Austinist: Snapshots: Little Richard, Littler Little Richard?

tokmik

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:22:11 -0600

You could only hear the lead sax (awesome) at the beginning. No bass at all. The second keyboard was better than Lil' Richard's equipment. The piano breakage, the seat problem, and terrible terrible sound made me leave after a couple of songs around 9.15pm. Everyone who put the show on should NEVER NEVER hire those sound guys again. Houston Piano Lessons

pd

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:20:15 -0600

RM-- I grew up on Little Richard and have listened to him on and off up until today. When I heard he was performing at UT, I was extremely pleased with the MEC and UT students ability to get such a famous artist to play a festival once headlined by Ludacris (sic) and Bubba Sparxxx. However, to call this concert a success from the "production side" is like saying your ugly daughter is the prettiest girl in school. You should have gotten out into the crowd, where music fans (ie. non-Geico commercial watchers and dorm kids looking for something to do on a Saturday night) were dismayed, saddened and just uncomfortable watching Little Richard popping pills, constantly asking for 7-UP, dangling his feet over a crate, playing a keyboard placed on top of a piano, hunching over as they try to fix things. Plus, the sound, which is the most important part of any good concert was strictly on your end--it was the worst sound I have heard at a festival environment in a long while. I understand it was probably both his team and yours that caused problems, but if you are to host big-name acts, you have to be prepared for a big-time event, with big-time problems--regardless of age, on your end and his.

RM

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:40:49 -0600

As someone who was on the production side of the event, I can explain a bit of the above mentioned. A lot was not communicated to us beforehand, INCLUDING the fact that Richard was in crutches and needed a wheelchair. This made is especially hard to accommodate for him. We did the best we could. The openers were not known until about a week or so before the performance, thus the ambiguous time slot. It's good that you can pass it off as poor promotion, when it's an event directed to the UT students themselves, not necessarily the entire Austin community, and the concert IS ACTUALLY RUN ENTIRELY BY STUDENTS. This is students learning how to deal with this stuff. Five students were in charge of that whole production. So, if it wasn't up to professional standards, consider that it's as much about students gaining experience and leadership skills as putting on a good concert. The bar stool was a on the spot attempt to find something for him to sit on. It really wasn't our fault that his piano wasn't up to his standards, and I don't know what that was about. The guy handling the pianos had done several Little Richard shows before, so I don't know what the deal was. To you who think Richard is just satire, reduced to a parody of himself, know this: When he got off that stage, he was in so much pain, and all he was saying was "I just wanted to give a good show to the kids. Did I give a good show?" He's simply a man giving his last attempt at leaving his legacy in this world while he still can. For giving him one more chance, maybe his last performance ever in Texas, I feel like the concert was a success.

RM

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:39:28 -0600

Stan

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 07:09:55 -0600

I think it's funny that you think the Pixies and Elvis Costello performed at the first ACL Fest.

Staci

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 06:42:34 -0600

Maybe Little Richard wasn't all that great, but how bad ass was Black Joe Lewis?

pd

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:33:12 -0600

Sam Kelly-- Agreed.

Sam Kelly

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:35:52 -0600

Little Richard was done a disservice by UT Saturday night. It's easy to push the blame to him, but please consider: 1. He was provided and out-of-tune piano 2. About 10 minutes were spent trying to cobble together a raised seat out of road cases so he could play the keyboard provided to replace the out of tune piano. Finally this was poorly resolved by bringing the man a bar stool. 3. The sound was some of the shittier sound I have heard since say the Pixies or Elvis Costello at the first ACL. It actually sounded like the on-stage mixer and UTs amatuers were fighting about the mix because it consistently gravitated to boxy "in a tunnel sound" to obsenenly loud highs throught songs. It was serious some of the worst sound I have heard in a long time. Saw a saxophonist get called out for a solo by Little Richard, walk to the center of the stage and whip out a solo completely inaudible to the audience. Evilive by the Misfits has better sound because at-least its consistently crappy and you can actually hear ALL the intruments. 4. The event was poorly promoted. When is Little Richard playing, who knows? It seems that staff purposely tried to use Little Richard's ambiguous time slot to boost attendence for other bands. Pretty amateur promoting there. Little Richard was on crutches and had a pinched sciatic nerve. Aside from being older than most performers, he was under more strain than usual. Top this with the aformentioned issues and who would not expect the man to spend some time bitching, which apparently is part of his act anyway. I think he provided a good performance given the conditions and feel luck to have seen it, however I feel bad that Little Richard was shown such an unhospitable plate by the UT Organizers. If you work for the 40 Acres staff and you feel I am unfairly singling you out, sorry, not saying this to be offensive, just reporting my perception of the even.

