'Made it to the "Jerry Day" gig, (in celebration of Jerry Garcia and naming of the McLaren Park Amphitheater in his honor), that Bo was doing sound for in San Francisco today.
'Got there about 9AM, after the heavy lifting but before sound check, but was a little disappointed because being outside, very little was needed in the way of EQ, so I didn't really get to see SmaartLive put through its paces.
That said, the day started a little cool and foggy, but by the time the music started around noon, it was clearing up pretty good, and it wasn't long before the sun made its appearance.
Bo was there with his new Midas desk, ('way kool!! ), and also has an additional smaller Midas board patched in, due to the fact they need some 18-19 mics just for the two drummers.
I have to say - Bo has one of the coolest sound rigs I can imagine - small enough to have around for yourself, but still capable of dooing major sound gigs! Below is his FOH setup, after sound check but before the gates opened:
Once the music started, it didn't take long for the crowd to really get going. The first band up was a five piece bluegrass band, but they really knew how to get down with a bunch of the Grateful Dead's acoustic stuff.
The second band up was "Grapefruit Ed" - - a Grateful Dead cover band, complete down to even having two drummers and a keyboard player that also doubled on pedal steel. I have to admit - they have their act down. One of the vocalists had Jerry's voice down so well that you could almost be fooled if you closed your eyes! Below is a pic of "Grapefruit Ed", followed by a partial pic of Bo hard at work:
If you look close, you can see those great new JBL SRX712 monitors of Bo's - really light, and I was also really surprised how small they were.
I didn't get much in the way of pics of the sound system, but speakers consisted of Bo's EV cabinets, plus some Bag-End stuff added on, including the subs. I'd never seen these subs before - one cabinet per side, (about 4'x3'), that each had four 18's, but the drivers face each other in a "slot" in the front of the cabinet, "squeezing" the lows out this slot. 'Not sure about the theory behind them, but they seemed to do the job.
I had to leave fairly early in the afternon, so I didn't get to hear the later bands. But even by then, it was turning into a pretty good size crowd. Here's a couple more pics - one kind of angling down to the stage, and the other a shot up from one corner of the amphitheater, (you can barely see Bo in his yellow shirt at about the middle of the second pic):
Lastly, Bo with a thumbs-up - 'everything's cool!
It's obvious Bo has a real handle on what he's doing, and by the way he was dancing around behind the board, it's also obvious he was having a good time. The sound was fine, but I think Bo needs to get some more SRX stuff - JBL all the way!!! But it really did sound good, regardless! 'Way to go, Bo!
Anyway, I had a great time. I wish I could have stayed longer, but 'had some other stuff to do. Maybe Bo will check in later with some more insights.
John