11.51
Hotel Acceptable, Barcelona.
To bed in Seville at 01.15.
Rising at 04.10.
In lobby at 04.40 I…
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… for an 05.00 departure.
Biff missed his alarm, woke at 04.51 - but was on the bus with 4 minutes to spare.
A flight from Seville to Barcelona I…
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… and onto the next bus I…
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Biff is a Happy Boy…
To the hotel I…
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Suite of the Rock God, with Workstation & internet connection…
Views from the Suite of the Rock God I…
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We arrived in time for the breakfasting trough. An e-flurry, now to sleep.
00.52 Grupo Robert Fripp to the venue I…
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The Palace of Music: Outside I…
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The Palace of Music: Inside I…
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Sound check I…
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Star’s dressing room I…
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A powerful performance. Flashes & excessive photography finished the show after one encore, VROOOM. We would have played for another 20 minutes, but something was spoiled. What a pity. And it was a stomper of a performance.
The monster Soundscapes continued after the VROOM Coda, slowly fading & reverberating in the hall as people were leaving. Then, they were suddenly brought down. Who? Why? It was the local sound man. He was a problem from the beginning (in his case, the start) as evidenced in his attitude, behaviour & several comments to our people. He clamed to be the sound person for Sr. Paco de Lucia, an artist deserving of respect and admiration, but whose good name this man sullied by claiming association.
I returned to the stage & asked him: why did you bring down the music? He played the I do not speak English card, so we added a translator. Why did you bring down the music? The answer – because I have an attitude, came with an attitude, resent being here & don’t like your music – was not an answer he felt able to give. You do not have the authority to bring down our music. More shrugging of the Iberian variety. His destructive behaviour was such that it was easy to deny intentionality, and impossible to disown it.
On the road, a proportion of the people we encounter are interested in using a performance as a vehicle for their own self-expression; notably, in-house lighting engineers – lights flash, go up & down, spots shoot on & zoom out again. Who cares that this detracts from the performance – it’s time for self- expression of the lighting man! The largest proportion of those who come-with-the-venue are those stuck in this is the way that we do it. These, the walking-sleeping, are dangerous, but not actively mischievous or malicious. A small proportion of those-provided-by-or-for-the-house are jerks. Of this small proportion, this man was a jerk of the practised variety & actively destructive; a good reminder of the aphorism: protect your space. The stage was not safe from him, and neither was the mixing desk.
Merchandising: King Crimson CDs were being sold, although this was not in the contract. The house wanted 25% of The LCG merchandising, although this was also not in the contract.
A wonderful meal in the venue afterwards.
So, a superb evening, spoiled by photography & Sr. Jerk, the local soundman. What a pity. What a pity to come all this way, to such a wonderful venue, to have a superb evening spoiled by photography & Sr. Jerk, the local soundman.
"We begin where we are."
