East Lansing, Michigan

Hi everyone,
Tonight we played at the Breslin Center, an arena on the MSU campus in East Lansing, Michigan. The seating in arenas is different than in a theater or performing arts center: generally there are two or more tiers of seating all the way around the center floor section (for sports viewing). For concerts, usually the seats behind the stage aren't sold (or other times they're sold as cheap obstructed-view seats for a really hot act). When an artist books an arena, they can configure the venue how they please, in terms of stage placement and seating. Most of the time, the seating wraps around the sides of the stage. This requires additional PA speakers to provide adequate coverage for those side-stage seats.

Well today the additional PA, supplied by the venue, wasn't working properly. They found this out after they already had the arrays (clusters of speakers) flown (rigged on chains up in the air). They spent a good hour trying to figure out why one side sounded totally wrong. I had to wait for this process before beginning my daily monitor listens and adjustments (for the sound of the venue). So my usual early afternoon camera walk wasn't to be. Hence the limited pics. Evidently Magic Johnson went to MSU. The things you learn on tour.

Now we're on our way to Toronto, Canada. We'll cross into Canada in about an hour. Hopefully we won't all have to line up for customs. Last time we sailed right through on the way INTO Canada, but had to get out and answer questions on the way back into the US. Whatever.Let's just get it over with, get a few hours sleep, and get set up in Toronto so I can walk around and experience another city.

Dammit. There's no internet connection- the driver may have already disconnected it so that the tour wouldn't incur roaming fees while in Canada. So I probably won't be able to post this until tomorrow in Toronto.

Update:
We got right through Canadian Customs, and arrived at the historic Massey Hall in Toronto around 8am. More on Toronto in next post.