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Gigs can often be great fun and sometimes it's the unexpected that adds to it! We had a great time being the course rock band at the Hackney half marathon again this year: it was a beautiful sunny day with eager runners streaming past, but... Al Krow (@al_krow) • Instagram photos and videos If you've got any amusing tales or clips - please do share!

... and we don't do requests. If someone wants us to play a specific song (Dancing Queen, Summer Of 69, Do You Wanna Touch Me) we always say that we play what's in our setlist. End of. Except that this was a private party in a remote village up in the hills (seriously) and they wanted us to play Brown Sugar. So we explained that we'd stopped playing that song around the time of Covid because it was Politically Incorrect. So they explained exactly where we could shove Political Correctness. So we played the song for the first time in well over four years, and obviously with no rehearsal or refresher. Nailed it. 😎 We may do it again ...

In Isolation were at Ivory Blacks in Glasgow. Probably the most convoluted load-in I've encountered in recent years with the instructions we'd been given by the promotor being somewhat incomplete, so we drove around the "block" twice before I jumped out to ask the venue where we were supposed to go. Having road works obscuring the entrance to the back alley we needed to be on didn't help. The venue itself was good with a decent sized stage and impressive old-school looking PA. Sound engineer was late and was very laid back in his approach, so although it ended up sounding good on stage and FoH we finished the sound check with seconds to spare before the doors opened. We were playing somewhat early and the turn-out was still quite sparse when we started, although there was a decent sized crowd by the end who had turned up to see the headlining band - a Joy Division tribute act. I'm going to start another thread about this because I wasn't entirely convinced by them and I wondering if as a musician I'm just being too picky. Even so plenty of people told us they enjoyed the set afterwards (there was one bloke who actually cheered when we started the song "Not Noticing") and we covered our expenses for the long trek from Nottingham. Next weekend should be a lot easier as we're in Coventry with Chaos Bleak.

Many moons ago , we strike up ‘I predict a riot’ just as it kicks off at the bar. The following scene was straight out of a Benny Hill show chase. one lad runs past us to the front door and disappears, eagerly followed by 6 blokes followed by their girlfriends. they then come back to find the troublemaker had come in through the back door , so they chased him back out of it, but followed him all the way round and back in the front door. All to said tune , surreal, yet very funny as we were pretty much ignored during the procession

A lovely sunny day for a pic or two! Left to right: Mex Fender P (upgraded with Seymour Duncans, Badass & Mirror scratchplate), Jap Fender 70RI Phil Lynott, Jap Fender 62RI (with flats) & Squier 40th Anniversary P. Left to right: Mex Fender FSR PJ (with upgraded John East pre and Pearl scratchplate), Mex Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass Special 'Duff McKagan' sig, Jap Fender Jazz Bass Special & Jap Fender 70's Classic RI Precision.

Great night in the old dive we call the Land of Dreams , the long weekend made for a packed house , and a ton of players for the jam. There is a guy I’ve been trying to get up for ages , serious funk guy , and I finally convinced him to get up. He brought the funk. I’ve never really mastered the slap and pop approach and it was a joy to hear him just nail it. With authority. Good to be schooled. He can also sing like Sam Cooke. I’m hoping he’ll sing some next time.

Back at Shoeburyness Conservative Club on Saturday night for the first time since covid started. Decent venue for bands as the stage end of the room backs onto the carpark, so it's a nice and easy load-in. The stage it a little too small for us though, so the singers go in front on the dancefloor. I don't know if it's like other Con Clubs, but it always seems to be a "challenging" audience to crack. They seem quite content to sit and watch for the first half of the night and then you'll get a handful of people up in the second set - and if you're lucky, they'll start line dancing as well - to anything. All of us made brain-fart errors in the first set, but they weren't too obvious and we managed to cover our tracks okay. I put it down to being extraordinarily warm in there - as after persuading them to turn on the aircon before the second set, we played far better. Bit of a break now until a wedding gig in July. My brother is depping on guitar for that one, so we'll need this time to get him up to speed on a few things.

Depped for a pro Pink tribute band at a great venue in Newcastle. Here’s a little headstock footage of the one “bass solo” esque moment plus a rocking end to the song. FullSizeRender.MOV

I inadvertently found myself with 6 Precisions at one time in around 2008, mostly due to a spate of selling and buying getting a little out of whack (not for the first time). But wow, 8 Precisions is some serious shit, I take off my hat to you 👍

Having once played in a hugely successful tribute for 25 years, I'd say that it's all about 'attention to detail' - otherwise you are just a covers band, concentrating on one act. While, obviously, the members of a tribute band are going to have different body sizes/shapes and looks they should at least ATTEMPT to dress/present themselves close to the artist they are tributing so they are are recognisable. Again, while the instrument being played doesn't have to be EXACTLY the same (i.e. not a 62 P bass.... just a normal p bass, pref in same colour) it should be recognisable as the same shape/type as the original where possible. Musically, songs should be played/performed like the classic album/famous live version.... and 'between song banter' should also be familiar/in style of. It goes without saying (I would hope) that reproducing the musical sound/texture/tones/character is the overall priority that sets a proper tribute apart as an accurate and faithful recreation.

