Bingo finishes at twenty-five past nine...

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I fear the wink emoji may have been too small to register that my comment was made in jest

Edited August 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[MartinB]

"You don't clap me when I come out t'pit, so I'm not gonna clap you" 🤣

[MacDaddy]

On 06/08/2023 at 15:35, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

What it was like to be in a gigging band in 1976

 

 

 

"You do a thing with your lip, stop doing it!" 🤣

[Rosie C]

I'm booked at a northern workingmen's club next year for a solo singer-guitarist performance, and the first thing I thought was the reputation of the tough crowds, I shouldn't have read this topic, it didn't help!

[Franticsmurf]

14 hours ago, casapete said:

This was deadly serious stuff - when I was in a resident club house band we played most weeks,

and actually won it twice! Prize on a Saturday night was around £1100, which was quite a lot in the 

1980’s. 

We made the mistake of playing bingo in a club to which we were the visiting band. We made the bigger mistake of winning. We nearly didn't get paid and there was very little love for the band that night. 😄

[diskwave]

That vid brings back some smoky brightly lit memories. Bands back then were good. That pop hit they're doing (know it well)  at the end is a tricky little thing with those harmonies.....really well played.

[Gasman]

We still play a couple of WMCs with bingo in the middle and a meat & bottle draw at the end to keep the punters there as long as possible, not for the bands sake but for the bar! North Dorset traditions die hard...

[deepbass5]

What memories, wish i kept my band booking diaries. But the dreaded Bingo !  I have similar recollections of loosing 60% of the punters after Bingo, but they weren't there for the music anyway. Those that stayed wanted to dance.

I remember doing a show case at a big club - Bands and comics etc to hopefully get more work as agents had come down to see the acts. We got fed, Ham or cheese roll with side salad on a paper plate. Our two sax players decided to tip their side salad into the raffle drum, as no raffle had taken place so must be last weeks tickets, But no it was the monthly meat draw that night.

 

[casapete]

A band I was in during the early 80’s did a fair amount of working men’s club gigs. One of the 

band used to remove one ball from the bingo machine on our gigs, and put it into

the subsequent one. Many clubs would leave the bingo machine unattended near the dressing

room/cupboard so it was often an easy manoeuvre. Unfortunately we never got to witness 

the mayhem that would have ensued. 😆

[theplumber]

16 hours ago, casapete said:

A band I was in during the early 80’s did a fair amount of working men’s club gigs. One of the 

band used to remove one ball from the bingo machine on our gigs, and put it into

the subsequent one. Many clubs would leave the bingo machine unattended near the dressing

room/cupboard so it was often an easy manoeuvre. Unfortunately we never got to witness 

the mayhem that would have ensued. 😆

After being told by a new social convener in a Glasgow social club back in the day that he would not be booking us again and we should forget any future bookings we decided to take a bit of revenge (we were young...and drunk) After we packed up we took all the bingo balls from the machine and chucked them on to the M8 on the way home. I seem to remember that the clubs PA amp got some lager poured in the air vent......I know!! Shocking! Pity as it was a decent club and the band always went down well! After writing this I also seem to remember the said convener giving us a bit of lip then being attacked by the drummer! Oh dear.........

[matski]

That documentary gave me traumatic flashbacks of when I was watching a similar type of band and got my fingers trodden on and crushed by a platform-shoed wearing guitarist when I was a nipper, at the community club my grandparents used to run. Amersham Cross was the band - their name is indelibly etched in my memory forever.

[rumble_on]

On 07/08/2023 at 19:21, casapete said:

Colin Crompton, IIRC?!

Most northern clubs had a Concert Secretary, who’s job was to source the bands and performers

appearing ( usually via one or maybe two agents ) and then ensure the evening went well. Any problems

(bands being late / too loud / not up to standard etc.) were dealt with by him. Most of them had little

or no idea of music / entertainment in general but did it for the kudos and probably free ale. They in turn

usually had to answer to ‘the committee’ , a group of similar blokes, so you can imagine why club bands

were tolerated rather than respected. Bingo was the main draw in clubs, and 3x30 or 40 minute sets

were fitted in around the games, throughout which dead silence was expected. In Hull they had a thing

called Link or Allied bingo, where most of the city’s clubs combined to play for large sums via a telephone

link. This was deadly serious stuff - when I was in a resident club house band we played most weeks,

and actually won it twice! Prize on a Saturday night was around £1100, which was quite a lot in the 

1980’s. 

