talbany wrote:catears wrote:talbany wrote:I doubt seriously EC is actually there during a sound check..
All the monitors are checked for him by someone he trusts and probably walks on stage plays a few notes sets his levels and off he goes!!
Tony
Live Nation having someone contracted for several hundred thousand dollars a night to play an arena, you can bet your left pinky toe he's running at least 2 tunes on stage with full band to be finished 90 minutes before the doors open to the public. For the set up, monitor and line check, I would highly doubt that too. But I have never seen anyone not on stage for their own sound check.
Iv'e worked with just about all the big name country and some rock acts (for Live Nation) and have never seen the star there at sound check (accept for Brad Paisley) but his rig is rather complex and he is very picky when it comes to tone!!..It's usually just the band...My guess is he might do a check if they want to work in a new number or if EC is already there and felt like it..
Sound checks in Sheds and Arenas are always around 2;30 then the warm up band at 4.. Stage clear no later than 6
A man worth an estimated 128 Million pounds travels by air and Limo's and stays in 5 star hotels..Not a tour bus scheduled to be at the venue at 2'30 for a sound check..
Tony
You work for live nation? I'm confused by the opening of your post. I'm sure through your line of work that you've dealt with all of those people. I completely respect you for your work, please don't think any different. I also don't have to drop brad paisley or someone like rick derringers name on a public forum to prove this point, and feel free to call me any type of name for doing so. You mentioned monitors in a previous post, maybe we are at a debate over terminology alone here and can look past it. I'm not talking about carrying gear in to the venue, setting it up, running line or mic or monitor checks, just to be upfront.
I don't know Eric Clapton, and have I ever been nor would I go to any of his shows. I have never seen his production agreements, so I can't say "I know for a fact..". What I do know is that any company worth 5 billion dollars is going to have in their contract that the product meet demands of their customers. To them, Eric Clapton is not some guy that Hendrix killed in the 60's, he is ultimately a product to generate money for their business. Yes, I'm sure he travels and lives first class, most wealthy people do. Live nation isn't going to let anyone walk on stage in front of tens of thousands of people without making sure he is healthy, comfortable, and able enough to perform that evening. I'm not going on a hunch here. Most of the acts generally do 2 numbers full band, rock star and all, I've seen a handful go 3 or 4. Last Live Nation show I had the privilege of attending as a guest/all access was the 5th night of an 8 show run at an arena in New York. The rock star, or whatever you would call him, was sure as anything on stage for 2 numbers at the sound check, this was after rehearsing with the band in the practice basketball court underneath the arena before most of the crew even showed up to do their job that night. He might be half Claptons age, and worth almost 3 times as much as the number you provided, and had his own dressing room/didn't mingle with the rest of the band back stage, but those things have nothing to do with being contracted to perform optimally. I thought it kind of funny too, they have digital consoles with full recall, nothing was taken down or set up, why the need for a full blow sound check, especially after 4 nights of shows? The contract said so. Worst case scenario- they want to find out if they have to cancel the show before the doors open, not when the artist takes the stage.
To say he doesn't have to do a sound check because he's famous and worth money would be like saying Peyton Manning doesn't have to throw a football before a game, someone just tells him that the football works and the grass is green after he arrives in his limo from the 5 star hotel and performs in front of 60,000 fans. That's not how these things work. It's ok to live in a fantasy land when listening to records, perhaps with thoughts that the guy playing guitar is from outerspace if you'd like, but he still has to work for money if he wants more of it, all while having to abide by the terms of those handing him said money.
From my experience with actually working under signed agreements with Live Nation, the contract all said the same thing every time, hard cut off for stage noise 90 minutes prior to door time. Some artists dont tour with a 'warm up' band, not everyone has the same stage, and 7:30 isn't a standard door time, at least as far as I know it's not. Not really sure where those specific times come from?
I hope that doesn't come off too harsh, and I don't have intentions of escalating this debate with this post. You could reply with some more specific points that fluctuate on a nightly basis while dropping names, sit back and chuckle to yourself that you are right and ignore me, either of those would be fine. You could also type in something like Eric Clapton sound check into your google bar and show everyone how wrong I am when?
Again, I have much respect for you and your work Tony. If it was HAD himself saying 'rock stars dont sound check', I would type the same response.
