Van has broken down...

[PaulThePlug]

Just back from a local Rugby Club that should of been hosting Thunderstruck.

Last min idea to take my Youngest (14) for a thursday eve of AC/DCnes, as i did my Eldest several years back...

 

Cancelled... unfortunately the gearbox on the van cried enough... i wonder if the driver is the drummer?

 

So... any stories for, canceling, missing or not making it to a gig, particularly one you should be playing?

Edited June 8, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[bartelby]

I never got to see the Butthole Surfers outside of a festival. Every time me and my mates tried to see them something happened. 
Cars breaking down, driver being ill, trains cancelled, actual gig cancelled... Maybe 6 or 7 times stuff happened. The last occasion the gig was cancelled on the day. Shortly after that the band split.

[TheGreek]

Seeing the title I had visions of Mr Morrison being admitted to the Psych Unit...phew!!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

In a previous four-piece band, we once started a regular gig we played monthly as a three piece - drummer, bass (me), & lead guitar/vocalist. After a thundering opening song, the frontman said something along the lines of "You may have noticed there are only three of us onstage tonight rather than the usual four... The next song is dedicated to our late guitarist.." & namechecked the missing band member.

 

Then we played the second song and after that the frontman said that he'd like to clarify that the aforementioned guitarist wasn't dead he - just hadn't turned up yet.

 

The missing guitarist evenually arrived in time to join us for the second set after encountering nightmare traffic somewhere or other.

[velvetkevorkian]

I missed a gig because I was so excited to see double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer that I forgot we were meant to be playing the same night.

 

Also had a near miss when the dodgy van the keys player's dad was driving us in got a flat somewhere between Glasgow and Perth... fortunately he had a tin of sealant and we made it in the end.

[Rich]

I missed out on a New Year's Eve gig... it was a 40 minute drive from my house, and half way there the niggling slight problem with my car's cooling system became an alarmingly un-slight one. Luckily our second guitarist also plays bass and has depped for me in the past, and he hadn't left home yet, so he was able to swap his gear over and covered for me. So rather than a fun evening and a healthy payday, I had a crap evening by the side of the road waiting for the AA man (who was surprisingly prompt and tremendously helpful, as was the random bloke who stopped to see if he could help), and a financial outlay. 

Also nearly missed out on a gig when I arrived at the venue to find that our normally efficient crew had left my Wal behind at the previous gig venue... some frantic phone calls and smoking tyres later, it was in my hands 5 minutes before curtain up.

[Rich]

13 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Seeing the title I had visions of Mr Morrison being admitted to the Psych Unit...phew!!

As opposed to the Grumpy Old Bastárd Unit, who I fear would find him incurable.

[Waddo Soqable]

Not a case of missed the gig but in this case the van broke down on the way home.. 

Unfortunately the gig was in Manchester and home was London. 

It was an old borrowed battered ford Transit, and got us there OK, but the return trip, not so much, it died on the M6

Middle of the night, pitch black, no chance of getting it going again. We were faced with getting 5 people and a bands worth of gear back to London. 

We hit on the insane idea of hitching lifts, individuallly, with whatever kit the kind lift giver could take. 

Incredibly this plan actually worked and everyone eventually got back with the gear intact. 

I got a lift from a guy in an MG of all things and we managed to lever a 4x12 cabinet into it somehow, plus me and a bass etc.. This guy was an absolute star and went out of his route to drop me right outside where we were leaving out stuff in Central London . 

The Transit was simply abandoned by the side of the motorway and the owners informed, luckily despite being the driver for the ill fated return trip, I hadn't been involved in the borrowing, so was able to walk away from that one.. 

 

[Crusoe]

13 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

In a previous four-piece band, we once started a regular gig we played monthly as a three piece - drummer, bass (me), & lead guitar/vocalist. After a thundering opening song, the frontman said something along the lines of "You may have noticed there are only three of us onstage tonight rather than the usual four... The next song is dedicated to our late guitarist.." & namechecked the missing band member.

 

Then we played the second song and after that the frontman said that he'd like to clarify that the aforementioned guitarist wasn't dead he - just hadn't turned up yet.

 

The missing guitarist evenually arrived in time to join us for the second set after encountering nightmare traffic somewhere or other.

That reminds me of the Siadwell sketch from the TV show "Absolutely" - We lost my Grandad the other day. He's not dead; we just don't know where he is. 😆

[asingardenof]

We've only had to cancel gigs before because our singist had knackered his voice on the previous gig, or someone's been ill. 

[Chezz55]

Early/Mid 1970's - Mud (Glam Rock stalwarts) were booked to play at a public venue in Colchester.  Late that afternoon, the promoter got a message that their van had died so he was fearing the worst.

 

To their credit, Mud turned up on time and their van arrived a couple of hours later on the back of a recovery truck.  They got set up in double-quick time, started exactly on time and played a really good set.

 

 

[BigRedX]

In 40+ years over gigging I've only ever had to cancel twice due to not being able to get to the venue. The first was when the band van broke down just outside Stoke on the way to Liverpool. RAC were unable to get us going and by the time the recovery truck arrived the gig was over so we got them to take us back to Nottingham.

 

The second was when I woke up feeling very rough on the day of the gig. Normally I'd have taken a handful of painkillers etc and played my way through it, but this being a couple of months post-lockdown, I didn't think that was acceptable behaviour. The band waited until mid-afternoon and when I still didn't fee any better, told the promoter we couldn't play.

 

Other than that the bands I have been in have always been able to get to the gig somehow despite the weather and/or adverse traffic conditions. The next worst was going to a gig in Birmingham when we were stuck on the motorway for 2 hours due to an accident, and missed our performance slot. Luckily the promoter was able to persuade the band who should have been playing after us (the much better-known Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons) to play first and we got to the venue just in time to get our gear on stage and play, before the headliners were due on.

[SPHDS]

Two occurrences.....one was my band's gig, the other, a band I went to see....
- Whilst camping in Cornwall my car got written off (some imbecile in a Chelsea tractor drove me into a ditch..), All good.....people I was with said they'd give me a lift to the station at the end of the week so I could catch a train home as I had a gig...on the day, they decided to go to the beach.....cue hurried taxi ride to Bodmin, late trains (someone assaulted the guard)....and frantic calls to my father.....! (during which my phone died....!)
All was saved when he turned up, at the station, with his car loaded with all my gear.....made it to the gig, just in time (was a bit of a disaster.....but for other reasons...!)
- Americana band I really enjoy seeing and tried to get my father along to see for ages but he's never made it due to 'other plans' etc......
Finally secured a date he could make......at my local, and we were all set, then the gig was cancelled a few days before.....
Pretty valid reason though.......The singer had died! 

[Leonard Smalls]

On the occasion of my mother's 70th birthday I thought I'd treat her and take her to Vienna to see something exciting at the Musikverein; she'd never been and was desperate to see the beautiful Golden Hall. As she's a piano teacher I got tickets for Someone Or Other (can't remember who) playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

We'd gone for a 5 night break, and on the 2nd night I discovered a lovely little microbrewery just round the corner from our hotel. We had a number of pints of very fine beer to wash down our schnitzel mit kasspaetzle, and at around 930pm mother got worried I'd lost the tickets. I got them out to show we were sorted when I realised the concert was that night, and would be just about finished... So that was £130 wasted!

But in order to make up for my duff calendar-keeping I rushed round to the concert hall in the morning and found they had tickets for that night's performance of a little known Liszt organ work, so we went to that  instead, which was nice!