I have to agree that the sound was pretty awful. I’ve been to about 20 Oakdale shows, and this was one of the quietest. As soon as Warren changed over in the first set from his Les Paul to that red Gibson ES335, we pretty much stopped hearing him from where I was sitting (left of center, 10th row, lower orchestra). Warren’s vocals could have used more volume as well as Gregg’s. The only thing that was way too loud was the bass. I suppose I should rephrase that. The only thing that was at an appropriate level was the bass. If everything else had been brought up on a par with that, we would have had some decent sound.
And I don’t think the Oakdale or Koplink is to blame. It’s just whoever was handling the sound mixing. I’ve been to plenty of jammin’ shows at the Oakdale, all put on by Koplink. I’ve seen Skynyrd, Sammy Hagar, and Dream Theater each at least twice there. CSN three times. Tull, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Kansas, Styx, Diana Krall, REO, Queensryche, the Dickey Betts band, and probably some others I can’t remember just now. Most had great sound, and the rockin’ ones all had fairly loud sound. Certainly louder than last Sunday night. If the Brothers are in charge of the sound (which I would imagine), then they should give the sound guy a kick in the butt. And if Warren has anything to say about it, the sound guy should get canned. Especially if there were already complaints. He made Warren sound poor, and that just don’t sit well.
