Mickeyboro

A purple neck...never thought I'd see the day!!

Played a big charity ball in Surrey in a marquee to 142 p***ed up posh people who all wanted to let their hair down after a sit down meal. I was depping in a pop party band and must have been concentrating too hard as I was chided by one beauty for 'not smiling enough'. I was at the end of the night when they upped our fee by 25%! Prize for trickiest song of the night: 'Come up And See Me (Make Me Smile)'...the middle 8 lasts an age if you're bluffing it. Prize for most optimistic punter: The girl who wanted 'December 1963 (Oh What A Night)' by 4 Seasons. Prize for most satisfied punter: The guy who perusaded us to do an impromptu 'Wild Thing' with him singing as 'last time I did it the ladies tore all my clothes off'. On second thoughts he wasn't happy - they didn't. Final song of the evening '500 Miles'. I ended up singing lead as the singer (now in Superman costume from a dinner jacket) didn't know the words. On seciond thoughts what am I saying? The audience took it. Oooh my head.

But your drummer (WoT) is the fabulous Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne!! Isn't that cheating? Incidentally, how many people know that when Ray parted company with Lindisfarne to form Jack the Lad, Phil Collins was offered the drum stool - and considered taking it! How different would life have been then? It's in the book so it must be true!

Roye Albrighton of the prog band Nektar (big in Germany) played an Antoria 335 knockoff throughout his career even when he could afford the 'real thing'.

[quote name='Mickeyboro' post='232179' date='Jul 3 2008, 05:34 PM']Takamine EG512C has never let me down. It's big, but so am I![/quote]

Paul Rodgers has a fine voice,but why does he have to have the audience sing the chorus of every song he does,over and over again,on their own? Couldn't agree more! Mid you the whole show was an exercise in corporate rock - sponsored by Miller Lite! (I got a beer voucher as a journo, and, driving, wanted a water. They wouldn't exchange it. Turned to the guy behind and said 'Buy me a water, I'll give you a pint!') Mind you the difference between Miler Lite and water is minimal!

Second gig of the weekend, top of the bill at a local festival thrown by the Army. Met another Basschatter, Grapevinebass, who bought me a beer! Only 20 minutes over schedule, and played 20 minutes past time so all was well in the end. (Just finishing before the football kicke off.) Luckily our sound guy was there to man the desk (came as a paying punter) as the guy who was hired to do the event was on his phone or kipping in his van most of the time. Unfortunately we forgot to thank our sound man from the stage... :blush:

Has this ever happened to you? Booked blind for a gig at a social club in deepest Southampton only to find they assumed we were a 2-3 piece (there's six of us!). Cue panic phone calls to the (absent) manager who eventually came down and agreeed we could play, depsite taking up a third of the floor space. No-one looked too interested, all eyes on Dr Who on the plasma screens. Given the club was attached to a church, there was plenty of drink consumed (and bought for the band) and by the end of the evening they were offering us £800 to come back on New Year's Eve! I suspect there were a few hangovers at Mass today... PS I've never seen two men Riverdancing to Steve Earle's Copperhead Road before, but it worked!

Ssssshhhhhhh!

[ am worried! We're headlining a local festival a week Sunday, music from 1-7. What chance do we have after five one-hour sets of getting on at 6 and off at 7?

For the first time in my life two gigs in a day...a beer festival with my blues-rockers (lunchtime) and a hotel with my 'party' band (eve). By the third encore of the evening I had grabbed a seat to stick on the stage and play from. And when the singer insisted there should be a fourth - despite most of the crowd leaving - I retaliated by hanging up the bass and playing cowbell. I hate Wild Thing

Fascinating and tragic article about Keith. [url="http://www.angelfire.com/ma/rockincatbass/keith.html"]http://www.angelfire.com/ma/rockincatbass/keith.html[/url] Thanks for the thread!

Having seen them both with Lowell and without, I'm Surprised to say I preferred the latter! It was the 'Columbus' album gig at the Rainbow. He fell out with the others bigtime and they jazz-funked him off stage. Horn section could not be heard. But they fixed it in the mix. Saw them with Craig Fuller (and Bonnie Raitt guesting) in 88 or was it 89, and more recently with Shaun Murphy. The only drawback - a 15-minute Dixie Chicken!

Yeah, Mick's certainly rich... My first band was a new wave band called D-Notice in 1979. Played mostly originals (mine - they suffered me on rhythm guitar in exchange). We did a great version of the Police's 'Can't Stand Losing You' but dropped it when it was a hit third time round. Then we played a 'big' gig co-headlining at the Moonlight Club in Hampstead with Furniture (remember them?) The b*stards made us hire the PA and then nicked a mic. Resurrected the song as an encore and blew the roof off! Unable to beat this 'up yours' moment, we split.

In the unlikely event it replaces the 51 RI in your affections I'm first in line to get it back!

We encored with Molly's Chambers by Kings of Leon...to about ten people! Wish I could have imported a few of the 100+ I played to Friday night with my other 'party' band. Oh well, guess that's th way the cookie crumbles.

Now I know why she doesn't use her first name...

A pub in deepest Hampshire, my first time with my 'party' band (v, 2xg, b, d, sax) for a month. Was looking forward to it but found it a bit frustrating as the drummer threw in every fill he could think of, having not played during that time. He also sped up massivly despite my best attempts - will put half a valium in his beer next time. Then I found I could barely hear myself. Dunno if this was cos I didn't have my 2x10 cab to augment my 1x15 combo,the gutarists were at 11 or (more likely) I am now used to the guitar-bass-drums format of my other band. Anyway no-one was willing to turn down. The sax player has got an alto now which runs onthe same frequency as my wireless, so had to dig out a lead...but as we were all crammed together onto a few square feet it didn't make much difference. How do you cope when you're not having a good night but the audience are enjoying themselves? Grin, bear it and crank out 'Mustang Sally'!