Tourblog (5) - rehearsal day three and other great happenings

Today was the third day of the rehearsals in the theater. well….. sort of…
A good rehearsal is always depending on certain aspects. Material to play, a focussed group of musicians,  a good work-environment etc. And no distractions. And there it is, where it can go wrong. When gear fails you, or when you need to make to many phone calls, or…. when you are getting two boxes of goodies…. It can all distract you from the rehearsal. Well. Luckily it did not distract us to much, but sometimes you need to have some time invested in your gear. Failing drumheads where one of my distractions for instance, and I think everyone had one or more today. But still, the playing was great.
Well, the goodie boxes I got today where from Vater Drumsticks and Rode Microphones. I have an endorsement with Vater Drumsticks, and they made me a signature drumstick. Yesterday I got these sticks, and they look cool, but more importantly: they play great. I have two wood types: hickory and maple. Depending on the song, I take the hickory (louder songs) or the maple (softer songs). The box was loaded with sticks and some nice t-shirts and stuff. Only 5 minutes after the Vater box was delivered, they brought me another box that was delivered at the theater. This one is from Rode. The box contained a few great sounding microphones we will use during this tour. That is just so much fun, to play and sing through these great sounding mics.
After the rehearsals that went from 10:00 am to like 19:00 (with a lot of breaks, phone calls, goodie boxes ;), and other stuff). Alco came in at 19:00 and started to build the main sound system. I think it will sound great in this theater. The mixing desk he is using s a top notch digital mixing desk (Venue) from Digidesign (the market leader in studio hardware and software (Protools). In the evening we where soundchecking and it sounded great. There was a natural flutter echo problem at certain points in the theater, but it seems that it is a design flaw of the theater. But luckily you wont hear that if you are sitting in the theater.
Well as I write this it is like 08:00 am of the first concert day. A long, long day ahead and so much to do…
So I’m singing off right now, and hope to see a lot of you tonight, or at one of the gigs. I can’t wait!
Collin