Memorable gigs of the year played/attended

[Uberkate]

1. Most memorable (for good reasons) gig played:

2. Most memorable (for bad reasons) gig played:

And/or

3. Most memorable (for good reasons) gig attended:

4. Most memorable (for bad reasons) gig attended:

[Rich]

1. Soul Destroyers at The Horseshoe, Downend: it was one of those gigs where the entire band was on the very top of its game, everything just clicked and the result was just an absolute joy to be part of. I even took lead vocal on one tune (Try A Little Tenderness) and managed to make a decent fist of that too. I was gutted when the lights finally went back up, I wanted to play the whole lot all over again.

2. Train To Skaville, Swiss Chalet, Swindon: my amp let me down, spent nearly the whole night farting^** and cutting out (subsequent examination showed that the preamp valve was falling out of its socket; put this right and its been fine & dandy ever since). Obviously this affected my game and I played like an utter muppet all night. Both of these factors conspired to make me a miserable bastid. Mood was only lifted by witnessing two comedy punch-ups after last orders. Well I say 'punch-ups'... one consisted of a couple of blokes shoving each other in the car park going "yeah?" "yeah?" "come on then" "no, you come on then" "no, YOU come on" etc. and the other was two blokes being restrained on opposite sides of the pub shouting "C**T!!" as loudly as possible at each other. They helped my miserable bastidness a bit, but not by much as I was fairly sure at this point that my amp was expensively fecked.

3. Falling Fish at the Marshfest in Marshfield. The finest young band I have seen in a very, very long time. Great musicianship and excellent songs.

4. See 2 above.

** to clarify: I'm referring to the amp here, rather than the bassist

Edited December 13, 2019 by Rich

[Teebs]

1. Best: All open mic nights I've done / run;

2. Worst: See the above!

(Edit: special mention goes out to last Sunday's open mic, when our decrepit PA decided that everything should have max reverb, despite the reverb never working at all previously).

3. Best: The Achievers at Bluefunk Poynton in September. BC's very own @Jack_Stroud_Bass on bass, winning the UK Blues Challenge by playing brilliantly. Also meeting @Raymondo

4.  Worst: Local friday night pub gig, trotting out all the usual Oasis / Stone Roses / The Verve / Madchester stuff. I don't hate the music per se, but they made me want to harm myself they were so bad!

Edited December 13, 2019 by Teebs

[Twigman]

All the gigs I played were great so I can only comment on the best.

Highlight was closing the Wave Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig back in June.

The closing song which we hadn't rehearsed for over a year:

 

[Raymondo]

I haven't gigged for over two years now 😥

Best attended is difficult because I love the Achievers gigs and they have all been fabulous ( Especially seeing them win the UK Blues challenge as young Teebs noted earlier) but I think Squeeze at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall last month just edges it as they were even more incredible than I thought they would be...just amazing musicianship playing incredible songs.

The worst is actually a friends band so I won't mention their name but even though I love their cover  songs and they are brilliant musicians ,they have suddenly lost the ability to control the sound. 

Their singer has a great voice but the guitars ( he plays one of them so he is just as guilty) drown everything out at such an incredible volume that I have had to walk out for fear of going completely deaf!

[pete.young]

3. Martin Harley and his band at the Union Chapel in Islington. Great music, incredible venue. Everyone should go there at least once.

[Skinnyman]

35 minutes ago, Teebs said:

Also meeting @Raymondo

.....and coming away with a complete set of organs*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*specifically, the same set of organs with which the day was started and all of them in their original location. You can never be completely sure with Dr. Mondeaux

[Teebs]

1 minute ago, Skinnyman said:

.....and coming away with a complete set of organs*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*specifically, the same set of organs with which the day was started and all of them in their original location. You can never be completely sure with Dr. Mondeaux

Liver took a bashing!

[Jack_Stroud_Bass]

39 minutes ago, Teebs said:

3 Best: The Achievers at Bluefunk Poynton in September. BC's very own @Jack_Stroud_Bass on bass, winning the UK Blues Challenge by playing brilliantly. Also meeting @Raymondo

Thanks @Teebs We had a cracking night that night, and we can't wait to go and represent the UK at the International Blues Challenge in Jan. 2020 in Memphis, TN and Zaandam (Amsterdam) in the NL in April! Exciting times! And of course, nice to meet you too!

[Si600]

29 minutes ago, Teebs said:

Liver took a bashing!

One way of protecting it from Dr Mondeaux 😉

[Teebs]

4 minutes ago, Si600 said:

One way of preserving it from Dr Mondeaux 😉

Aye - I pickled it!

Edited December 13, 2019 by Teebs

[Si600]

3. Clawfinger at Die Pumpe in Kiel, sold out and completely crazy. My liver took a bashing that night as well, so bashed that I spent Sunday in bed!

