Paris

Two days at L'Olympia. A big room 2 levels below the street that looks quite a bit like a movie theatre. The stage is a good size and it sounds pretty alright, which is more than you can say about Brixton. In London, if you stand in the center of the floor, where the crowd is, and clap or yell or, as the band did, play a french horn as loud as possible, ytou can hear an echo that last for between 30 to 45 seconds. It is pretty unreal, and often turns the stomach of any sound engineer. Paris, as I said, was alright. I ended up setting up on the balcony, in a tiny space reserved for front of house. We spent two days literally on top of eachother. In about a 17' X 7' foot space we fit a sound desk (one of those big, new pro tools guys) a lighting desk or two, a pair of Barco (12) projectors and a rack of video gear. It was madness. The projectors, for front projection, are huge and tend to get very loud and very hot before too long. We also did a huge, seven camera video shoot for Canal Plus (French TV) which involved hiring in 50 or so extra lights to highlight the crowd and key light the band on stage. I also spent the second show staring more at a monitor then the stage to make sure the deep reds and blues weren't washing out the band's faces on stage. I stumbled into a conversation between band members about how they were discontent with how ordered and choreographed thing had gotten. The band thrives on spontinaety, and tour is all about monotany. They felt the show was starting to be a bit contrived (which happens when you play the same set in the same venue every night for a week, I'm just saying). So, that means big changes and crazy things ahead. The band has really brilliant, on the spot ideas, that are rarely seen through and often totally impossible given circumstances. The video guys had spent a few days working on one in particular. The singer had the idea of, during a slow number where he plays an organ and sings alone, having a life size cut-out of himself somewhere in the theatre, and having a video of him singing live on stage projected onto the face of the cut-out. I love it, but it is one of the most impossible things I have ever seen anyone attempt. It involved getting a small, wireless lipstick camera attached to a mic stand, and, of course, a life size model of the singer. This came together surprisingly quickly. The trick came in getting him to stand absoultely still while performing the song and getting the projection just the right size on the cut-out's face. We spent several hours fielding questions like 'why does my neck look so fat?' and 'where did my eyes go?' We tried this in Paris and it was passable, although the challenge was really being able to light to cut-out without obscuring the projection. Also, after everything, the figure ended up living on the balcony (our production manager ran up and set the damn thing in place half way through the set) where no one saw it. It was a brilliant moment where 1,000 people on the balcony were staring intently at the stage, and the vidoe guy and I are waving for them to turn around and look at the stupid cardboard cut-out. No dice. The other concept, which I also thought was great, and impossible, was to have the five round screens on stage project live video of five band members playing in the opposite direction. So, the band turns their backs to the audience and the screens facing out show images of the band facing the crowd. Crazy and great, but terribly difficult. This one involved andother half dozen cameras, more standing still and some dreadful noises from the monitors because the band faced the wrong way. We scrapped it the other day. To be attempted later, I'm sure. To aleviate the boredom the band has played in a freight elevator and in the middle of the crowd so far. Can't wait to see what happens next. We are in Stockholm, at The Cirkus, which is a fitting name for a band that travels with this much crap.