The Show Must Go On?...

[Pete Academy]

Our band, Nearly Dan, had gigs pre-booked in Edinburgh and Glasgow on April 25 and 26. This is an annual jaunt for us. The Friday was sold out, and the Saturday was selling well. On the Thursday before, I started to get an infection in a tooth that had recently been filled. My face started to become swollen. I called my dentist, but the jobsworth receptionist told me I couldn't get in for a check. The next day I was supposed to be picked up at 10.50am. My face was massively swollen, and my eye looked like it had been hit by Mike Tyson. I went to my doctor, expecting her to give me a strong antibiotic, but she took one look at me said I needed to go to A & E for emergency treatment. I told her I needed to go to Scotland for gigs, but she said it would not happen. At the hospital they said I needed to have the tooth out and would have to spend the next 24 hours on an intravenous antibiotic drip. I maintained that I'd already missed our minibus and needed to be in Scotland for the gigs. The doctor said: 'Do you value your health or your gigs?' I asked if there was any alternative. Against their advice, I agreed to have the tooth removed and a intravenous shot of antibiotics, plus a course of strong antibiotic tablets to take. Thanks to my girlfriend, I made a train that got me to Edinburgh just in time, at a cost of £91.50. The gigs were great and I'm now on the mend. What I ask is: Would you have done the same thing and risked your health for a gig? What lengths have you gone to in order to let ensure the show must go on?

[Mykesbass]

I think if I was in the same position with a band the calibre of yours, I too would be just as stupid!

Glad to hear the gigs went well and you are on the mend.

[gary mac]

Not sure what I would have done but well done and wish you well mate.


Different situation but I played a gig a while back with a full on migraine. Visual disturbance and blinding pain. It was a truly horrid experience.

Migraines are bad enough at home, when I can shut the curtains, lie down in a dark, quiet room and wait for it to pass. But in a gig situation with lights, noise and heat, Oh my word.

[Hobbayne]

No gig on earth is worth more than mine or my families health.

[LeftyBiskit]

I would've done the same in your position,
if was just a pub gig then it would have been a different matter.
keep taking the antibiotics and get well soon.

[Pete Academy]

Over the years, as I work in a shop, I've had to get trains to gigs. One gig in Hartlepool I arrived 5 minutes before we were on.

[Pete Academy]

I looked liked the Elephant Man. No chance of groupies. (Not that we ever get any)

[seashell]

Yep, I would have done the same for a big gig like that. My Mum was an old trouper who brought me up with the motto 'It doesn't matter if you're bloody half dead, you still get up and do the show'

Not saying that's right or sensible, but old habits die hard.

[KiOgon]

Well done & yes I would most likely have done the same when I was but a lad

[White Cloud]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1398616157' post='2435755']
Our band, Nearly Dan, had gigs pre-booked in Edinburgh and Glasgow on April 25 and 26. This is an annual jaunt for us. The Friday was sold out, and the Saturday was selling well. On the Thursday before, I started to get an infection in a tooth that had recently been filled. My face started to become swollen. I called my dentist, but the jobsworth receptionist told me I couldn't get in for a check. The next day I was supposed to be picked up at 10.50am. My face was massively swollen, and my eye looked like it had been hit by Mike Tyson. I went to my doctor, expecting her to give me a strong antibiotic, but she took one look at me said I needed to go to A & E for emergency treatment. I told her I needed to go to Scotland for gigs, but she said it would not happen. At the hospital they said I needed to have the tooth out and would have to spend the next 24 hours on an intravenous antibiotic drip. I maintained that I'd already missed our minibus and needed to be in Scotland for the gigs. The doctor said: 'Do you value your health or your gigs?' I asked if there was any alternative. Against their advice, I agreed to have the tooth removed and a intravenous shot of antibiotics, plus a course of strong antibiotic tablets to take. Thanks to my girlfriend, I made a train that got me to Edinburgh just in time, at a cost of £91.50. The gigs were great and I'm now on the mend. What I ask is: Would you have done the same thing and risked your health for a gig? What lengths have you gone to in order to let ensure the show must go on?
[/quote]
I would have done the same thing.

I played a gig last June with a torn shoulder rotator cuff and a ripped bicep ligament in my left (fretting hand) arm. Excruciating agony...but adrenaline got me through!

