Air Supply '08 Live at Max Pavillion

Had the opportunity to attend Electro-Voice’s launch of their PL series microphones. Nah… That’s just another way of saying I’ve got free tickets to catch Air Supply, front seats! :)
The pre-event party showcase microphones from the PL series, compared side-by-side with industry workshorses such as Shure’s SM58. This included performances from some Singapore Idol contestant and a very young drummer.

Well, the showcase was clearly unfair from a few factors.

1stly, the PA speakers weren’t properly calibrated to facilitate proper judgment of microphones. Not to mention the room of course!

2ndly, comparing EV’s favourite Neodymium capsule with SM58? Where’s the line between good and bad?

3rdly, what’s the objective? If flat frequency response is good for performance microphone. Do you need to all frequencies to translate into your FOH and stage monitors? Where’s the character that we all love?

Therefore, it is very clear that it was just a social gathering of industry friends, over some food and drinks before we put the ‘Air Supply’ back into old skool. :)

Air Supply’s gig was alright lah. Although I didn’t grow up in the same era, I was able to identify some classics, which I was too embarrassed to admit. And classic it was. The crowd was not only double my age, all of the male counterparts were just there to accompany their significant other. Sure it’s nice to enjoy a concert once in a while, but at least enjoy the music. And not look at your wife with the ‘Thank god I’m only doing this once a year’ eyes.


I’m guessing that the gig was supported by EV’s XLC line arrays, I could be wrong. Didn’t have the chance to walk around the place, but from the front fills, they sound pretty ok. I didn’t have to resort to ear plugs, nor did I suffer from ringing in my ears. But I was surprised to hear that they didn’t have any delay speakers for the folks right behind. Granted the venue sounds like sand-in-a-tin-can, shouldn’t they actually reinforced the value of the concert to paying audiences right at the back?
Lighting stole the show, in a bad way unfortunately. The rig looks quite promising at 1st. But 30 minutes into the gig, it was nothing but preset shape generators. Even the spots on the drummer and keyboardist looked a bit off. Considering that this could be a touring show, with the same crew, and designed back home, they could have done a lot better.


At last Tony couldn’t resist and did some ground work. Apparantly, the lighting designer/operator happened to be some trainee. Now would you pay 200 bucks to watch a trainee show? Luckily my ticket was complimentary. :)

Disclaimer: Sorry for the lousy pics. Camera phones don't work very well under poor lighting conditions. Maybe the New HTC Diamond might work better? Hehe...