Load ins from hell...

[Islander]

The two I remember the most were the Dope and Canker (Hope and Anchor) where the load in was via a pub trapdoor using the barrel slide.  That part no so bad - the load out, however...  The second was the Corn Dolly in Oxford.  An awkward downstairs venue with tricky parking and access - it was usually a great gig though.

 

[Mykesbass]

Water Rats Kings Cross. Red Route, ULEZ, parking meters that charge more for vans, and having to get the gear back through the pub which starts getting busy late at night when the gig is over.

Did hear a very funny story about getting a hammond b3 on and off the Renfrew Ferry 😮

[Painy]

9 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I think our worst one was a place in Cardiff, no parking so quick unload in street, then load in to venue up 3 full flights of external iron stairs. At a time when the singer had had heart surgery so was carrying even less than usual.

We'll be loading in up 4 full flights of external stairs on Friday. 🙄

On the plus side there is at least parking but my 58kg ABM610 will still be left at home for that one. 

[peteb]

2 hours ago, Roger2611 said:

My worst was Edwards Number 8 in Birmingham many years back, we were putting in a 20K PA for a Banghra festival, we were promised 8 burly roadies to get the gear in and down (or up) two flights of stairs, either way we had no help in or out at the end of the night, so it was down to 3 of us to man handle the entire rig in and out, that damn near killed me!

The load-in at Edwards No 8 back in the day was so bad that it still occasionally pops up in conversation, over 30 years later! 

Did you ever have to load out down the fire escape at the back? That  was even worse...

[bassace]

I remember heaving my DB up here in Oxford. Parking was ok though.

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

 

Did you ever have to load out down the fire escape at the back? That  was even worse...

Dicey O Reillys in Neasden was like this. Covered in beer at the end of the night, not much lighting and treacherous in winter when it iced up.

[peteb]

7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Dicey O Reillys in Neasden was like this. Covered in beer at the end of the night, not much lighting and treacherous in winter when it iced up.

To be fair, the fire escape at Edwards was indoors, but gawd it was steep! Nightmare getting flightcases down it at the end of the night... 

[dave_bass5]

1 minute ago, peteb said:

To be fair, the fire escape at Edwards was indoors, but gawd it was steep! Nightmare getting flightcases down it at the end of the night... 

Makes me glad ive always had small cabs. I cant imagine carrying something like a 8x10 down some of these staircases. 

[peteb]

1 minute ago, dave_bass5 said:

Makes me glad ive always had small cabs. I cant imagine carrying something like a 8x10 down some of these staircases. 

This was back in the days when we used two 412s (in flightcases), an 8u bass amp rack, valve guitar amps (in flightcases) and a large double drum kit (in flightcases). In fact, the only items that were not flightcased were my bass cabs (a 410 & a huge 215). 

Fortunately, there was an always an in-house PA when we played there...

[dave_bass5]

1 minute ago, peteb said:

This was back in the days when we used two 412s (in flightcases), an 8u bass amp rack, valve guitar amps (in flightcases) and a large double drum kit (in flightcases). In fact, the only items that were not flightcased were my bass cabs (a 410 & a huge 215). 

Fortunately, there was an always an in-house PA when we played there...

Bloody hell!!!!.

We used to have a Turbosound PA rig, and although the cabs were only 1x15's and 1x12's the amps weighed a ton. Many times i felt like just letting go on the way out. 

[Owen]

11 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I think our worst one was a place in Cardiff, no parking so quick unload in street, then load in to venue up 3 full flights of external iron stairs. At a time when the singer had had heart surgery so was carrying even less than usual.

No disrespect to your singer, but we all know that a singer carrying less than usual is moving into the realms of the impossible. 

[peteb]

18 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Bloody hell!!!!.

We used to have a Turbosound PA rig, and although the cabs were only 1x15's and 1x12's the amps weighed a ton. Many times i felt like just letting go on the way out. 

The PA we had (remember that this was back in the 80s) included 4 x Martin bass bins (the cheese wedge shaped ones), four substantial mids cabs, tops & separate horns enclosure for each side, a large flightcased desk, a horribly heavy amp rack and a big FX rack. The guitar player and soundman who owned the rig used it to start a PA company later on (still in business today, not using the same gear). 

We had to get that lot up an outside fire escape at a couple of gigs (including the White Lion in Warrington if I remember correctly), but nothing as bad as Edwards. 

Edited December 23, 2019 by peteb

[dave_bass5]

Ah, the good old days eh 🤣

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Dicey O Reillys in Neasden was like this. Covered in beer at the end of the night, not much lighting and treacherous in winter when it iced up.

I used to play Dicey's in the 80s, too. Had a Fender Bassman plus a 2x15 at the time. Deadly on that iron fire escape that went up/down 3 floors. O'Neill's in Wardour Street was a nightmare. No parking, wardens everywhere. Had to dump the gear, leave a couple of the chaps to keep an eye on/load it in, drive off and look for parking (usually ended up somewhere near Warren Street) and walk all the way back. Then the same in reverse at the end of the night. Have done Thames riverboats, too. Staggering up/down a narrow gangplank. Played a riverside hotel in Richmond once. The only parking was on the opposite side of the river. You had to pile up your gear on the quay opposite, press a button to alert the hotel and they sent a small boat to collect you. Took several trips - the boat was not exactly large. These days, at my advanced age, I check access before accepting a job.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Dan Dare

[chris_b]

6 hours ago, TheRev said:

Beese's riverside bar in Bristol.

