I paid also for some decisions I had made whose consequences were unknown until showtime. All the other musicians but I opted to use in-ear monitors. I wanted to try using the monitor system that had worked for me during the Liars tour. I didn't really have a piano check, our preshow time being taken up with Joe and Ethel rehearsal and the house piano tuner. No sooner had I started my piano songs when I realized I couldn't hear myself and there was little I could do about it.
Shortly into the first song the monitors began to 'explode', the volume suddenly and randomly increasing many-fold for a few notes and then dropping off again. It became impossible for me to get comfortable at the instrument and I became apprehensive about the random blasts of sound from the side of the stage. The end result was me at my sloppiest and least confident, where even the singing cannot redeem the crappy accompaniment.
Simple things plagued me through the set, like picks not being taped to mic stand so I wouldn't have to search for them, or guitar cables that weren't secured to keep them from falling out. If I had worried more about my own performance instead of the whole show I would probably have double-checked all these details. There were broken strings late in the set, but broken strings are a fact of stage life.
I likely miscalculated the pacing of my own set, which is far shorter than what I'm used to and which doesn't leave much time for redemption after a disastrous piano experience. I don't recall having any particular 'attitude' in my stage demeanor, so I'm not sure how to respond to complaints about the humor or lack thereof. Some people just don't find me amusing, and sometimes I am just not funny. I guess Melborne was one of those times.
I do not think it is fair to condemn shows that have not happened yet. The entire crew, myself especially, have learned a lot during the first show and there will be adjustments all around. I'm truly sorry that people were upset by my performance, but everyone must know that I care about the quality of the tours I'm involved in and I am not blase about the audience who make it possible for me to play.
TR
