How was your gig last night?

[mikebass84]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1462379389' post='3042553']


Nice, tight and very big sounding trio.

Blue
[/quote]

Thank you Blue! I think my pure filthy tone really helps beef up the sound

[BrunoBass]

We played the Wine Vaults in Banbury on Friday night, my favourite pub in town. Been trying to get on there for ages so it was really good to finally play. We played outside in the beer garden where there is a stage set up. I had been worried about the sound, using our pub rig outside, but my concerns were unfounded - the sound was excellent and the volume more than sufficient. As the afternoon temperature had been 23 degrees there were plenty of post work drinkers there who stuck around, and the later Friday nighters meant we had a great crowd. One of the best gigs that we've done.

Next stop is the Punch Bowl in Warwick on Thursday, which will be the first time we've played there.

[BrunoBass]

A rare school night gig for us last night, at the Punch Bowl in Warwick. Our first time there, well paid plus free drinks all night (work today though so I couldn't take full advantage of that...)
2 x 1 hour sets, friendly locals, all good.

[PaulWarning]

got to the pub last night, crammed into a tight spot with a massive table right in front of us, no advertising for the gig despite us taking some posters in the a month before, got them to move the table and switch off the TV, and the gig was a lot better than we thought, just received this message from the landlady
"Guy's I owe you a massive apology...I hadn't realised until this morning that for several weeks I have infact been advertising the wrong band! I am so so sorry. You were absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to have you all back here again. Thank You so much for a brilliant night. Angie x"
no wonder music venues close down!

[Woodinblack]

You know those nights when at the end, they pay you, you look at the money and feel a bit guilty as you don't think you were worth that? That. We hadn't played for a few months. I don't think there had been much practicing done in that time.

[cheddatom]

Turned up at the venue, which is a great place, ace room, nice beer etc. but no soundman! "He's in Scotland on holiday".

I had a look around and found a mic and a crap PA with two speakers and a powered monitor. I absolutely hate doing live sound, and especially for this band as I was on drums so it was all just a total guess. Anyway, I think it worked out.

I couldn't tell if the landlord was nodding his head along in quarter time or just trying to stay awake after what looked like a full day of indulgence. Anyway, we went down well and sold a bunch of merch, which seems to be the same for every gig at the moment. Something must be right!

[Painy]

Having changed around basically all my gear over the last year or so and having struggled to get a sound I was happy with, I've spent quite a bit of time working on getting a good tone over the last few weeks.
Well last night I got to enjoy the fruits of my labour. Probably the best bass sound I've ever had! A (slightly drunk admittedly) muso friend kept coming up to me to say how much better my bass sounded than when he came to see us a few weeks ago. Even better we had an enthusiastic crowd up, dancing and singing along from the first song and the band was tight as a duck's bum. Couldn't stop grinning all night !

[lurksalot]

A great gig at the old kings head in Chester last night , they were dancing from the first number , we put 4 new ones in the set and they all went down a storm , I found a really good setup for the Zoom synth for dont stop believing and we got great compliments from the bar 2 more pub dates and 2 parties booked , result

[karlfer]

Fri night, great.

Last night, PITA.

Get there "we'll clear the area when the football finishes".
300 other bloody screens in the place but she wouldn't let us ask them to relocate.
Most of them being in since early afternoon.
Then of course, boxing on in the 1st set.
By the time that was finished they were all pissed up, half asleep and going home.
So we end up doing 2nd set to about 20.

No wonder loads of bands (according to thread on North West Bands) had mysteriously had to cancel Sat night gigs .

[Mudpup]

Turned up at a regular gig last night to find a private 30th party in full swing where we normally set up. Immediately get the old "damn, we've been blown out and nobody told us" sweats.....
Have a word with the owner, no problem - we want you to play in the restaurant tonight please, he says (its a giant pub/hotel, restaurant sort of place).

Hmnnn - this aint looking promising, we're a noisy rock covers band and the punters won't fancy us spoiling their chocolate fudge cake. The restaurant closes at 10 and we start at 9.30...

Set up with grumpy drummer carrying everything through the diners. Its not looking promising, cramped area, waitresses walking thru our area with dinners, can't turn main lights down cos people are eating etc....

Persuade manager to turn lights down.
Start playing 1st set - everyone loves it, could actually be an ok evening maybe.
2nd set - 30th birthday party migrates into our room, diners have stayed and everyone is completely up for it. Probably about 300 people going nuts :-)
We have all the lights and smoke going, play really well and the whole place is dancing and singing every word of the second set.