4. Can I have two? Backyard Babies at Gruenspan in Hamburg, I really like them but they were lacking for some reason, Audrey Horne, the first band were brilliant though, but I didn't like The Bones. Alter Bridge, again in Hamburg, this time at the Sporthalle, again the support bands, The Raven Age and Shinedown were excellent whilst the headliner not so much.

Edited December 13, 2019 by Si600

[Si600]

2 minutes ago, Teebs said:

Aye - I pickled it!

Preserving it for Dr. Mondeaux?

[Teebs]

1 minute ago, Si600 said:

Preserving it for Dr. Mondeaux?

[Paul S]

1. Dead heat for Rival Sons at O2 Brixton and Aussie Pink Floyd at the Cliff's Pavilion, Westcliff.  So difficult to compare.  IN terms of being the sort of music I *really* like the Rival Sons would nudge it.  In terms of a spectacular event, APF would nudge it.  The encore 'Comfortably Numb' was a good a live performance as anything I have ever seen and the laser light show was nothing short of spectacular.

2. Easy - Christopher Cross, also at the Cliff's Pavilion.  One of the worst gigs I have seen for a few years.

3. My new blues rock trio Tore Down getting an hour slot at the Ipswich Maritime Festival on the big BBC stage in June.  Fabulous sound, fabulous setting.  It was only our 4th gig!  Been invited to play at Stowblues 2020!

4. Same band playing The Punch and Judy in Ipswich to an empty house, bar the couple who came up to the stage to play the fruit machine whilst the guitarist is standing next to them giving it some fierce string bends mid solo.

[Lozz196]

1 - Best gig, undoubtably the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, in August. We released our 4th album that day to a pretty full room - about 2300 I’d say - and the reception we got was amazing.

2 - Worst gig, probably the Tegelen Skin Festival in The Netherlands, in April. Only because the singer had got ill on the tour and had pretty much lost his singing voice. We soldiered on and got a good reception but it shows how bad it was that I ended up doing lead vocals on a few bits. Some things, once heard cannot be unheard!

[scalpy]

Best gig played- local theatre fundraiser- home crowd, up for a laugh, stage crew give us amazing lights and sound.

Worst gig- an am dram show for a week. Leaden drummer, bizarre home written script, late finish every night.

Best gig attended. Tedeschi Trucks in April. More music in 5 minutes onstage than I'll manage in 50 years- that man is a channel to a different dimension and the band ain't bad either. 

Worst gig- Great band in Monmouth, just an ice pick telecaster guitar sound. 

[Cat Burrito]

1. Most memorable (for good reasons) gig played: Odal Rock Festival in Norway because we got treated like rock stars.

2. Most memorable (for bad reasons) gig played: First gig in my local pub after coming off a big European support tour. It was life telling me "Know your place!" It didn't help that the landlord was in a bad mood either. 

3. Most memorable (for good reasons) gig attended: Michael Monroe in Bristol because I got to meet my hero, bassist Sami Yaffa.

4. Most memorable (for bad reasons) gig attended: Quireboys in Swindon but not for the band... my missus was drinking early & I wound up having to take her home just as the band hit the stage! 

[BrunoBass]

The best gig for me was a charity ball we played just a few weeks ago. It was just a 30 minute set, so we played all the bangers, no gaps, and absolutely nailed it. Massively ‘up for it’ party crowd. Logistically it was a bit of a ballache but it didn’t matter, we played great and went down a storm. Equally memorable was our gig last weekend, the reason being that the band sacked me yesterday and it turns out that that was my last gig with them. 

The low point was driving all the way in the freezing cold to a gig in Bletchley which turned out to be a rough pub populated by two factions (families?) who spent the entire night facing each other off across the bar. They constituted the ‘audience’, probably eight or nine people, for the whole night. They then preceded to beat the s**t out of each other as we loaded out. ‘Don’t worry’, said the landlord, ‘they do this every weekend’.

[Doctor J]

3. Triumph of Death - travelled to Frankfurt in June to see Tom G. Warrior playing Hellhamner songs for the first time since the early 80’s, meeting an old friend of mine over there. A great occasion. I must also mention the Swiss Rock and Metal festival in Amriswil which proved to be a truly fantastic day out.

4. The Obsessed... twice - stood outside an empty venue in a scummy part of Mannhiem while the penny slowly dropped that the gig was not happening. I decided to travel back for the rescheduled gig in October, only for it also to be cancelled shortly after booking flights and accommodation. Luckily, it wasn’t the sole purpose of the trip.