 

I remember the Link Bingo from The Piper Club on Newland Ave, Hull, ....it was a bit of a student hangout on a Sunday lunchtime back in the early 90s,....why they tolerated us students, I've no idea, must have been all the 20p life memberships that got paid every week, repeatedly...anyway, woe betide anyone who spoke during the bingo, you'd be outside in no time....

It was Phoenix Nights on steroids! Drums and Hammond backing up Debbie from Doncaster who in the words on the compere "had come to take her clothes off for you, but remember, lads, no touching", then Brian, a 60 year old regular with the thickest milk bottle glasses, would get up and perform amongst others,  2 Unlimited's There's No Limits again to the sounds of resident drum and organ duo.

All that came flooding back when playing a social club in Wigan only a couple of years back, furniture dating back to the 70s, half time bingo and a meat raffle. When a band member's wife asked at the bar, what sort of wine they had, the answer was "Both, red and white".....happy days!

[NikNik]

1 hour ago, rumble_on said:

 

I remember the Link Bingo from The Piper Club on Newland Ave, Hull, ....it was a bit of a student hangout on a Sunday lunchtime back in the early 90s,....why they tolerated us students, I've no idea, must have been all the 20p life memberships that got paid every week, repeatedly...anyway, woe betide anyone who spoke during the bingo, you'd be outside in no time....

It was Phoenix Nights on steroids! Drums and Hammond backing up Debbie from Doncaster who in the words on the compere "had come to take her clothes off for you, but remember, lads, no touching", then Brian, a 60 year old regular with the thickest milk bottle glasses, would get up and perform amongst others,  2 Unlimited's There's No Limits again to the sounds of resident drum and organ duo.

All that came flooding back when playing a social club in Wigan only a couple of years back, furniture dating back to the 70s, half time bingo and a meat raffle. When a band member's wife asked at the bar, what sort of wine they had, the answer was "Both, red and white".....happy days!

Happy days? Sounds like Hell.

[casapete]

2 hours ago, rumble_on said:

 

I remember the Link Bingo from The Piper Club on Newland Ave, Hull, ....it was a bit of a student hangout on a Sunday lunchtime back in the early 90s,....why they tolerated us students, I've no idea, must have been all the 20p life memberships that got paid every week, repeatedly...anyway, woe betide anyone who spoke during the bingo, you'd be outside in no time....

It was Phoenix Nights on steroids! Drums and Hammond backing up Debbie from Doncaster who in the words on the compere "had come to take her clothes off for you, but remember, lads, no touching", then Brian, a 60 year old regular with the thickest milk bottle glasses, would get up and perform amongst others,  2 Unlimited's There's No Limits again to the sounds of resident drum and organ duo.

All that came flooding back when playing a social club in Wigan only a couple of years back, furniture dating back to the 70s, half time bingo and a meat raffle. When a band member's wife asked at the bar, what sort of wine they had, the answer was "Both, red and white".....happy days!

Wow, The Piper Club! Played there a few times, and it was that strange mix you mention of traditional 

WMC and then student hangout with stupid cheap drinks offers. The compère for a while was Trev Tye,

a legend around Hull clubs & pubs, who was a great singer and a lovely bloke.
Still open now I think, but purely as a student club staying open till 3am a few nights per week. 

[rumble_on]

1 hour ago, casapete said:

Wow, The Piper Club! Played there a few times, and it was that strange mix you mention of traditional 

WMC and then student hangout with stupid cheap drinks offers. The compère for a while was Trev Tye,

a legend around Hull clubs & pubs, who was a great singer and a lovely bloke.
Still open now I think, but purely as a student club staying open till 3am a few nights per week. 

Yes, my son has also ended up at Hull uni, the whole club has been redeveloped and it’s a full on night club. Very different to how it was back then!

[Old Horse Murphy]

There was a pub in the early-mid 2000's in Kingston where we often used to play after the strippers had finished on a Sunday lunchtime. It used to remind me of Jabba The Hutt's Palace but with stickier floors. 
 

Not the best gigs but we used to get lunch for free and it was a strangely subdued (dare I say spent) audience. 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Old Horse Murphy

[lemmywinks]

On 08/08/2023 at 13:06, Gasman said:

We still play a couple of WMCs with bingo in the middle and a meat & bottle draw at the end to keep the punters there as long as possible, not for the bands sake but for the bar! North Dorset traditions die hard...

 

Haha same, they're some of the better paying regular gigs we do. Playing sets in between bingo, open the box and Joe 90.

[grenadillabama]

I am always amazed that an amp or PA from Mississippi is used much in the UK . Local bands in Birmingham, Alabama used PV then and now. Tight vocal harmony is rare in my area. We didn't have a music store that sold Marshall until 1974 !

[Nothingman]

Great share. Thank you.