Let me express my disappointment after sitting through the Arden Theatre’s presentation of Carolyn Dawn Johnson and her band on Friday.
In a venue where someone sitting in the back row of the audience can hear a pin drop on stage, a venue whose acoustics have been complimented by almost all the performing artists without exception, the necessity to blast the audience with high-decibel amps and loudspeakers is totally unnecessary. It must be that her sound engineer is either deaf or a product of the window-closed, high-bass car set that vibrates their way around town while bouncing the vehicles beside them. The volumes were so high that they drowned out any recognizable sound produced by the artist.
After three songs, I found it necessary to plug my ears with tissue to reduce the pain produced by the over-achieving amps. Surely the Arden can inform the performers that such volumes are totally useless and only serve to disguise any worthwhile production from the artist. I’m sure that Johnson is a solid and quality performer but one would be hard-pressed to determine that from the Friday debacle. It’s interesting to note, that when her two-year-old daughter was brought onstage at the end of her set, the little girl was wearing ear defenders. Gee, I wonder why?
P. Francis, St. Albert
