10th APRIL 2001
THE ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND
Review from Steve:
I went to see Dido last night in Birmingham, and I was very disappointed with
the sound.
The venue I think is poorly designed, although Tom McRae had a much better
sound than Dido, no matter where we were in the venue, the bass was far too
loud, and very subwoofer like, and made the (very low) ceilings rattle &
buzz. The drums were far too loud, I only heard guitar once the whole night
(probably because nothing else was playing) and I never heard keyboards except
for the end of 'Here With Me'.
It was very difficult to hear the words Dido was singing (I do know them, as
I have had the album since its first release in the States).
Basically the whole level needed raising quite a bit (except Bass & Drums),
because if you were at the back underneath the upstairs bit, it was far too
quiet, I heard someone stand on a plastic cup, mid way through one of the
songs, and the people chattering where louder than Dido.
Dido herself gave a good performance, but I was disappointed in the lack of
any backing vocals, this I would have preferred over the guy on the decks.
Maybe I am slightly biased being an engineer, and running a recording
studio, I have been on many many gigs, and either engineered, (and
recorded), and I know how the setup works, and last night was by far the
worst sounding gig I have ever heard, in the ten or so years I have been
doing this.
I mostly blame the venue for poor design, and not using the speakers that
were dotted around the low ceiling, but I also blame the engineer, as Tom McRae
had a good sound, despite the initial feedback, which was quickly
rectified (thankfully), and I couldn’t quite see, but I'm pretty sure that
they were both using the same mixing desk.
I'm calm now, really I am :)
Just very disappointed, in what could have been an outstanding gig.