crash

Yes, I’ve seen Lu six times and this show was far off her usual mark. I hate to say it, but she sorely misses Taras and Jim Christie. The band just isn’t cohesive and Doug Pettibone seemed really hampered by something. The sound was disruptive. I was down near the floor in the first level of non-floor seats right at dead center and we had absolutely no drum problem but we had a less than ideal bass sound, all click and clunk and very little real bottom. The guitar was very weak in volume. We were mostly hearing the stage amps for both guitar and bass and very little PA. Then I moved upstairs to the very top to get away from that and the sound was excellent, well rounded and hearing the proper amount of PA amplification of the instruments. As evidenced by Alejandro’s set, the room is acoustically perfect. It projects every little pin drop from the stage. The problem appears to be introducing loud sounds from the stage. They cut right through and compete with the PA itself. The board operator probably had to keep them off the board to a greater degree than normal. You were hearing the drum sounds uneffected by the PA amplication which would normally drown out all the echo completely. The PA volume seemed low down on the floor area, but by the time you get up near the top (where the board was), the room is full of sound. They probably ought to move the PA speakers tighter in next to the band on stage. Lesson learned – sit at the top for any modicum of loud instrumentation at the Forum.