How was your gig last night?

[WalMan]

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='334703' date='Nov 23 2008, 02:23 AM']Congrats on keeping it together! We had some twats like that last year at Horatios on the Pier in Brighton and it all ended up in tears after one of them tried to half-inch one of the guitars...

Just got back from the Master Mariner in Brighton and it was a cracking night! Venue was pretty full, everyone dancing and singing along, really good sound.. Just what you want for all the effort luging gear around in the freezing cold!

What never ceases to surprise me is the impact of Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' on an audience. Of all the songs we do, that one just connects with people more than anything else.. Our singer Pete always keeps the crowd singing along after we've finished it and sometimes, they keep going for 2 or 3 minutes.. Amazing!

Anyway, that's enough post-gig chuntering from me.. G'night to one and all![/quote]
Glad to hear you & some others had a better night Nik.

Funny thing with ours was they were asking us back and none of his mates were impressed by his antics anyway. Ah well.....

The other funny thing is the closet Tubes fans who always come out of the woodwork and ask for another after we finish the first set with WPOD. Last night it was for "Don't Touch Me There", which as we don't have a chickie vocalist wouldn't really have worked

Edited November 24, 2008 by WalMan

[Ou7shined]

Charidy gig - Drummond's, Aberdeen.
Pretty good all round although it would have been better with a stronger turnout - blame the weather. The schedule was a shambles though, as the lassie organising it (first timer) got trollied early on and lost control resulting in the bands taking as long as they wanted over their sets. One band were on close to 2 hours instead of their allotted 40mins which obviously put everyone else's slot back.

I got a chance to have a sneaky pre-finish unveil of my new creation though.
Natural finish ash w/ tiger stripe maple veneer, EMG JVs, OBP3, unique 3+1 headstock with hole P neck and individual bridges.
The pics don't show the tiger stripe too well.

Every bass that had been on previously sounded balls (mostly down to the house amp being EQed to a severe mid hump and being at a level louder than FOH ???) which had me worried but after fixing the amp settings, mine sounded the danglies and every bit as sweet as knew it would be. Chuffed isn't the word.

edit : new picture

Edited November 24, 2008 by Ou7shined

[bumnote]

[quote name='WalMan' post='334220' date='Nov 22 2008, 02:24 AM']Not a bad night considering a short layoff & no r/h managed in the interim, though the night started with #1 guitarists revalved amp packing up, then the second amp #2 guitarist whizzed home and fetched took a dislike to #1 guit and stopped. Luckily #2 had picked up a third combo that he used whilst #1 used his Boogie. After that hiatus we got going 5-10 mins late so not too bad.

My smug alert was brought crashing to an end when our sound guy pointed out I had:
[list=1]
[*]Plugged my vocal mic into the wrong socket on the stage box (I counted 1 from the top & it was numbering 1 from the bottom
[*]failed to DI my bass at all
[/list] - OOPS!

Bumped into BumNote (played a fair few myself ) and had a quick chinwag in the abbreviated break necessitated by the late start. Always good to meet other BC'ers

Realised Wednesday when I restrung the G&L that the old set (which I did wonder about when I put them on) were completely knackered. The new Elixirs are back to their wonderfully zingy self (along with Peds SVTGrit patch in the BOB) YUM me like!

New gig tomorrow night (well tonight now) at The Royal Oak East Wittering. Not sure what to expect but have been told it is a good gig & crowd. We'll soon put a stop to that [/quote]


I have seen alans band on a number of occasions over the last 3 or 4 years, the first time because I mistook them for another band with a similar name.

Anyway, they always provide a good evening, and there is some nice twin lead work ala t lizzie these days, although I used to see them with a keyboard player, and Im a sucker for a hammond sound

Very well worth a listen if they are anywhere near you.

My gig on saturday was in the empire hall in totton, which is a nice hall, but although it sounded ok out the front, sounded very yucky on the stage.

