Grooverjr Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 It was either Johnny B Goode (with me on vocals - once and once only) or White Room. Scout hall in Bexley when we were about 16. Crowd reaction? Well, I was on a promise with a girl I was very into until she saw that gig and went off with someone else. We were bad, but it kept us off the streets and I quickly learnt that drummers are complete nutcases so it wasn't wasted time! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dan Dare said: It was 55 years ago, when I was 16. I struggle to remember what I played last week 🫤 Some things are retained longer than others. I remember very clearly that, at the age of two, I blew into the top of a pepper pot, to unblock it. I've not done that since..! (At my next birthday I'll be seventy-five...). Edited November 30 by Dad3353 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAS Bass Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 10 hours ago, Reggaebass said: Can’t remember exactly what song but it was a Bob Marley one, Exodus or waiting in vain in a pub in Leytonstone high road, they didn’t ask us back 😁 Coach & Horses by any chance?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 3 minutes ago, NAS Bass said: Coach & Horses by any chance?? Hi NAS , not far from there, the plough and harrow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Rich Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 The first song I played live was LIVEWIRE by AC/DC, I was on bass and backing vocals and, it was at The George & Dragon pub in Epping in around 1990/91. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAS Bass Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 51 minutes ago, Reggaebass said: Hi NAS , not far from there, the plough and harrow Is there still live music at either of those pubs? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 12 minutes ago, NAS Bass said: Is there still live music at either of those pubs? I think they still have live music but it’s not as much as it used to be around there , although I haven’t been in either for a good few years , Shoreditch is pretty busy these days 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 (edited) 1 hour ago, Nice Guy Rich said: The first song I played live was LIVEWIRE by AC/DC, I was on bass and backing vocals and, it was at The George & Dragon pub in Epping in around 1990/91. My current covers band ends our first set with this song. I find it weirdly daunting to have to just play one note for the first minute or so. Really hammers home how it's all about the groove! First song I ever played live was a self penned rap-metal original called "Harmless Powder". I was on guitar (sorry). Circa 1995, so I'd have been about 14. First cover I played live would have been about four songs into the same set, when I put down the guitar and me and the singer launched into a duet of "I ain't goin' out like that" by Cypress Hill. We genuinely thought we were the coolest mfs to ever exist. Edited November 30 by Rexel Matador 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAS Bass Posted November 30 Share Posted November 30 32 minutes ago, Reggaebass said: I think they still have live music but it’s not as much as it used to be around there , although I haven’t been in either for a good few years , Shoreditch is pretty busy these days Last played at the C&H many years ago. Last time was at a fundraiser for the Stairway Memorial for the WW2 Bethnal Green tube disaster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steantval Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 (edited) Early 80’s, I was playing second guitar in those days, it was most probably Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy, played a Tokai Strat (wished I had kept it) through a Peavey Bandit Amp and Boss ME5 effects unit. Edited December 1 by steantval 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 After all these years I'm not sure which "gig" was the first for "Finster Blitz" (our poorly translated German for "black lightning"). It's either... a) The De Montfort Hall in Leicester (Leicester’s biggest venue!). Erm... backing an assembled children choir of primary school kids. So the first song could have been a hymn 🤷♂️ The most memorable thing was that we couldn't get the drummer's shirt to stay tucked into his trousers b) Our European Tour Well actually our school choir exchange visit to a school in Munster, Germany. We dragged our single amplifier through customs (yes, they took a look inside) so that we could plug the lead singer, 2 guitars and bass (me!) into it. The singer's microphone was actually something you'd plug into a tape recorder, so had a lead about 1m long meaning he had to sit on top of the amplifier so it could reach. The song would have been an original "Force Ten Joan" - a 12-bar, and I can say that with confidence because it was the only song we had! The first song I played in a semi-professional way was UB40's Red Red Wine. I say semi-professional as I didn't actually get paid for that performance, but did a couple of weeks later when I took over from the bass player that was leaving the band. I've always hated that song - such a dirge 😂 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 When my mid life crisis hit, at age 45, I reluctantly decided against getting a motor bike, cos I knew I would total myself in short order. bought a Squier P and a Fender amp instead. Within 6 weeks I had joined a local band and after 12 weeks played our first gig. According to the old set lists we opened with Vertigo, but I have a vague memory that I hadn't learned all the songs and it was Ziggy, the 2nd song on the list that I debuted on. I'm sure there some video somewhere....not rushing to find it! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diskwave Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 Still wondering whether to show the one and only photo from those first gigs....what was I thinking... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odysseus Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 (edited) Rosalie.... in the Thin Lizzy style rather than the Bob Seger style. Went ok! Scream for me, Wendron Cricket Club!! 🤘 Edited December 1 by odysseus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 The first piece of music I ever performed at a "concert" in front of an audience was in 1976, aged 15, and was one of three self-composed, semi-improvised instrumentals with me on either piano or guitar (depending on which piece we played first and which I really can't remember now). Myself and two of my class-mates in the ensemble used to attend a junior folk guitar evening class and the teacher put on an evening of music played by members of all the various music classes she taught. Most of the rest of the programme was earnest teenagers playing "folk" songs or classical music and we were very much at odds with the overall theme of the concert. I think our performance was met with polite applause and bemused expressions from the audience members. My first live performance playing bass was also my first proper gig at a proper gig venue, at the Ad-Lib Club in Nottingham in 1981. IIRC the opening number was another self-composed instrumental called "Modern Atoms #2" which was heavily fuzzed bass with feedback guitar, toy-trumpet, drum machine and bongos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 18 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: I know my mate's first song was probably Spirit of the Age. That was on the provisional setlist of our first gig but didn't make the final cut. We did 'Assault and Battery/Golden Void' and 'Utopia' though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 I think that my first time on stage in a musical setting was at Chester town hall in about 1978... My mum had entered a piano competition and was playing a Mozart sonata (IIRC). But she wasn't confident enough to play without music so she roped me in as page turner. Luckily I'd heard her practicing it so much I knew it pretty well. However, another performer had her page turner drop out and my mum volunteered me! And it was a piece I'd never heard, rather complex and perhaps by Shostakovich. The lady saw I was having a little trouble following so she muttered "now" every time we approached the end of the page. Unfortunately neither my mum or the lady won - perhaps because of my punky pink hair and home-made bondage trews 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 21 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: I know my mate's first song was probably Spirit of the Age. For me something off this list (which was after we'd done a fair few gigs) but probably c 'mon everybody. The photo is the actual first gig. You are Derek Smalls and I claim my £5. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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