OK guys I know its my first post on here, but please don't shoot me down. I'm a huge fan of Doves and Elbow, and a veteran of many gigs as a muso, in venues small and smaller!But I hope you understand I do have some backup to what I say next, which I say in the hope someone on here is connected enough to pass this on to Jimi, Guy or someone who cares:-
I was made up to find out that Jimi was the support to Elbow when I turned up at the LG Arena in Birmingham last night (Sat 5th April 2014) but was gutted when I got in and heard the sound for Jimi's set. I am well aware that support often gets the s*** end of the stick soundwise, been there, done that, but really would have thought Elbows tech might have better looked after an artist of Jimi's calibre. It was dreadful. All I could hear was a distorted cymbal and bass drum. As if there was only one mike just under said cymbal on top of the bass drum. Jimis vocals were mud, his bass might not even have been plugged in, and the keyboards too. Such a shame for Jimi. I really couldn't tell if the new songs were any good, and even his chat between numbers was utterly distorted. I really hope for anyone turning up to the rest of the tour that this gets picked up and sorted out otherwise he might as well have not bothered turning out.
Of course when Elbow came on the sound was immaculate so it wasn't the rig or the arena, so someone has just let Jimi down badly. A real shame. All the best Jimi, hope it improves and you get the new material heard properly, by the kind of appreciate audience Elbow can attract.