Anyone else see At The Gates in LA last friday?

[mva801]

Man I was so disappointed with this show. Had to come from San Diego to LA. Traffic, parking, blah blah.

Converge was ok, but they only really played one older song. Concubine at the end as always.

The sound at this show was atrocious. At the Gates I was SOOO excited to see. I've always loved Adrian Erlandsson but he seemed to be just a little bit off. I've seen him play tighter shows. Everyone else in the band was pretty on, but oh god the snare.

Something was wrong either with the trigger, the sound module, the snare mic, or the gate. I only heard the snare for like half the hits when ATG was on. WTF. How in the goddamn hell was there no attempt to fix or change that at all? 30 seconds into the first song i was thinking, someone needs to fix that snare. It's only firing half the time. I don't know if the sound guys were asleep but it was really bothersome. Especially because I'm a drummer.

I figure if the trigger is having problems, they should be able to turn up the snare mic and get us at least a little going. Was I just smoking crack???

And the crowd at metal shows really gets on my nerves nowadays. Maybe I'm just getting old but I'm over getting shoved in the back by some drunk neanderthal nowhere near the pit and getting beer spilled on me constantly.

Ok rant over. Hope you guys get to see a bit better version of this tour than I experienced.

 

[JeffTD]

I was there! I found their set time on Instagram earlier in the day and only showed up for their set so I can't comment on the openers.

But that snare... YES! It would just drop out completely randomly - at first I thought "oh, Adrian is just playing softly sometimes." I have a slightly different opinion of the guy as I've never thought he was that tight or hard-hitting - creative and interesting and vibey, for sure, but not what I'd call tight. As the show went on, though, I'm pretty sure something was fucked with the module. I had a friend (who is a good, experienced drummer) who was up against the stage who told me he couldn't hear anything wrong with the snare from where he was.

At one point 2-3 songs in, Tomas ran up behind the scrims and onto the drum riser. I honestly thought he went up to look at the snare mic because of the cutting out issue, but turns out he just wanted to hit extra cymbals on down (and up...) beats.

That all said, I thought the rest of the guys killed it, except for that bar-off fuckup at the end of Cold.

 

[mva801]

At one point 2-3 songs in, Tomas ran up behind the scrims and onto the drum riser. I honestly thought he went up to look at the snare mic because of the cutting out issue, but turns out he just wanted to hit extra cymbals on down (and up...) beats.

That all said, I thought the rest of the guys killed it, except for that bar-off fuckup at the end of Cold.

Ha ha ha I thought the same thing! It was obvious something was wrong with either the trigger or module. But how is it possible that they can't just pull the sample fader down a bit and turn up the snare mic? A band that big, a show that cost me $45 + $20 parking, and they can't figure out how to mic a snare drum. Fuck.

Are you going to Mastodon and Graveyard next month??

 

[JeffTD]

Probably not to be honest, neither are really my bag. The only reason I went to the ATG show is because I live like 3 miles up the road and found the set times on Instagram. I walked into the venue at 9:40 and out of it at 10:55 - it was amazing.

 

[Nuno Filipe]

Not related to at the gates show but you mentioned some reasons why I dont bother buying tickets and drive sometimes far away to see bands that I really like.

Most of the concerts I went, the sound is always a fucking mess. I went to a dream theater show years ago just as accompany for a friend and I just recognized some songs minutes after they began playing because there wasnt any definition from any of the instruments. I must say that I never was a fan, so I wouldnt recognize all the songs even with a good sound but almost all the concerts that I went, it´s the same shit over and over, and it´s always so damn loud that´s not even funny.

 

[HOFX]

Not related to at the gates show but you mentioned some reasons why I dont bother buying tickets and drive sometimes far away to see bands that I really like.

Most of the concerts I went, the sound is always a fucking mess. I went to a dream theater show years ago just as accompany for a friend and I just recognized some songs minutes after they began playing because there wasnt any definition from any of the instruments. I must say that I never was a fan, so I wouldnt recognize all the songs even with a good sound but almost all the concerts that I went, it´s the same shit over and over, and it´s always so damn loud that´s not even funny.

Agree. I've started wearing ear plugs to shows, cuts out all the fizz and shhhzzzz and you can actually hear what's going on with each instrument. For example, I had the pleasure of getting a good spot to watch Jordan Burns from Strung Out and could hear is kit so clearly that I could tell when he hit the tom rims during a roll, and the dude from Billy Talent can really sing. Can't tell that stuff without ear plugs.

 

[JeffTD]

Not related to at the gates show but you mentioned some reasons why I dont bother buying tickets and drive sometimes far away to see bands that I really like.

Most of the concerts I went, the sound is always a fucking mess. I went to a dream theater show years ago just as accompany for a friend and I just recognized some songs minutes after they began playing because there wasnt any definition from any of the instruments. I must say that I never was a fan, so I wouldnt recognize all the songs even with a good sound but almost all the concerts that I went, it´s the same shit over and over, and it´s always so damn loud that´s not even funny.

This is actually why I don't like live shows that much anymore, period. I'd rather pay 1/5 the cost to hear a well-recorded album of the same songs, and if you're not already familiar with the band/songs then you're pretty much shit out of luck.

 

[rapucore]

80% of the gigs I've attended (and there is A LOT) have had great sound. Few that especially come to mind are Megadeth and all the times I've seen Opeth (last time was in 2010 if I remember correctly though). Best shows have been the ones where the volume level is just perfect.

For me catching a band live is better by tons than listening the CDs in home or during driving. The atmosphere of the show adds a lot to the feel and experience which you will not get by listening to the albums. Crappy sounding gigs indeed suck hard but a show is a show nonetheless - also the current best support for the band.

PS. Sorry for dwelling in nearly OT hehe.