bob122577 Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Prepare to rage. Citizen Erased was played during this set and a signed guitar was given away https://www.facebook.com/Radio1045 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesy39 Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 (edited) Great for those people...bust for those of us that went to the main show Edited September 10, 2013 by jonesy39 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander DeLarge Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 What kind of guitar? Doubt it was a Manson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 this is not the first time they had a private gig in Philly. I remember there was another one in 2008 or something like that. I think they have some sort of special relationship with that radio station, just like with KROQ. I remember reading an article writtend by the people who run that earlier gig admiring how professional Muse are. 2008 Quoted: I wasn't exactly instrumental to their live show or anything, so I don't know how many details I have that will interest you, but here goes... [and holy shit is this long so if you don't care about Muse you should probably not think about reading it] It was one of the biggest and best shows I had worked at the time, although this particular performance was rather small. I was working at a recording studio and we had a huge tracking room that used to be a film studio soundstage so there was lots of power for lighting and audio gear. The owner had installed a PA system and a relatively small stage so that the room could double as a 200-300cap venue. We didn't book bands, but we would rent the room out for private parties or CD release parties or whatever. At the time, we had an awesome alternative rock station here in Philadelphia called Y100. They had a series called "Y100 Sonic Sessions" where they would work with a band's label to have them play a private show to 100-150 contest winners and it would be recorded and mixed for the radio station to play exclusively. The label would foot the bill for this session in return for the radio station playing the band's single a few more times a day for the week or so leading up to their concert in town. We actually did quite a few of these for several radio stations, until Sony got busted hardcore for payola in 2005(?) and the labels realized that technically these kinds of sessions could also be called payola (in essence the label pays money, band gets more radio play) and they soon disappeared completely. Anyway, most bands would come in with acoustic guitars and bongos or something and do a quick little acoustic set in the afternoon plus maybe some QA, then head off to whatever venue they were playing that night to do their soundcheck for the real show. Not Muse. Muse was in town a day before their show and they wanted to do this little session "for real." This meant bringing in all of their own audio and lighting gear that they would normally setup in the 3000cap places they were playing. Something like 12-16 moving laser lights, 2 huge mixing consoles, all of their set pieces for the stage, etc. This led to some problems. Our studio was located at the end of a small cobblestone alley in South Philadelphia and they had 2 buses with a trailer on each. These obviously could not make it down the alley and even if they did they'd never get back out. We ended up renting a pick-up truck to hitch the trailers to and get them into the alley, where we'd then unload them and spin them back around by hand to hitch them back to the truck and get them out of the alley. Luckily we had a lot of people who volunteered their help because they were really into Muse. I think it was about a 9 hour setup from showing up with the first trailer to getting the show started. Their crew was really awesome and efficient, which helped a lot. But they were also a bit ornery that day. Their lighting guy/production manager beelined straight into our studio manager's office upon arrival, shut the door behind him and said "Where can we get some blow?" Our studio manager was straight-edge, borderline macrobiotic vegan and at a Christmas party when she claimed to have never even tasted alcohol I actually believed her, so she told them there was no way we were getting them any coke. I don't think it was the band that wanted the coke, I think it was the crew, so don't quote me on saying Muse is a bunch of cokeheads, and I don't know how much this actually contributed to their being grumpy and ornery all day, but it did happen. So on to what I was able to glean about their technical setup. First off, the guitar and bass amps you see onstage are dummy cabinets, or they were on this tour. They were huge and had machined metal grills on them, but they didn't have speakers in them. The actual cabinets were nice combo amps, but nothing very special and were placed offstage and mic'd there. A 2x12 and 4x12 don't look very impressive on huge stages so they had props. Those microphone stands are totally custom made as well and are pretty fucking awesome. Both the guitar and bass player had some sort of MIDI pick-ups in their guitars and ridiculously complicated pedal boards (also custom made I think) that allowed them to trigger many of their spacier patches and arpeggios. For this performance the stage was too small to accommodate their keyboard section (which I think was something silly like 7 keyboards), however I didn't notice any sounds missing from the songs they played. The keyboards were maybe actually used in other songs for Matt to go solo on or something, but the arpeggios and spacey backing tracks that Muse is famous for were not reliant on them, they all came from rack