Lovely old place with a great beer garden right on the river. It does actually have a car park but its about 40ft above the pub, which you reach by 60-odd uneven steps.

Sounds like the Ypres Castle Inn in Rye. About 57 steep and uneven steps up to the pub.

[casapete]

Anyone done the Pavilion Theatre in Cromer? Situated on the end of the pier, you had to park the van at the beach end, then load all the gear onto a vintage cart (like the type you used to see on railway station platforms in the 60’s) and push it down the wooden pier to the theatre on the end, next to the lifeboat station!  Took many trips to complete the load in , which wasn’t fun when the weather was kicking off. Then after the gig, the same thing but in the dark, with the North Sea raging around you, whilst trying to dodge the many night fishermen who used to be scattered along the pier. Cracking little theatre though, run by some great people.

[jonno1981]

Camden barfly. 1 set of stairs for bands and punters. They often do a full lineup of 3 bands, then a changeover to a club night around 11 with different bands and a full audience change over. As it’s late, both crowds have very whizzed up punters. Cue three bands trying to load out, 200ish punters down 1 set of stairs, while the promoter is trying to get another 200 punters and 3 bands of gear up the same stairs at the same time. You don’t have time to get vehicles before this starts if you’re the headline so you load into the street. 
Cue unlucky band members watching the pile of gear outside the venue while the others get the cars. Gear everywhere, scary folks eyeing up guitar cases, people voming in the street, oh and it’s raining. 

[SICbass]

18 minutes ago, jonno1981 said:

Camden barfly. 1 set of stairs for bands and punters. They often do a full lineup of 3 bands, then a changeover to a club night around 11 with different bands and a full audience change over. As it’s late, both crowds have very whizzed up punters. Cue three bands trying to load out, 200ish punters down 1 set of stairs, while the promoter is trying to get another 200 punters and 3 bands of gear up the same stairs at the same time. You don’t have time to get vehicles before this starts if you’re the headline so you load into the street. 
Cue unlucky band members watching the pile of gear outside the venue while the others get the cars. Gear everywhere, scary folks eyeing up guitar cases, people voming in the street, oh and it’s raining. 

God, nightmare.

[Lozz196]

9 hours ago, owen said:

No disrespect to your singer, but we all know that a singer carrying less than usual is moving into the realms of the impossible. 

That’s why I said less than usual - which is almost impossible but somehow he managed it 🤣

[FinnDave]

I won't be taking anything heavier than a Super Compact to the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge again - carrying a 2x12 up and down the slippery wet iron fire escape steps is not something I want to be doing too often! Great venue once you're in, though as usual, there is very little parking nearby. I managed to get one of the very spaces opposite the entrance last time we played there, we used to be able to park in the small car park nearby, but that's private now.

[Raslee]

This one, twice in a month - 7 piece functions band, lots of gear/lights, 133 steps and no lift, in the hurricane wind and rain. Oh, and the occasional landslide.....I took a brief hiatus after that month.

I give you - ‘Lusty Glaze’ - Cornwall....looks can be deceiving 😱

Edited December 24, 2019 by Raslee

[SICbass]

25 minutes ago, Raslee said:

This one, twice in a month - 7 piece functions band, lots of gear/lights, 133 steps and no lift, in the hurricane wind and rain. Oh, and the occasional landslide.....I took a brief hiatus after that month.

I give you - ‘Lusty Glaze’ - Cornwall....looks can be deceiving 😱

Oh my giddy Aunt!

 

“Lusty Glaze“? Pornstar name, surely?

Edited December 24, 2019 by SICbass

[Leonard Smalls]

Not strictly a load-in, though I still remember the Edward's no.8 experience, but I had to get my mum's piano into the house she'd just moved to. So it was up 3 steps from the road - just about fitted through the door but the previous owner had built a little interior porch, which I had to dismantle. I'd wisely hired piano movers but there were only 2 of them - one my sort of size and the other was enormous, which was most helpful for what was to come.

We got into the living room, when my mum said "it needs to go upstairs" (she's a piano teacher so wanted to give lessons in the spare bedroom). Now this was no ordinary piano, it was an oak Pfieffer overstrung with oversized cast iron frame and weighed close to 400kgs... And it didn't fit the staircase, though once I'd taken the stair-rail off it did, just. Luckily, I reasoned that it wouldn't go round the right angle at the top, even if tipped on its end so I took off the banisters just in case. I put a climbing rope underneath it, we lifted and the enormous bloke got under too, while me and the other chap heaved and pulled it onto the landing. 

Strangely, when my mum moved house again a few years later that piano moving firm no longer existed!

[SICbass]

So, I have to know now. Did you go through the same rigmarole in reverse?

[peteb]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

I won't be taking anything heavier than a Super Compact to the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge again - carrying a 2x12 up and down the slippery wet iron fire escape steps is not something I want to be doing too often! Great venue once you're in, though as usual, there is very little parking nearby. I managed to get one of the very spaces opposite the entrance last time we played there, we used to be able to park in the small car park nearby, but that's private now.

I had forgotten the Trades - another up the outside fire escape job! Not the worst load in around, but it's inevitably raining and the fire escape is above an alleyway where all the bins are kept so it always smells a bit ripe!