Mike Dobony wrote:
wrote in message
...
Last weekend I went to an outdoor concert / festival. There was a
rock band playing inside a metal pole barn-like building. I could
see fierce lightning out in the distance, and then someone announced
over the bands microphones that there was a severe storm approaching
and everyone should exit the large tents, and either leave or come
into that tin building. Most people came into the building and the
band went back to playing music. All of a sudden I could see the
trees outside bending way over and the lightning was close, and even
the thunder could be heard over the loud amplifiers. Seconds later
the rain came down in buckets and the water coming off that roof was
like a waterfall, and someone closed all the sliding doors.

Now I still dont know where all the water came from, since that
building was on the high end of the grounds, but suddenly there was a
river coming thru the building. It only took a minute for the water
to reach a depth of about 18 inches. It pushed the doors inward on
the upper end of the building and outward on the lower end as all the
water rushed by carrying all the trash from the ground with it. A
few of the wooden picnic tables were afloat, but people began to
stand on them and secure them. The band was on a 5 foot tall stage,
so they were dry except gusts of rain that managed to blow in the
cracks by the doors. The younger audience just played and danced in
the water and were splashing each other, while us older folks just
stood on tables or decided our shoes were dirty and needed a
washing. No one seemed too upset, of course many were drinking. I
had not been drinking and was cautious and watched the storm thru
the cracks next to the door. I also noticed that there were people
lifting mic cables and other wires that were hanging off the stage.
That's when I decided I should go make sure they were plugged into
GFI outlets. They were, so I figured everyone was safe. Thats when
some official came onto the stage and told the band they were going
to cut the power to the sound system. I also saw someone telling
the food vendors to unplug everything.

While I so understand the reasoning behind this, and was more worried
about the food vendors who were not on GFI outlets, and had extension
cords all over the place to their cash registers, coolers, etc. But
I really dont think the band needed to be stopped as long as they
were plugged into GFI's. After all, that's the purpose of having
them.


The equipment was protected, but not necessarily what was plugged
into the euipment. A few years ago a pastor was killed during a
baptism when he grabbed the mic while in the baptismal. It is still
a hazzard even if plugged into a GFI.

Another reason for wireless guitars/mic's.