dan s

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:23:10 -0600

SOUND SUCKED WAY BAD. You could only hear the lead sax (awesome) at the beginning. No bass at all. The second keyboard was better than Lil' Richard's equipment. The piano breakage, the seat problem, and terrible terrible sound made me leave after a couple of songs around 9.15pm. Everyone who put the show on should NEVER NEVER hire those sound guys again. I was near the front of house sound board and the dude kept looking around and shrugging his shoulders like he didn't know what was going on. I felt so bad for Richard with his pinched nerve and all the bullshit that went on. UT SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR SOUND PEEPS!!!! Highlights were Lil' Richard telling us he was still beautiful (he said it several times), kept complaining about 'Indiana' and how he wanted another piano. I also enjoyed him "calling the fat girls" on stage. He did do a lot of Whoos and did the Geico saying which was the best part of the show.

ol'pappy

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:19:19 -0600

Maybe it's just that all the older people I know like to complain a lot, so I expect that out of a 74 year old man. I think for all the bitching and moaning, he wouldn't have preferred anything to performing on Saturday night. At least I like to think that's so.

JR

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:47:02 -0600

Unquestionably the most uncomfortable concert I've ever seen. The whole mess with the pinched nerve, the broken piano, the bloody finger, the piano bench and the ensuing rant was one thing, but to see such a historically significant musician reduced to a sad parody of himself was another thing entirely. Even if your only knowledge of Little Richard is (sadly) a TV commercial, this was a pathetic spectacle.

radamr

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:43:21 -0600

He looks like he's ready to tell you why rock and roll owes him so much. The Little Richard Lecture series.

adi

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:41:55 -0600

maybe it's a part of his "show" but he did talk way too much between songs, the music was pretty awesome i thought, but it did get kinda long between songs sometimes. Personally, i think he was terribly wasted or something, especially since he did seem a little incoherent at times, but again, that might just be his "show". good time, not incredible or nothin' though.

anon

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:40:20 -0600

great photo josh!

Brant

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:09:20 -0600

Little Richard needs to retire (again).

TheMilkman

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:07:20 -0600

How could anybody NOT enjoy the man in the Geico commercial? MASHED POTATOES! GRAVY! AND CRANBERRY SAUCE! If you haven't seen the commercial go to YouTube and check it out.

Josh

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:57:19 -0600

don't get me wrong, I love Little Richard, but from where I was standing it was hard to get past how often he was grimacing in pain from his pinched nerve. admirable to go on with the show, but once you add in the sore throat, the bleeding finger, the broken piano, etc... it just made me feel not so happy for him. the lowest point was when he had to hunch over the piano for five minutes while a vast team of men tried to build him a higher seat out of the various boxes and crates and rubber mats that were lying around. he alternated between making sily banter with the audience, telling his band he "deserves better than this", making pained expressions, and shaking his head. then they made him get up and down off of three ridiculously wobbly make-shift seats before someone finally dragged out a stool for the man. it looked like he almost lost his balance and toppled into the press pit.

ol'pappy

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:37:41 -0600

Sad? That was amazing! I loved how he couldn't get through half the songs without bitching about something. Little Richard is a firecracker and I personally thoroughly enjoyed the 40 acres fest show.