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Keeping the punters at bay


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A lot of the places I play are not on a raised stage so you're set up at one end of a dancefloor. Come the end of the night and the crowd's inhibitions have been lubricated away, they tend to get too close. I've been hit many times with my microphone, people walking into the band space to request a song (while you're playing!), drinks spilt near pedals and monitors etc. etc. etc. It can be irritating and unsafe. It's difficult in one of my bands as we are a 3-piece so tends to be more space for people to walk into.

 

Is there a passive way anyone has discovered of keeping people out of the band's space without being OTT and unapproachable? 

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When we don't have a stage or a barrier provided by the pub, we combine two uses and place some of these (this is just an example, we have slightly beefier models) at the front of the stage, with our leads inside. They have proved surprisingly effective.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Protector-Channels-Fastening-Organizer-Flexible-Warehouse-Black/dp/B09NVHKP87/ 

 

Whenever we play a new pub or place without a dedicated stage with our rock 'n' roll band, we tend to pack as little equipment as possible and bring the Kolstein Busetto as opposed to a full size double bass, so @Happy Jack doesn't have to place it on the floor - it has its own stand that can be positioned at the back of the stage.

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Brings me back to me being positioned outside the toilet door in certain venues . Thankfully no bum notes were mentioned .

Then we often had punters putting their drinks on my amp despite being politely asked not to . All part and and parcel etc . back in the day .. chicken wire perhaps ? 🤔

 

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Thanks for all suggestions so far. 

 

There is of course a safety element but I have to admit that I'm getting sick of people trying to request songs while we're mid-song, if it stops just one of them it'll be worth it. Nothing will stop the coked-up steroid-taking blokes though except the cattle prod.

 

I'm considering sticking warning tape to the PA speaker covers, fill them with drum bags and stick in gaps as appropriate. 

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I find the best solution is to play music that only a handful of chin-stroking goatee- and black polo neck-wearing pseuds will want to watch, if you're lucky.

That way no-one is likely to ask for Wonderwall or any of that cack, though you may get embroiled in a heated discussion on whether James Carter's sax-playing actually counts as chord play or, in extreme circumstances, on the relative merits of the BR Standard Class 9F compared to the Deltic.

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6 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

on the relative merits of the BR Standard Class 9F compared to the Deltic.

Oh, now there’s huge can of worms! Incidentally, do you know ‘sex on fire’?

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3 hours ago, Len_derby said:

Strategic positioning of wedge monitors on the floor in front of us seems to work. 

This is a very good call. The last band I was in that did these types of gigs we had a line of monitors in front of the band, kept the irritants out of the way and we could hear things better, win win I`d say.

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8 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

This is a very good call. The last band I was in that did these types of gigs we had a line of monitors in front of the band, kept the irritants out of the way and we could hear things better, win win I`d say.

A good call, but I thought most people on here used IEM’s? 🤣

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9 minutes ago, tauzero said:

My perpetual scowl seems to work.

I was once in a band where just the singer was enough to stop any audience encroachment.

On one occasion when someone was foolish enough to attempt it, he waited until a suitable

instrumental break in the song to drag the idiot away to a corner and make sure he wouldn’t 

try it again, and was still back for the last verse right on cue. 😆

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Wonderwall/Sex On Fire, or more generically, anything by Foo Fighters cover 95% of the requests. I've been threatened by a group of stabby little chavs for refusing to play Wonderwall, hung around while we packed up telling me they were going to kill me, the pub has since shut down thankfully. It's always a marvel to me that people think you know every song ever written though. We do have a reserve song for this occasion where we announce we are going to play a special song just requested by [drunk person], then proceed to play 'Never Gonna Give You Up' by Rick Astley. Live audience Rick Rolling, sometimes, but often not, well received. 

 

It's also hilarious that they think you can hear or can comprehend a word they are saying mid-song or haven't got anything else to concentrate on. Then they come back having typed the request into their phone, haven't got my glasses on, it's why the set list is in 26pt type!

 

Like the rope light idea.

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26 minutes ago, casapete said:

still back for the last verse right on cue

Reminds me of a holiday job I had when about 18 or 19 as a boat driver at Chester Zoo.. 

Folks would be charged about 30p each to be driven around the canal in the zoo on an old lifeboat so they could get a different view of the animals.

However, there were a number of bridges en route where occasionally little scrotes would wait and drop things or spit on the passengers. A couple of us, being young and fit, discovered we could put the boat into reverse just before the bridge. Then we'd leap up and over the fence, little scrotes would scatter and then we'd jump back on the boat as it emerged on the other side to (hopefully!) cheers and tips from un-spat-on punters.

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