It was for a combined 50,60 and 80th birthday, and most people hadnt seen each other for ages, and just wanted to talk rather than dance. Inevitably, as the evening progressed and the booze flowed, more people wanted to dance, and then they didnt want us to finish.

Played a dano longhorn and a lakeland jo osbourne though an acoustic 220 and 406 cab.

[tauzero]

Saturday for us (the ceilidh band) was an 18th birthday party. The youth in question had come along to one of our dances earlier this year under protest, then got hooked halfway through and it was him who asked to have us for his birthday rather than it being imposed on him. Which was nice.

The numbers dancing waxed and waned through the evening but was always reasonable. I used the Korg AX3000B for the first time - I have it set up to try and emulate an acoustic bass with the NS WAV-4, which worked pretty well. Also recorded the gig off the mixer using my new (refurbished off That Ebay) Creative Zen V Plus, which sounded good when I played it back - the bass was properly recorded, unlike when I used an iRiver T30 which seemed to lose the bottom end (sample rate on the Zen was 160k vs. 128k on the iRiver, which might account for that).

[Toadonroll]

Monthly blues gig at a pub in Norwich.
Good laugh, but sometimes the quality of the music is questionable. That is until myself and the drummer do Rappers Delight and Hit Me With Your Rythm Stick, just drums and bass with the the drummer singing - awesome!

[TheRev]

We had a fantastic gig the other night.

After a series of gigs at 'proper' venues, all of which disappointed in one way or another (usually crap sound/sound guy failing to show/equipment problems/'attitude' from other bands, etc), we played a little open mic session as 'special guests' for a promoter friend. We weren't especially looking forward to it as we hadn't heard great things about the pub. Anyway, we decided to travel light and didn't take any backline as we assumed the PA would be sh1te anyway and we were planning to go on, play a 30 minute set and then get the hell out of Dodge.

We get there, find out there's a wee PA and no monitoring so we just plug in, twiddle the knobs til we get the sound we normally have at rehearsals and off we go..... and play a blinder. The acoustics of the room just seemed to suit our sound and we could hear everything - we were able to really use the dynamics of our songs to fire things up, bounce ideas off each other and just indulge in the sheer joy of playing music.

Then we had a couple of pints and went home. Not too shabby!

[Bilbo]

Had a rhythm section gig at High Barn in Great Bardfield, Essex, last night backing jazz vocalists Sarah Mitra and Andi Hopgood. Bloomin' marvelous - great sound, great players, attentive audience - one of the best gigs of 2008 (and this has been my busiest year ever). It was of those rare gigs when putting a touch of vibrato on a note actually mattered!

[niceguyhomer]

Just a coupla pics from a memorable gig a few weeks ago. It was probably the biggest place I've ever played - huuuuuuuuuuuuge. It was a wedding for a local radio presenter who made history by being the first to get married at the top of Blackpool Tower, we got the gig in the Tower Ballroom.

I wish I could say it was a fantastic gig but being honest it was hard work - hell of an experience though. The following night, we came back to earth with a bump playing at a pub in Fleetwood to one drunken punter and 4 bar staff. The Manager was so embarrassed, he dragged his family down to pad out the audience.








My rig looked lost on the enormous stage but it did a great job...




Some gems from backstage...

[WalMan]

Rather more fun last night that last Sat (who have rung about booking some more - anyone else see that pig fly past the window?)

Cheers Bar in Bognor last night. I tend not to like the sound, and my rhythm section chum on the kit loves it, because of the tiled floor area, but last night it sounded great to me. We were really tight and the harmonies sounded better than usual to me, and the L2500 having had a new set of Elixirs last week sounded awesome .

