Cheers and Jeers Thread

[rottingflesh]

i would put out bets on the asian girl, but i could be wrong, either way, charge it back, i work for a credit card processor, and they will have to have your signed receipt... did you keep the receipt by some chance?
in case they changed...

Since alot of people had complaints about the bartenders, I have a quick question...Did any of you use a credit card, write the tip in, and when you checked your transactions in your bank account the total wasn't the same? I bought two double drinks plus tip was $31 and the transaction on my bank statement says $44...I think one of the bartenders put their own tip on my receipt. Did anyone else have this problem? That'll be the last time i ever use my credit card at Center Stage.

 

[Kathy]

ISo all the other drinks that I bought were also bought down at Vinyl - Jaime and Adam are always on top of things (at least that's been my experience with "The Twins" )

Yep; the boys downstairs are the best!

 

[manowarfan1]

The guy upstairs working with the Asian looking girl was top notch to us all weekend. I tip well, so that may have something to do with it - but he was always quick with our drinks - anticipated them (but checked before starting to pour because we changed up on him a couple of times) and was always pleasant. Seemed like he was enjoying the atmosphere and the people (or that could have just been the vodka with a splash or red bulls we would switch to later in the evening affecting my judgment).

He gets two thumbs up from me - we of Irish descent don't like to wait for our booze - afraid of dehydration or something

Jeff

 

[thedelicateflower]

The guy upstairs working with the Asian looking girl was top notch to us all weekend.

...he told lek that he 'looked like a young gregg allman'...

 

[Greykiller]

Cheers: Just about everything was done really really well--good vendors, great lineup, really friendly people, even the hotel staff at the Residence was cool.

Jeers: Anybody who bitches about anything that is normal at a concert. You are gonna get smokers, and pushers, and assholes blocking entrances and exits, and people doing various things you might want to do but are against the rules. Give Glenn a break on all of that, folks--his concerts, for the most part, are incredibly well run.

EXCEPTION...and I have to side with so many folks on this one: The sound was just horrible. I know that having so many bands in one venue over three days can be a logistical nightmare, I know that everyone wants a different mix and having some bands bringing in their own sound guys can play havoc with the rest, and I know that having such a short time for rehearsals can lead to sound issues during the live performance.

But Jesus H. Christ--this has been a constant complaint for the last 6 years! Don't get me wrong, the entire crew for this show works their asses off and does the best job they could, BUT I would be willing to drop an extra 5 bucks on a ticket if we could pay for some top-tier sound guys to run the board. Having mics and guitars cut out during the all star jam is annoying.

 

[Cheiron]

There is a top tier sound guy that runs the board. Personally, my ears and his don't line up well I think because he likes his mix a tad different than I'd want to. But he doesn't have full control. He can keep trying to get the proper mix, but if band members turn up their amps and do other changes on the fly then he can only do so much when on the fly. I do wonder at times though how familiar he is with the band's before the show.

ProgPower consistently has better sound than other shows I have gone to. I can hear the mix quite well. I do think that when Heavy Metal is played live the band is very loud while the vocalist gets a lower volume (inconsistent with the mix on albums). And when the band is so high and the vocalist has to be pushed even higher it tends to cause some minor distortion. But not many bands have the confidence (imo) to have a lower volume where the sound is clearer (thus mistakes clearer), and where you could actually hear somebody cough in the audience (think orchestra hall).

And all but maybe one of the bands only gets a line check. This is due to the pain in the ass it is to do a full sound check for each band. It takes too long, and it relies on bands being very cooperative.. such as showing up on time. In Wacken I don't even know if they get a line check earlier in the day.

Did you read the thread started about Wayniac that explains the technical issues? Many were not the fault of the ProgPower crew.

 

[mëtålspëd]

Cheers: Just about everything was done really really well--good vendors, great lineup, really friendly people, even the hotel staff at the Residence was cool.

