Touring Isn't Always Perfect!

Phew!  What a weekend!

Our brand new set!

We had quite an adventure at our Red Bank Concert this weekend.  It was our very first Birthday Party Concert, and as some of you may know from past blogs, we've been working hard to make it a really cool experience.

This blog is a little long - a LOT happened to us!  Sorry for the length!

So what happened, you ask?  WELL...

We knew that the weather on Saturday was going to be rainy and yucky.  We packed our bags carefully in order to protect our props, merchandise, and personal things from the rain. What we DIDN'T realize was the fact that Saturday's storm would turn into a near-monsoon...

When the Two Tomatoes crew arrived at the theatre (6am!), they immediately got to work putting together our brand new set.  The presents were a bit tricky to put together, but they looked so fun and festive that the extra effort was well worth it.

The large present is the size of a refrigerator! Bobby played on Susie's keyboard while the stage was being set.

Due to the weather, our merchandise people (headed by the lovely Corinne) arrived at the theater late, and had to work reallllly hard to get set up in time!

After several hours of the "Set-Up Scramble", we finally got to sound check.  Because of limited time, the band didn't get to rehearse a few of the sections we wanted to - but it was okay - we figured it out!

We rushed to get ready for the show - we had new costumes and new equipment to work with, so it was a bit of a whirlwind!

By the time 11am rolled around, the band was miraculously backstage on-time and ready to go (okay, maybe we were 2 or 3 minutes late...)  Unfortunately, the weather was preventing a lot of our fans from getting to the theater, so we held the house for a few minutes to make sure everyone could get in. 

That's when things started to go wrong...

Just before the show was about to begin, our amazing sound team realized Susie's microphone wasn't working!!  Oh NO!  There was an absolute hurricane of crew and sound equipment backstage working on the problem while the sound and stage management team tried to figure out the best way to get the show started.

At 11:20 (yikes!), the problem was fixed enough to begin the show.  We really dislike starting shows late, so it was pretty stressful. 

Only a few minutes into the concert, Adam's bass also stopped working.  On top of this, Susie was unable to hear herself or the other musicians because her in-ear monitors stopped working!  She was flying blind! (Or would that be deaf?)

Somehow with the help of a competent crew and sound team, the band pulled together, made some less-than-ideal technical adjustments, and got through the show (it sounded really good, too!)

Between shows, we were feeling a little shaken by the whole experience, but we assured ourselves that the worst of it was over.  The technical problems were resolved and we prepped for show #2 as the rain continued to pour and our incredible fans fought the traffic in order to get inside. 

The second show started.  Everything was going smoothly for a few moments until Adam's in-ear monitors started to distort and he was no longer able to hear anything.  Eventually he stepped off stage briefly to have the problem fixed (and continued to play bass from backstage!) and the band was finally feeling good.  The sound issues were resolved and we were psyched!

Then, in the middle of "Five Days Old", the lights on the stage went off and the sound in the audience stopped.  Stopped.  The band's lips were moving, but it appeared as if no music was coming out.

Unfortunately, the band had no idea what was happening because the power had gone out to the audience's speakers, but not the band's in-ear monitors!  After several minutes of a mute LBB singing and dancing as if nothing was wrong, we were tapped on the shoulder by our stage manager and told no one could hear us!!

The crew rushed the stage to try to fix the problems.  That's when we found out what had happened - a transformer down the street (which controls the power for the theater) had somehow caught fire because of the storm, and we only had a small amount of power in the theater (which was keeping the lights in the audience on).

We didn't know what was going to happen!

Laurie looked out into the audience and asked, "Should we keep going?"  The crowd gave an amazing amount of support and let us know they were in for the long haul.  The encouragement from our fans was so wonderful and kept us together enough to have the courage to continue. 

For several minutes, Laurie tried hard to keep the show going with no sound - the audience got very quiet so we could be heard, and we tried a little acoustic performance.  Unfortunately, it was just too difficult to hear!

Luckily, a stagehand found one microphone that worked, so we were able to play "I'm Not Perfect" and "I'm a Mess" (both quite fitting, eh?) while the power issues were being fixed.  It was LBB Unplugged!

In no time (which of course felt like FOREVER to us!), the power was back and the show went on!!  It was a completely surreal experience, but the amazing part about it was how dedicated our fans were.  We all survived the storm together, and your support helped us get through an incredibly difficult experience. 

Thanks so much to everyone who attended the shows, and to those of you who sent us amazing feedback.  And for those of you who were not able to be there, we hope to share our music in person with you soon! We are so lucky to be on this journey with all of you!!!

Can't wait til the next show!

The Show Must Go On!

Comments

[Angela Samman]

We had a fantastic time at this show my sons face lit up once he realized you guys were the ones hes been watching on tv

[Cecelia Walsh]

What a show...the second show sounds a little more complicated than the first show which was complicated enough.

The LOVE you bring to your shows byypasses any technical interuption you may experience...we'll be there again....