Bye Bye US and Hello Euro Stadiums

Well, the first three US legs are done and we say goodbye to the Rat crew and US vendors and headed to Europe for 3 legs over there.  We keep the consoles, FOH drive and monitor rig from RAT and will be using several European sound vendors to cover a wide variety of gig sizes. Chili Peppers will be a giant vacuum sucking up masses of K! gear where ever we go.

Bonnaroo

Our last US date was Bonnarroo. Doing a festival tour can be fun. Doing a full production tour can be fun. Doing a festival gig in while on a full production tour is nearly always a culture shock of incompatible time frames and varying levels of yuck until show time. I really don't have much to personally complain about but that does not dispel the compassion for my compatriots who did a 3am load in till 9am with the buses off site till mid day. Then off to the roadside smoking room motel for a nap till noon and back again to the dusty shower-less gig just in time to arrive for 9 hours  before show time. At least the buses were kept offsite till noon.

Hey, every need a great way to mic a gourd instrument? Well here is how I dealt with mic'ing the Berimbau that Mauro, Peppers percussionist plays during Give It Away. 

I used a C-Ducer and the results are stunning.  I have incredible gain before feedback and can get the sound on top even for a fully rocking song and exactly the sound I am looking for.

So home for a week and yay, surfing with the gals 

And out of posterity, check this crew photo out from Soundgarden tour June of last year.

Off to Knebworth to start up a stadium run.  See ya out there.