Jeers: Anybody who bitches about anything that is normal at a concert. You are gonna get smokers, and pushers, and assholes blocking entrances and exits, and people doing various things you might want to do but are against the rules. Give Glenn a break on all of that, folks--his concerts, for the most part, are incredibly well run.

EXCEPTION...and I have to side with so many folks on this one: The sound was just horrible. I know that having so many bands in one venue over three days can be a logistical nightmare, I know that everyone wants a different mix and having some bands bringing in their own sound guys can play havoc with the rest, and I know that having such a short time for rehearsals can lead to sound issues during the live performance.

But Jesus H. Christ--this has been a constant complaint for the last 6 years! Don't get me wrong, the entire crew for this show works their asses off and does the best job they could, BUT I would be willing to drop an extra 5 bucks on a ticket if we could pay for some top-tier sound guys to run the board. Having mics and guitars cut out during the all star jam is annoying.

I have to ask... do you use any sort of earplugs for this fest (like the well known ER-20s)?? Technical issues aside, the shows always sound good from wherever I am with my ear plugs.

 

[Greykiller]

I understand everything you say. And I did read the other thread. Thing is, why do other concerts get it right?

PP Is the only place where I have heard mics go dead and remain dead for an entire song--when a mic goes dead at other shows, a tech is there INSTANTLY with a second mic. Floor should not have made it through the first stanza of her Jam song without a second mic. Instead, she went thru the entire song without one. I do not care how professional the crew is, or how much of a top flight sound guy they have, stuff like that just should not happen.

 

[Harvester]

Gkiller,

Your gripes about the technical problems are noted. We will take action to prevent future problems to the best of our abilities. If you believe you know how to do things better, I'm sure my crew would welcome your advice as we want to give you a good show. That is our top priority.

As for the overall sound complaint for six consecutive years, I am glad that you are in the extreme minority with your criticism. Your ticket purchase ensures you the right to make that statement year in and year out. I would only add that I do not believe that you will ever be satisfied with your experience at the festival with the sound . That will be kept in perspective when I read your inevitable sound complaints next time around.

Glenn

 

[Wayniac]

But Jesus H. Christ--this has been a constant complaint for the last 6 years! Don't get me wrong, the entire crew for this show works their asses off and does the best job they could, BUT I would be willing to drop an extra 5 bucks on a ticket if we could pay for some top-tier sound guys to run the board. Having mics and guitars cut out during the all star jam is annoying.

I understand your frustration. S**t happens. I can assume that during the recording of Marcels show that you were in (it rocked by the way!) , there were fewer changes, and perhaps some rehearsals/production meetings that took place? This was truly off the cuff.. we winged it as a BONUS, and I guess the "lack of preparation" was perceived as failure, rather than just a good 'ol rock-n-roll jam

As soon as we hear a problem on the stage, we are all over it. When AF's converter(s) for stage left got unplugged, we were on it literally in seconds.. it just took time to find the problem and re-route stuff..

Cellador was due to the guitarist not being familiar with the rental gear and not having a backup guitar

During the Final Countdown, we could hear Floor in the wings GREAT, but as Chris explained - she had the mic from her set.. not the ones that were still in the mains

Primal Fear insisted on not unplugging any of their gear and did not want to change ANYTHING, even though he was picking up radio stations. And it would have helped had they showed up for line check when we would have had time to trouble shoot.

As far as guitars cutting out during the jam - I was not aware of any, as i was running around backstage rounding up vocalists...

The crew has nothing to do with the mix, and the guy at the board is a top-tier guy - he has worked many fests over in Europe, and has done COUNTLESS tours with metal bands - from Blind Guardian, to Edguy, to... etc
Wish we could be of more help, but he can only work with what the venue has for subs, gates, EQ, etc. He is sometimes working with less than what he would wat to get the most out of the gear.

All I can say is we will try to be more diligent next year, and I will suggest some changes in regards to mics...

 

[Greykiller]

Gkiller,

Your gripes about the technical problems are noted. We will take action to prevent future problems to the best of our abilities. If you believe you know how to do things better, I'm sure my crew would welcome your advice as we want to give you a good show. That is our top priority.

