How was your gig last night?

[KevB]

44 minutes ago, leschirons said:

Yes it was a hell of a trip. Thing is, you get tempted by great pay for doing something you love but when you realise you've only played for 10% of the time you're away and get back shattered after playing to an audience that are already exhausted before you even start your set (some of them had been on the go since 5 am with all the arrangements)

So, we've  certainly agreed not to do this sort of distance anymore and probably cut out the wedding gigs.

I came to the same conclusion after going from East Mids down to Newquay for a wedding gig (with an awful load in/out down 130-odd steep steps to a beach). We were put up for the night but the money they gave us up front for van hire and fuel wasn't enough so after deducting the extra fuel money and other expenses I might as well have done a local pub gig in terms of final profit. I haven't been in a band that takes wedding bookings since actually.

[Bluewine]

The biker bar gig at the Road House was good. Our band leader did a great job on guitar, vocals and fronting. We played through the set we're going to use for our gig with The Charlie Daniels Band next month.

Great weather, great crowd lots of alcohol sales.

Now only if I had remembered the changes in " Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

Blue

Edited June 3, 2019 by Bluewine

[martthebass]

51 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

Now only if I had remembered the changes in " Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

Blue

I always forget the middle section in that at jam nights......

[Raymondo]

3 hours ago, Bluewine said:

The biker bar gig at the Road House was good. Our band leader did a great job on guitar, vocals and fronting. We played through the set we're going to use for our gig with The Charlie Daniels Band next month.

Great weather, great crowd lots of alcohol sales.

Now only if I had remembered the changes in " Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

Blue

Don't worry Blue ...nobody notices the bass player any way 😉

 

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, Bluewine said:

The biker bar gig at the Road House was good. Our band leader did a great job on guitar, vocals and fronting. We played through the set we're going to use for our gig with The Charlie Daniels Band next month.

:

Now only if I had remembered the changes in " Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

By reverse logic, that means I'm good enough to support the Charlie Daniels Band.

Stuff this job, I'm going pro.... 😎

[Raymondo]

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

By reverse logic, that means I'm good enough to support the Charlie Daniels Band.

Stuff this job, I'm going pro.... 😎

Hey that's fine ...but don't go down to Georgia ….The Devil will get ya! 😉

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Raymondo said:

Hey that's fine ...but don't go down to Georgia ….The Devil will get ya! 😉

I don't like the way the chicken in the breadpan is looking at me...

[Bluewine]

On 03/06/2019 at 15:07, Stub Mandrel said:

By reverse logic, that means I'm good enough to support the Charlie Daniels Band.

Stuff this job, I'm going pro.... 😎

I'm not sure we are good enough as a band. I think we get lucky with bookings and people like Jenny and they recognize her talent. 

Blue

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I'm not sure we are good enough as a band. I think we get lucky with bookings and people like Jenny and they recognize her talent. 

Blue

I'm sure you're well up to it, Blue, enjoy the gig 🙂

[stewblack]

Two gigs of three done. Couldn't imagine a greater contrast. Last night a big venue virtually empty but those there polite and friendly. Thursday a packed pub seething with drunkeness and violence. Tonight a football club. Who knows what that will be like. 

It's a fun little run because it's not only three different towns but three different bands too. 

Took my Harley Benton with me to the barracks town where the worst of the fighting took place and while it was a good choice for its robustness its a little heavy for close quarters hand to hand combat. 

Tonight I'll go with something lighter so if I need to I can get a faster swing. 

[casapete]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Two gigs of three done. Couldn't imagine a greater contrast. Last night a big venue virtually empty but those there polite and friendly. Thursday a packed pub seething with drunkeness and violence. Tonight a football club. Who knows what that will be like. 

It's a fun little run because it's not only three different towns but three different bands too. 

Took my Harley Benton with me to the barracks town where the worst of the fighting took place and while it was a good choice for its robustness its a little heavy for close quarters hand to hand combat. 

Tonight I'll go with something lighter so if I need to I can get a faster swing. 

Keith's black Tele seemed ideal for the job....

