Frankly, their set was a travesty; not only did their sound engineer need new ears, the band only had one original member, Geoff Downes, and it seems that 20 years later, he still has nothing new to offer musically. It would have been funny if it hadn’t have been so sad, to listen to the bass player, trying to pitch songs written in a key suited to John Wetton, his illustrious forebear, and failing like a bathroom lothario.
Thankfully, Paul Rogers was an altogether more professional presentation. While much of his set harked back to an era that pre-dates even Asia, it was at least firmly rooted in the blues heritage that epitomises rock music. Classics from his time with Free and Bad Company, peppered a set sprinkled with his own more recent output, and the muddiest of obscure swamp blues.
Not surprisingly, LD Steve Finch plundered the Art of Darkness warehouse for every Par and ACL he could find. "It’s what they wanted," he said. "The only other specific request from management was spot calls." Finch has snuck in a few bits of modern technology though: eight Technobeams and four MAC 600s, but otherwise this rig is true to the seventies oeuvre.
While the automated stuff was questionable (I was overwhelmed by the sensation of ‘why bother?’ as the audience were firmly over 40, and even Finch agreed, "this is not a lighting spectacle as such,") what he did with colour was spot on - 180, 106, 135, 181, 119. I almost felt a tear of nostalgia roll down my cheek as he reeled them off. Aided by a fair battery of ETC Source Four profiles, and a pair of Lycian Starks out front, he deftly avoided this being a totally saturated colour fest. Dense, yes, but a lightness of touch on his Avolites Pearl 2000 for the pick-ups. Finch, as one of the ‘new young bucks’ of lighting, had done his homework and knew precisely where and when to tease out the musical nuances.
Don Dodger, thank goodness, was equally in tune, but then he’s in the same age frame as Rogers, and has been mixing for him for the last four years. His system was an EAW KF750 from Canegreen; not his PA of choice (he really wanted an 850), but that didn’t stop him finding the sound he liked. Looking at the Klark Teknik system graphics, it was obvious he was not a fan of the honky, siamesed 12"s on the low mid, and said as much. However, he’s lucky to have a touring system: "In the US, we mainly tour through the Shed circuit and multiple band events, where we use whatever PA is available in that location." Rogers, it would seem, is one of the leading artists in a Classic Rock revival that is sweeping the States.
This is not a rocket science show; Dodge is charged with keeping the distinctive Rogers vocal prominent in the mix, for which he uses a Shure Beta 87 wireless with a C capsule. "I do have to compress him a fair bit, but it gives me everything I need - if only Paul wouldn’t keep pulling the microphone away." Rogers does indeed have a weird technique, deliberately pulling the mic all over the place. But stage levels are modest, to say the least, and even with the kit immediately behind him, the power of his delivery has not diminished one dB in 35 years: "The voice of rock," as the rather pompous intro announced.
Dodge mixes from an XL3: "Midas are the Rolls Royce of consoles," he declares, though he does throw in a good word for the Yamaha PM4000, but doesn’t see how "anyone can expect you to mix a live show on one of those digital consoles". (If you’re reading, he’d really like to try out a Paragon). Signal is largely uncoloured; a bit of delay for Rogers’ vocal from a Roland 3000, and a touch of reverb from an SPX1000, but otherwise Dodge lets everything sing untouched, te
