How old were you when you did your first gig?

[snorkie635]

2 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

This would've been a little bit after the first gig described as I seem to be on the Sattelite (or whatever it was) bass that I borrowed for a while, replacing the crappy woolworths thing. 

Can't remember where this was at all, surprised I still had the pic. Looks to be attempting vocals too, bad idea. 

The steam suggests you were also wearing hot-pants? 😂

[Waddo Soqable]

1 minute ago, snorkie635 said:

The steam suggests you were also wearing hot-pants? 😂

Nah strictly commando mate.... 

[Lfalex v1.1]

19.

 

YMCA in Chelmsford in a Thrash band.

Using a Westone Raider 1 and a Trace Elliot 1110 combo.

[dclaassen]

Probably 19, although I was playing in school from about 15. I got in with a veteran country band out on the plains of Nebraska. Yamaha 115 amp and a '68 fretless/maple P bass that, of course, I wish I still had. 

[NoirBass]

I was 11 when I did my first gig. I was in a band with some much older lads and they played at the local community centre. I definitely looked pretty cool getting my Mum to pick me, my Aria Pro 2 and my Carlsbro amp up at the end - Rock and Roll!

[KingPrawn]

Great thread. I first played bass at 12 in the school band and trombone. First real gig outside that enviroment was in 85 St Chads Cathederal in Brum did a Live Aid thing and " State of Art" did a 45 minute set of covers. My Kay Bass and Sunno bass amp in the pocket! 

[leschirons]

16 years old, in the Mildmay tavern, North London. We were going to get £15 

That is, until we were told to leave after the first set as we refused to play "Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner" at 10.15 which was the landlords way of telling the punters it was last orders. 

 

We refused because we were a rock band, although the real reason was because we had no idea how to play it as we were s h I t😂

We were called LION  and here is that band ( me on the left, 1968.

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by leschirons

[2pods]

stand in drummer (with original drummer's kit...I didn't have one) at 13 in 1970.

A wedding in @TheGreek's old neck of the woods Braeside.

Managed to bluff it until the break/buffet. 

Second half, first song, the usual religious Armageddon breaks out....I had a lovely view from behind the bass drum.

Various people thrown out/injured, everyone drumk and happy again. At least we got paid....I think ?

 

A year later.

First gig on bass with Woolworth "Top Twenty", vaguely Precision shaped object with three strings. 

It stayed like that all through that band. Amp was a Selmer "Treble and Bass" with matching cab.

We played the likes of "What's Going On ?" (Taste), "Black Night" (Purple), with no keyboards  etc

I think it was a church youth club.

[leschirons]

2 hours ago, 2pods said:

stand in drummer (with original drummer's kit...I didn't have one) at 13 in 1970.

A wedding in @TheGreek's old neck of the woods Braeside.

Managed to bluff it until the break/buffet. 

 

 

A year later.

First gig on bass with Woolworth "Top Twenty", vaguely Precision shaped object with three strings. 

It stayed like that all through that band. Amp was a Selmer "Treble and Bass" with matching cab.

We played the likes of "What's Going On ?" (Taste), "Black Night" (Purple), with no keyboards  etc

I think it was a church youth club.

Great number, What's going on. Used to open with that in one band I was in.  Still have the Album somewhere (On the boards)

[Martley]

15 for my first gig on Bass, but had been performing prior to that in a Drum and Bugle Band. 

 

Now 66, and ironically this weekend's gig has my oldest friend playing alongside me again - he was there leading the band when were 15 year olds playing a local Church Hall 

[upside downer]

21 years old, September 1991 at the Oakley Arms, Rushden. Debut gig by four-piece local band the Fly Agarics playing songs like 'Web of Life', 'Moonbum', 'Government Relics', 'Sir Billy', 'Do It' and 'Chemical Bin' that have all gone on to become beloved, classic anthems to rival anything put out by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin put together. Waddaya mean, 'Never heard of you'?

[mr4stringz]

16 in The Wheatsheaf in Walsall. First pub I had a pint in, first pub I gigged in, first pub I pulled a pint in (not all on the same night, but in that order).

[stef030]

14 and a half at school first gig

pubs ect in scotland at 15 and a half

moved to london at 18 to chase the dream

[chriswareham]

First gig was aged nineteen in 1991 at a venue in the hellhole that is Aldershot, home of the British Army. I'd only been playing bass for a few months and I recall having an A3 pad of paper on the floor with the song structures written on them in marker pen. I really wanted to be a keyboard player, but very few bands in the area wanted one since they were mostly trying to emulate local heroes Mega City 4. I really liked Peter Hook's bass playing though, so I traded my Roland MC-202 synth/sequencer for a terrible Aria bass (one of the later Korean made ones rather than a decent Matsumoku one). It was actually a good thing when the headstock snapped off the Aria a year or so later, as my next bass was a Westone Thunder which was a totally wonderful instrument.