Paradiso first opened its doors on March 30, 1968. The 1,500-capacity venue is a converted church building located on Weteringschans in the heart of Amsterdam and dates back to 1879.
Over the last 40 years, it has been host to many artists, from Al Green and Smokey Robinson to Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga and Queens Of The Stone Age. The Rolling Stones, who played two semi-acoustic shows there in May 1995, even included some of the recorded material from their Paradiso gigs in their Stripped album, released later that year.
I caught up with British songstress Joss Stone, who was on a six week European tour performing songs from Colour Me Free (released in October 2009), at this wonderfully intimate venue, with FOH engineer John Godenzi, who had handled FOH duties also for Barry Manilow's show in Las Vegas.
Seeking Perfection
As soundcheck got underway, it became clear that Stone was somewhat of a perfectionist. Armed with a cup of hot English tea (it was close to freezing outside) she worked for over an hour with her band, offering advice to her two backing singers, speaking with the rhythm section about the dynamics of the songs – where to come in and when to hold on for that extra bar – and running through sections of different numbers until she was 100 percent happy.
"She knows what she wants and I have never seen her have a drama," said Godenzi. "She's a very laid-back lady and very easy to work with."
The Gear
Godenzi, who has worked with Stone for eight months, operated a Avid Venue console from FOH position, using 36 inputs. Outboard consisted of a Klark Teknik DMP60 graphic, a BSS DPR901 equalizer, a Yamaha SPX2000, a TC Electronics digital delay, three DBX 180XT compressors, a Lexicon PCM91 and a TC Electronics M2000. The PCM91 and the M2000 were used for plate reverbs and Stone's lead vocal went through the DPR901.
"I have only used this console once before," Godenzi said. "The equipment is all in-house; the PA system, the desks and all of the outboard. We don't carry anything other than backline. On a tour like this I rely heavily on someone like Johan [Verbakel, house engineer for Paradiso]. It'd be nice to specify a DiGiCo or an Avid console for every show, but at the moment we don't have that luxury."
Monitor engineer Travis Wolat operated an Avid Venue D-Show Profile console from stage left. There were two Synco RH-Combi sidefills and the 12 wedges were Synco CW152s. All vocalists and the sax player were on Sennheiser PMs (Stone only wears one plug) and the rest of the band relied on the in-house monitoring.
The sound system was a Martin Audioline array. In all, 36 W8LMs were used; 12 were flown and six were stacked on each side. Six WMX subs were also stacked each side and eight were positioned under the stage. Amplification was by Martin Audio. As this tour didn't carry any of its own sound equipment, I asked Godenzi if he requested any minimum PA requirements from the venues.
"I use the JBL VerTec as an example when I am specifying a PA. If it was a VerTec – the 4889 – then I would want to see eight boxes. That way, with the wave front, you're coherent all the way down around 200 cycles. I don't want to see four boxes, because it's not a line array – except up above 2k or something – so I ask that the design parameters of the PA will give me a conical wave front down to 200 cycles."
Godenzi used a Shure BETA91 and a Sennheiser MD421 in the kick drum, with Sennheiser 604s assigned to the toms and a pair of AKG C451Bs as overheads. Two Shure SM57s (one on the top and one on the bottom) were used on the snare drum. Three snare drums were used in total, each one tuned slightly differently. A Shure KSM32 was used on the guitar player's Fender Twin amplifier, and BSS Audio DIs were used on the bass and the keyboards.
"Microphones like the KSM32 are very multi-purpose, and I have to specify mics that I am likely to come across. I can't get too esoteric with my requests, because I just won't get them. Joss almost always uses an SM58, as she has got used to that bright sound over the years," Godenzi said.
The Show
Colour Me Free, which is Stone's fourth studio album, was written and recorded in around a week back in early 2008 in Devon, England after Stone awoke one morning and "just felt like making a record." In her own words, it sounds "very very raw," and when it came to the live performance, both Godenzi and the musicians in her band worked to bring out a raw energy.
Although his mix position was particularly awkward (he was at the back-left corner of the hall), and the acoustics weren't the easiest to work with, the sound was excellent. It was punchy throughout, and although the ample subs for the relatively small main hall generated a pretty hard-hitting low end, it wasn't overpowering. Unsurprisingly for an artist of Stone's caliber, the vocals were prominent in the mix and were extremely clear.
As soon as she was welcomed on stage, Stone began to develop a rapport with the audience, who were extremely respectful throughout, listening intently whenever she spoke or broke things down a little, and going crazy during the funkier up-tempo numbers.
Vocally, Stone was flawless. Her voice sparkled and was full of emotion. Her range was equally as impressive as her tone, and she was able to deliver immense power when called upon. The band was very tight and certainly had a groove going; they worked well off one another throughout the show. Both backing vocalists were also on the money, adding another layer to the sound and offering impressive three part harmonies, notably during Stone's hit single, "She Had Me," from her second album Mind, Body & Soul. Her set also included "Jet Lag," "Put Your Hands On Me" and "Some Kind Of Wonderful," and finished with an encore of "Choking Kind" and "Right To Be Wrong."