Geddy Lee. I was a Big big Rush fan from the tail of the 70s into the mid-80s. One of the most important bands for me in my youth.

Just logging all my gear and realised I now have 87 basses and 10 guitars. 😲 Should I buy 3 more basses to hit the magic 100 total? Or sell the 10 guitars and concentrate on basses only? 🤔 First world problems and all that jazz.... 🤣

Nah, though when I quit/die there's gonna be one helluva sale! Bass shops in general bore me as I have a better selection! lol! 🤣

Not a great pic but it's from last Friday's gig in Northampton.

^^^ He's an absolute gent. Here's a clip from the show. Phone mic quality, etc.

I asked for advice on buying this guitar and amp on another thread, and appreciate all the advice given. Well, I bought it....my first bass. A squire P bass and a Fender Rumble 25. Stripped it all down last night and cleaned & polished the frets and fretboard, body, chrome hardware. It was a bit too black and white for my liking, so put a matt black vinyl wrap on the pickguard. Put it all back together, and a new set of strings. Well pleased with how it came out. Plays really well, now to try and learn how to play the thing. Couple of before and after pics (hopefully).

And of course...

Never got to see him live and I'm not necessarily a fan of his sound (in later years) but the freedom that he played with and the melodic stuff he played whilst in a band setting really wowed me when I first started..

This chap.You may have seen him about.The reason I lifted a bass aged 14.

It's hardly difficult to dress like Joy Division era Peter Hook. A light coloured long sleeve shirt with the sleeves partially rolled up and medium grey trousers. If you don't already have something close to that in your wardrobe, you could probably get it for about £10 from Primark. It is my experience that some musicians just don't get the concept of band image. We used to have the same problem with stand-in drummers and guitarists for The Terrortones. While we didn't expect them to get leathered up, although it would be great if they did, the guidelines were "wear black - no obvious band or brand logos and no trainers for the guitarists". You'd be amazed at how many couldn't (or didn't want to) follow a simple instruction like that. Whenever I have played with new musicians I always ask about band image before the first gig and if there is one will conform to it. I already did in my OP.

Concentrate on bass so buy another 13 basses to get to a hundred!

If your question is, why do I use a 50W amp when the cab can handle 750W dirty and around 1000W clean, the answer is I use the Ampeg at home because it sounds nice and I wouldn't get to use it otherwise. I used it live with my previous Super Compact a couple of times and it had to be driven pretty hard just to be audible. For the last 6/7 years I've used a Mesa D800 live, which puts out 800W. However, as discussed above, I may try the Ampeg live with the Three10 at some point, but I'm not expecting much. As you say, it is only 50W, and even 50 TUBE watts don't go that far. The question niggling at me now is, why use such a small amp with such a big cab... I need a bigger 800W amp!

Have had the 310 for a while now &my main reason for buying it was the fact that it was a 4 ohm cab so I would get maximum output from my Orange OB1-500 I had been using an SC [8 ohms) so was having to push the amp harder. Now that the drivers have bedded in, the sound is gorgeous without having to push the amp too hard. I'm playing a 60's precision with roundworns on, bit of dribble through PA, but am getting smiles from drummer & nearby guitarist about the sound. I find it's well worth taking an Aurelex board along and trying it with & without at soundcheck - most of the places I play are pubs and you never know what is underneath you! The drivers took longer to bed in than I expected, but I find I get a better tone from the 10'' than the 12" drivers. As for the weight, I always carry a fold-up sack truck which also helps with PA speakers, lights etc. Having said all this I am 72 + years old and I reckon my playing career has been extended by a good few years by going down the Barefaced route.

OK, NOW it’s a collection!

