When on tour with a major rock 'n' roll band promoting a new record, you are sometimes called upon to pull off extraordinary feats of technical wizardry while keeping your own composure, under physically stressful conditions that might make a weaker being weep like a little girl. This is one of those stories. The names have not been changed as to give the parties involved due credit and kudos. Kuala Lumpur is not known on the world stage as a major player in just about anything, and boy did I see why while there. KL, as it is called, has the largest buildings in the world, a set of towers that supposedly would dwarf the Empire State Building. They are linked together at what I would guess is about the 50th floor by a skybridge and are a technical marvel to be held up for the world to see. If you can build not one, but two buildings 120 stories tall a mere 100 feet or so apart, how can you not grasp the concept of 120 volts?
The truck was unloaded and the gear was making its way to the stage as I started to inquire about electricity to power my monitor system. The other techs and I were patiently waiting for the AC drops to show up in their pre-described positions, Fluke 72llls in hand, almost giddy with anticipation, then a hush fell over us all: Circa 1955 Chinese VARIACs. For the uninitiated, a variac is a large coil of copper that can have a high-volt electric current (240 volts typically) put into it, and the operator can literally turn a large handle on the top and change the voltage lower or higher as needed.
The first thing we noticed was that the hot, or positive, line and the neutral were reversed. Hmmmm… a bit of a dilemma. "I know, lets rewire them." So Jim Digby, our gruff but lovable production manager, gets started. He mutters something about a past life as an electrician or mechanic or Maytag man–I don't really remember. After he had two of them done, I try to power my equipment; however, they are only good for 10 amps or so apiece. Every time I turned on my console I blew breakers on the main panel. Enter Variac #3. I think this one was used at Chairman Mao's 10th birthday–it was definitely old enough. But it's to no avail; I'm still blowing stuff. So two larger ones were brought over to replace the three small ones. They lasted for about two minutes or so. It was then discovered that the plug strips attached to the variacs had cables way too small to carry the needed amount of electricity to all of the techs and myself. So out goes a production assistant to retrieve larger cable and different plug strips. Rewire all of them again. Mine still won't work. Bring in more of them. Finally, after six configurations… success! Or so we thought.
We do our initial line check, all is good. Time to wait for the band for sound check. We are scheduled for a 4:00 sound check; we get prepared and finally are ready around 5. So here they come. As soon as the band begins, my equipment starts freaking out. Lights going on and off, the faders on my console completely freaking out, etc. I start unplugging everything, while getting hit by 240 volts from plugs that are not even connected to the system. It turns out that somewhere in the ancient architecture of one of these beasts, the neutral (return) had been lost, thus putting the voltage down the shared ground and making all the ground points a 240-volt sting. Oops. Another hour of the mess and it is finally figured out. I am on and ready. As we get started, one of the lead singers looks at me with a puzzled look on his face and shakes his head. This is pretty much the international lead singer sign for "I have nothing in my monitors." Horrified, I look at my rack and discover all of the transmitters for the personal monitors are off. The dropped neutral had blown all the fuses in the units as well as the amp that drives the sub woofer for the drummer. We need eight fuses, now! In Malaysia! At 5:30!
Here is where another of the aforementioned miraculous feats comes into play. Robert "Ragman" Long, our industrious stage manger, and Beau Alexander, the audio stage tech, figure out how to steal fuses from unused pieces of gear and put them into the ones I need active right now. Bam! The backs of the racks come off. And while straddling an empty corner with a 7-foot drop, they dive into the back of the rack and get it done, as well as take the amp apart and replace that fuse.
After it was all said and done, I had 11 different configurations of variacs, and we had been working on the electricity for eight hours. The show went off without a hitch, and 40,000 screaming Linkin Park fans went away happy. The band was happy, the production manager was happy, the band manager was happy and I was happy.
It would have made a great picture, but during load-out someone stole my camera.
Brent Carpenter
Clair Brothers
