R & J Saloon, San Antonio, TX

This was my first time at this venue. I will say that the load-in 
logistics exceeded my expectations. There is also a house PA system, 
which meant that we had to bring in only our mixing board to connect 
to the house. There was a DJ/soundman in charge of the house board.

The first set started off with a good stage mix and level. But as the 
night progressed, the house volume kept rising. The odd thing was that 
the "soundman" was nowhere to be seen in the booth. Then we started 
getting a mid-range hum in the PA. Again the soundman was not around. 
Anthony finally figured out that it was a loop being created between 
his vocal mic and amplifier mic. He repositioned his amp, and resolved 
the issue. My feeling is that the soundman should have been there to 
resolve the issue from the FOH (front of house). Why bother having him 
there?

The audience was hard to read. They didn't leave, but they weren't 
responsive. Nor did they dance. They finally loosened up during the 
last set. It still felt very strange to me. If we are called back for 
this venue, I will definitely use my IEMs.