Two more next week - The Swan in Woolston and The Fountain in Chichester and then that's it until the new year. They are normally good ones to hoping to go out with a bang

[tonybassplayer]

Bit late this as it is from last Sat night at the Three Horses in Keighley which was not quite as busy as our first visit ( bloody freezing night and the strictly/x factor stay ins seem to be affecting sat nights a the moment )

Small playing area so hemmed in between guitarist's amp and snare so glad I had my plugs but when I use them ( always ) I hear me and the band ok but not the "atmosphere" of the gig so thinking I might go for some in ear monitors and just set up a mic at the front ( always nice to hear the audience clap/shout etc )

Bit of a "playing for fun rather than note for note gig" and despite huge reservations from two of the band we gave Delilah it's debut as second encore and it doubled the numbers on the dance floor !!

Roll on next Friday !!!

[attachment=16582:three_horses.jpg]

Edited November 29, 2008 by tonybassplayer

[Bigwan]

A stonking night last night in our 'nemesis' venue (2 separate stages - drummer on 1, everyone else on the other!). Floor full from first not until last. Usually the place is empty, but this was our first Saturday night there and it was standing room only. And the ladies... oh the ladies... there were a few 'bum' notes, if you know what i mean :brow:

Roads were awful and I wasn't crawling into my pit until nearly 4 (finished at 1), but well worth it and we've been booked for 2 nights a month in the place next year after last night.

Edited November 30, 2008 by Bigwan

[waynepunkdude]

Last night at the Wilmington in Islington,

Was pretty darn good if not a little weird, I was meeting my uncle there who I hadn't seen in 20 years (I was 5) he was from my mums side and I haven't seen anyone from that side of the family since 1993 so it was good finding out what happened but that is for another thread.

The gig itself was great we had a green room, the promoter had put a crate of beers on ice in there for us, I don't drink but it was a nice touch, the only problem with the night was no one brought a bass cab so I DI'd my head the sound was good and the crowd seemed to like us.

The next wierd thing was a girl I used to live with in Canterbury tapped me on the shoulder and said hi I haven't seen her for 5 years :S

Anyway good gig, great promoter and we got paid, that is all you can wish for from a London gig.
Few of pics.

[niceguyhomer]

Another dreary gig last night - unattentive, unappreciative largely male crowd - men don't seem to enjoy soul as much as women. Tonight, we're playing at a chav pub in Leyland - early start after the footie. Looking forward to playing to a drunken audience with a collective IQ that wouldn't make double digits - not.

We're all looking forward to a nice long break after NYE - we're all burnt out and we want to completely change the set. No more soul and not before time.

[Dr.Dave]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='341036' date='Nov 30 2008, 12:22 PM']Another dreary gig last night - unattentive, unappreciative largely male crowd - men don't seem to enjoy soul as much as women.[/quote]


I think that's the problem , Alan. Women love it - so the blokes are suspicious of the band. Seen it lots with soul bands.

We've been known to slot Mustang Sally and Take me to the River in to get the girlies going , and the blokes change atitude straight away.

[niceguyhomer]

I think you're right Dave, I wanna play the blues now, life's hard and I'm hoytin'

[Sean]

We played for a sailing club's annual dinner dance on Friday night at the beautiful Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester. We had to lug all the gear up two big flights of stairs and it made really quite smug about my LMK and Berg cabs. We were a bit wary of the crowd as they were not (how shall I say this?) from the demographic that we usually play to but by god they got into it and had a whale of a time. Our encore of Love Shack was sadly ditched due to a post-midnight fire alarm prank. Good gig, good audience and good money. Bloody cold though and very foggy on the drive back to Gloucester down the A419.

Edited November 30, 2008 by Sean

[Dr.Dave]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='341047' date='Nov 30 2008, 12:29 PM']I think you're right Dave, I wanna play the blues now, life's hard and I'm hoytin'[/quote]

You're doing our job mate - the great gigs will be greater because of the downers.

If you wanna play some blues........I'm always happy to go have a pint and let you ,do what you want with the bass and rig but don't touch my mic stand beer holder !!

[ahpook]

franlky, it was pants, my gig.

spent two thirds of me set with my foot up against the bass drum as the venue didn't seem to understand the importance of drum rugs on wooden floors.

didn't get back till gone 2 as it was out of town, AND this is after me getting the train to the place we were playing [i]straight from work...on a saturday[/i]

meh...

