Which are the largest and smallest stages you've ever played on?

[cetera]

Biggest.... to 14,000 people at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo....

Smallest.... with a 6 piece band in a 'gangster' pub in Tolworth on a corner stage no bigger than a large dining table.... and with the punters packed in right up in our faces. Was a wonderful gig though!!

[Mr Fudge]

Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton was the biggest and he Oddfellows Arms in West Brom the smallest.

[Sarah5string]

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='242553' date='Jul 18 2008, 11:37 AM']Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton was the biggest and he Oddfellows Arms in West Brom the smallest.[/quote]
I've been to see gigs at the wulfrun... great venue

[bassicinstinct]

[b]Largest[/b]: [b]Cardiff International Arena[/b]. Nature's laxative apparently.

[b]Smallest[/b]: [b]Chester's[/b].Chesterfield. Like a mantlepiece in a scene from The League of Gentlemen.

Places without stages don't count, IMHO, because [b]they don't have stages[/b].

I think that, on balance, I enjoyed the CIA gig more despite the naked fear which permeated most of our set due to the sheer size of the place.

The dressing room was actually bigger than most venues I had played at that point

[StanRobinson]

[quote name='chris_b' post='241885' date='Jul 17 2008, 04:41 PM']The Blues Bar (Ain't Nothin' But...) makes the Mau Mau look like a football field![/quote]

Blues Bar Harrogate??
[attachment=10950:IMG_0940.JPG]

SR

[xilddx]

[quote name='StanRobinson' post='242652' date='Jul 18 2008, 01:02 PM']Blues Bar Harrogate??
[attachment=10950:IMG_0940.JPG]

SR[/quote]

The Blues Bar (Ain't Nothin' But) is in a Tiny street off Regent Street in Central London, it is VERY [size=1]small[/size], but a superb atmosphere and is always packed.

Edited July 18, 2008 by silddx

[johnnylager]

[quote name='StanRobinson' post='242652' date='Jul 18 2008, 01:02 PM']Blues Bar Harrogate??
[attachment=10950:IMG_0940.JPG]

SR[/quote]
Those cats at the front are digging it. Is the bloke on the left having a 'cabinet reshuffle' or reaching for his harmonica? Is the lady on the pints & the fella on the wine? Don't tell Al Murray

[Merton]

Biggest stage? Probably the Exit Festival Future Shock Stage in 2006.

Biggest venue? Buggered if I can remember.

Smallest stage? The Arts Theatre in Soho - also the smallest venue, it's a dive and I laughed heartily when I arrived after being told what a "professional" place it was by the promoter.

[spinynorman]

Marie Curie used to do a charity gig at Catton Park - we opened the last one in 2006. The headline band was Roy Wood and the promoter they'd used to hire him was clearly absolutely sh*t scared of the great man and terrified that any of us plebs might come anywhere near him. So we weren't allowed on the main stage and had to play in a tent to one side. So that was the biggest stage we almost played on. I have a t-shirt from that which I only wear under shirts or jumpers - under the list of bands it says "Sponsored by Saga FM."

[lowhand_mike]

largest was (and certainly not on par with most of ya) was our last one on a curtain side trailer out the back of a pub, could have been a mini festival except no bugger turned up. well one or two did. our home venu has a pretty big stage too, probably about 20ft deep by 30ft wide, er ok so that probably bigger than the trailer.

smallest was a CIU club near us and we had to share the stage with the DJ who took up half of it and the stage couldn't have been more than 6 foot deep if that and about 20ft wide, we had to get our 5 peice on there which was er interesting, i beleive in the end we made a makeshift stnad for the singer to stand on to give us a bit more room.

[BigRedX]

The smallest stage I've ever played on was at "The Old Malt Cross" in Nottingham. Nowadays the stage area is a sensible size but back in the 80s when the synth band I was in played there regularly it was tiny. The venue itself is a good size on two levels, the main floor and a balcony around three sides. The "stage" was about 6 foot up between the main floor and the balcony. Due to the wood panelling at the front it had the appearance that you playing the gig from on top of a wardrobe! There was just enough room for the 4 of us (2 keyboard players with a mono-synths each on stand and two singers) provided that no-one actually moved once in position. Because of the height and the railings around the sides you had to fit everything onto the stage area as there was nowhere else! The PA was set up on the ground level in front of the stage... The venue was run by two of the most miserable blokes ever. I have no idea why they put bands on because they seemed to hate everything. When we told them we didn't want another gig for less money as we needed to break even at least, they then tried to persuade the PA hire to charge us less so we could still afford to play there...

The biggest stage I played is either Rock City or the three trailers that made up the main stage for the Nottingham Rock and Reggae festival.

Edited July 18, 2008 by BigRedX

[Kiwi]

[quote name='chris_b' post='241885' date='Jul 17 2008, 04:41 PM']The Blues Bar (Ain't Nothin' But...) makes the Mau Mau look like a football field![/quote]

+1 I've never played there but I've seen a few gigs. That stage is almost a joke!

Largest stage I've played : Clapham Grand
Smallest stage (and also worst gig ever): The Miller pub, London Bridge.

[xilddx]

This was the Larmer Tree stage we did last summer, so big there were no photos showing the whole band on it!

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6j349abnag"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6j349abnag[/url]

Edited July 20, 2008 by silddx

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='243766' date='Jul 20 2008, 01:37 PM']+1 I've never played there but I've seen a few gigs. That stage is almost a joke!

Largest stage I've played : Clapham Grand
Smallest stage (and also worst gig ever): The Miller pub, London Bridge.[/quote]


The Millers of Mansfield?

I've played on that stage it is ludicrusly small I almost fell of a few times.

[markytbass]

Smallest would be the Quaker Bar Darlington largest was a flat bed lorry in a field behind the Majors Arms Frome hill Herefordshire.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='markytbass' post='243885' date='Jul 20 2008, 04:30 PM']Smallest would be the Quaker Bar Darlington[/quote]
GREAT gig!

[warwickhunt]

We once got booked to do a Steel-yard/Ship-builders end of contract gig... turned out to be the shed/aircraft hangar that they build ships in The scaffolders had erected a 'kin huge stage at one end and the (free) bar was at the other. What an experience to forget... lord please let me forget It was easily the size of a football pitch and then some. They'd booked some PA company to do the sound, unfortunately they underestimated the power required to make a good job. Best proper real stage was the Mayfair @ Newcastle.

The smallest stage - far too many to even consider picking the smallest!

[tauzero]

Smallest stage I've played on is the one at the Pickle Club in Birmingham. There are two venues we've played at with smaller stages - Rednal Social Club and the E57 club - but as I didn't actually fit onto the stage at either of those, I can't say that I played on the stage.

Not sure about the biggest - we used a flatbed trailer and a curtainside trailer for Tamworth Rock Festival for some years, which was pretty roomy. Dudley Concert Hall has a very large stage too - probably the biggest permanent stage I've played on.

[dave_bass5]

Biggest for me i guess is/was the Camden Palace, quite a few years ago though.
Smallest, or at lest tightest was when we played in one of the high walkways on Tower Bridge. They aren't that wide to start with but we had to fit in to half the width to allow the caters through.
Drums were set up against one side and then we had to put my bass cab in front of the kit with the lead guitarists combo on its side next to my cab and the rhythm guitarists combo on top on my cab (my amp was sitting on the floor) so basically hiding the kit with our backline (that became the front line i suppose).
It wasnt even a good gig as while we were at one end of the walkway all the guests and the food was at the other.
And we had to carry all the gear almost halfway across Tower Bridge

This gives some idea of the size. Taken from where we were playing. The room at the other end was where most fo the guests stayed.