Canada’s largest pro audio and lighting show took place this past weekend in Toronto. I’ve actually never gone before (GASP!) but decided to head down this year with a handful of like-minded associates (friends).
My major interest was preamps and mics for studio application, and unfortunately I was a little disappointed. Predictably, the show emphasizes live sound reinforcement and lighting. A small handful of manufacturers did have mics set up that attendees could audition at the push of a button. Pretty cool, even if it is a useless exercise.
Still, its always fun to shoot the sugar with people who can appreciate signal chain and AD conversion! One of these days I’ll get myself down to a NAMM show.
Switchfoot got reacquainted with Toronto this past Friday night, making a stop at The Phoenix concert theatre as part of the Hello Hurricane tour. It was their second show there within a year, and after catching the first one back in June, there was little question that my wife and I would head down for another round.
On this tour they decided to do something a little different by playing the entire album start to finish, followed up with a bunch of fan favorites from previous albums. Very cool.
If its true that a great live show is all about making a connection with your audience, then Switchfoot certainly succeeded on this particular night. Two things happened. First, lead singer Jon Foreman took the time to make sure a fan was okay after they passed out during the show. Second, he invited another fan up on stage to actually play guitar for a portion of a song! The energy in the place was high all night but kicked it up to 11 after that!