How was your gig last night?

[Mykesbass]

Regular little "unplugged" gig last night in my local, The Woolpack in Burgess Hill. Minly an eating pub, and when we first started doing it the place would empty around 9.30/10.00. Slowly but surely there has been a steady growth of drinkers coming in and staying to the end - the last three months have been great, and last night a guitarist from a band I had been in some years back was in and really enjoyed us, as did a guy I know from our kids being at school together who was in with a muso mate. Really pleased at the feedback, especially as due to both me and our singer having surgery in the new year, and the weather, we hadn't played together since 19th December.

[mikeh]

My cover band Detroit Red, had a brilliant gig last night, at one point we thought we would be spending the night with the amount of snow coming down during the 1st set. Infact we fully expected to play to an empty pub, which turned out to be completely wrong.
The pub was quite busy when we got there, and stayed busy all night. We had a really responsive crowd, who enjoyed the entire gig.
It was our first gig for nearly 3 months as our guitarist had a brain hemorrhage just before christmas.

Even the drive home was fun, even though it took an hour to travel 4 miles. Not bad considering at the same time my brother was trapped on the M6 for 4 hrs!!

[The Dark Lord]

Havin fun at The Mitre in Southampton.

[attachment=126091:DSCN1882.JPG]

[Bilbo]

Did one on Friday in a duo and got three more out of it between now and May.

[Jacqueslemac]

Played to an almost empty hall first set and then to a packed place for the second set. Lots of people dancing and singing along and then not, and then dancing and singing again and then not.

One of our new songs was met with dead silence (45 by the Gaslight Anthem), while hackneyed old stuff like Livin' on a Prayer had everyone on the floor.

I think we've realised we have two types of tunes in our set. the "party" stuff that gets everyone on the floor and the "rock" set that gets the blokes nodding their heads and sends the girls off to the toilets.

We need to learn another dozen or so songs so we have enough for an evening of one kind or the other, not the mish mash we've ended up with.

To save floor space we had our amps on tables. The guitar cabs were mic'd up, but mine isn't. I could hear myself plenty loud enough, but not the guitars. Afterwards 2nd guitar complimented me on my playing on a couple of songs, which was nice. And very unusual coming from him. Not sure whether I was playing any better than usual, or just he could hear me better (I was stage left, he was stage right).

[Roland Rock]

Last night at The Maze, Nottingham.
After a soundcheck, i left my bass in the 'dressing room' and went off for food and drinks.
By the time it came to getting the bass for the set, rain/melt water had trickled into the room, and the bottom of my bass case was sitting in a puddle of water! Thank goodness for the excellent build quality of Protec Cases. Bass unharmed.

As soon as we get into the room, our freezing instruments became wet with condensed water from the air! Five minutes of grabbing bog roll and wiping the bass down, hoping that the electrics were not affected. Thankfully all was fine.

Good gig, a decent crowd and well recieved.

Also, great to hear Geordie band Too Spicy, very energetic and lovely lads. Their bass player Chris, after some issues with pedals, plugged straight in my head and cranked the volume - sounded amazing. I've never really heard it properly driven before as I play clean.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Roland Rock

[rOB]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1359282625' post='1952350']
Did one on Friday in a duo and got three more out of it between now and May.[/quote]
Result!

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='lazzer' timestamp='1358093649' post='1932947']I nearly chopped me fingers off when I jumped up on a bass bin & put my hand up in the air feeling the whisk of air from a ceiling fan! [/quote]

I knew a guy with a 7 inch long scar across his forehead from doing simlar. Oh how they screamed as blood and snot drew a circle around the room off the spinning blades. He was out cold & a bit of a mess but is fine now, & looks not a little unlike Boris Karloff when he's just had a haircut.

[rOB]

Bit of a mixed one last night for my band Madam Fade at Firebug in Leicester

Good venue, good crowd, great reaction. Got to see some cracking music from Savanna Bones (kind of a heavy blues duo).

BUT - it was our first gig back after our Christmas and New Year break and consequently there were quite a few slip ups. Only 1 that might have been noticeable from the audience (I moved to a verse section halfway through a chorus, Doh!) but enough to make us feel we hadn't given our best.

Oh well, back to the rehearsal room.

