From msmith@rebound.slc.unisys.com Sun Oct 13 17:55:39 1996 Subject: Reno show To: app@roadkill.com Date: Sun, 13 Oct 1996 18:09:01 -0600 (MDT) From: "Matt Smith" Content-Type: text Content-Length: 3011 Overall, I'd have to say that this was a pretty good show. They had a lot of problems in the first half of the concert with their sound though. At first the bass was too high, and it was drowning things out. Then you couldn't hear the vocals over the keyboards. Then the vocals were reverberating off of the walls. Every once in a while you'd see Neil or Peter motion over to the side, pointing to an instrument and pointing up or down, meaning I assume to turn the volume on their instrument accordingly. -- warning, small set list spoiler in this paragraph --- Also, during the second half of the concert, they cut Cloudbreak short, because of, and Alan said this himself, Alan screwed up. Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes. Still, I didn't get to hear Psychobabble in Salt Lake City, so it was nice to hear it live. Plus, in SLC, there wasn't quite the light show that they had available in Reno. When I asked Alan about this backstage, he said that they had a couple of kinks to work out in the first couple of concerts. -- end of spoiler -- What was fun about this show is that when we lined up, there was the 3 of us, and two other people. Only one of them had a backstage pass, and I guess she was given the pass by a roadie. They were totally freaking out when we walked up and had ours. They couldn't believe it. What really bugged them was how nonchalant we were about it. They kept quizzing us on how we got our passes, and we just said "Eh... we got 'em in Salt Lake", to which they ranted on and on about how cool we were to come all the way from SLC to Reno to catch the show. I guess they just aren't fanatical.. When we finally got backstage, there were a few other people there, including one of which I knew was an usher (he tried to sell us his tickets before the show). Then, when the band came out and I pulled out my pictures of the band that I took in SLC, that girl and her boyfriend totally freaked out again. They were kind of fun, but unfortunately I think they kind of drove the band away. They only stayed backstage for about 30-45 minutes this time. It wasn't in as comfortable as setting as in SLC. We were just standing in this brick tunnel with lousy lighting, with a loud and obnoxious drunk who kept telling Neil that he thought Neil was Alan Parsons for half of the show. Still, Stuart recognized us from Salt Lake, asked us how we were doing, as did Ian, and Neil. They were all very obligatory despite the fact of looking pretty worn out and bugged by this drunk guy. Ah... the dark side of the business I suppose. I'm just happy to have been able to shake their hands... Harmon's has been loving me for all the money I've been giving their film developing department... ;) -- Matt Smith - msmith@unislc.slc.unisys.com "Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news, which follows its own rules." - Douglas Adams, "Mostly Harmless" Disclaimer: I came up with these ideas, so they're MINE!