera. Huh?