[WalMan]

Average. We have been going through a phase where I think the general consensus is we have got away from what we do by trying to cover all bases and please everyone, in the course of which we have managed to please noone. Until last night the previous gig was at the same place as last night, but at the beginning of December and as the drummer & I (who do pretty much all of the running around for gigs & stuff) had got sick of it we have no gigs this year. First r/h for the year was Wednesday which went ok & brushed off the cobwebs. We were supposed to have had a meeting but diaries clashed & nothing was said @ r/h until after (much burying of heads etc) when the drummer original guitarist & I were loaded up and ready to leave, the others having gone to get last trains, which i fine.

SO. The gig. One of the issues that we have is that the sound guy brings so much gear for places that really dont need it. It's one of those difficult situations where we are all friends from school, and that goes back a long way, and all a bit too nice and not wishing to upset long time mates. The PA van turned up & he started unloading and there was a comment along the lines of "ooh me back. not been gigging much & feeling it" to which my reply out loud rather than to myself was "well get some smaller gear then"

Got set up. Didn't get a sound check as time was getting on and the drummer just flat said "no. what's the point"

First set started and the sound was terrible and didnt get any better. Kit was booming & the PA guy didn't seem to be able to hear it. I couldn't hear the bass and wasn't about to turn up as that way madness & volume wars start. Went out front and the sound was just a mush with no separation, or bass.

Got to the break and there was much discussion. Sneaked a peak at the desk and found the bass was a horrible scooped mess of loads of bass, cut mids & a smidge of top. Made the adjustments myself and I think words may have been exchanged generally, but low and behold the bass sat much better in the second set. Still need to get the guitar sound fixed as they are far too full range and eating into my frequency range, BUT the second set went MUCH better and I ended the night somewhat happier than I started - for bits of the first set I just gave up & did a Beyonce. I have said before, and had to say it again last night that the guitar tones are too full & need the bottom end killing to open things up and allow everything to breathe. IMV for the sort of rock stuff we do the foundation has to the the rythmn section with the bass at least audible & driving things along with the kit (well I would say that wouldn't I!) with the guitars sitting on top. That's not what is/was coming through the PA. It's all guitar and vox & just an indistinct rumble for the bass

Meeting on Wednesday evening to talk through what we are going to do, or even if anyone wants to continue as it has really slid in recent years. Probably an "intervention" with the PA guy. We'll see how that goes. Then it just depends how the r/h on Tuesday for the new project the drummer & I am involved in goes.

Sorry this has been a rant not a "how was your gig" report really. In terms of that:[list]
[*]first set - sh1te
[*]second set - better but could also do better
[/list]

Edited February 2, 2013 by WalMan

[Dr.Dave]

Duck and Drake in Leeds. The management insisted we work back from an 11.30 finish. At half time punters were asking what time we were going back on becaise they had busses oir trains to catch home around 11. I told the management and suggested we go straight back on but they were having none of it.

Why on earth they think that in this day and age folk will stay for 1 extra pint then spend £20 on a taxi instead of the bus/train I don't know.

The result was that we opened the second set to a packed house at 10 30 and ended it to a half full one and hour later.

[tonybassplayer]

From memory the duck and drake has what has got to be the shortest load in ever. It's about three paces from back of car to the stage.

[Johnnyc]

Played a little acoustic show in costa coffee on Sunday night, (would add a photo if I could figure out how on the mobile version of the site!) used the orange terror bass, haha gain and volume both below 1 on the dials, through the bf S12. Sounded magnificent and from the feedback I got im pretty sure the sound filled the room pretty evenly. Was a fair few people there & a lot of passers by stopped to have a listen. The guy who put on the show got a txt at the end of the night from a girl who was there asking if I was single so I guess I must have played alright

[steve-bbb]

somebody came up after the gig and was asking me questions about do i play in other bands or something or other

turns out she thought i was the drummer

[icastle]

A comedy of errors tonight.

A 50th birthday party, dead easy...

Shut my foot in the door of the van and because I was wearing trainers instead of my usual boots, I managed to bruise my ankle.

Setting the gear up it became obvious that we needed to run a power cable over an entrance way, so off I limped, hooking the cable up out of the way, making totally sure that everyone was going to be safe.
I chose the only three legged table in the venue to step onto, overbalanced it and landed in a heap amongst overturned chairs.

Add a bruised back and sore thumb to the list.

Gig played, money paid and everyone happy.