[Pete Academy]

It was an agonising choice. Time was running out and the doctor kept saying I needed to stay in hospital. The rest of the band had already set off. I just thought how many people would be disappointed.

[JTUK]

Don't know Pete, but glad you got it done...
Sounds horrible so top marks.

[Pete Academy]

Probably a bit reckless of me, but I made the decision.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1398617980' post='2435787']
Don't know Pete, but glad you got it done...
Sounds horrible so top marks.
[/quote] Thanks mate

[ezbass]

Trouper!

[UglyDog]

Not quite in your league Pete but I played a gig with raging flu back in 87, I mean the real thing and not just a bad cold. I had a temperature of 101 and should have been in bed, but it was a Saturday night headline in London and there's no way I was going to see the band pulled. I got through that gig on the power of lemsip and adrenaline, walked off stage and virtually passed out into the arms of my roadie spent the next 4 days welded to my mattress.

[Kiwi]

Bernard Edwards did a gig back at the Budokhan while suffering from...as he put it...the 'Tokyo Flu'. Turned out it was actually pneumonia and he died a day or two later.

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1398623900' post='2435923']
Bernard Edwards did a gig back at the Budokhan while suffering from...as he put it...the 'Tokyo Flu'. Turned out it was actually pneumonia and he died a day or two later.
[/quote]
You still there Pete?....Pete?.......PETE?!

[Kiwi]

lol

[BassTractor]

Whilst it would be easy for me to sit in my sofa and believe that I'm one tough bastard who would've done the same as you did, I must in fact be honest and realistic, and presume that in real life, I'd probably haggle the train fare down to £89.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1398616157' post='2435755']
What I ask is: Would you have done the same thing and risked your health for a gig? What lengths have you gone to in order to let ensure the show must go on?
[/quote]

Not wishing to put down what was clearly a brave effort to ensure the show did go on despite immense personal discomfort - and all credit and respect for that btw - but was there [u]really[/u] much of a health risk involved, in the sense of risking permanent health implications as a result?

Fortunately I've not been in a similar situation but I'd like to think I'd have done much the same thing, under the circumstances you descibe, to avoid cancelling the gig.

However, if the situation meant I was risking permanent health implications, e.g. putting off an urgent heart operation just to play a gig, then I'd cancel the gig without a second thought. No question about it. I care far more for my loved ones than I do for an anonymous audience or band mates.

[sprocketflup]

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1398620416' post='2435833']
Not quite in your league Pete but I played a gig with raging flu back in 87, I mean the real thing and not just a bad cold. I had a temperature of 101 and should have been in bed, but it was a Saturday night headline in London and there's no way I was going to see the band pulled. I got through that gig on the power of lemsip and adrenaline, walked off stage and virtually passed out into the arms of my roadie spent the next 4 days welded to my mattress.
[/quote]

Beaten to it, ive also played with the full on flu, where I was struggling to hit the right notes coz I was shaking so much. Worst gig ive ever played, luckily for me there was a pillar next to my rig so I let it keep me upright for most of the night.

I fell off a ladder in January and have spannered up my fretting hand, very painful to play, specially fretless but ive still gigged with it. the audience just think im really getting into it when im grimacing with pain lol. Got an appointment to see a surgeon on Monday at last, so hopefully get it sorted out soon

[icastle]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1398631783' post='2436065']
Not wishing to put down what was clearly a brave effort to ensure the show did go on despite immense personal discomfort - and all credit and respect for that btw - but was there [u]really[/u] much of a health risk involved, in the sense of risking permanent health implications as a result?
[/quote]

Two words - John Glascock.

[icastle]

My worst one was slicing through the back of my left thumb with a scalpel the afternoon before a gig - at a hospital social club.

The stitches held for about 30 mins and I finished the first set with blood dripping off my elbow.

The guitarist was an A&E Charge Nurse, so he whipped me over there and stitched me back together during the interval and used a silly amount of sticky tape to hold it all together.

I still have a slight scar there, but it did the job nicely.

[gafbass02]

Thinking back, I've done a gig with brutal measles, the (proper) flu, (that was almost funny, first set 'I'm boiling I'm boiling', second set, 'I'm freezing, I'm freezing!', meningitis, a back so 'out' I was dosed off my face stood bolt upright in agony, migraines, last night I played with an eye infection and couldn't see a thing, went through three pairs of contact lenses to get through the night. (I'm the frontman too! Must've looked awful.