OT, but barely: Stage Set-up

[MathOfInsects]

I played a show last night with one of the coolest stage set-ups I've seen. We had them pull the riser off the stage and put the drums on stage right, facing across the stage, instead of upstage middle facing out. The rest of us were arrayed in a semi-circle around the perimeter of the stage. The singer whose show it was was front and center. This made for eye contact with everyone and no "bad" corners of the stage. Plus it felt intimate and different, and looked cool from the audience.

 

And the stage sound was stellar, without a wall of drums and guitar amps all facing forward to fight with. It makes sense that it would: it's not as if there is anything directional about a drum kit. Everything on it is round and faces down. The one exception is the kick, and that's already less directional than the rest. And the guitars were spaced out, with their amps facing them, instead of all pointing forward in a wall of mids.

I know Cory Wong does a version of this, and of course jazzers often set up with drums on one side. But I haven't personally done a show of this size in a format like this.

 

It makes so much sense and leaves so much stage to work with, that I'm surprised I haven't come across it earlier or more often. 

I went scrounging on social media and found pix of the show from a couple of different angles. One from the balcony above stage left, and two from the audience obviously. Starting with me at the bottom left of the first pic, and going around to the right, the semi-circle went: keys, guitar 1, bass, pedal steel (so guitar 2), guitar 3, drums. BV slightly in front. Main artist (guitar 4 sometimes) out in front. And believe it or not, a guitar 5 joined us for two songs, and he was to the drummer's right. It sounded completely fine and clear on stage with all the amps occupying their own space. 

Are you involved in any cool stage set-ups that work better than the "drums rule, everyone else drools" thing? Share them here. In the meantime, I'm a huge fan, sonically and visually, of how this one ended up.

[Jose EB5AGV]

Nice setup, I will try something like that 🤩

[Outkaster]

I have seen similar things but people need to be heard, that'd be my worry. 

[Stokely]

We don't have any amps so we can set up any way we want--though we do still have acoustic drums unfortunately.  Drummer is too broke and too technically disinclined to go electric  

Our stages tend to be small or just a corner so we don't have a ton of options usually.

One time at a restaurant my rig was only 3 feet from one of the hightop tables and we had a table full of friends of the band at it.  My rig was facing 90 degrees from it so they could watch me play if they so desired.  Comment from one lady afterward:  "I had no idea you played so many notes and with both hands!  Usually all I see is you standing in the back!"   

[drawback]

I’ve experienced that kind of setup often at rehearsals, but haven’t seen it taken onstage. It might offer the audience a bit of insight on how everyone works together, and obviously allowing for easier eye contact among players is always better in this context. 

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

Night Ranger placed their drummer and keyboards at the two sides of the stage, facing each other; maybe they still do.  I always assumed it was to let the drummer face the audience while he sings. 

[Stokely]

The ultimate stage(s) to me was on the Peter Gabriel Secret World tour.  iirc, there was the square "male" stage with a moving walkway over to the "female" round one, where things got more acoustic and everyone was able to run all around the stage...I can't remember if it rotated with the drums.  Also, Paula Cole, who I always mention when I mention Secret World, because she stole that show.

Obviously not something most of us will get to experience playing at the local club    Especially when the UFO top came down over the round stage to end the show prior to the first encore.

I'm checking with the band if they want to do a five person version of this.  It might get awkward as we'll have to ask some patrons to move their tables a bit more than usual I suspect.

 

[ProfD]

It's a very cool stage set-up from a visual perspective.  I've seen similar around these parts in live settings. 

 

My home rehearsal space is set-up in a similar way.  With everyone being able to see each other it makes unspoken cues easier to communicate.😎

[MathOfInsects]

1 hour ago, Outkaster said:

I have seen similar things but people need to be heard, that'd be my worry. 

It's the best stage sound I can remember having. 

[Outkaster]

I have done it in rehearsals also.  I don't it think it looks as visually cool as more traditional set ups but to each their own. 

[Morrissey]

Not exactly the same, but reminds me of Phish's longtime stage setup with keys and drums on the ends, angled inwards. During non-vocal jams, guitar and bass could step back, forming a quasi-semicircle. 

 

[NewImprov]

My improv trio sets up like this, the drummer at front stage right facing across the stage, bassist in the middle, and I have an L-shaped setup (or U-shaped if I bring the table of modular stuff) with the main keyboard facing across the stage. Gives great visual contact between the 3 of us, and it feels like it gives the audience  better perspective on what we are doing and how we are interacting.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

I always loved how The Band would set up sort of like this, with Levon's drum kit stage left and the two keyboard rigs (piano facing in, organ behind it facing out) stage right, with the bass and guitar between them. Levon mentioned in his memoir that they figured out this staging because it gave them the best lines of sight to one another.

