8) 8) 8)
One of mankind's greatest achievements!!
https://kin.beehiiv.com/p/wall-sound-grateful-dead-changed-live-music
Nice read, thanks for posting, though there are a few errors. The Wall wasn't 100 feet high, and 100 feet is a LOT more than three stories. The tallest column of speakers was 32 feet. (It was for Phil's E string and was able to produce the full low E wave crest to crest.) And the story left out the 3-night stand, February 22-24, at Winterland where the Wall performed wonderfully. Also, the official unveiling, the "Sound Test" on March 23,1974, was at the Cow Palace, not at "tspeaker feedbackly".
Bill, tgo
Thanks for posting this!
It's a good overview for someone totally unaware of how the Grateful Dead and Bear changed the world of concert sound.
It's marred by a few unfortunate turns of phrase (no, it wasn't "a literal wall of sound between the band and the audience", it was conceived as a way to bring the band and the audience closer together) and one glaring inaccuracy (as just pointed out, it was not "100 feet high", although "nearly three stories" is a good approximation of the height). Some mention of the line array concept pioneered in the Wall would have been appropriate.
A close musical friend of mine was at one of those Winterland shows - he said the sound wasn't exactly loud but "you could lean up against it."
Thank you Bill and Songdog :D
I knew there had to be a few errors that all of you fine gentleman would catch! 8)