[Sean]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='341036' date='Nov 30 2008, 12:22 PM']men don't seem to enjoy soul as much as women.[/quote]

Possibly a northern thing? We do quite a few soul numbers (Take Me to the River, Mustang Sally, Do You Love Me, Heatwave, Sugar Pie, etc) and it might be me but I've never noticed that. We've never had a discussion about as a band either and have always believed that the "usual suspect" soul songs are universal no-brainers for getting everyone up dancing. Cynical ploy but hey, we're cheese merchants.

I wonder if there's a proper term for a cheese merchant.

[Monz]

We played a bloody marathon at the New Barrack Tavern, Sheffield last night... or at least it felt like it. 3 sets 32 covers including encores with me just starting to recover from gastric flu and the singer with a sore throat. At least I managed without the crib sheets which was a bonus as I left my glasses on the side at home lol

[farmer61]

3 hours, no break playing to the cast of "Deliverance" in bandit country.

Played well, got paid and survived the experience. Won't be going back though!

[urb]

Well I did my first gig in ages last night at a quirky little venue behind the Vortex jazz club in north London, it was with my funk band Groove Digger but we had a dep drummer and sax player. Problem is with even some of the simpler James Brown stuff there are lots of hits in the drum charts that our regular beast of a drummer normally nails perfectly, but our dep really struggled with even a ska tune that starts with a guitar riff that accents the off beat, so it was up to me to find the f-ing '1' for him! Anyway the crowd were really into it and our few dodgy endings didn't stop everyone enjoying it.

I was finally able to use my all-Epidani rig which delivered in spades giving me shed loads of tone and power and through a UL210 with the 502 head, the Sei bass supplying loads of amazing tones as well. I got loads of lovely compliments afterwards along the lines of great groove and really strong playing which was great as in spite of our slightly altered line up we still grooved. Best bitof the night though was the bass and three percussionists jam I had after, I got to stretch out using some of my Wooten bass line and chords/picking and even then got people up and dancing.

A pretty good but late night

M

[KevB]

Since it actually was last night and the last gig of the band in its present form here's how it went...I won't embarass the venue but basically if you're not a tribute act of some kind there's no way you will get to play on Fri or Sat night. I've been to see a tribute on a Sunday and it was *very* quiet.
The sound guy decided he'd have an easy night and though he went to the trouble of mic'ing or DI'ing all instruments into the big in house PA then promptly told us that they had to keep it quiet on Sunday so he'd only be putting vox, a bit of drums and my midi pedals through it - 'I just mic stuff up to stop bands moaning that they are not mic'd up - it's not going through the PA'. I suggested we could turn down on stage volumes so we could then mix it all properly through the PA - no response.
So we trudged through a shortened set and got precisely £6 each from door takings at the end of the night - I'd spent more than that on food and drink since I'd arrived there!

Edited December 1, 2008 by KevB

[Bilbo]

Great piano trio gig at The Fox in Bury St Edmunds with Chris Ingham, probably Suffolk's best jazz pianist. Great sound and some great interaction, dynamics and grooves. Chris is also an author and has written books on Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and Metallica.

I also played with Chris in a Quartet that afternoon when we played to 2-300 people who had gathered to watch the Christmas lights in Stowmarket get switched on. We played all that Christmas dross but the irony is, because it was not a jazz gig, despite its low key status, it was the biggest audience any of us had seen all year!

Personally, I do it for the glamour.....

[Merton]

Sh*t gig in a sh*t pub with sh*t all people, and I was feeling like sh*t. Really did't want to do it but there we go. Think we played to the fiancee of the guitard and the wife of the singer, and that was it. best cheer (from the bar staff) came when I played Livin On A Prayer's opening riff while our drummer went for a slash. It was that crap and informal and b*ll*cks.

Methinks my time in this originals band is not going to last much longer...