[radiophonic]

1&2. Our singer had a baby this year, so our gig year was pretty sparse  - a few early on and a few recently but a 4 month gap in the middle. The worst was without doubt when we played the Angel Microbrewery in Nottingham and literally everything that could go wrong, went wrong. From the engineer sounchecking the wrong band to the end of the  night ambulance. We played OK, but the conditions were almost comically adverse. The best was probably the M2M Semi finals since it's literally the only time I've ever had good sound in The Maze (RIP) in Nottingham. We had nothing to lose (not being a metal band) and our singer gave birth two days later, so it was a pretty heroic performance from her.

 

3. It would have been Nordic Giants, but I saw Devin Townsend a couple of nights ago. I was gifted a ticket by our guitar player because his gf didn't fancy it. I'd never heard his music until that gig.  Pretty overwhelming really. It was a lot to take in for two hours. The playing was insane. Morgen Agren and Mike Keneally are in the touring band and they encored with Zappa's The Black Page... and Disco Inferno. Nathan Navarro's bass solo was a treat - what a monster player.

4. No duds that I can recall.

[joeystrange]

1. Das Bett in Frankfurt, Germany opening for Electric 6 last month. Great venue, great crowd and my favourite show of the tour.

2. Bank Holiday weekend punk festival at the Waterloo in Blackpool. Our new(ish) guitarist was hammered and was just a flipping mess. Starting songs at the wrong time, struggling to set up his gear, a cacophony of random noises that were supposed to be guitar solos.

3. Danko Jones at Substage in Karlsruhe, Germany. We both had days off from our main tours (ours with Electric 6 and theirs with Volbeat) and ended up playing across the road from each other. They invited us over to hang out before the show then we watched their set abs headed back over the road to play our show.

They gave our show a plug at the end of their set and a bunch of people came over to see us, which was cool.

4. I went to see a band do an instore at Rough Trade in Nottingham recently to nine people. That wasn’t why it was bad, I just really don’t like them. My wife loves them, however, and wouldn’t have gone alone so I went with her. I did feel bad for them driving from Glasgow to play to that few people though.

[Woodinblack]

1. We played a harbourside festival, hadn't done it before, didn't know it. Started off as a half an hour slot but the band after us bailed so we got extended (which was odd as we didn't know them and they didn't know us). Anyway, afternoon in the sun, crowd that had been drinking, us on a truck opposite the pub(s), great venue for a gig. Setup was us just turning up and plugging in. I do the PA and lights so most gigs are me hauling stuff in, spending time setting it up while the guitarist asks if we are ready for a sound check yet. Played well and the audience liked it, got decent money for something so short. Got asked back.

2. Sadly quite a tricky choice, there were a few. I think my least favourite was a local fair. it was cold, songs were being called out then starting other ones, I thought we sounded bad, we had to sit around for an hour before while we couldn't set up because an old man was playing songs to a backing on a laptop that his daughter was sitting behind on the stage.

3.Steve Hacket, in bath. Loved it, sound was great (not too loud), playing was perfect.

4. Gary Numan in bristol O2. He was great, sound was good for the O2 (unlike the support), but it was way too overcrowded, left before the end.

[Graham]

1. Most memorable gig played (good reasons): last night, which was our final gig with our guitarist, whole band was on fire, great night

2. Most memorable gig played (bad reasons): probably the same gig as it meant saying goodbye to the guitarist. He will be back from time to time though, so could be worse. That or the wedding with the sound limiter where the audience cheering set it off and killed the power.

3. Most memorable gig attended (good reasons): Cave In and Old Man Gloom in London. Cave In are probably my favourite band, but they've been inactive for a few years so I've not been able to see them. Finally got to in May; the reason for the tour - the death of their bassist - were heartbreaking, but both bands (he played in both) did an excellent job playing tribute to him.

4. Most memorable gig attended (bad reasons): Opeth at the Damnation Festival. Opeth are another of my favourite bands but I'm not so wild about the change of direction since the last four albums. The set list was tilted towards this material and I missed the majority of the set as I was working and had to deal with Mayhem's load out. Definitely more to do with Mayhem than Opeth.

[Mykesbass]

1. Most memorable (for good reasons) gig played: This Friday - Emsworth Music Club. Still bedding in as a band, but we were great, really nice audience, they all paid to get in and we mad a nice bit of money (by pub band standards).

2. Most memorable (for bad reasons) gig played: Rock & Roll band I joined for a short time. Did 4 gigs across two days at the Birmingham Jazz Festival. First one was outdoors, in the rain in a shopping centre, with some very odd types knocking about. 

And/or

3. Most memorable (for good reasons) gig attended: Tedeschi Trucks at the London Palladium. Best sound ever, and up in my top three gigs of all time.

4. Most memorable (for bad reasons) gig attended: Fortunately, none.