Fantom, FIFA, and the drenching :(
20 Jun 2010, 22:19This post is a reflection of what happened at my gig on the weekend.
It perhaps heeds a warning to any others out there with a gig on in the same room as a bunch of soccer hooligans while the world cup is on.
Its also a warning to event organizers?
Picture this:
Our band arrives at the venue on Saturday night, and begins to load gear onto the stage.
Venue staff approaches us and says that we are actually on the floor next to the stage because the big screen with the soccer is going on the stage. (Of course. Why would you put a band on a !@#$%^& stage? Sorry, sarcasm alert)
Ok so the gig begins, everything is going fine. Really packed out.
The game begins. Its Australia Vs Ghana. Good times. Everyone is singing along and watching the soccer (i was guilty of watching a bit of it too
)
Then it happened...
Australia scored a goal.
The Fantom may as well have been Mr. Jacques Cousteau diving for pearls. It rained so much beer and wine and everything else that the only dry patches of stage were the surfaces directly under the equipment. The fantom, the drums, cymbals, the singer, myself, and all the girls dancing in the front row's T-shirts got completely saturated.
The commotion and rain went on for what felt like about a minute.
I immediately terminated the gig.
The next day after rushing the keyboard off to my tech guy for surgery (he’s open on a Sunday bless him!) I told my agent all about it, and he assures me he will get the venue to pay full gig fee plus any damage! What an agent! Of course this is what should happen anyway.
I got a call this morning (Monday) from the agent who had talked to my tech guy. Apparently the damage is actually quite minimal! the Fantom coped somewhat well with being doused, its really well sealed up.
What a relief.
(The agent called the tech guy at 11pm on a Sunday night and he was still working on it. Wow)
So that’s where things stand right now, and I will keep the Forum updated on what happens.
So is there such a thing as like a big soft plastic membrane you can put over the keyboard for hooligan drink shielding? If not someone please invent one thanks.
Does anyone here take any ingenious precautionary measures against this sort of thing? I said ingenious. No tents or perspex sheets. I use the pads and knobs and Fkeys so using a controller keyboard isn’t ideal.
Things I learned this weekend:
- A home team scoring a world cup goal justifies emptying the contents of one’s drink onto another’s most beloved electronic equipment. Be prepared.
- When doing a gig @ MJ Finnegans Darby St. Newcastle Australia, refuse to play unless it is on the stage.
- (Some) pub owners put profits before safety. SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- My tech guy rocks
Well everyone thanks for letting me get all of this off my chest.
Peace,
Johnnykeys
PS. There is an old video of a gig at that pub on my Youtube channel. It’s a different gig though, and you can’t see the fantom, but you can see the type of bogans that go there.
PPS. The game ended up being a 1-1 draw.
_________________________________________________________
www.youtube.com/johnnykeys1978
It perhaps heeds a warning to any others out there with a gig on in the same room as a bunch of soccer hooligans while the world cup is on.
Its also a warning to event organizers?
Picture this:
Our band arrives at the venue on Saturday night, and begins to load gear onto the stage.
Venue staff approaches us and says that we are actually on the floor next to the stage because the big screen with the soccer is going on the stage. (Of course. Why would you put a band on a !@#$%^& stage? Sorry, sarcasm alert)
Ok so the gig begins, everything is going fine. Really packed out.
The game begins. Its Australia Vs Ghana. Good times. Everyone is singing along and watching the soccer (i was guilty of watching a bit of it too
) Then it happened...
Australia scored a goal.
The Fantom may as well have been Mr. Jacques Cousteau diving for pearls. It rained so much beer and wine and everything else that the only dry patches of stage were the surfaces directly under the equipment. The fantom, the drums, cymbals, the singer, myself, and all the girls dancing in the front row's T-shirts got completely saturated.
The commotion and rain went on for what felt like about a minute.
I immediately terminated the gig.
The next day after rushing the keyboard off to my tech guy for surgery (he’s open on a Sunday bless him!) I told my agent all about it, and he assures me he will get the venue to pay full gig fee plus any damage! What an agent! Of course this is what should happen anyway.
I got a call this morning (Monday) from the agent who had talked to my tech guy. Apparently the damage is actually quite minimal! the Fantom coped somewhat well with being doused, its really well sealed up.
What a relief.
(The agent called the tech guy at 11pm on a Sunday night and he was still working on it. Wow)
So that’s where things stand right now, and I will keep the Forum updated on what happens.
So is there such a thing as like a big soft plastic membrane you can put over the keyboard for hooligan drink shielding? If not someone please invent one thanks.
Does anyone here take any ingenious precautionary measures against this sort of thing? I said ingenious. No tents or perspex sheets. I use the pads and knobs and Fkeys so using a controller keyboard isn’t ideal.
Things I learned this weekend:
- A home team scoring a world cup goal justifies emptying the contents of one’s drink onto another’s most beloved electronic equipment. Be prepared.
- When doing a gig @ MJ Finnegans Darby St. Newcastle Australia, refuse to play unless it is on the stage.
- (Some) pub owners put profits before safety. SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- My tech guy rocks
Well everyone thanks for letting me get all of this off my chest.
Peace,
Johnnykeys
PS. There is an old video of a gig at that pub on my Youtube channel. It’s a different gig though, and you can’t see the fantom, but you can see the type of bogans that go there.
PPS. The game ended up being a 1-1 draw.
_________________________________________________________
www.youtube.com/johnnykeys1978
