ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE BAUHAUS SHOW DAY 1 – 8.6.22 RELEASE ATHENS 2022
Friends of Release Athens,
Out of respect for a band as great as Bauhaus, we thought it would be best to avoid a heated response after their troublesome performance at Release Athens 2022 last night and wait for an official explanation from them. Instead, after reading the “statement” that was put out both on the band’s official profile and on that of Peter Murphy’s, we realize that, once again, the easy way of evading the real responsibilities was chosen.
But the truth is that no hurricane, no magnetic field and no strange natural phenomena was the cause of yesterday’s problems. Unfortunately, what created them was the incompetence of some of the technicians they themselves have chosen to work with. The constant negative, even angry, reactions on the part of Peter Murphy himself during the show, clearly directed at their own crew, are irrefutable evidence. We have recorded at least 12 of these in the, less than, 55 minutes of the band’s performance. The same band that had already received their agreed fee in full, having undertaken a contractual obligation to make their set last no less than 90 minutes. However, insults do not solve problems.
At this point, we want to clarify some facts that are simple and self-evident for those of us who work in the music entertainment business but, understandably, are unknown to the general public. And of course, this explains some highly critical comments towards the festival and its contributors.
The organizing company provides all the artists with the equipment they need to perform their full show, according to the specifications they have given us and which are detailed in the pre-existing agreements and contracts. Shortly before the start of the set and until its end, all control of this equipment is handed over to the technicians of each artist or band, along with the necessary backup options to ensure the proper flow of the show. They have the full responsibility for everything: sound (even its volume), lights and visuals. And it goes without saying, that all this has been tested, over and over again, during the preceding sound/line & light checks.
Yesterday, the first day of Release Athens 2022, was no exception to this rule. The bands’ technicians were in control of all the aforementioned parts of their concerts and throughout their performances.
As far as Bauhaus’ performance is concerned, from our end – and after a thorough investigation – we can assure you that not a single technical problem arose. Besides, if there was any, it is most likely that the show would never even have started. On the contrary, problems and miscommunication were identified (even through dialogues between band members and their technicians) on their side, culminating in Peter Murphy leaving the stage, saying the phrase “it’s your fault”, addressing their stage sound engineer.
At this moment, we don’t want to exhaust you with specific details regarding the wireless guitar, saxophone and Peter Murphy’s microphones. Fortunately, for once, the digital environment in which we live and work has recorded all the actions of their technicians and identified the (many and serious) mistakes they made. Therefore, we are able to state with all certainty that there was no unexplained interference to the wireless system as, somehow, their FOH sound engineer implies. Erroneous actions by the band technicians did exist, in their area of responsibility. Actions which we had no ability to influence, as we have already explained.
Apart from this, we are unfortunately obliged to point out that the “statement” of this particular Bauhaus’ technician, in essence, does not explain anything. And no specialized technical knowledge is necessary to comprehend that. The most disturbing thing, however, is that it hasn’t been posted in full, and we know that for a fact, since we had already received it via email from its author. The parts that have been omitted, for obvious reasons as you will see, are the following two, very important ones:
First I want to thank all of you. I’m am really appreciative of all the kindness and extra efforts to make our stay and experience in Athens special. I’ve been around the world doing this for a long time and you all should be proud of your whole team as it is truly special what you do here.
That being said. I must mention problems we had during the show that, in my experience couldn’t have been anticipated or expected. Every channel of wireless provided to us started giving us trouble in the beginning of our set. Wireless guitar was first to fail. Simple fix, we switched to a wire. Then the lead vocal. We switched to spare back up. Then the Sax wireless failed. Next Spare vocal failed. That was 4 wireless systems in the first 5 songs. I’ve never experienced failures like this in all my years. They were all on but not giving fullness and good signal. Most people probably couldn’t even tell we were having these problems because I could cover most of it in the FOH mix. But, all 4 Wireless In Ear Monitors failed as well creating a problem for the band to hear themselves onstage. We checked these systems many times throughout the 2 days we were here. Something very strange happened with wireless here. I’d love to understand, but I think this probably has happened here before? Something of a local problem due to interference? It could also have been a power problem to that rack but during a show I have no ability to check systems from my position at FOH. I have to rely on my crew and frankly yours. Maybe the other bands left all their transmitters on? This would create a problem but less likely the culprit.
I think I will try to process this in the next few days maybe I’ll have answers as to why this could happen. But for now. I’m not blaming anyone. Especially not you all. Quite the contrary. I appreciate your efforts and everything you’ve done. I wish it was more successful, but reality just doesn’t dictate that everything go perfectly every time.
Release Athens reserves its rights.
