The rectangles. Seriously! The orangish rectangles are chicken rotisseries.. It's a joke apparently about how they no longer need big huge amps like in the old days; so Geddy had a row of institutional chicken rotisserie machines. Last tour, it was washer/drier units. My cam-phone pic pretty much sucks, but here's a better photo.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Chicken rotisseries
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3 comments:
OK Dig It, cuz this is real. Most stadium/shed acts haven't really used the big amps you see on stage for years & years now. They're typically dummy rigs loaded up with "on" lights to signify they're pumping out power. Oh & don't forget the dummy microphones to signify Rawk-ness.
I first became aware of this due to the reporting skills of Fred Sexton after he visited backstage @ an Aerosmith gig back when that one dude from Lex (who's name I've forgotten) was the guitar tech for Joe Perry. Shibbit, who was that guy? He also worked for Izzy from Guns & Roses & played in that scary Rawk/Punk band with Will Peirat.
Anyway, here's how it works; Somewhere under the stage, each guitar player has a little amp closet that pumps out the jams through the amp (or amps) of choice. If different amps are required for different songs, a tech will be there to switch it back & forth. The players hear themselves through the monitors.
These days they could theoretically do the whole thing with digital amp simulators, eliminating the need for the amps. Such gizmos still sound kinda shifty though, so I'd bet most folks are still using real amps & mics (thank yahwey.)
Kudo's to Geddy for exposing the fake out with whimsy!
--jT
thanks for the background. you're thinking of Pat Francis, I believe, Steve Vai protege for a moment!
One slightly disheartening thing in the linked picture (not my camphone pic): Geddy appears to have a lyrics monitor. (ha)
Actually, it helps remind us that remembering a jillion lyrics — hell, even a few lyrics — ain't easy. And yet, we always just assume this on the part of singers. When you play bass like Geddy Lee, and also have to sing tomes by Neil Peart, a lyrics monitor just might come in handy.
Yes! Pat Francis is the name I was looking for. What was the name of that scary punk rock band? They were pretty good as I recall.
I noticed the teleprompter also. I certainly can't blame GL for that tactic. Lyrics can be a tough beast, especially if yrr also playing an instrument. I used to experience this problem all too often back when I was doing the street show. Most times the forgotten lyric will just come to you if you empty your mind of worrry & trust your instinct to deliver it "just in time." My guess is the teleprompter takes away the worry & you'd hardly ever need to actually use it as long you know it's there.
In other news, I've heard that Neil Young has a custom footswitch that controls a solenoid system to physically turn the knobs on his amp by specific increments. Rube Goldberg city, but he gets a great tone, right? Bless Him.
Now I'm off to join Rock-Trivia-Minutia-Anonymous. "Hello, My name is John & I'm a gear geek."
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