mounted samplers triggered by their guitars or from prerecorded tracks. Because their crew did almost all of the wiring and all of the mixing, it was impossible for me to see exactly how all this was setup. I ended up mostly helping the lighting guy run all his cable and figure out the power situation for what he was adding to our modest lighting rig. An average 3-piece band at this level would probably be 24 channels at the soundboard maximum, usually more like 16, and like I said these guys were well over 40. Their soundguy was pretty fucking incredible and I remember him talking about how they might try and tour with a 5.1 system in the future and how he would set it up. He had that room sounding better than anyone else I ever heard and honestly he is the only reason I wouldn't just outright say I am sure many of the vocals are on tracks. With an absolutely perfect compression scheme and microphone choice (I think they sing through Neumann KMS105s) plus really good microphone technique on Matt's part I think it's possible to have his vocals sound that uniform at so many distances from the mic, but it's something I've never seen anyone else do anywhere near that well. Now I've been waiting to drop this piece of info for a while... all this setup was for 4 songs and 100 people. Now granted, this was the best sound I ever heard in that room with that PA and it was sure as hell the best light show that ever entered that building, and the band was absolutely amazing. But it still felt a little crappy to work for 9 hours setting it up, then watch a show for 30 minutes, then spend another 4-5 hours tearing it down and loading it out. As far as dealing directly with the band, I'm not sure I ever actually spoke to them. One of my best friends who had introduced me to Muse a couple of years earlier was able to come down from NYC to see the show and he ended up being the lucky one. He brought some weed and at some point they asked for weed in the green room, so I sent him up to take care of them. I think he smoked with them, although it might have been just the crew, but he got to hang out with them in the green room for a bit. The band were all really soft-spoken, nice, polite guys. After the show when we were tearing down my friend started fooling around with some songs he was working on with an upright piano the studio had and they hung around and talked some shop for a little while. That pretty much made his year. All in all it was a great experience, although it was probably the hardest I had ever worked in the music business in one day. At the time. In the last couple of years since I've moved out of recording and entirely into concerts I've been lucky to work a day that was under 12 hours (I just set my personal record of 23 consecutive hours on the clock last weekend), but Muse was my first taste of that kind of production, and it's fair to say that seeing a show like that from the inside out certainly motivated me to get more into live production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 What kind of guitar? Doubt it was a Manson I had the good fortune to be able to be at this private performance, which really was that we were able to go to the soundcheck. As to the guitar, I'm sorry I couldn't tell, but you're right, I def would not have said it was a Manson....I think the radio station has pics of it on their website...you have to scroll down mid-page and there is an article about the performance, with lots of pics. And yes...to be able to hear Citizen Erased in that setting was absolutely magical...one of the best experiences of my life (as was the whole thing!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob122577 Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 this is not the first time they had a private gig in Philly. I remember there was another one in 2008 or something like that. I think they have some sort of special relationship with that radio station, just like with KROQ. I remember reading an article writtend by the people who run that earlier gig admiring how professional Muse are. Interesting read. Thanks! I had the good fortune to be able to be at this private performance, which really was that we were able to go to the soundcheck. As to the guitar, I'm sorry I couldn't tell, but you're right, I def would not have said it was a Manson....I think the radio station has pics of it on their website...you have to scroll down mid-page and there is an article about the performance, with lots of pics. And yes...to be able to hear Citizen Erased in that setting was absolutely magical...one of the best experiences of my life (as was the whole thing!) I cannot put in words how jealous I am. It must have been great for them to play a small show. I know it wasn't a small venue but I mean more of the crowd. Did they seem into it? here's a write up http://www.radio1045.com/pages/wendy.html?feed=373606&article=11641809 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Interesting read. Thanks! I cannot put in words how jealous I am. It must have been great for them to play a small show. I know it wasn't a small venue but I mean more of the crowd. Did they seem into it? here's a write up http://www.radio1045.com/pages/wendy.html?feed=373606&article=11641809 I know---I actually feel kind of bad posting on here that I was lucky enough to be there, as I know if I was the one reading that Citizen Erased was played to 50 people, I would have imploded!!!! It truly was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had in my life. Both the band and the people attending were DEF into it. All the guys were VERY gracious...beyond anything they had to be, that's for sure. The thing that made me keel over is when the radio people were going to take the group pic, they were just going to have the guys on the catwalk, and us at the barrier....and Matt said-----"Wouldn't you guys all rather come up on the stage?? Why don';t you all just come up here?" And so on top of a "private" Citizen Erased performance, Matt turned it into a meet-the-band situation, with us being able to go onstage. So I took full advantage of that and got to talk to Matt, get a hug from him, get my CD signed, and get a few pics with him, too. What a day......!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob122577 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Share Posted September 13, 2013 words cannot describe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