[Leonard Smalls]

We played Speakeasy in the Left Bank complex in Hereford on Thursday night...

It's a smallish underground venue - the gig night is run by 2 very nice people who helped us bring the gear up 10 steps then down another at least 15 steps (flood defence!). Which was good - having been told it was basically a concrete box and didn't need much volume to get it pumping I felt that the full 1500w rig was needed. Though carrying 90+ pounds of bass horn in was fun!

There were 2 bands on before us - local punks Dead Beats and Fika from Cardiff who were far more eclectic,almost jazzy. Both were excellent and meant we would have to work hard to keep up the standard. 

However, having so much power meant I could turn up the octave down pedal; coupled with Future Impact pedal on Hammond organ setting and Fwonk Beta in full Bootsy mode plus the drummer's Tama StarClassic we made a wall of rhythm for the guitarist to smear feedback on and the singer to spray paint with anti-hunting and other lefty slogans. Surprisingly it went down very well, about 1/2 the reasonable-sized crowd turned into a moshpit from the 2nd song - they were tempted in the 1st song but I put a stop to that with a bass solo (might as well start with one!) . Not only that but we were paid, and i was back home with a large glass of Woodford Reserve by 2340!

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

We played Speakeasy in the Left Bank complex in Hereford on Thursday night...

It's a smallish underground venue - the gig night is run by 2 very nice people who helped us bring the gear up 10 steps then down another at least 15 steps (flood defence!). Which was good - having been told it was basically a concrete box and didn't need much volume to get it pumping I felt that the full 1500w rig was needed. Though carrying 90+ pounds of bass horn in was fun!

There were 2 bands on before us - local punks Dead Beats and Fika from Cardiff who were far more eclectic,almost jazzy. Both were excellent and meant we would have to work hard to keep up the standard. 

However, having so much power meant I could turn up the octave down pedal; coupled with Future Impact pedal on Hammond organ setting and Fwonk Beta in full Bootsy mode plus the drummer's Tama StarClassic we made a wall of rhythm for the guitarist to smear feedback on and the singer to spray paint with anti-hunting and other lefty slogans. Surprisingly it went down very well, about 1/2 the reasonable-sized crowd turned into a moshpit from the 2nd song - they were tempted in the 1st song but I put a stop to that with a bass solo (might as well start with one!) . Not only that but we were paid, and i was back home with a large glass of Woodford Reserve by 2340!

Sometimes a review leaves me wishing I'd been there. Like this one ☝️

[stewblack]

Played a pretty empty football club last night. But those who were there enjoyed it. And we worked hard and got people dancing which I regard as 'the job'. 

I'd spent the day playing with various configurations of pedals, planned out an outrageous two amp set up, just because. 

Then left the pedal board at home and of course being the PA guy I had no time to set up my gear anyway so went with the tried and tested Trace/Barefaced combination. 

[Woodinblack]

Did a gig on friday at a local nightclub that is not that busy in the evening but they have bands on. It was pretty quiet when we got there, but there is also a local music festival on so we weren't expecting much. And the pay is ok and they are short (for us) sets of an hour each. However, a few friends dropped by at the start and after about half an hour some people started turning up and the small audience were at least pretty responsive.

And as it turned out, that dispite any practice for ages, the first set went really well.

Second half there were a few mistakes, and then we played 'impression I get' and turned out, I completely forgot how it went, or how to play it. I floundered around with root notes while I searched my brain, then my ipad, for a clue, both were unhelpful. Root notes don't really work for ska! Then for the last verse my brain finally caught up and said 'oh that song' and it all came flooding back. But that put me on edge for the rest of the second half. Then for the end, I was still playing the guild that I had switched to, as there weren't any songs that needed a 5 string, we were going to play a song at the end and the guitarist decided to play a different song, but somehow didn't feel the need to tell me, which is a shame as it needs a bass, and also I need a 5 string bass to play it.  Luckily I can swap quickly but had to start again and that looks awful.

So yeh, mostly ok, but those two threw it a bit for me.