 

Tried it once, at the behest of the drummer, for the release show for one of my solo albums. But the venue had a narrow stage and an immovable drum riser taking up a big chunk of it (the horn section stood on it instead of the drums at this show). The drummer wound up regretting the suggestion, because it just turned into there being a wall of people between him and me and limiting our ability to look at each other. On a different stage, I think it would have worked nicely.

[MathOfInsects]

2 hours ago, SamuelBLupowitz said:

I always loved how The Band would set up sort of like this, with Levon's drum kit stage left and the two keyboard rigs (piano facing in, organ behind it facing out) stage right, with the bass and guitar between them. Levon mentioned in his memoir that they figured out this staging because it gave them the best lines of sight to one another.

 

Tried it once, at the behest of the drummer, for the release show for one of my solo albums. But the venue had a narrow stage and an immovable drum riser taking up a big chunk of it (the horn section stood on it instead of the drums at this show). The drummer wound up regretting the suggestion, because it just turned into there being a wall of people between him and me and limiting our ability to look at each other. On a different stage, I think it would have worked nicely.

This began at the drummer's suggestion as well. The music has a very intimate vibe and he first asked about removing the riser and then it very quickly morphed into, how do we give it that "sittin' around playing music" feeling. He said part of the the motivation was for him, personally, to be able to make eye contact with everyone, instead of playing to the backs of everyone's heads, for this concert. It made a huge difference for all of us. 

I dug it. It has a sort of Austin City Limits feel.

[MAJUSCULE]

Yeah, we set up in a mirror image of that with Altameda, drums stage left, keys stage right, vox centre with bass just behind and to the side. Drums also sing a fair bit of harms which makes it all the more logical. Some stages or bills don’t allow for it, but it’s a great setup. I love being able to look straight across the stage at both the singer and drummer at the same time.

 

 

There’s also Five Alarm Funk (and some imitators) who bring the drums front and centre and sometimes have the guitars and bass standing on their amps behind them.

 

[ewall08530]

Yellowjackets have been setting up on stage like this for decades.  It allows great views to watch Will Kennedy on drums and Russell Ferrante on piano.  

[CowboyNQ]

I agree this is a cool way to set up.  Never been in any band that has done it myself.

 

in this video Knower are set up with Louis Cole’s kit stage left.  I love it from an audience viewing experience perspective.

 

 

[Stokely]

We don't normally play with drums miked up (smallish clubs and restaurants) so having the drums centered is kind of important.  I do envy my friend's 3 piece, as they just set up 3 across.  We are 5 and so usually have to set up 3 front, 2 back depending on the stage. One unfortunate part is that I sing lead on a number of songs but am one of the back 2--I'm ok with it, but I reckon it would make more sense to be up front instead of the bass player, who sings a couple songs to be fair.  Not going to raise a stink, that would be the bandleader's call to worry about.  I am tall and stand to play so you can see me   

[TommyRude]

I love setting up in a circle.  Conversely, I hate setting up in a line.  Maybe that's another thread 😃

[NewImprov]

16 hours ago, MAJUSCULE said:

There’s also Five Alarm Funk (and some imitators) who bring the drums front and centre and sometimes have the guitars and bass standing on their amps behind them.

 

There's a local funk band that sets up this way, and I've run sound for them many times. The problem is that the shows we have run for them are usually festivals with limited stage breaks, usually 20-30 minutes between bands. On a festival like this, the sound crew will have lines run and mics set for the standard setup with the kit at the back, and it's just a matter of pulling the mics a few inches back to swap kits. But a setup with the kit at front means clearing the stage entirely, moving the drum rug, re-routing all drum mic cables from the back of stage to the front, moving the drum monitor, etc. Then moving all the mics and monitors normally at front to the back/side. This particular band usually has 8-10 players, and has had up to 20 onstage with guest vocalists, players, etc. Decent band, but it's always kind of a headache for the crew to see them on the schedule.

 

I did run sound for Five Alarm Funk a few years ago, it was on a Festival with alternating stages, so we had an hour to set them up and soundcheck, no problem. They were really cool to work with, and absolutely slayed their set.

[MAJUSCULE]

Yeah, I've played some local shows with some of those imitators I referenced and it's not fun for anyone

[Baldwin Funster]

I got a trio gig in a restaurant in a coupla weeks. Very low volume I'm told. I'm going to try a 3 in line type setup instead of drummer in the back because I know we need eye contact or he'll never know when I end a song. It's a lot of blues with typical break endings on the turnarounds but he needs the look to know when cause I never play blues the same way twice.