Mercury Rev takes off for Europe again, this time driving ourselves around in a van for 3 festivals. Our first stop, the Lokerse Festival in Belgium. I get another look at the Digidesign Venue desk here, as the Cure are touring around with one. Seems pretty cool watching it in action.

I was pretty set though with an XL-4 supplied locally for the rest of us.

Next we hit the road for a longish drive to St. Malo, France. It’s my first time driving in Europe, and it’s not much different than here. You’ve got to know how to work the traffic circle, and think about things metrically.

On the way we stopped Mont Saint Michel, which is a Benedictine abbey on top of a rocky islet in the midst of vast sand-banks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany . When we were there the tide was out, but we could imagine (and saw pictures) of how it looked when the tide was in.

On to a small hotel out on in the country side and a night of rest before playing the La Route du Rock festival.

The festival as a Nexo Geo rig, and  subs spaced out along the front of the stage, delayed to create an arc, and just like the demonstration I saw at AES earlier that year, the low end was the same, everywhere. No power alley and dead isles, just the same. The festival is set at an old French fort, and the day goes well.

The next day we start an early drive back to Brussels to return the van and hop on a plane for a flight to Aarhüs, Denmark. We get to the airport with time to spare, and then struggle to find a place to eat nearby on a saturday afternoon. A short flight to Denmark and some rest at the hotel.

The festival was set in a really nice wooded area outside of town. There is a permanent dual, side by side stage there, so it’s easy work for the changeover. Just one Heritage 3000 at FOH for both stages, though the last two acts bring in a Digigco and a PM5D to eat any remaining space.

After a break for the rest of August, we once again hop a plane for Europe, this time for a one off at the Electric Picnic Festival outside of Dublin, Ireland. Nick Cave and the bad seeds is on after us on the main stage, and it’s good to see some familiar faces a year latter.

A couple of more weeks off after Ireland, and I take my first trip to South America, down to Curitiba, Brazil for a one off with Mercury Rev. We have amazing food, everyone (including myself) drinks to many vodka, fruit, and sugar drinks, and we have a great time.

We are playing a club that fits about 2000, and I knew in advance that there would be an inovason SY-80 at FOH. I thinking, great, I just mixed on one of those, I like it, and I can just dump in my mix from my USB stick.

Turns out, this SY-80 has DOS installed, and could care less about the desks USB port.

I try every trick I know, but no luck. So I have to start from scratch, not too big of a deal though we are pressed for time. Remember how I mentioned that the headphone jack on the desk was weak? Well the house engineer has a small stand alone headphone amp to take care of just such a thing, how clever. The show goes well, and the packed crowed seems to like it. Hopefully I’ll return to Brazil in the future for more.