Criterion Concert Hall

[cinnamonjock]

Saw Vampire Weekend here last night. Halfway through their set an extremely loud static noise played for about ten seconds, followed by the cutting of all audio and several staff members running about. The band didn't know what to do and slowly made their way off stage. It was a a sound board that went out and, luckily, they had a replacement. It took about half an hour to switch over and the band resumed, but was told if it happened again they don't have another replacement and would have to cancel the show. Other than a few audio blips, the rest of the show went great, although the band looked uneasy during these blips and were thankful to be able to finish the show. It did not leave a good impression on either the band or the audience.

[soonerguru]

Saw Vampire Weekend here last night. Halfway through their set an extremely loud static noise played for about ten seconds, followed by the cutting of all audio and several staff members running about. The band didn't know what to do and slowly made their way off stage. It was a a sound board that went out and, luckily, they had a replacement. It took about half an hour to switch over and the band resumed, but was told if it happened again they don't have another replacement and would have to cancel the show. Other than a few audio blips, the rest of the show went great, although the band looked uneasy during these blips and were thankful to be able to finish the show. It did not leave a good impression on either the band or the audience.

Yeah that was a weird deal. I've never seen anything like that before. Amazing that literally no one left.

[DoctorTaco]

Yeah that was a weird deal. I've never seen anything like that before. Amazing that literally no one left.

On the plus side those that stuck around (ie 100% of the crowd) were treated to what seemed like an extra-long concert by the band, who appeared to feel bad about the whole thing.

[AnguisHerba]

Saw Vampire Weekend here last night. Halfway through their set an extremely loud static noise played for about ten seconds, followed by the cutting of all audio and several staff members running about. The band didn't know what to do and slowly made their way off stage. It was a a sound board that went out and, luckily, they had a replacement. It took about half an hour to switch over and the band resumed, but was told if it happened again they don't have another replacement and would have to cancel the show. Other than a few audio blips, the rest of the show went great, although the band looked uneasy during these blips and were thankful to be able to finish the show. It did not leave a good impression on either the band or the audience.

Though, the band specifically commented on how the OKC crowd made the show great by keeping up the energy despite the audio issues. Their set started at 8:45, there was a 30 minute delay, and they played until 11:45. I would say the band seemed to love the OKC crowd, so I doubt this would keep them from coming back.

Does anyone know if the soundboard is something the band or the venue supplies?

[TheTravellers]

Though, the band specifically commented on how the OKC crowd made the show great by keeping up the energy despite the audio issues. Their set started at 8:45, there was a 30 minute delay, and they played until 11:45. I would say the band seemed to love the OKC crowd, so I doubt this would keep them from coming back.

Does anyone know if the soundboard is something the band or the venue supplies?

I was wondering how Criterion had a replacement, most venues don't have spare sound boards just lying around. Then after talking to my brother, realized it might've been Vampire Weekend's sound board that went out and they brought out Criterion's sound board to replace it.

The sound guy and board at the Jenny Lewis and Dwight Yoakam shows at Jones were the same, so Jones (and others) supplies them if the acts don't have their own. I imagine some bands tour with their own (My Morning Jacket at Criterion waaaay back is a notable one, I think), but some probably just use the venue's.

[BDP]

I wouldn't be surprised if VW toured with a lot of their own stuff. Not the main arrays, but board(s) and some processing, probably. Their are bands smaller than them that do it.

Either way, that was an impressive turn around for basically losing the entire FOH set up. It didn't sound like someone screwed up or anything. They made it sound like it was a system crash. Like everything else, most boards are basically computers now. That was not a pretty sound, though. It is kind of weird that they had a couple of glitches after that, especially if they really did swap out the entire board.

Everything else was pretty good, imo. The two spots I spent most of my time in sounded good and some of the better bar service I've experienced for a sold out show there.

[Mr. Cotter]

It was their own DigiCo board. I was standing next to the booth, and saw the swap. Everything was in VW crates.

[BDP]

It was their own DigiCo board. I was standing next to the booth, and saw the swap. Everything was in VW crates.

