Last night Navicula was scheduled to open for the legendary British musician Ian Brown at Hard Rock Cafe, Bali. Less then an hour before the show, Navicula’s set was cancelled by Ian Brown’s stage crew because of technical concerns.
One week ago, we received confirmation that Ian Brown’s management had approved Navicula as the opening act for their show in Bali on Aug 7, 2010. Of course, for us this was an honor and we were excited to be sharing a stage with an International rockstar.
On the day of the event, after Navicula’s sound check at 11 am, everything seemed to be ready for the show. Together with the local stage manager and the Hard Rock Cafe event team we worked around the demanding stage needs for Ian Brown’s performance.
At 5 pm we got a call from the event organizers giving us a heads up that Ian Brown was setting up their equipment and in the process had changed everything from the set up this morning – meaning our morning sound check was useless, and we would have to do a last minute sound check before our performance at 9pm.
Navicula members and crew were standing by, ready to set up, again. All our amps had been moved off the stage, the mixing board we used at sound check had been switched with another board – the stage was totally rearranged with no concern for our set up. Ian Brown’s team finally finished their sound check at 9pm, Navicula was scheduled to perform in half an hour.
After their sound check, Ian Brown’s stage manager let us know the we could not move our amps back on stage because they were worried it would effect their equipment and they would not give us any channels on the mixing board, so Navicula could not perform. Even though we guaranteed that we would not change their settings whatsoever, Ian Brown’s team still would not let us perform.
By now the event had officially started… without support from the event organizers and without any flexibility from Ian Brown’s stage crew, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. It’s one thing to cancel Navicula’s set, but waiting until an hour before the show is rude and inconsiderate.
Well, life goes on. Lessons learned.
From Navicula management: Apologies to all our fans for the last minute cancellation, thanks for coming out and supporting. Thanks to the team at Hard Rock Café and the event organizers for doing their best.
So sorry to hear this awful news, my friends. Ian Brown and his team are total shite.
Navicula is the REAL Rock Star
thanks Robin. It’s cool. At least we learned something > I need to learn to be more “rude” like them. Navicula’s manager is too kind
( damn it!!
Yeah. Of course, from that point of view. If you’re at Ian Brown’s crew feet, you’ll understand their concerns.
But now he’s gone, Navicula can continue to rock on.
And Rock on we will!!!
It’s ironic, cause Ian Brown said he wants to be adored. :p
He’s now a design geek and change his slogan into “I Want To Be Adobe”
mungkin kesalahan ada di panitia, yang tidak mempertimbangkan panggung HRC yang kecil atau ada miskomunikasi dgn pihak ian brown …jadi dengan alat2 segitu banyak yang dibawa ian brown tidak mencukupi utk ada alat2 band lain disitu…yang sabar buat navicula!
Hi Zack, thanks for sharing.
Memang… Selalu ada dua sisi dari setiap cerita. Miskomunikasi biasa terjadi, apalagi acara dadakan seperti ini.
The statement above is only to clarify why we didn’t perform, we are not accusing anyone. I do think the stage team was rude to wait until the very last minute to cancel Navicula’s show, but it doesn’t mean they were “wrong”. From our side, we should have had clearer agreements with the event organizers about Navicula’s stage set up. So it’s something we learn for the future.
Sorry to hear about this incident. When I first heard about it I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Ian Brown’s team, especially since the few people I talked to in his entourage (including the man himself) seemed like nice guys. Not that I’m implying that you guys were lying about this – I wouldn’t say I know you all like the back of my hand, but from all accounts you’re a group of upstanding individuals. But you know how it goes: miscommunication happens, one party gives their side of the story, all their friends spread it without question, etc.
Having said that, there have been less-than-favourable stories floating around regarding Ian’s team, so it adds weight to the assumption that they’re a bunch of assholes. It’s unfortunate, as you hear stories all the time about bullying big band crews – including amongst Indonesian bands – but you don’t expect it to happen to you until it finally does.
So hopefully there’s a valuable lesson to be learnt from here. At the same time, I hope this experience doesn’t stop you from being the good people that I know (OK, sort of know) that you are.
Rock on!
Hi Hasief, thanks for posting a different perspective.
Yes, Robi met Ian Brown briefly in Jakarta and he was very friendly. The event in Bali was rushed though, they were stressed and tired, and I’m not surprised there was some miscommunication. I understand their situation – but, they could have been more respectful.
Assholes or not, we shouldn’t expect anyone to be nice… so, we did learn a valuable lesson from this.
It’s a sad truth of this world that having someone you don’t know be nice to you is a bonus and not the norm, and unfortunately you guys had to learn that the hard way. But whatever, like I said earlier, I hope this just makes you wiser without having to sacrifice your positive vibes.
We try to keep the positive vibes flowing
Please read new post from Robi here:
http://www.naviculamusic.com/hidup-untuk-hari-ini-melihat-ke-masa-depan-re-ian-brownnavicula/
Bros Robie, GemBull, Made, mas Dankie : One day this will be a tale that worth to tell when you share the stage with members of Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, The Melvins, Alice in Chains, Dinosour Jr, Puddle of Mud and other humble musicians. Peace, Love and Empathy.
Ian Brown siapa tuh?…….pemain basket deh kayaknya…..NAVICULA? in my heart since 1997!