Keith Emerson: London Astoria 20th July

 

 

*edit* got my ticket and ticket to see Greg Lake in peterborough (rock 'n roll capital of the World). Just waiting for Mr Palmer now.

 

When my life calms down a bit i'll return to this forum to annoy you all 

 

 

So will I... For a fortunate coincidence, I'll very probably be in London on that date, and I will try to be there as well. I've never seen Emerson live, and I think it is high time I did!

 

I and several other people left the concert at the interval because the sound quality was terrible. I saw one guy from the audience arguing with the sound technician during the interval.

 

Those of us who left talked to the promoter outside, who took names and addresses and faithfully promised to refund our ticket money. Never received it, though! It was as if they had not even done a sound check before the concert.

It was loud, but I've heard louder. The problem was that it was badly distorted. In fact, at one point Emerson stopped playing and said "can we lose that hum?", referring to 50 Hz mains pickup on a cable. My theory is that the loudness was a cause too, though, in as much as they had everything turned up into the non-linear range of the amps and they were distorting.

 

Maybe I and the other people who baled out at the interval should have stayed to see what happened in the 2nd half, when I think the sound guy did turn the volume down.

 

During the interval the guy berating the sound technician was told by him that "Emerson wants it this loud", but whether that is true I don't know. Perhaps it was just passing the buck.

 

Anyway, for me, and my brother who was with me at the concert, it was a big disappointment. Rather put me off going to see Emerson again, actually. I may have felt differently if they'd had the courtesy to refund the tickets.