Wednesday, June 7, 2017

True Willie at Tustin & Brea Festivals 6/4/17

Hello good people!

It was a busy Sunday for me last weekend. I worked with True Willie at two different festivals with only an hour and a half between the two shows. It was tight but we made it.

It started for me with a drive down to the OC ("Orange County" for the non-locals) for the Tustin Street Fair and Chili Cook Off. I allowed extra time for traffic, which there was none, so I got there an hour before call time. We got to park very close to back stage. This festival was nicely organized.


It was a nice stage with a very nice sound system provided by Triskelion Pro Audio. I've worked with Kennedy Hobson several times. He's a really great guy.


We had facilities right behind the stage. I'm not exactly sure what the sign means. There were all kinds of jokes being made.


Here's Ken dialing in the monitors. He is one of the hardest working sound guys in the area. Everybody loves Kennedy.


Here's my rig for the day. I brought my Fender thinking I'd actually use it today but it ended up just being backup.


Behind the stage the street was blocked. All you had to do is tell the police officer you were "with the band" and you could pass.


Actually, we were emailed parking passes but a couple of the guys didn't print theirs. We worked it out.

This is some of True Willie's family who came all the way from Ireland to see us today.


Scott, with his back to us, helps us get set up on stage.


Here's Kennedy in his environment, doing his thing.


Here's his view from the FOH sound board.


Guess what Dave is doing? "Gimme some kick drum."


John gets his patches organized according to the set list. He plays a mean harmonica on his keyboard.


True Willie and Mike get their guitars tuned up while Scott waits to offer his assistance. Scott was very attentive and took great care of us on stage.


Willie and Ken talk about the monitor mix.


Here is True Willie with Miss Tustin and her court.


Dave and Mrs. Dave got new hats for this gig.


All the chairs seemed to gravitate toward the shade as we started our show. It was a pretty fun crowd.


Mike is prepared to do some shredding.


John seems to see something in the distance. By the look on his face, maybe it's an ex-wife.


Dave prepares himself to emulate Waylon Jennings. He does a great Waylon.


We took a little break for a square dance demonstration. They were really good and fun to watch.


After our second show we had to pack up in a hurry and get out of Dodge. Our next downbeat was in an hour and a half.


But I had time to snap a picture of the beer stein holding contest. That tall young lady in the orange tank top won. Look at the guns on her!


We scampered back up the 57, past Angel stadium, and made our way to the Brea Summerfest.


When we arrived, backstage there was a nice spread laid out for the entertainment.


I enjoyed several of these Italian meat sandwiches.


This was my backline rig for this show. It was pretty good but I asked the crew if they had anything bigger.


The kit was from the next band, a Huey Lewis tribute, Super Huey. Dave seemed to like it.


Mike gets his gear set up. He had a choice of a Twin or a Matchless. He went with the Twin. The large stage crew was amazing, all pro.


True Willie gets his gear in order. You also see James, our monitor guy. He was great.


It were a few minutes of chaos while we got everything ready. But then we had a 30 second sound check and we were good to go.


There weren't too many people seated right in front of us but there were plenty around in whatever shade they could find.


I think John sees his ex-wife again. (Just kidding!)


Dave is in front of the big screen.


Mike changed his shirt for this show. I brought extra shirts too but didn't bother.


Here's True Willie on the big screen behind Dave.


The stage, sound, lights, etc, were all provided by TEI Entertainment. These guys are a top notch production company. Here are James (monitors) and Nick (stage crew) chilling in the monitor booth. After the first song I was able to tell Nick, "I need a little more of this and that in my monitor" and BOOM! My mix was perfect. Nice working with these guys.


After we were done with our show, Super Huey took the stage for their set. Here they are posed for the intro to "Heart Of Rock and Roll".


Here's a view of the stage from the FOH.


And one more shot of the stage as Super Huey performs. They were fun to watch. They all played well but relied on a lot of tracks. They all used IEMs and had no amps on stage.


That was my Sunday, two gigs and home by 6pm. I had time for another gig that evening. I think I had one more in me. But instead I enjoyed a lovely evening with my family. I like to do that when I have the chance.

Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff 

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