As for the overall sound complaint for six consecutive years, I am glad that you are in the extreme minority with your criticism. Your ticket purchase ensures you the right to make that statement year in and year out. I would only add that I do not believe that you will ever be satisfied with your experience at the festival with the sound . That will be kept in perspective when I read your inevitable sound complaints next time around.

Glenn

I stated over and over that everything else in the concert has been top notch. I also chided the people for bitching about things that happen at every concert. I have been going to concerts for over 35 years, and just let go 95% of the stuff I see at every show I attend. I believe that if people do not like smokers, or pushers, or drunks, or people so rude as to stand on the steps and talk, that they should not attend concerts--sit at home and listen to music on the headphones if all that stuff bothers you so much.

I believe almost everything people bitch about in this thread makes the concert more human than most. Try seeing anything interesting happen at a symphony.

Maybe I am in the ultimate minority in how I feel about the sound issues, but I am a huge fan of the show no matter what kind of sound problems arise.

And as far as finding a better sound teck...I have no answer for that. My only response would be--when things go right, why do they go right and how can they be repeated all the way through the show?

Most respect.

 

[Yippee38]

As I stated in my post, I had problems with the sound (vocals primarily) too. I don't mind when a guitar cuts out, or something like that. That's a glitch. Those are going to happen. I know the PP crew get those fixed ASAP. This year though, the sound mix was consistantly poor. On some of the sets it got better toward the end of the set, but it took half the set to get there. I would expect that any problems with the mix should be fixable in about 30 seconds to get them to an "okay" point, and maybe another 2-3 minutes to get them tweaked. Then again, I don't do that, so what the hell do I know?

 

[Wayniac]

My only response would be--when things go right, why do they go right and how can they be repeated all the way through the show?

Most respect.

That's the scary thing - we do the same thing in between each band. Just weird that some bands have Spinal Tap luck, and others don't.

Freak Kitchen had no issues... and we did nothing extra for them. Maybe because they are a 3 piece, with no samples, triggering, or programming? Just bare bones energy, fun, and talent !

I did not take it as any disrespect to me personally.
Seriously - if you have any experience that worked for you at some of your shows, I am all ears. Please PM if you want.
Cheers !

 

[rms]

I guess sound isn't a big deal when your already singing along to everything The mics being quiet or cutting out wasn't a huge deal at all to me

 

[Greykiller]

That's the scary thing - we do the same thing in between each band. Just weird that some bands have Spinal Tap luck, and others don't.

Freak Kitchen had no issues... and we did nothing extra for them. Maybe because they are a 3 piece, with no samples, triggering, or programming? Just bare bones energy, fun, and talent !

I did not take it as any disrespect to me personally.
Seriously - if you have any experience that worked for you at some of your shows, I am all ears. Please PM if you want.
Cheers !

Thanks. I am not trying to piss off anyone, least of all the you, the crew, or Glenn.

If there is any advice I could impart, it would be for the concert to be run like a large project--you get a professional project manager as a consultant, have the person look at the operation start to finish, and then provide input on how to make things run better.

One of the best things we do as project managers is to run a postmortem analysis of the project. As part of the postmortem we look at the lessons learned and apply them to the next project. This thread can serve a greater purpose if it is subject to in-depth analysis. It is an even better tool if the data you retrieve is compared with the postmortem conversations that have occurred after previous shows. It is quite easy to build a database where you take our posts and apply them to categories you devise, then analyze them to get the basis for a strategy to improve the next show.

A good project manager can help you with all that.

One of the biggest secrets about project managers is that the knowledge they bring to a company is product-agnostic. Your product is a festival. Your project is making the sound as good as possible at the festival. Keeping good records of what went right and what went wrong is paramount to helping make the next project more successful. Tracking issues and applying the lessons learned in a way that maximizes success is something a project manager does.

