2023-05-15 Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles CA

[euphoria]

After Andrew said to the nurse stop the music during Doctor Jeep, a new gig started.. last time I heard his voice in that way and the music so loud and clear it was early 00's... he went mental and start to sing as it was his last gig in life.... I was totally blown away.. the crowd went mental too

Wow this sounds fantastic, I get goose bumps from reading it!! THIS I want to hear!

[dtsom]

After Andrew said to the nurse stop the music during Doctor Jeep, a new gig started.. last time I heard his voice in that way and the music so loud and clear it was early 00's... he went mental and start to sing as it was his last gig in life.... I was totally blown away.. the crowd went mental too

Wow this sounds fantastic, I get goose bumps from reading it!! THIS I want to hear!

It is a good thing or bad... because if that happenned was because the people started to get quite angry... it went downhill without brakes untill that moment...then everything changed and it were mental.... so he "can"still do it... if he just wants to... really big question is: when not?????why??

[TheGoodSon]

This Corrosion from the LA gig… He is DEFINITELY singing in a way I haven’t heard in a long time!

https://youtu.be/MxUVURS_JQo

[dtsom]

This Corrosion from the LA gig… He is DEFINITELY singing in a way I haven’t heard in a long time!

https://youtu.be/MxUVURS_JQo

Indeed... it is what I wrote...

[chillgod]

Could somebody please advise if AE will be doing the backing vocals in Nottingham as well. A few months away but I like to plan ahead.

[Rantz Hoseley]

f**king hell... that is a whole lotta hey now now!

This Corrosion from the LA gig… He is DEFINITELY singing in a way I haven’t heard in a long time!

https://youtu.be/MxUVURS_JQo

[sharedgum]

Of course IMHO…
What a f**king s**t show that was…
It all started off so well. Never having heard Don’t Drive on Ice live, I thought wow! I could actually hear AE singing clear as a bell. Sadly it all went downhill from there. For some inexplicable reason AE’s vocal got quieter and all you could hear was Ben singing backing vocals. I even moved position to see if it got better, but nope. I also that it might be AE having celebrated his birthday too hard, but nope - perhaps the sound engineer had his share. After some 40 minutes it took AE to stop Dr Jeep as it started to shout ‘that all he could hear was Ben singing’ for it to be sorted. By no means was it perfect after this but at least you could hear AE sing his parts. Ben is an okay singer but at that volume it sounded bad. I do wonder why the out front mixing desk could not hear how bad it sounded and sort it out. Apart from that it was a good set. Still don’t like Eyes of Caligula, I am Here is now awesome with the new added bit of Dylan’s solo, I’m on Fire was good. Genevieve still that best although tonight it suffered the fate of the first half of the set.
One down three to go for me. I’m off to bed now and onward to SF in the morning. I might suggest that the sound crew spend the next 48 hours mesmerising the sound levels.

Sounds similar to the DC (Silver Spring) gig experience. I really think that this is not the sound engineer"s doing. It's up to the band to figure this out ahead of time, and this band incarnation has been touring quite a bit. I have attended many gigs and I can't recall a single show in which I could hear the "backing vocals" great and hardly hear the lead singer at all. And the fact that this is not a one-off makes me think there is something else going on (AE too tired, his voice super fragile, etc.). But all these things up to the band to figure out - they have the soundcheck, too.

Nonetheless, the DC show was still very inspirational, I have been playing their music since the gig pretty much non-stop, my record store even had a copy of that Amsterdam radio show from 1984, so I got it this weekend. And the crowd overall was very forgiving, aside from couple of people yelling at him to sing louder (which I understand).

[paint it black]

Same set as per.

Game of two halves as mentioned. Actual words were

Stop it. All I can hear is Ben’s vocals. Please sort it out now. Song resumed - that’s better

At this point Ben was so loud in the mix that he was distorting = a horrible mush. Prior to that Von had already been to the side of the stage three times to try to fix things.

