About a week before the tour ended Blink was asked to do the Jimmy Kimmel show while we were near Los Angeles. This involved about 15 of the approximate 50 crew members to attend. Of which, I was one of them. This was bitter sweet because it involved giving up one of our days off in San Jose. Oh well, it was good to see how a TV show works. The music part of the show happens outside on the stage you see here. Of course all the other interviews happen in the studio, which I didn't get a chance to see. Load-in was early afternoon. The audio equipment was very minimal, just monitor equipment and mics. We couldn't make any noise until 5pm since Hollywood High School was across the street. Rehearsal went painlessly. They ran through both songs they played twice. The first time they were asked to play without singing. At one point the bass player Mark stopped and asked Tom about a particular part of the song. They realized Mark had been playing it wrong the whole tour. The show is mostly a live show, if you include the 30 minute delay. This was good for our FOH engineer, Jason. He was in the studio during the performance. After the show ended he and the show's engineer had 30 minutes to fix any of the problems during the taping. It was cool to be a part of.
My side of the PA looking impressively stellar. This is the last time we would use our speakers.
The Hollywood Bowl. Wasn't sure what this was when I first heard it, but it is supposedly an iconic venue to see a show at. (See the Hollywood sign in the background) Looking at their schedule, Blink was a little out of place. The bowl is home to the LA Symphony Orchestra. There were a lot of classical and jazz performances on the list as well. It's located in the midst of the Hollywood Hills where I guess a lot of rich celebrities live. There was a computer system that monitored the SPL level in several areas around the venue, including the street where the richers live. Every time you go over the level you are charged a fine. We avoided any fines.
It was kind of nice not having to fly our system on the last day. The system they have in house is made by the same manufacturer we were carrying so it was an easy transition. 17 Vdosc and 8 subs flown per side, all painted white to match the decor.
We decided to use our subs for the show. The owner of the company I work for, Dave Rat, is well known for his unique sub configurations. This one is called the orgasmatron. I won't tell you what it feels like when you are standing here. :) The subs are positioned and delayed in a way to direct sub energy toward the audience and away from the stage, which is ideal. I convinced Tom to stand on top of the sub and take a picture.
Roz, on the left is our crew chief and systems tech. Jason on the right is the FOH engineer for blink. Sideways console and Rat hoodies!
Since I could get a plane ticket almost anywhere and at any time after the tour ended I decided to stay in Los Angeles for a few days with my buddy Doug from college. We had a great time, just too short.
When I got back from CA I went to work the next day at the arena as a stagehand. UKs Big Blue Madness was this past weekend and there was quite a bit of set up involved. I was glad to be a part of this once again.
Our accountant Tom had some video equipment to take time lapse photos of one of our shows. He asked Rob to set it up. Rob was on our bus, so therefore I got all 11,000 photos. Took me all day today, but with the help of iMovie it came out pretty good. Can you guess what artist I used for the song? Don't forget to click 720p for the best quality.
Here's a link to some other videos behind the scenes at our concerts. http://vimeo.com/user8718782/videos/sort:date
To all my fans out there, thanks for following me and stay classy San Diego.
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