But the funniest part of all of this...the cheers and the jeers?
They seem to be variations of the same themes every year. Sometimes they get resolved (tape on the stairs), sometimes they don't. But if they do or do not, the important things remain the same: Glenn keeps booking fantastic talent, people buy tickets like they are ice cream cones in hell, and there really is no serious bitching--and by serious bitching I mean people not buying tickets.

I may bitch about the sound (I think I did after 6,7, and 8), but I am still going to buy my GB as soon as it is available.

I understand that Glenn loves this show and loves his fans (and we love him right back!), and the intimacy of this show is a huge part of the appeal.

And I believe he has stated that he does not want to move to a larger venue.

Given all of that, if Glenn decides to (or is forced to--I hear Donald Trump knocking) use a larger venue, looking for a PMP Certified project manager could help go a long way towards making the transition seamless.

But what the hell do I know.

 

[manowarfan1]

I guess sound isn't a big deal when your already singing along to everything The mics being quiet or cutting out wasn't a huge deal at all to me

While some things were noticeable (Floors vocals not being audible on the floor during the first Final countdown) - I can honestly say it didn't matter too much to me. Hell, it made me sing along louder - to the freaking Final Countdown for God's sake - that in an of itself is a miracle. Maybe it's just me - but when i go to a metal show - I expect the drums to be too loud, and the guitars & vocals to not be loud enough for my particular tastes (and the bass to be lost entirely). Sometimes, it's perfect - sometimes - it's rock & roll.
Just my 2 cents - which at the current exchange rates ain't worth a lot. The most important thing is - did you have a good time/ I sure as hell did

Jeff

 

[Kaosaur]

The sound at PP is always GREAT. My only complaint would be that things were sometimes a little too loud (hence the recommendation for earplugs).

I can't stress enough how GREAT the sound at ProgPower is.
GREAT. GREAT! GREAT GREAT GREAT! Great.

 

[MetalOperaChick]

Jeers: Anybody who bitches about anything that is normal at a concert. You are gonna get smokers, and pushers, and assholes blocking entrances and exits, and people doing various things you might want to do but are against the rules. Give Glenn a break on all of that, folks--his concerts, for the most part, are incredibly well run.

I am WELL aware that most concerts you go to are GOING to have smoke. Which is why i avoid the Masquerade unless it's a band like Symphony X...my lungs pay a heavy price though but that was my choice to put myself in that environment. But the difference with the Masq and Earth Link live...is that the Masq never advertises themselves as a nonsmoking venue...Therefore, it's not a surprise to walk in and see the couldy haze of cigg smoke.

Earth Link however, from my understanding advertises itself as a NON SMOKING venue. As has been the LAW passed in Georgia that all large venues and such be NON smoking. Not to mention that there was a Non Smoking sign on the wall behind the bar! So of course it's going to make people wonder what the friggen hell is going on. At least the non smokers anyways who have their health to worry about.

 

[Greykiller]

I am WELL aware that most concerts you go to are GOING to have smoke. Which is why i avoid the Masquerade unless it's a band like Symphony X...my lungs pay a heavy price though but that was my choice to put myself in that environment. But the difference with the Masq and Earth Link live...is that the Masq never advertises themselves as a nonsmoking venue...Therefore, it's not a surprise to walk in and see the couldy haze of cigg smoke.

Earth Link however, from my understanding advertises itself as a NON SMOKING venue. As has been the LAW passed in Georgia that all large venues and such be NON smoking. Not to mention that there was a Non Smoking sign on the wall behind the bar! So of course it's going to make people wonder what the friggen hell is going on. At least the non smokers anyways who have their health to worry about.

Not to threadjack or anything, but you are 100x more likely to be hit by a car on the way to the venue than you are dying from second hand smoke 30 years from now, if the venues are where you get exposed.

You are probably 100x more likely to die from a bee sting or lightning for that matter.

If you have allergies or get deathly sick from cigarette smoke, I am truly sorry--but you have picked the wrong form of entertainment if that is the case.

 

[Jibrille]

And this arguing is why I'm glad both NY & Mass have no smoking laws for bars/clubs. Jeez.