One last trip through Europe with Mercury Rev. First a couple of shows in Belgium (seems like Belgium really likes Mercury Rev this year), and a show at the Crossing Border festival in Den Haag. Definitely no complaints when ever we get to play Holland.

On the way to Portugal we first make a stop in San Sebastian where we get to be tourists for a bit. As the usual tourist routine goes for me, find a high point, go to the top of, look around. And San Sebastian provided a nice hill with a church on top that provided a great view of the city.

The a long jaunt down to south to Portugal where we find ourselves in a concert hall and I find myself behind an XL-4. It’s just a whole other level with the XL-4. The sound of that desk is just a step above anything else out there.

Next off to spain and a run of shows with the Dirty Three and the Decemberists. First a theater/restaurant in Bilboa, and then the Aqualung Madrid, and then on to Republica in Valencia where I find a Midas XL-2… Who knew such a thing existed? First time I’ve seen one, and the same for everyone else. Seemed like something halfway between an XL-3 and the XL-250. Sounded pretty good. There was a Aero line array here to, and, I don’t know if it was set up wrong, or that just how the thing sounds, but it doesn’t really sound like a line array, sounded different all over the place, could be the room, could be the cheap knock off line array…

Our last gig in Spain is at Razzmatazz 1 in Barcelona where we find a real line array, and my first go on the Kudos. Seems Razzmatazz is looking for a new speaker system for the room, so they are demo-ing a bunch of stuff, and while I was there it was the Kudos turn. There was a very cool tech from L’Acoustics who was there (sorry I’ve forgotten his name). He had the room all programed into SoundVision, down to each individual pillar.

How’s it sound? Pretty good, not quite like the V-Dosc, sort of something inbetween the V-Dosc and the dV-Dosc.

Brand new speaker system and already it’s covered in dust. A dirty business this live sound thing.

Here we a shot looking up from the bottom showing the movable plates, or wings, or whatever you like to call them. I was thinking, with the boxes close to the wall, you might do something like angle the one side in, but as you can see they are in the standard con-fig.. Nothing really too fancy science about this stuff here, pretty basic.

Next we head out to the eastern block. First stop, Croatia, and a club called Aquarius in Zagrev. It was quite cold that day, and the gig was right on a lake, basically sitting in a park. There was a bar at the front that was enclosed, and then the room where the stage was had tent walls basically. It would be really nice in the summer with it all opened up. Sadly, while we were there it was about 30ºF. They had one of those gas powered blowing heaters, but I think they were trying to save money on gas, as they couldn’t or wouldn’t start the thing up. The PA is a bit makeshift. An Allen and Heath at FOH and a Yamaha GA32 at monitors.

Dig the PA. Someone’s rendition of a line array. They actually even flew a couple of feet off the ground, and you know what? It actually didn’t sound too bad, it definitely had some nice qualities to it, though it would only give me so much.

The amazing part about this gig, was the crowd. The place was packed, and it was definitely the most pumped up Mercury Rev crowd we’ve ever had. They sang along to just about all of the songs, including allot off the new album. And this was the bands first visit there. Who knew? Amazing.

As we get ready to leave we get some directions from the promoter on how to get out of the park and make our way out of town. Here we can see me showing these directions. Lets see, round and round in circles, and you will eventually get out.

Next we head off to Belgrade, Serbia for a gig at a place called Dom Omladine. We have to park the bus at the local bus station, and do a cross load. And then at the venue, there are 3 flights of stairs to tackle. Lucky for us, there was a very hard working local crew that made it easy for us. Another amazing crowd in a new place. Seems the eastern block is hungry for some music.

Next we head off to Greece, having to pass through Macedonia on the way. We heard all sorts of horror stories of border crossings, and possible hassles and long waits, but all in all for us everything goes smooth and easy with fairly short waits.

Our first Greek gig is in Thessalonki, at the Mylos club. Last time I was here I think they had a crest time, but this time I find a Midas XL-250, which normally makes me very happy. Sadly, this was not the case today.

I plug my headphones in, go about some other work,put my headphones on, wonder why the left side isn’t working, and then wonder why my left ear is feeling very warm. I get the clue pretty quick, but it’s too late. I pull out a meter, and sure enough, there’s i can’t remember how many volts DC on the one side. The headphone amp is shot. That’s the second time this has happened to me. Luckily I carry a spare pair of headphones for just such an occasion, and a spare headphone amp from the band takes care of the rest.

Since this has happened before (with a Crest) I had a pair of half blown Sony’s, so I took the two half blown pairs and made one good one… Hopefully this doesn’t happen again for awhile.

The next day we head off to Athens, and we have a day off here, so as per the usual tourist routine, I find the nearby high point and make my way to the top of it. This time a large park on a hill behind the hotel. On top I find an amphitheater, a church, and a great view of Athens, including a view of another hill I climbed on a previous tourist adventure on which sits the Acropolis (as you can sort of make out from this picture).

It’s not Greece if everything doesn’t take twice as long as it needs to eh? Oh well. Our cross load finds us enjoying a bumpy truck ride with our gear, and some loader helpers that were probably twice our age.

I hear the Rodon Club doesn’t exist, or has moved, and it doesn’t bother me a bit not to be in that stone hell sounding room again. This time we play Gragarin 205, where there is a wonderful Arc PA with a Midas XL-250. During the check I find a sub with a dust cover that has come off, making a very annoying buzzing noise as it vibrated against the grill with every bass hit. As we “fixed” the sub, I noticed that though the sub boxes looked allot like SB-218’s, I don’t think they were the real thing. Worked fine though.

My second trip to Tel Aviv with Mercury Rev, this time with a show at a recently converted warehouse. Another gig with the Kudos, and my impression of them is still good.

I feel sorry for sound companies here, this was the dustiest Heritage 3000 I’ve ever seen.

The show goes well, and we have another great time in Tel-Aviv.

Back to London for one last show at Shepherds Bush Emprie. They have upgraded to an enormous 52 channel Heritage 3000. Still the odd sounding room with the big EAW 850 rig, and an old dusty patch bay below the desk.

Finally back to the states, and after a short break we have one final “home” show at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock. As there house PA is a bit lame, I had a rig from Firehouse in Red Hook brought in. Nothing too fancy, some EAW 850’s and the new Yamaha mc7 digital desk. I was trying to safe some money and mixing space and the Yamaha did the trick. It’s doesn’t seem all that different than the 5D, sounds the same. Sort of odd that the offline editor for Studio Manager only runs on a PC when the 5D runs on the mac. In a road case the mc-7 is barely smaller than a 5D, so you wouldn’t be saving too much space in trucking…

The show goes well, and we all get to see friends and have a bit of a party to close it all off. Back home to San Francisco I go and on to the next adventure…..