Manager comes up afterwards and says that it was the best gig they've ever seen there (they have bands every weekend and have been going for years) - thats why you do it.......

From grumpy and can't be arsed at the beginning to coming offstage sweaty and grinning after one of the most enjoyable gigs I've ever played in the space of 4 hours - just goes to show, you never can tell

Edited May 22, 2016 by Mudpup

[lurksalot]

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1463930998' post='3055073']
............ just goes to show, you never can tell
[/quote]

C'est la vie , said the old folks

[Woodinblack]

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1463269456' post='3050124']
You know those nights when at the end, they pay you, you look at the money and feel a bit guilty as you don't think you were worth that? That.
[/quote]

What a difference a week makes. Same venue, same time, same crowd, new group that I joined last month and have had 3 practices. Got called on the thursday night, had an emergency practice on saturday during the day, played a blinding gig last night and was thoroughly enjoyable. Because I have gone from a 3 piece to a 4 piece, less money, the gig was longer - 3 hours up from 2, but so much more rewarding.

[BottomE]

Classy wedding in Surrey. Great people who'd laid on a hotel suite plus food and drinks for the band. Peeps up dancing right from the off. Sound limiter was in evidence but we didn't trip it. For me, the sound was great - nice balance. One of those gigs which remind you why you do it.

[BrunoBass]

Saturday night we played at a charity event here in Banbury, four bands with us on first. According to the organisers there was around 300 people there, which is a good crowd for us.
As we were on first we soundchecked last. The band on after us (who had soundchecked just before us) were still hanging around and their bass player very kindly offered his Eden rig for my use too, for which I was very grateful - my Stingray sounded mega.
The monitor mix at sound check was perfect, unfortunately by the we played something had changed and the mix was really bad, I couldn't hear myself and started playing too hard resulting in my left thumb cramping up during the last song.
Other than that we played well, FOH sound was excellent and we got loads of good feedback. The other bands were superb (all friends of ours) and it felt good to be a part of such a great local scene. £1000 raised for a local hospice too, so all good!

[cheddatom]

New venue for us on Friday and it looked cool as f*** when we got there. I was really looking forward to it but as it got closer to the stage time no-one seemed to be arriving. We ended up playing to about 20 utterly disinterested people and 1 crazy dancing drunk, who's dancing was so crazy it made me laugh so hard I actually dropped a beat (on drums). Oh well :/

[gary mac]

A strange gig for us on Saturday night at the lovely little rural market town of Old Hemel in Herts.

Arrived at the allotted time, to be told we would have to start late as the F.A. Cup was on I was a bit hacked off really, it's not as though the football was sprung on them last minute.
Not the easiest of load ins at the best of times but a mob of drunken, chanting football fans didn't make it any more of a pleasure.

Anyway we finally started and against all expectations it was shaping up great, a full dance floor and an enthusiastic crowd. Then a drunken twat started dancing around with a bar stool, swinging it in all directions. A slightly less drunken punter, stepped in and made a valiant effort to wrestle the stool away and for his troubles ended up with his leg pointing in the opposite direction to how it should be
Ambulance called and the poor chap was finally carted off on a stretcher, amazingly the drunken twat who had caused the mayhem was allowed to stay and was still bragging about flooring the bloke.
We got started again following a break of about an hour and three quarters and ended playing to a lively audience who made us very welcome.

[LewisK1975]

Saturday's gig was a blinder for us. Venue we've played twice (I think) before in the Newport Valleys. Shockingly bad load in/out (stairs to concert room and then carry through crowd), but we knew that anyway..

In the covers band, we have a primarily modern pop setlist, so we usually go down better where there's a youngish primarily female crowd, and try and keep most of our gigs to venues that are populated in just that way, for them as much as us...

This particular venue we played on Saturday night has an older crowd, very much a workingmens club really. We've met with everything response-wise there, rapturous whoop-whooping, through to polite applause and even complete indifference.

We've obviously noted that for the venue concerned and we made an effort to learn a few (and I mean a few, 3 actually) older songs.

Don't know if that's what made the difference (we didn't play them until the 2nd set), but they went mad for us this time, my particular favourite moment being during 'Jealous' by Labyrinth. We play it with just the guitar player and a very subdued, thumb stroked bassline, and let the vocals shine through. During the course of the song, you could actually hear the conversations stopping and the attention turning fully to us (well, our singer anyway!), it was one of those moments a regular gigging working band gets every so often and it'll stay with me for a while I reckon. Even made the load out quite bearable!

