Dom in Dorset Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 (edited) Those gigs you thought were going to be awful but turned out nice in the end. Following on from the train wreck thread... My country rock trio (something like Motorhead playing country) were booked for Boomtown festival. The site is devided into zones, futuristic, urban, etc and a wild West zone where we were playing. Our zone was all timber facades of saloons etc complete with actors doing gunfights every hour, falling off buildings into hay carts, "ladies" plying their trade etc We'd been told that there would be backline, drum kit etc just bring guitars, pedals and breakables... We arrive to find that none of this is true. There isn't even a stage. There is a small pa and they get us to set up on the saloon steps to entertain the crowd between bands on the main stage. Everything is plugged into the pa including the guitar and as he usually uses the dirty channel on his amp it's clean sound only. Our drummer has to play standing up with snare, hi hat , ride and a suit case for a bass drum. All set to be a total train wreck but...our set coincided with the actors clocking off for the day. Still in full wild west costume they gathered Infront of us and immediately started dancing wildly waving shot guns in the air and generally having a blast. Their presence attracted more people and we ended up with a good crowd. Just goes to show that things can turn around. Edited February 2, 2022 by Dom in Dorset 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velarian Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 My last post on the train wreck thread would probably be more applicable here! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 (edited) Reminds me of a gig my bluegrass band did at Pontins, Camber Sands many moons ago. It was a wild west/country music festival. The place was full of blokes dressed as Wyatt Earp and a lot of the women were circular. Grown men were having mock gunfights and quick-draw contests n the car park, stalls were selling all manner of tat and you could feel the life being sucked out of you the minute you walked in the place. Most of the bands were dodgy country outfits, playing Blanket on the Ground and similar. We had been booked as a nod to something more traditional. We played a set at a Sunday lunchtime/afternoon concert in a massive dining hall that could have doubled as an aircraft hanger. We were treated with complete indifference, which was fine. We didn't care as we had been paid upfront. The thing that stuck in my mind was the MC and "comedian" (I use the term loosely). His spiel and choice of material was indescribably filthy. As it was Sunday lunchtime/early afternoon, the place was full of families, with kids running around. This bloke's routine would have got him chucked out of a few stag do's for being too near the mark. Nobody batted an eyelid. Edited February 2, 2022 by Dan Dare 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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