We then start the kit breakdown and carrying various items out to the van.
I nipped around the opposite side of the van to avoid bumping into someone carrying something, straight into a knee height wall that someone had left just sitting there!
The effect of having a brick wall impede your knees whilst walking forwards at speed has a certain inevitability about it.
I contemplated that inevitability before picking myself up from the other side of it moments later.

Add a bruised knee and grazed hand to the bruised ankle, bruised back and sore thumb.

Man, this is a tough business...

EDIT: The highlight of the night had to be where a member of the audience walked up to us during our break and asked "What's that funny tall thing with the stand?"
The sensible answer would have been 'an electric upright bass' but I couldn't resist the urge to reply "That's Colin, our singer"

[gary mac]

Maybe you should spend today safely languishing in a chair, spending your time on Bass Chat

[ezbass]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1360465636' post='1970923']
A comedy of errors tonight.
[/quote]I had one of those too. We had PA problems, there was hardly anyone in the venue, and those that were there were less than appreciative, and then we started to make mistakes (rather unusual for us) which for some odd reason started to escalate to the point of uncontrollable laughter. Oh well they can't all be blinders.

[neil_d]

My first gig as a bassist! Went well overall, lots of fun.

Had our old bassist (left the band due to work and family commitments) at the front the whole time, which was interesting...

[discreet]

[quote name='neil_d' timestamp='1360492812' post='1971072']
Had our old bassist (left the band due to work and family commitments) at the front the whole time, which was interesting...
[/quote]

Not [i]that [/i]committed to work and family then, if he's got time to go to gigs..?
Edit: Congratulations on your first gig, by the way!

Edited February 10, 2013 by discreet

[Lozz196]

The Tuesday Club played at The Paper Dress Vintage Clothing Boutique and Bar, in Shoreditch

Was a busy evening in there, and some very glamorous people attending, Shoreditch being a very "in" place.

We headlined, and the audience loved it. But, and we thought this might happen, as the monitors weren`t too good, the singers voice completely packed in half-way through. So we did a couple of songs without him, whilst he poured as much water down his throat to ease it off, and luckily we got another couple of songs out of him after this.

We were shooting a live video, for footage of our next single, and the crowd really got into it. Our singer is a bit of a "live-wire" and had the crowd eating out of his hands with his antics.

And afterwards, our producer, who had come along for the evening, asked me "So when did you guys get so tight" which I thought was great - the band hold it all together whilst the lead singer goes nuts and entertains the audience.

Would love to play there again.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Lozz196

[karlfer]

Cracking gig at the Flying Horse in Rochdale, marvellous place that still gets packed out.
I rarely venture onto this page, but it was a disappointing night for me.
Spent the last two weeks gently working in my only ever new cab, a newly acquired Barefaced S12V. Despite thinking it would be broken in, 1st set farting out with the Yamaha. Cutting bass and mids helped a bit, but not a lot. Second set used my Precision, which in fairness was a good bit better. Neither bass is active.
The big disappointment with the P was that I had to increase the master volume around 40% to get the same volume as I used to get with my Schroeder 410BMF.
Live and (expensively) learn.
Karl.

Edited February 10, 2013 by karlfer

[neil_d]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1360493131' post='1971079']
Not [i]that [/i]committed to work and family then, if he's got time to go to gigs..?
Edit: Congratulations on your first gig, by the way!
[/quote]

Haha. I think it was a rare Saturday night that he had free.

Thanks!

[rogerstodge]

[quote name='neil_d' timestamp='1360495932' post='1971132']


Haha. I think it was a rare Saturday night that he had free.

Thanks!
[/quote]. Was he watching your fingers like a hawk?

[neil_d]

[quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1360497285' post='1971159']
Was he watching your fingers like a hawk?
[/quote]

I don't think so, but he did say afterwards that I didn't smile enough (we're mates as well so it was in a friendly way!). Having seen some photos this morning, I thinh he's right. My attempt at a "chilled, not bothered" look doesn't suite me at all, grinning like a goon from now on....

[Toddy]

Opened for Chubby Brown,, (one of our regular gigs) at Newcastle City Hall,,, just getting the vibe of the walls backstage was awesome everyone I've musically admired has stood in those corridors,, made me feel very humble to be there,,,fantastic..

Edited February 10, 2013 by Toddy