Instrumental 86, or Von’s fag break

A little but clever detail. The smoke machine is placed above and fanned across the stage. Hence slowly dropping through the lights to the required effect whilst not completely obscuring everything.

Lighting colorways still matching EP artwork

Onwards we March

[Todashi]

This Corrosion from the LA gig… He is DEFINITELY singing in a way I haven’t heard in a long time!

https://youtu.be/MxUVURS_JQo

Yep, there it is. Proof it's possible. That sounds epic.

[Fallon]

Sounds similar to the DC (Silver Spring) gig experience. I really think that this is not the sound engineer"s doing. It's up to the band to figure this out ahead of time, and this band incarnation has been touring quite a bit. I have attended many gigs and I can't recall a single show in which I could hear the "backing vocals" great and hardly hear the lead singer at all. And the fact that this is not a one-off makes me think there is something else going on (AE too tired, his voice super fragile, etc.). But all these things up to the band to figure out - they have the soundcheck, too.

The sound issues on this US tour are consistent in ways which give the impression that they are the result of particular choices, but they are inconsistent in ways which make it difficult to understand the purpose of those choices (whatever they may be), or what problem they are trying to solve. I'm not convinced it's a question of AE's voice being shot - he's pacing himself to be sure, but he's done that for years, and I think we're all pretty satisfied that he has been able to turn it on at key points so far on this tour.

And he's clearly uncomfortable with how things are going, if the stories of his interrupting the Doktor are accurate (which they surely are), so it's really hard for me to accept that the band has decided to address vocal issues by concealing his voice. Especially since they're already utilising Ben's baritone to fill out any shortcomings. Unless we really believe that the band is trying to pass Ben's voice off as Andrew's, in an effort to outright deceive their audience, I think we're looking at a confluence of factors, including technical factors we won't know until someone in the band explains them.

Thoughts:
1. Andrew is handheld, whereas Ben and Dylan aren't. The sound person has to be managing his levels all night because he's prowling around the stage and the feedback is going to be up and down all night based on his proximity to different bits of PA, whereas Ben and Dylan's mics are on stands, and a little more 'set and forget' (not exactly, but closer to). There may not be an appetite for this but if Andrew was stationary and had a mic stand, it might be more consistent. As it stands, it's possible that the sound personnel are compensating for Andrew's quiet levels with Ben's loud levels. They might literally be making an on-the-fly choice of "I can't turn Andrew's mic up right now, so I'll turn Ben's up instead". The decision to give Ben more baritone may even be because of this, more than to fill out the vocal low end.

2. The band hasn't been in the US for a very long time, and while in Europe they maintain professional relationships with local crews/contractors by regularly visiting their country and engaging them, in America they may not actually have that many professional relationships. Andrew has also explained that there's a shorter lead-in time for the US tour than they normally get in Europe, and this may limit the pool of available sound people. It may not be someone who 'gets' the band, it may not be someone who relates to the people in the band, and it may in fact be a different person every gig.

3. They probably aren't specifically using the venue's own soundpeople, they're probably just using "the least-worst person who's available and affordable in the specified timeframe", who may or may not be a venue soundperson, depending on the venue. The fact that some people have said the soundchecks sounded different may indicate that mixing duties have changed hands between soundcheck and go time.

4. Andrew has indicated as well that the US aren't getting the full production. It's possible that they're using a simpler PA/mixing setup itself? Is it possible that the Doktor is delivering a playback of a mixdown (or at least some mixdowns)? More than usual? More playback, less live sequencing? That could limit the options available to a soundperson to position vocals in the mix. My reason for floating this is not because I have any particular evidence, it's more that Andrew said that the US aren't getting the full light show. The light show is triggered by the sequencer. If they've got a simpler light show, is it possible they've brought a simpler playback setup for the Doktor too? I really don't know what the Doktor is doing under the hood anymore, I lost my fascination when it went digital, so you tell me.

