Grey Larsen sent me an email that he and Mike Casey would be performing at the Indiana State Fair this afternoon. Since I only live a mile or so from the state fairgrounds, I decided that I would attend. The first 45 minute set was great. Grey played the Irish flute, tin whistle and concertina, while Mile Casey played guitar and tin whistle. Here is a photo from the 1st set.
I should have guessed that something was up when I saw that the performance stage was called “Buckle Up Indiana Main Street Stage” and that there was a 100 ft long banner of field corn behind the stage. I guess that the organizers figured that if we needed to look at a backdrop to cover the unsightly fence, then it might as well be field corn. Naturally they placed this smaller performance venue immediately next to the fair main stage with its high-energy sound system. Anyway, about 15 minutes into the second set of fiddle tunes from southern Indiana, the main stage sound system came on with blaring rock music. You would have thought that the fair organizers would have done their homework a little better. A poor violin is no match for a 1,000 watt sound system. This story has no ending because I left at that point. It was hard to bear the frustration on Grey’s face, knowing that he still had 30 minutes of that set left to perform. I once saw the great classical guitarist, Andre Segovia, stop in the middle of a piece because someone was making noise. It is hard to concentrate on what you are performing when people are moving around and talking, as if you weren’t playing, but it is another matter to be totally drowned out by a wall of sound. That would make me angry. I’m afraid that I would behave like Andre, God rest his soul.
Same thing (kinda) happened at the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival, but not to Grey. The “Celtic Rock” stage was about 200 yards from the “Shamrock Pub” stage. I really don’t know why some people think it is necessary to blast eardrums and make your sound heard 1/4 to 1/2 mile away - especially in a situation like an Irish festival.
Grey is a super guy, BTW - he was our instructor for a week during the Timber Flute Festival. He’s my new favorite player… I used to dislike the airiness in his tone, but have gotten to where I really like his expressiveness. Matt Molloy, et al, are great, but it always sounds (to me) like they are in a hurry to get done so they can get to the bathroom! Grey can play just as fast, but for some reason doesn’t sound rushed. He’s absolutely marvelous in person (as is Cindy Kallett).
I witnessed a similar occurrence, but by no means as offensive. Liz Carroll and John Doyle were performing in a tent at the Icons festival, and about 50 yards away was the ceili tent. The ceili band was delivering some pretty heavy base, and Liz and John had some difficulty keeping from playing to that rhythm. Of course, being who they are, they made a joke out of it and carried on.
The pub were I play in a session every Monday has an apartment upstairs. lately the tenants have taken to drowning out our music by blasting their own bass heavy music. It was quite the mystery at first, as it was just this vague sounding bass noise and we had no idea where it was coming from.
I can’t figure why the tenants wouldn’t just come down and listen, instead of trying to fight it. The session is from 5:30-8:30, so it’s not like it’s quiet time.
That happened to all the “trad” bands at the Indy Irish Fest the year we played there. The only thing more deafening than amped electric guitar is amped warpipes, and they were there in spades.
It was hard enough for us, but I felt really bad for the trios and quartets. Thank goodness there was a monitor sound crew (and a good one!); that helped a lot because otherwise we couldn’t hear each other.
I got to catch Gray’s set at the Dublin fest this year - enjoyed it very much and was pleased to be able to finally meet him. The Dublin fest is much more spread out than the Indy fest so situation was not so bad. I’m sure he got thru the St. Fair set with as much grace as is humanly possible. It’s a shame that the situation can’t be improved, but seems like every fest I’ve been to has suffered from “culture clash” to a greater or lesser extent. Most memorable from Dublin was some band doing a celtic version of “Sweet Home Alabama”. I don’t get it…
Jazz Pianist genius/virtuoso Keith Jarrett loves his audiences. Simultaneously, he is a very demanding of his audiences Check out what happens ; after an obnoxious audience in Italy continues to flash their cameras in his face during a performance, after asking them repeatedly not to;
Walking off the stage would be breaking a contractual agreement, not just with the concert organizers, but more importantly (indirectly) with all the ticket holders. Cancelling an event may also impact future bookings, hence the reluctance to just walk off.
Keith is brilliant, but ever since the Youtube vid, a brilliant a$$h0l3.
