It was our honor to have System Of A Down as our Featured Artist of the Month for August.  We gave two tickets each to the last two shows of the tour – Detroit and Chicago.  I went down to the Chicago show to see their last performance of the tour.  I arrived and met both Chad Olech (Front of House, Deftones), whom I have known for years, and Pasi Hara (Monitors, SOAD), whom I had met previously; we walked through the backstage areas to the side-stage where Pasi had his desk set up, ready for sound check.

System Of A Down are heavy wireless users.  There are three channels of UHF-R for each Shavo (bass), Daron (guitar), and Serj (guitar) as well as Serj’s vocal channels (also UHF-R with Beta 58A mic elements).  Feeding the band, engineers, and techs their mixes are eight channels of PSM® 1000 with a PA821 antenna combiner and PWS’s HA-8089 helical antenna.  Pasi had connected everything via a 16-port Ethernet switch to his MacBook and administered the gear, held in various racks, with Wireless Workbench 6.  We geeked out a bit over the scans of the radio frequency environments; Chicago has an astonishingly crowded UHF-band.  In spite of the multitude of strong TV channels and random other radios in the Allstate Arena, everything was working and ready.

Sound check happened very quickly.  Pasi and I temporarily parted ways – he to the backstage area as I went to join Chad at the FOH position for the Deftones’ check.  He ran a few tracks recorded the previous night through the PA initially, soon joined by the band.  The empty arena reverberated as sound bounced off concrete and hard plastic seats where hours later the crowd would keep those waves all to themselves.

Deftones are also using PSM 1000.  They’re the first band I look after to use ULX-D.  Chino’s usual weapon of choice is a wired Beta 58A, taped in similar fashion to one of Roger Daltrey’s famous SM58s, though Chino’s moves can be considerably more chaotic than Daltrey’s famous circles.  The wireless version comes out when a mic on a stand is needed, ironically.  This is to minimize the liability of tripping on a cable bringing the mic and stand on and off stage.

At one point I was handed a P10R tuned to Chino’s monitor mix.  I popped in my earphones and went for a walk.  I made it through the crowd and around the circumference of the floor of the arena, then behind the stage without a single dropout.  All this was off a single, directional passive antenna aimed at the stage.  I am, of course, biased in my opinion of those units, but I thought that rather impressive performance for in-ear monitors.  Also, listening to their mix while seeing the show from the different perspectives added a sort of surreal quality to the show.  Earphones or no, the band brought it.

System Of A Down had not been through Chicago in years, which, as a fan, is not OK.  However, they brought it with a jaw-dropping set of 26 songs.  The lights went out and the set opened with the instantly recognizable staccato notes of “Prison Song”.  As the billowing shroud fell from the stage the audience turned frenetic.  As the saying goes, “all killer, no filler”.  During Suite-Pee Chino Moreno jumped up on stage to duet with Serj Tankian.  Drummer John Dolmayan was flanked by Abe Cunningham on his right and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante on the left.  System closed the set with “Sugar”.

After the gig was over I was able to meet up with Serj and geek out a bit over our ribbon mics.  He has been loving the KSM313 on the top end of his grand piano.  We covered a few other topics, including music distribution these days, before the aftershow crowd needed his attention.  I made my way to the crew bus to catch up with Pasi and Chad before heading out.

Richard

@Richard_ShureAR

Maps & Atlases were decent; they drew a crowd that could broadly be described as jam band fans (in spite of the fact that they played songs rather than meandering solos over long stretches of background comping…you know, practice!).  The vocalist had an unusual timbre that was somehow familiar, yet I cannot recall of whom it reminds me.

After the show I was to split off and head to the Kidz stage again to see if I could catch Shure endorser Ralph’s World before his set.  In walking and talking with Ryan I somehow ended up in the South backstage area listening to another new Shure endorser, Fitz & the Tantrums.  The next thing I knew I was being introduced to Matt Pinfield of MTV’s newly resurrected legacy show, “120 Minutes”. We chatted briefly and then he and Ryan caught up while I picked the brain of one of the C3 production crew.

I had been curious as to whether Lollapalooza had a designated radio frequency (RF) coordinator.  With nearly 141 performing acts that may or may not have wireless mics, in-ear monitors, and hundreds of crew, security, 2-way radios, and 90,000 cell phones (give or take a couple thousand), not to mention the giant antennas topping Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers pumping out HDTV it would seem a necessity.  In spite of an ever-increasing need for a designated RF Coordinator, it’s a position that is seldom filled on most large tours these days.  I had heard that even Lolla had done without one in years past.  Whether or not that is true, I couldn’t say.  However, I was told that there was an over-watch on the wireless world on site this time around.  Good to hear.

After our unplanned stop, Ryan and I parted ways.  I jumped on a golf cart (the “Fest Express”) and got let off behind the Kidzapalooza stage to see the last few numbers by Ralph’s World.  I stayed after the set awaiting to see what the next act, billed as “Special Guest” on the schedule, would be.  Blues-rock duo Little Hurricane filled that role for a fifteen minute show for the kids and parents.  I caught two, then hoofed it Northward.

Behind the stage for Little Hurricane at Kidzapalooza

I wanted to catch a bit of Death From Above 1979 at the Bud Light main stage.  I was pretty taken with You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine when it came out, but did not go see them prior to their break-up.  On the way I was able to drop by the PlayStation Stage (which faced the Bud Light stage) where longtime Shure endorsers Deftones were due up next.  They had the same idea as I – watching DFA’79 from a slightly elevated, less crowded spot.  I stopped and caught up for a few minutes with Frank Delgado, the Deftones’ DJ and keyboardist.  We chatted briefly about gear, mostly about DFA and how they were a band that caught fire in the dance music category in an unusual way, sounding like they do.

I caught Deftones from the Front Of House position for the Bud Light stage for the same reasons we were watching DFA from the PlayStation stage.  Also, I was there to visit with one of my favorite FOH mixers in all the world, my friend Hutch.  Deftones tore it up as Hutch got ready to mix Ween.  Chino Moreno, one of the more unique singers on the planet, has got his mic technique down pat.  It may frustrate engineers to no end when an artist puts a fist over the mic grille: it’s classic bad mic technique.  But in Moreno’s hands it’s hard to argue with the results.  Chino gets his Beta 58s to do what he wants.  The band sounded tight; they even had me singing along for a few tunes.

Ween from FOH/lighting position (note: dude ? Hutch)

About two songs in to Ween’s stellar set Hutch turned around with a huge grin on his face.  “I’m mixing WEEN!”  It was finally something he could check off his to-do list.  That level of engagement absolutely shone through the show.  After their set Hutch went to close up shop and I went off to catch a few by another artist with good buzz, Lykke Li.  She put up some solid tunes and had quite the reception for it.  The crowd was larger than what I imagine the supposed capacity would have been.  Alas, some loud mouths in front of me ended up drowning her out after a while, so I departed.

Seeking refuge from the crowds, I closed out the evening at the park behind Eminem’s stage.

Richard

UPDATE: Day 1, Day 3