Were you one of the ones helping to supply light to the engineers with your phone? If so, thanks! Ha.

Again, kudos to those guys for pulling that off so quickly and successfully. Obviously, I had no idea what had happened at the time, but when they came back on stage and then went through a full line check, I was thinking, "did they really lose all the set up?"

I've seen shows lose the FOH before, but because of what I assume was a power supply / load problem, and that's what I figured was going on. But I've never seen anyone come back on stage after and have to line check everything like that. It sounds like they really went from an "all is lost" situation to saving 2 more hours of full production within 30 min. Maybe it's not as big of a deal as I think it is to switch that out 45 min into the set, but, based on my limited understanding, that sounds like a nightmare and they pulled it off.

Cool heads prevailed for sure and super cool the crowd waited it out and was rewarded for doing so. Everyone that was there will definitely remember that sound we heard when it all went wrong and the show they put on after it was all put back right...

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

more stuff slowly being added to their calendar:

http://www.criterionokc.com/calendar/

Saw Lana del rey just added

[DoctorTaco]

Anyone know why Dimitri Martin at the Criterion on October 26 got cancelled?

[TheTravellers]

more stuff slowly being added to their calendar:

http://www.criterionokc.com/calendar/

Saw Lana del rey just added

And in 4 minutes, her show's sold out. Was kind of expecting this, she's played huge arenas and festivals, Criterion's too small for her. Guarantees a sell-out and a s***load of money for the owners/bookers, though, so yay for them, I guess. Sucks for OKC folks though, because her last show at Dallas a few years ago was f-ed up and she cancelled literally minutes before going onstage, and now can't even get tickets for her. Guess I'll try again later and see if any credit cards were declined and tix get freed up.

[HOT ROD]

too bad they didn't book two (or more) dates for her. Most other cities do this particularly when the venue is small(er) and/or the act is very popular.

Hope it is a success and she not only returns but spreads the word so other big acts wont hesitate to come to OKC. ... OMG, OKC nightlife is really getting exciting, and critical mass! (Is Bchris still in OKC?)

[TheTravellers]

too bad they didn't book two (or more) dates for her. Most other cities do this particularly when the venue is small(er) and/or the act is very popular.

Hope it is a success and she not only returns but spreads the word so other big acts wont hesitate to come to OKC. ... OMG, OKC nightlife is really getting exciting, and critical mass! (Is Bchris still in OKC?)

This date was one of a few added on to the end of her tour, so there wasn't any way they could've done more than one date. She should've been booked at Chesapeake with maybe the 300 level curtained off, they had nothing at all for a few days before and after that date. Ours is not to question the whys and wherefores of booking...

[SEMIweather]

Going to be an amazing experience for the 3,000 people who did manage to get tickets though, much better than if she had performed at Chesapeake with the upper deck curtained off. Hopefully there weren't too many tickets that got gobbled up by scalpers...

[TheTravellers]

Going to be an amazing experience for the 3,000 people who did manage to get tickets though, much better than if she had performed at Chesapeake with the upper deck curtained off. Hopefully there weren't too many tickets that got gobbled up by scalpers...

I'm guessing a huge amount of tickets went to scalpers, stubhub's got tons. And maybe the show will be amazing, but it could also be substandard like Flying Lotus's show at the Tower - his background screen at other places was about 4 times the size of the one at the Tower and the 3D effects suffered mightily because of it and was a huge disappointment (music was still great, though). I've seen some video of her current stage show and hopefully she can adapt it to the smaller stage, who knows how it'll turn out...

[TheTravellers]

Interesting trend for Criterion - smaller audiences for shows. Brother went to Explosions in the Sky and they had both the balcony and the first floor under the balcony overhang curtained off, he estimated about 300-400 as the crowd. Friend went to Dinosaur Jr/Kurt Vile on Friday, same thing, maybe 400-500 in the crowd. I went to Angel Olsen last night, same thing, bartender said 600 tickets were sold. So all could fit at the Tower, Diamond, maybe Jones Assembly (I don't know offhand what the capacity is for them), but maybe they were all booked, so they had to do the Criterion. I didn't really mind 'cos Angel's stage set looked like it wouldn't fit anywhere except Criterion, and it was kind of nice not having it be completely full, so my 5'2" wife could actually see (when the full Criterion's open, we try to get first row on some part of the balcony).

