Eminem Wembley Concert Sound

[Bobbsy]

REVIEW: FANS SHOULD DEMAND THEIR MONEY BACK DUE TO INADEQUATE SOUND SYSTEM

 

Oh dear!

 

Does anyone know the history behind this? Is he carrying his own system or use a local contractor? Who designed and specified the system?

 

I can't recall ever seeing a review that was quite so sound-specific.

 

Ah well, I never liked Eminem or rap anyhow.

[top-cat]

I heard from somebody who was in FOH for this gig and apparently it sounded fine there. And herein lies the problem - Wembley stadium is a great big concrete box with the acoustics focussed really on making 90,000 football fans sound amazing and create a great atmosphere on the pitch- since it is our nation's home football ground and will be home to the big internationals, FA Cup finals, and indeed, one day, the World Cup final.

 

The needs of concert auditoria are just too different to really make anywhere suitable for both. The kind of reflections you get off row upon row of concrete banks of seats are the enemy in this environment, not to mention the roof, and the plastic tiles they lay on the ground to protect the pitch.

 

Perhaps it is time to realise that Wembley Stadium is a football stadium.

 

Sadly the O2 and Earls Court which are the biggest of the indoor variety are both on 1/5th of the capacity so offer nowhere near the lucrative money making opportunities of the stadium. I just think perhaps it is about time that promoters stop taking the attitude that they are putting an act on stage and people are simply paying for the right to share the same post code as them for a few hours.... and take responsibility either to put the gig in a venue which is well suited to large concert sound systems; OR invests a greater sum of money in installing more intelligent concert sound throughout the stadium - not just over the standing section - so that EVERYBODY gets a good experience, not just the highest payers.

 

The journo's point that the buck has to stop with Eminem himself is ridiculous. This is solely a case of promoters putting everybody's needs as second place to how much cash they can milk out of it - and that is what needs to be changed. If the industry can't police it internally, Trading Standards should mandate that everyone in a concert has the right to hear the music and lyrics in a manner that is comprehensible and of suitable volume, with random checks taking place and action being taken against non-compliance. Why the hell not? If you pay for a sausage roll and you only get pasty, trading standards will get involved. So why not extend it into concerts?

 

 

 

On a side note, I liked this:

Dr Dre came out for a stiff duet, the billionaire headphone manufacturer resembling an ageing LA vegan health-nut rather than a legend of gangsta rap.

Totally off topic but quality all the same.

[paulears]

I thought the set looked pretty good. If you go to youtube there are loads of phone clips, and they quite clearly reveal that in some places you can hear the words, while in other clips, you hear loads of top end percussion, and in others a blurry blob of something.

 

If you want good quality sound, then you don't go to these mega shows.

 

We know the promoter may well be to blame, but they are transparent to the punters - they will blame the name, and that seems quite ok to me. If they don't like it, then use a better promoter.

[top-cat]

I disagree on the whole

I thought the set looked pretty good. If you go to youtube there are loads of phone clips, and they quite clearly reveal that in some places you can hear the words, while in other clips, you hear loads of top end percussion, and in others a blurry blob of something.

 

Yes this may be true, but everyone in the stadium has paid for a ticket, and so, everyone in the stadium deserves good sound.

 

If you want good quality sound, then you don't go to these mega shows.

 

To be honest these mega shows are the only opportunity. I don't see Eminem advertising any dates in the Royal Festival Hall, billed as "the Eminem show for people who want good sound quality". Doesn't seem to happen.

 

We know the promoter may well be to blame, but they are transparent to the punters - they will blame the name, and that seems quite ok to me. If they don't like it, then use a better promoter.

 

Finally this doesn't work either. Acts can have some input on what PA is used (hence riders etc) but these tend to revolve around the main FOH system and seldom go into extensive detail about the sound quality out in the top tier of the circle. The main thing is that acts are often on contract to big promoters (people such as AEG Live, Live Nation, etc) and there's nothing they can do about it. Furthermore, additional production can sometimes come out of the artist's cut - which isn't even controlled by the artist.

 

Eminem as a bloke (whatever his real name is) is a product of a mass entertainment organisation both on record and on stage. You can be sure that he has as close to f-a input as possible for anything other than what he eats after the show.

[Bobbsy]

However, I've been to 3 or 4 big shows (including the Stones) at Wembley (admittedly the old Wembley) plus other shows in other large stadiums and I've heard excellent sound...so it CAN be done.

 

As for the buck stopping with Eminem, well, either he or his production company specified the venue and hired the sound company so--yes it does stop there even if it seems unfair.

[David Lee]

One wonders how many telegraph readers are Eminen fans...

[alistermorton]

Like Bobbsy I've been to a couple of shows at both the old (Stones, Pink Floyd, U2) and the new Wembley (U2) and the sound at the old Wembley was, in my opinion, better in so far as it was clearer - the new stadium seems to boom more. I guess that's down to the roof and the steeper seating arrangement.

[kerry davies]

The Torygraph is indeed a funny place to read this but fair dues to them, the writer has plenty of cred as a pop/rock critic.

If he says it was the worst he has heard then I dare say he has heard as many as all of us put together, as a punter, so is a better judge than most. The sound varied dependent on where in the stadium but many fans seemed to have accepted it would be since they were howling along with well-known lyrics.

 

Wembley was never designed with live gigs in mind, the get-in proved that, and it is basically good for spectacle HOWEVER! It is difficult but not impossible to get good sound to 99.9% of seats in there and they should have at least tried a bit harder, from what I have heard. Some seated fans had problems on both nights.

 

He is #### anyhow, sorry, I mean rap.