On the plus side, new management there who pay right away, the last management paid later by bank account (being the only people we have had that with), and took 2 months to pay!

Today we are supposed to have a gig in a local pub, but turns out that local pub is closed, their phones are disconnected, and rumours are that the landlord/landlady have had a bit of a falling out. I guess I will go off shopping instead!

 

[VTypeV4]

I've done some dep gigs this weekend - 30 songs with less than 24 hrs notice! It's not been an easy one as it's an '80s cover band at that..

Risky Roch by VTypeV4, on Flickr

The Trace, the Warwick and the SWRs pictured at a club in Rochadale.

 

[jazzyvee]

Had a really good gig headlining a festival last night with Musical Youth. 

[Bluewine]

We played the 2nd annual Beer On The Bridge in Grafton. A 4 hour gig, good pay and tips. However, the overall accommodations for the band was pretty "ghetto". But I'm working so I won't complain.

Blue

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, Bluewine said:

We played the 2nd annual Beer On The Bridge in Grafton. A 4 hour gig, good pay and tips. However, the overall accommodations for the band was pretty "ghetto". But I'm working so I won't complain.

Blue

4hrs ?? jings i'd struggle keeping that up for as long. 

Well done Blue. Shame about the accomodation.

Good to see the gigs still coming in for you.

All the best

Dave

[cheddatom]

We did two support slots. Friday at The Underground in Hanley which is very local for me. It could be such a great venue if only they'd clean it. Anyway, it went well and we won some new fans I think.

Saturday was Albert's in Nottingham. This used to be a Spanky Van Dykes which I gather is some sort of student chain. I'd been in for a drink before but never been upstairs. The room up there is awesome! Great shape and brilliant sound. Unfortunately the venue had told the promoter that there was a 10pm curfew for a club night afterwards so everything was scheduled to be super early. It was only at 6:30 when he was asking about the load out that the venue staff told him the club night had been cancelled, and we could go as late as we liked. It was too late to change much by then, I'm sure more people would have come out if they'd known. To top that off, the venue didn't open the bar upstairs so people had to go down two flights of stairs to get a drink, and the service down there was the slowest I've ever seen. It took me 15 minutes to get a beer after we'd played. Another venue that could be awesome if they get their act together. Still it was a good night.

Our bassist has been very complimentary of my playing the last few gigs. Either I've gotten better recently or he's been playing with a crap drummer in one of his other bands

[bazzbass]

nice gig reports by all

I find sparse crowds harder to play to.

After 40 years though, we play as if it's packed and those there get into it eventually

[Wylie]

Two gigs on Saturday, the first a farmer's market in a college town (Williamstown, Mass.) where I got to watch our violinist's crap pickup fall off of his instrument several times, to the accompaniment of strenuous cursing. We are a 3-piece jazz (mostly) outfit with bass and keyboards supporting the violin when it is actually being played. The market is a high-end affair. I paid $4 for a bagel with cream cheese. We hit our stride halfway through and had people cheering and little girls dancing. In the afternoon, we played an arts and crafts exposition in a huge former mill building. Lots of people, good PA, artisan beers ($$$), and a small group sitting in front of the low stage who actually seemed to enjoy what we were playing. Both were paying gigs; no complaints. 

[Bluewine]

7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

4hrs ?? jings i'd struggle keeping that up for as long. 

Well done Blue. Shame about the accomodation.

Good to see the gigs still coming in for you.

All the best

Dave

 

Thanks

4 hours is taking its toll on me. The summer won't be too bad because the festival and big stage gigs are an hour to an hour and a half.

Blue

[Leonard Smalls]

4 hours ago, Bluewine said:

4 hours is taking its toll on me.

Not surprised! After our usual 45-50 minute set I've sweated about 6 pints, my fingers have seized up, both knees are swollen and I've put out either mine or somebody else's back!

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Not surprised! After our usual 45-50 minute set I've sweated about 6 pints, my fingers have seized up, both knees are swollen and I've put out either mine or somebody else's back!

I think we're both experiencing what is known as " Pre- Death".😁

Blue