I've played in a couple of tribute bands in the last few years, and for me, the thing is to get the spirit of the band down. The music must be pretty accurate, above all else. If you’re going to do Elvis, or Kiss or someone where the visuals are such a major part of the act, then you have to dress up – but get it right or don’t bother. I was in a Magnum tribute of all things for a while, which was a bit niche but a great band with a couple of the guys having a connection to the main act (i.e. they had been in the Magnum singer’s solo band or recorded with him). My approach there was to play like I would if I had been asked to play live with Magnum. There was no attempt at all to look the part! I now find myself in a Led Zep tribute. When I originally started playing for them two and a half years ago, the band had some great players, but they also had a reasonably good singer who wore a wig and kinda dressed like a Primark version of Robert Plant but looked absolutely nothing like him. He was obsessed with trying to get the details right, and (for example) we never had me and the keys player onstage at the same time. This was sometimes to the detriment of the overall sound. He has since been replaced with a guy who looks the part more, in that he’s thinner and has long curly hair (even if it’s the wrong colour). More to the point, he’s a more experienced frontman, as well as being a better singer (genuinely sounds like Plant). We also have an extremely good new keys player. The first thing the singer insisted on was playing as a five piece on the songs with keys, making everything look and sound like a proper rock show and not getting hung up on minor details. I still keep trying to impress on the drummer that while we have to capture the essence of the band, we must be what people want a Zep tribute to sound like, even if it is a bit different to what LZ actually were fifty years ago. It is a very good band now, plays all over the country and generally makes money and does well. However, it is more of a tribute to the music of LZ – if you want to see someone dressing up and trying to look like their idols from half a century ago, then it’s probably not for you!

Bruce Foxton, I had a real "we`re not worthy" moment when I met him.

John Deacon - of course.

Next gig for In Isolation is in Coventry at The Arches Venue, on Saturday 25th May. Chaos Bleak in support:

Sadly I only have 4 guitar stands! lol!

Happy to help, here is your bass number 88 😁

Be benevolent...donate a bass to me..

Wasnt my choice, but i arrived to a small festival we did yesterday and this was the bass amp. Worked fine. Sounded fine. Looked ancient.

Wow, And here’s me thinking I’ve got too many at 13, I feel better now 😁

Sell the guitars! In fact, sell some of your basses to me 😂

Not great is it. That buyer in the US might have just lost out on his dream bass. Shame on the shop. Imagine if one of us had bought a bass there only for them to renege on the deal and sell it to a higher bidder, proper name-and-shame moment.

Anything a tribute band does that isn't correct is wrong and asking to be picked apart by those who expect slavish attention to detail. You either do it right or wait for the criticism. The two tributes I would see again and again are the Bootleg Beatles and T.Rextasy, because they go the extra mile to get everything as near as possible. The point made above that if you don't try to get as much as possible right, then you're just a cover band concentrating on one group is exactly correct.

It literally isn't, but congrats for coming in and reviving a 4 year old thread with your enlightenment

I used DC-Fix matt black vinyl. Got it from B&Q, £8.00 a roll. https://www.diy.com/departments/d-c-fix-plain-matt-black-self-adhesive-film-l-2m-w-450mm/1071137_BQ.prd I took the pickguard off, then wetted it, and applied the vinyl to the wet surface....stops it sticking straight away. Then used a credit card to squeeze the water out, and any air bubbles. I then used a craft knife to trim round the edge and to cut the holes for the pick-ups, input jack, the two knobs, and the screw holes. There was also gloss black, but I liked the contrast with the matt.

It's about time that I 'fessed up to this, by admitting that it was I that gave the erroneous advice about posting in an inconspicuous way a request for valuation (in the manner of 'What do Squiers fetch, these days..?' or similar...). I was wrong, mea culpa, and all the more stupid as I had been a Mod, for quite a long time, and should have thought better of it. It was I, too, that 'reported' the original post, as it was in flagrant breach of the 'valuation' rule. I explained the rule, and its reasoning, in my reply to the OP, but the advice I gave, although in good faith, was wrong, and has led to all this rumpus. Apologies to all; I could plead old age and senility, but I should have thought it through a lot longer. Sorry.

Nice one playing at Kings Lynn Cocktail festival. A surprisingly sedate crowd*, I can’t imagine they’d hit the cocktails very hard. However we played well and they seemed to like us. * unlike these lovely ladies photographed outside the venue about 7:30pm, who seemed to having a fine Saturday night out.

Last week once again I was one of a few adults who fill out the cello and bass sections of my teacher's youth orchestra and it was a wonderful concert in the cathedral in North Bay Ontario. An entertaining mix from Bach to fiddle tunes and a couple of solo pieces as well and the crowd of about 350 loved it. The last number was a version of "Boil the cabbage down", an old fiddle tune, and for this piece about 9 of the youngest members were added and played like pros...from memory! In the second photo you will see a couple of the youngest musicians, they are 72 years younger than I am. 🙄 Loads of fun and I'm looking forward the next concert, probably in about 6 months, this one was a definite high point of the year for me and had some challenging music, I always learn a lot from these concerts.😊 Next up are a couple of jazz gigs, a theatre show next week and three bluegrass festivals in the summer.