Edited May 24, 2016 by LewisK1975

[bassbiscuits]

Had a gig in a venue with a noise meter - so we played a sort of emasculated, lounge version of our normal set, with no dynamics of any sort (certainly no crescendos) no backing vocals, and playing quieter than I'd normally play in my house.

Overall vibe wasn't helped by the fact I kept getting electric shocks off my mic throughout the first half, until I got a chance to swap some leads at half time, which seemed to cure it.

Not our finest hour, but the audience were lovely and they seemed to enjoy it all the same. Oh well.

Edited May 28, 2016 by bassbiscuits

[Hobbayne]

Played ln another pub with a noise meter. It was set so low that even the crowds cheering and clapping set it off!
Another band who came along to listen told us they counted it going off 15 times!
As Bassbiscuits commented above, we also had to play classic rock so low with no balls to it.
Funny how the quieter you play, the slower you play
We wont be going back. Shame as the crowd loved it!

[bassbiscuits]

Hobbayne - same here actually I forgot that bit! People singing along set the bloody thing off too!

We're not talking rowdy drunks either - probably 50 well-behaved wedding guests.

Needless to say we steered clear of AC/DC, Jet, or indeed anything requiring balls, volume or backing vocals!

[skidder652003]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1464418536' post='3059285']
Played ln another pub with a noise meter. It was set so low that even the crowds cheering and clapping set it off!
Another band who came along to listen told us they counted it going off 15 times!
As Bassbiscuits commented above, we also had to play classic rock so low with no balls to it.
Funny how the quieter you play, the slower you play
We wont be going back. Shame as the crowd loved it!
[/quote]
Not telling Granny how to suck eggs and all that, but were you not able to take the main power from another socket not affected by the meter, ie the room next door etc?

[Woodinblack]

The one time I played with a noise meter, the bar staff told us to plug into a socket behind the bar, via a long extension lead that ran all the way round the pub that everything was connected to. Good old Health and Safety!

[KevB]

Inaugral gig with new band yesterday, technically I guess it was afternoon rather than last night, 4pm-6pm slot with a break, did about 2x50 min or so, enough for that type of gig and style of music (mostly 80's classic rock). Pub looked a bit quiet (sun was shining, folks have better stuff to do on Sundays) initially but then filled up a bit closer to showtime, drummer invited a few mates and family which swelled the ranks. Our very own Seashell made it up from the west midlands which was great and in the end the crowd seemed to like it. I wasn't impressed with my own performance, I knew I was under rehearsed but the original deal was I would come in to dep gigs the main bassist couldnt do and I'd be starting late June or early July. Then a couple of weeks ago the bass player quit and didn't work any notice period so I've had to step in early.to avoid them cancelling too many gigs. Still got some positive feedback and the landlady immediately got the diary out to rebook us so it can't have been that horrendous.

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1464509452' post='3059870']
Not telling Granny how to suck eggs and all that, but were you not able to take the main power from another socket not affected by the meter, ie the room next door etc?
[/quote]

Not without running a 30 foot ext cable across the pub floor and then having to overload it with about 8 plugs.

[seashell]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1464600600' post='3060583']
Inaugral gig with new band yesterday, technically I guess it was afternoon rather than last night, 4pm-6pm slot with a break, did about 2x50 min or so, enough for that type of gig and style of music (mostly 80's classic rock). Pub looked a bit quiet (sun was shining, folks have better stuff to do on Sundays) initially but then filled up a bit closer to showtime, drummer invited a few mates and family which swelled the ranks. Our very own Seashell made it up from the west midlands which was great and in the end the crowd seemed to like it. I wasn't impressed with my own performance, I knew I was under rehearsed but the original deal was I would come in to dep gigs the main bassist couldnt do and I'd be starting late June or early July. Then a couple of weeks ago the bass player quit and didn't work any notice period so I've had to step in early.to avoid them cancelling too many gigs. Still got some positive feedback and the landlady immediately got the diary out to rebook us so it can't have been that horrendous.
[/quote]

Kev's gig was great. The fact that they managed to get people up and dancing on a Sunday afternoon in broad daylight says a lot!

Very professional outfit. Really good (female) singer with an engaging personality. Kev sounded great, of course. He claims he made some mistakes, but it sounded spot on to me. And his stripey trousers certainly added a bit of je ne sais quoi to the occasion!