thebrig Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 On 06/12/2022 at 14:24, TimR said: Slade's - Merry Christmas Everybody goes down a storm whenever I've played it in bands. Is a great sing along and it's got an intermediate level bass line to keep it interesting. We're currently 'learning' it for our next gig next week. I'm not normally a fan of Christmas songs and when it was suggested we play this at a Christmas gig a few years ago, I thought, oh no! But to my surprise, when I started learning it, I actually fell in love the bass line and learnt it note for note, fortunately, the rest of the band had learn't their parts properly as well and it was as tight as duck's whatsit in rehearsal, and I couldn't wait to play it live, but on the morning of the gig, a couple of feet of snow fell and the gig was cancelled. Up until this day, I never did get to play it live, but I always run through it a few times leading up to Christmas, just in case. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Well our guitarist has covid and the drummer has a chest infection. So looks like no Christmas tunes this year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 I've got a throat bug and can hardly speak at times but i aint missing our last gig of the year in one of our fav venues, The Dreadnoght in Bathgate. Virtually sold out with only a handful of tickets that will get sold on the night. We've all been looking forward to this gig for many months. Last time we played it our female singer had ffod poisonng and was very unwell but she soldiered on thru both sets. She has set the bar very high for the rest of us. Luckily with a bit of salt water gargling and a spoonful of honey every few hrs its easing of now. Last night i could hardly speak. Good job i dont sing. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 we've done Slade a couple of times this year, first time went down a storm, second time, a bit more of a punky venue it didn't, so pick your venue I guess 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Dave Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 If you get a chance to play Jim Lea's great bassline once a year - why would you not ? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 We played our Xmas gig last Saturday. Merry Xmas Everyone (Shaky) was received with moderate appreciation, Fairytale went down a storm, Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade) had everyone up and singing. We did a tongue in cheek version of Blue Christmas - speeding up after every repeat. Song that got the best reception (based on volume of singing) - Sweet Caroline. Most dancers on (and off) the dance floor - 500 Miles. Bah humbug! 😃 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 We're playing in Newcastle -U-Lyme this Friday. I suspect there won't be many Christmas songs! There's us (punk funk originals), a grunge-metal originals band and a prog metal band. I'm saving Auld Lang Syne for NYE in Manchester... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 4 hours ago, thebrig said: I'm not normally a fan of Christmas songs and when it was suggested we play this at a Christmas gig a few years ago, I thought, oh no! But to my surprise, when I started learning it, I actually fell in love the bass line and learnt it note for note, fortunately, the rest of the band had learn't their parts properly as well and it was as tight as duck's whatsit in rehearsal, and I couldn't wait to play it live, but on the morning of the gig, a couple of feet of snow fell and the gig was cancelled. Up until this day, I never did get to play it live, but I always run through it a few times leading up to Christmas, just in case. Did it live last Saturday..managed to sing it as bv but the audience filled any gaps! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 (edited) Trird a selection at rehearsal last night, agreed for Christmas eve: Slade Shakey Motorhead Chris de Burgh The Greedies Auld Lang Syne Edited December 13, 2022 by Stub Mandrel in case @frank blank spots my typo... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 On 06/12/2022 at 11:09, Al Krow said: I suspect most bands wouldn't offer to learn more than one or two new songs for a wedding gig (eg a the first dance and maybe one or other fav) which typically pay the most. We do probably 80 weddings a year. We'll learn as many tunes as they want as long as we have time and the client is happy to pay the £100 per song that we charge for learning requests. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted December 18, 2022 Author Share Posted December 18, 2022 (edited) So three Xmas gigs - 2 corporate and 1 pub. My takeaways are: The 8 Xmas songs we did at the corporate gigs are definitely too many, haha! 3 went down really well: Slade. Mariah Carey and Feliz Navidad. The rest were tolerated or "floor emptiers". 2 out of the 3 Xmas songs at the pug gig went down a storm: Slade and Pogues. Our lead singer persuaded the band it was ok for us to do the Pogues song as she was going to use Kirsty MacColl's own change to the original homophobic slur in it and, not only that, she actually took the time when introducing the song to let the audience know that she would be changing a couple of the words to be respectful. It was probably the best received song the band did during the night, and the bass player was able to go off and get a beer (or more precisely take some footage, haha!) as the keys more than adequately covered the bass line (please excuse the rough audio): Edited December 19, 2022 by Al Krow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 Our singer covered our event with backing tracks. I went along to set up PA and lights. From the feel of the event and watching audience reaction, she should have done a shed load of Christmas music. It was a background music gig. I don't think I could have played, outdoors in close to 0°c in any case. Reminded me once more you have to guage your audience. Depends who books you and whether they're expecting a band who has a set list of 40 songs or 100 songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40hz Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 We did 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakey, 'Last Christmas' by Wham and 'Driving Home For Christmas' By Chris Rea, last night at a corporate gig. They were the 3 best received songs of the night! People went mental for them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 On 06/12/2022 at 14:24, TimR said: Slade's - Merry Christmas Everybody goes down a storm whenever I've played it in bands. Is a great sing along and it's got an intermediate level bass line to keep it interesting. We're currently 'learning' it for our next gig next week. We did it as a encore at our gig on Saturday and it was very well received. When I was learning it I was surprised at how much fun the bassline is to play. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 People enjoy the seasonal songs. It’s as simple as that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 AsI mentioned earlier in the thread, one of my bands has been playing our cover of "I Believe In Father Christmas" and this year we've released it as a single. The video has just been released too: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Slade song on Sat night we were drowned out by the audience singing the chorus. Wizzard song also went down really well Sweet Xmas song had a lot of people singing the chorus but it was early on in the night so probably most were still sober 😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 13 hours ago, BigRedX said: AsI mentioned earlier in the thread, one of my bands has been playing our cover of "I Believe In Father Christmas" and this year we've released it as a single. The video has just been released too: My all time favourite Christmas song and what a great version. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 18 hours ago, BigRedX said: AsI mentioned earlier in the thread, one of my bands has been playing our cover of "I Believe In Father Christmas" and this year we've released it as a single. The video has just been released too: Really good cover. The bass sounds great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 Decided not to shy away from the Chrimbo vibe and sold our souls to blatant commercialism! 🙂 "Get ready to rock Your Blues Away this Christmas at the Windsor in Penarth. Bluesfire Blues Band will be playing a red-hot mix of Blues Rock and Christmas favourites with our own twist this Christmas Eve." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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