My criticisms are generally directed to the trend of ruinous over-amplification, especially in famous nightclubs and
at many indoor and outdoor concert venues.

Rock on!

I’m a long time guitarist. Played in 1960′s and 1970′s creative rock bands
as well as in Country and western bands I currently perform and am hoping to work large arenas, YES, with massive controlled sound systems.

I worked personally with the songwriter Otis Blackwell during his early 1980′s comeback. Otis wrote Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis early rock and roll hits. Don’t Be Cruel, All Shook Up, Great Balls Of Fire, etc.

With Otis’ band we had our own individual stage amps and a PA system. we had a strong sound for the rocker numbers and a sweet touching lower volume feel for the love ballads. We controlled most of our individual volume not by amplifiers but by our nuanced handling of our individual instruments. Otis did the same with his singing volume – natural control first and mics and amplifiers second.

The last decade I have heard countless live stage concerts and night club shows ruined by over amplification, mainly by the show’s producer and the sound people. The new house PA equipment these days pushes huge amounts of sound- especially over- amplified bass and drums. It’s totally out of control and a complete disaster.

I’ve witnessed this at family fairs and festivals as well as indoors in famous nightclubs.

I pity MDQ if they go for amplified overkill which the new concert house and nightclub sound systems seem to be doing.

I have yet to meet many sound-men or sound-women that I can respect. These are not artists or performers or musicians, they are technicians wrapped up in ever-spiraling volume peaks and spikes to achieve a sense of loud realism which 90% of commercial shows can exist much much better without.

Early rock and roll and rockabilly needs extra edge and volume but medium sized stage amps and a decent house PA utilizing the natural theater acoustics can be more than enough.

This is authentic for that early Sun Records period and era.

I haven’t mixed MDQ since it moved over to the Apollo, so I can’t speak to the acoustics there, but I would say: The performers themselves are worth braving the amplification to see them work their stuff. They all – and in particular, Levi Kreis, who plays Jerry Lee Lewis – are forces of nature in that show. If you’re worried, bring ear plugs, (I have a link to some nice attenuating ear plugs somewhere on this blog)…

But see it.

The odd thing about MDQ is that yes, it’s not really a recreation of that night, but in someways it’s something that I think is more engaging to a modern audience -while not true to the acoustic dramaturgy, it avoids becoming a lifeless museum piece. It is true to the energy of that moment in time, so that the boomers who lived that music and their children can both appreciate what it felt like to have music shift and change so suddenly. Before running that show, I couldn’t stand Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and yes – had never heard of Carl Perkins. Now, after being in that show, I get it. I get what they did to music. And it was the show, not the music as written on the page, that made it click for me.

I rarely say this about commercial theater, and I’m saying this after MDQ has stopped paying my salary, but: it really is worth the price of admission.

Like the Jersey Boys, the musicians in the Million Dollar Quartet did not use AC/DC level amplification, and nor should a tribute. This show was on my to see list, but after reading about “amplification that distorts the music, assaults the audience …, and sends you home with a tinny ringing in your ears” I’m thinking maybe not.