te718 Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I know---I actually feel kind of bad posting on here that I was lucky enough to be there, as I know if I was the one reading that Citizen Erased was played to 50 people, I would have imploded!!!! It truly was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had in my life. Both the band and the people attending were DEF into it. All the guys were VERY gracious...beyond anything they had to be, that's for sure. The thing that made me keel over is when the radio people were going to take the group pic, they were just going to have the guys on the catwalk, and us at the barrier....and Matt said-----"Wouldn't you guys all rather come up on the stage?? Why don';t you all just come up here?" And so on top of a "private" Citizen Erased performance, Matt turned it into a meet-the-band situation, with us being able to go onstage. So I took full advantage of that and got to talk to Matt, get a hug from him, get my CD signed, and get a few pics with him, too. What a day......!!! wow, can't even imagine the thrill of this. also, that's why i love matt, he genuinely loves his fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 wow, can't even imagine the thrill of this. also, that's why i love matt, he genuinely loves his fans. Boy, I guess so! He just didn't seem in the SLIGHTEST bit annoyed...quite the contrary! Just amazed me, because I am sure it gets VERY tiring, dealing with the whole "fandom" thing for them. But he was just as happy and nice as could be, and was genuinely so. I guess if he was that perturbed with the whole fan thing, it NEVER would have been his idea to have us all come up on the stage with him! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valentina_muse Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmOGBv1ZWjQ Citizen Erased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 valentina_muse---thanks for posting! Unfortunately comes up as blocked. GRRRRRR!!! Wonder if there is another way to do this...?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbardfx Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 I was there as well. I am soooo bad with what kind of guitar it was lol. There are pictures, though! I was the girl who gave the guys my hand drawn Charles pins..and a Spiderman pendant for Bing. So grateful to Glen for the invite! CE was awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyena17 Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 It was amazing. The stuff afterward was just completely unexpected. I also took a vid of CE and it's blocked on YouTube in the US, but if anyone wants to download it, PM me and I'll send you a link. I managed to also get the 2 minutes of Matt messing around on the piano before they actually start playing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 It was amazing. The stuff afterward was just completely unexpected. I also took a vid of CE and it's blocked on YouTube in the US, but if anyone wants to download it, PM me and I'll send you a link. I managed to also get the 2 minutes of Matt messing around on the piano before they actually start playing it. Thank you SO much, hyena! Will PM you. And I agree---the stuff afterwards was completely amazing, too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyena17 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Pics: http://electrichyena.zenfolio.com/p693194800 Unsustainable video: Madness clip: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahSwan Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Thank you for posting your photos. They are really great! (I'm Sarah...I was to your left at this show). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Mind bombed---OMG---is there really a Muse Pennsylvania?!? And the private gig was great, wasn't it?!? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahSwan Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Yes there is! I have some photos here if you don't believe me It's a tiny place where the locals wonder what keeps happening to their signs. If you look at the photos, I think there's one that used to say Muse 1 mile, with an arrow, but the sign was broken by someone. NOT ME! I have no way of cutting through a metal road sign. Mind bombed---OMG---is there really a Muse Pennsylvania?!? And the private gig was great, wasn't it?!? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahSwan Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Oh, no, I wasn't at the Private Show...I was just on this thread because I wanted to see Hyena's photos from that! I wish I'd been there, though! Mind bombed---OMG---is there really a Muse Pennsylvania?!? And the private gig was great, wasn't it?!? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SourceNRG Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Thanks for clarifying that there really IS a Muse Pa....wonder if the guys know that, or drove through it on their way to Philly/Pittsburg?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now