# Festival Gig Report - Hot, Hot, Hot!



## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Played at the Tall Ships Festival in Brockville yesterday. Was 90 degrees in the shade. Took about two hours to setup. My niece did sound for us.

We had a nice spot with lots of traffic coming into the festival so had a good mix of listeners. They seemed very appreciative (maybe they were partially deaf?).

I used my Quad Cortex which hummed along happily in the sun and heat for over four hours. I decided to bring a guitar other than the PRS I was planning on using. I brought my Harley Benton HH Fusion Pro II because it has a roasted maple neck for stability in the hot weather. Got quite a few compliments from musicians in the crowd on my tone so I was very happy. That guitar is to the left of the drum kit in silver sparkle.

I brought along four 1000 watt Cerwin Vega FRFR speakers mounted on poles (main mixer feed went to left and right and then I linked the second speaker to the first one on each side). Probably overkill for even the large outdoor park we were at but the sound was rich and full for a long distance from the stage.

Some things I learned. 


Blue Chip picks, as much I love them, don't work well in these conditions. They become very slippery when you're sweating. Switched to Dava for the 2nd set.
Gatorade is a life saver. Brought a cooler full of them on ice. Drank four and still didn't need to go pee all day.
We each had floor monitors getting an Aux Send from the mixer. Each of the five of us were able to dial in our own mix. This worked much better than in-ears and with the large PAs in front of us, we had clear sounds that let us hear what we need to hear with no muddiness and no danger of hearing damage.
Having someone do the sound and help with all the connections was a life-saver. Would have taken at least three hours if I was trying to do this myself. 
If you're not running guitar and bass amps, 2 normal 15A circuits are sufficient. We might have only need one in fact. PA speakers, stage monitors and floor guitar modelers are pretty efficient.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

How's that Fusion? They have been gently calling my name for some time now.


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## Peel Ferrari (Jun 22, 2017)

Nice, we played the Food fest in London last night and it was pretty hot.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Congrats! Looks like a great show!


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## Peel Ferrari (Jun 22, 2017)

So how were displays - I remember my Trex unit i couldnt see anything because the lights were green on the board and disappeared even in shaded conditions. I was a bit concerned th guitars would need adjusting last night due to the humidity but all was fine by about 9pm.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Rollin Hand said:


> How's that Fusion? They have been gently calling my name for some time now.


It is freakin' amazing. And not just for the price. Stock pickups are perfect for me.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Peel Ferrari said:


> So how were displays - I remember my Trex unit i couldnt see anything because the lights were green on the board and disappeared even in shaded conditions. I was a bit concerned th guitars would need adjusting last night due to the humidity but all was fine by about 9pm.


Was easy to see even in direct sunlight. My buddy's display on his Line 6 was completely washed out. He needed an umbrella to cover the unit.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Peel Ferrari said:


> Nice, we played the Food fest in London last night and it was pretty hot.


At least you played in the evening we played through the hottest part of the day.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

1SweetRide said:


> It is freakin' amazing. And not just for the price. Stock pickups are perfect for me.


(forehead lowers and eyes narrow)
You're not helping....


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Rollin Hand said:


> (forehead lowers and eyes narrow)
> You're not helping....


While others in the band were tuning every 2nd song, this guitar only drifted slightly and didn't really need tuning most of the time. You're welcome.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Forgot to mention, the Morningstar MC6 was virtually impossible to read in the sunlight. Luckily I only really use it to get into Gigview and Stomp mode for a few of our songs and I have those buttons memorized.

For laughs, our lead guitarist is a bit of a bull in a China shop. He opened his oversized SUV's trunk into the front of my brother's car, he tripped over a PA cable ripping half of it out of the speaker, he tripped over his lead to the mixing desk almost pulling the mixer onto the ground. To top it all off, he insisted on parking closest to the setup and his car alarm went off during one of our songs!

To be fair he probably wears something like size 14 shoes and sports construction boots no matter the weather. Hard to keep those paddles out of the way.


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## AJ6stringsting (Mar 12, 2006)

Man, I gigging and especially watching bands playing and delivering the goods.

4 years ago, we gigged during a heat wave, it was 110 f, and the guitarist in the other band after us, his amp died .... so I lent him my amp and kinda turned into his instant roadie .... the amp did double duty, but I made great new friends 👍 !!!!


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