Backline giggles

[Bob Womack]

I was just channel surfing on cable and came upon a concert video on the Paladia channel. MTV has decided to go back into the business of 24 music, including concert videos, so of course, they take the MUSIC out of the channel name!

Anyway, the giggle: Rush R30 is on. I'm not really a fan but hang in to watch. I go through my usual schtick: check out the mix and tweak the surround to make it works best then analyze the engineer's mix. Ahhh... Now we can turn off the technical brain and concentrate on the actual performance! As a guitarist, the next thing is to scan the stage, first what's in their hands - Alex Lifeson on house left has a PRS and Geddy Lee on house right is playing a P-bass, standing behind a pair of synths and a laptop.

Then it's time for the scan of the backline - you know, that jumble of black boxes, amps, and stuff on the backrow. My eye naturally go left to right: Alex has a huge mount of Hughes and Kettner Zenterra amps with their lighted blue logos, as you would expect from a long-time endorser. I pan by Neil Peart's gold-encrusted drum kit to Geddy's backline, and that is where the fun begins: Geddy has substituted a working front-loading coin-op washer/dryer combo (actually two dryers), complete with lighted drums and clothes tumbling. On top are a suction-cup hula girl and what looks like a birthday cake. to top it off, they are mic'd with a huge and ostentatious pair of Neumann M49 mics on stands. To the right of that is a six foot tall carousel sandwich vending machine, with the carousel periodically moving in "attract mode" and lighted in blue to display the contents, whatever the heck they are.

(bad screenshot -moving pics HERE )

I had to laugh out loud.I remember when I topped my amp stack with a pair of TV "rabbit ears" antennae just for fun. Have you seen any funny backline stuff?

Bob