So anyway, I've learned that even though someone may be booked at the Criterion, doesn't mean they're getting 2000-3000 folks...

[SEMIweather]

How was that Angel Olsen show? I almost went to that but ended up opting for the sketch comedy show at Speakeasy that was closed out with a set by one of my favorite local bands.

Figured that the Criterion was having trouble selling tickets to that + the Kurt Vile/Dinosaur Jr show given that they were selling a "two-day pass" which got you into both shows for $45.

[TheTravellers]

How was that Angel Olsen show? I almost went to that but ended up opting for the sketch comedy show at Speakeasy that was closed out with a set by one of my favorite local bands.

Figured that the Criterion was having trouble selling tickets to that + the Kurt Vile/Dinosaur Jr show given that they were selling a "two-day pass" which got you into both shows for $45.

Ha, didn't know about the 2-day passes, would've liked to go to both, but Angel's tix were on sale first (way back in May) and I had to do a 10-hour shift Sun morn starting at 6, so really couldn't do both *and* work and still be sane.

Anyway, Angel was incredible, band was super-tight, had a regular band plus a violin and cello players and a guy off to the side she didn't introduce, but may've been doing gadget/mixing-type stuff (even though they had the regular soundboard setup). Pretty decent stage banter, plus fantastic songs/playing and her voice, man...

Opener Vagabon was pretty good too, nice to like both bands on a bill, doesn't happen for us often (moreso now than in the past few years, though).

[jonny d]

Incubus just put on a heck of a set, and this is a band who would never come here before the Criterion opened!

Knitting Factory is doing more in their brief time running it than the original promoters did in 2 years.

[Richard at Remax]

Great show last night!

[TheTravellers]

Going to be an amazing experience for the 3,000 people who did manage to get tickets though, much better than if she had performed at Chesapeake with the upper deck curtained off. Hopefully there weren't too many tickets that got gobbled up by scalpers...

So I was checking for tix on Sunday afternoon for Lana Del Rey, my brother said they sometimes release tickets the afternoon of the show, but no dice. Went to stubhub and she's not worth $100/ticket, but Nashville had $27 tickets, turns out she played at an almost 10,000 seat capacity theatre, not sure if it sold out or not, but that begs the question again, of why she was booked at a 3000-capacity place here and tickets were gone in literally less than a minute.

[jonny d]

So I was checking for tix on Sunday afternoon for Lana Del Rey, my brother said they sometimes release tickets the afternoon of the show, but no dice. Went to stubhub and she's not worth $100/ticket, but Nashville had $27 tickets, turns out she played at an almost 10,000 seat capacity theatre, not sure if it sold out or not, but that begs the question again, of why she was booked at a 3000-capacity place here and tickets were gone in literally less than a minute.

I wonder how fast she sold out in Wichita. She went to a smaller venue there than the Criterion.

[TheTravellers]

I wonder how fast she sold out in Wichita. She went to a smaller venue there than the Criterion.

Interesting, that's even weirder, guess Live Nation took what they could get.

[jonny d]

Interesting, that's even weirder, guess Live Nation took what they could get.

I believe I read this tour for here was going to be a more intimate show, and it was all in smaller venues than the big arenas she is used to playing in.

[TheTravellers]

I believe I read this tour for here was going to be a more intimate show, and it was all in smaller venues than the big arenas she is used to playing in.

First leg was 4000 - 20,000 capacity places
Second leg was 1500 - 5000 capacity places, with 2 outliers - 10,000 and 17,000 capacity
(I was on a boring conference call, so decided to do something useful with my time)

No clue as to the strategy behind where she played. Oh well, maybe third time's a charm and I can see her when she's less popular if she decides to come here again.