5. I'm not trying to argue that Eldritch would sound pitch perfect if the mix was right, I just really doubt that the band is deliberately trying to deceive, or that the band is particularly happy with the idea of Andrew Eldritch sounding as though he's doing incidental vocals in his own band.

[euphoria]

Well, let's start with the most simple question, do they have their ordinary sound guy with them?

I don't even know who replaced Jurgen Jansen, or when. Andrew mentions in the Illinois interview they have a new one "these days".

[DocSommer]

1. Andrew is handheld, whereas Ben and Dylan aren't. The sound person has to be managing his levels all night because he's prowling around the stage and the feedback is going to be up and down all night based on his proximity to different bits of PA, whereas Ben and Dylan's mics are on stands, and a little more 'set and forget' (not exactly, but closer to). There may not be an appetite for this but if Andrew was stationary and had a mic stand, it might be more consistent. As it stands, it's possible that the sound personnel are compensating for Andrew's quiet levels with Ben's loud levels. They might literally be making an on-the-fly choice of "I can't turn Andrew's mic up right now, so I'll turn Ben's up instead". The decision to give Ben more baritone may even be because of this, more than to fill out the vocal low end.

I guess it should be possible to find a setting that is sensitive but still allowing movements on stage and Andrew should know enough about his job avoid feedbacks by increasing the mouth>mic distance and avoid problematic stage-zones (near the pa) while singing loud. If he decides to ignore this the sound guy can only lower his level to avoid annoying feedbacks. I think he is using a Beta87 hypercard, that's a pretty good mic capsule I think.

Of course that's no excuse for raisings Bens vocals over the top - probably some perceived "If you don't give a s**t at yourt end I won't give a s**t at my end" attitude

[z666]

Listening to the recording it makes absolutely no sense, you can barely hear Eldritch even when he talks between songs and there's nothing else coming out of the speakers. I find hard to believe that pro's like them and whoever is doing the soundwork are struggling to manage a show with two guitars, three mics and a computer. It's a complete mistery.

[paint it black]

The support sounded excellent. Probably better than the Sisters in terms of effort too.

The sound person(s) are clearly chasing levels throughout the gig. L.A. had extra floor monitors which is usually a positive sign, but wasnt.

Let's see what they manage after a rest day.

[doctor_jeep]

There must be some serious issues going on here. I didn't see anyone mentioning his staring at the mic and "aah, for f**k's sake" at 3:10 yet. And at the same gig he delivers the best TC in years, if not decades. He should lay off the growling though; that can't be too beneficial for his voice.

[copper]

4. Andrew has indicated as well that the US aren't getting the full production.... If they've got a simpler light show, is it possible they've brought a simpler playback setup for the Doktor too? I really don't know what the Doktor is doing under the hood anymore, I lost my fascination when it went digital, so you tell me.

I believe there are two Doc setups. One is a tower rack, the other is one MacBook (or more). The big Doc, I gather, handles mostly European shows and the lite Doc travels overseas. The wee one is (likely to be) configured to suit a more pared-down production, as you said.

A shame no-one ever picked up the reins of the band's FOH from Pete Turner. This miser route is getting costly.

[funandprofit]

Are you in the Reptile House @funandprofit ?

Im flying down from Oakland

I am! Might I know you?

[Being645]

Is that the rocket ship? ... ...

Resolved ... ... *setlist corrected

[An]

....In a sea of Smartphones, in a sea of doubt
In this cruel place your voice under the maelstrom....

[dinky daisy]

Another mostly electronic act, raised back in the 80s: still fills sold out stadiums, writes epic songs with a little help from Psychedelic Furs-singer Richard Butler. You know it. This is called professionalism.

And then there's a f**king karaoke joke machine that cannot crack a nut, hiding behind s**t excuses. This is called amateurism.

Save your memories
Save your money
Stop seeing Sisters

And put that on a shirt.

[Being645]

And here's a full show mobile video of this hell ... with remarkable sound ...