How was your gig last night?

[jimmyb625]

It's better with something that has poor aerodynamic performance, to reduce the likelihood of significant damage to the violin player.

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, jimmyb625 said:

It's better with something that has poor aerodynamic performance, to reduce the likelihood of significant damage to the violin player.

why would you want to reduce damage to a violin player?? 😯

 

[SICbass]

54 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

why would you want to reduce damage to a violin player?? 😯

 

Have you any idea how hard it is to replace one at short notice?

[Stub Mandrel]

On 17/11/2019 at 14:49, Lozz196 said:

we gave over our printed monitor specs to the engineer (professional huh)

Engineer's response "There's only one 'K' in effing loud!"

 

On 17/11/2019 at 14:49, Lozz196 said:

“cockneykunts”

Great name for a punk band 🙂

[Stub Mandrel]

On 18/11/2019 at 09:35, Woodinblack said:

On 18/11/2019 at 08:49, jacko said:

On this occasion a young (mid 20's probbaly) girl came over and stood quietly typing on her phone.  'Odd' I thought till she held it up in front of me - 'can you do Lucille, BKing?'. *  Seems technology is even taking over in drunk punter territory.  

I would love that, so much better than screaming something at you mid song!

and on a second thought - A mid 20s woman wanted a BBKing song?? 😮

No... a baking song, for all you Master Bakers out there (worth a listen):

 

[itu]

Not good. A young Audi boy drove over my old Alfa 33 while I was driving to the gig. My playing sucked, as I was thinking, what happened and how much this gig will cost. Oh dear. But the ladies were wearing shiny stockings and my dear bass sang some nice stuff. I shouldn't feel too bad.

[BrunoBass]

7 hours ago, itu said:

But the ladies were wearing shiny stockings. I shouldn't feel too bad.

Always a sight to behold 😊

[casapete]

9 hours ago, itu said:

But the ladies were wearing shiny stockings

In my function band days this saved many a gig from being tedious for me....

[itu]

 

0LsRHl8z9CE

[lozkerr]

On 18/11/2019 at 08:49, jacko said:

On this occasion a young (mid 20's probbaly) girl came over and stood quietly typing on her phone.  'Odd' I thought till she held it up in front of me - 'can you do Lucille, BKing?'. *  Seems technology is even taking over in drunk punter territory.  

And they say the youth of today have no manners... well done, that lassie.

[Richard R]

On 19/11/2019 at 16:27, Stub Mandrel said:

No... a baking song, for all you Master Bakers out there (worth a listen):

 

Well that's cheered me up 😁, having just got in from a rehearsal where frankly I was so out of time I would have been kicked out of the reception class end of term performance 🙁. 

[Combed20]

Drive from south Bucks to Coalville to play mid card on a 7 band line up last night, where really only the bands showed up. Still, we gave it our all and we seemed to go down well. Headline bands bass player complimented me on by bass lines and tone, so felt like a win despite the disappointing turn out. Feels like original bands are struggling to find an audience atm.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Combed20

[Woodinblack]

In the middle of a 3 gig weekend.

1st gig, surprise birthday party. Set up was miles from the car so lots of carrying, then setup for 7:30 and hang around to start at 9. Sound was not too bad, noone was interested for the first 30 minutes, then a couple of little girls (children, not small women)started dancing and then dragged their families up, so that was good. And another guy was joining in. After the break the girls and the guy came back, so that wasn't too bad, and people were at least clapping by that point. Then, as is inevitable, for our last 5 songs or so, pretty well everyone got up (the ska gets them every time). Paid well, not bad. Got nice messages from them this morning.

Gig 2, just got home. Local pub we haven't played in a while, the last time we played there it wasnt really busy or good but there are new tenants who are apparently trying to make it a goto venue for music. Guessing they haven't succeeded yet then. No response for the first half an hour, then a bit more, then some people who visit us at one of the other pubs came in, and danced and sung, so that was good, then at the start of the second half, that was good too, but they left at about 11, then it was pretty well dead until we finished at 11:30. A bit of a why do you bother sort of ending. But packed up quick, and got paid.

Hope tomorrow is good, hate 3 gig weekends and this isn't changing my feelings on that!

[super al]

Just played a gig that was a late booking, someone recommended us from another band. It's a boozer that I've played a few times before and used to frequent as a customer too!

Set up was strange, people eating (they do very good food apparently) and we couldn't set up properly until this couple finished their meal. Once they left we set up and soundchecked with 5mins until showtime!

We play soul music from the 60s, 70s and the wonderful 80s and I think we hit the spot. Good size crowd and people getting into it. At half time people were asking for our phone number and the landlord moved some tables to create a dancefloor area.

2nd half always starts with My Girl but punters were up dancing and continued to until the end. Thought we'd finished the gig but got offered £100 for another half hour by a punter and so we carried on, in fact we played another 45 mins so gave value for money 😊. Played tunes that we haven't played in soooo long.

Landlord reckoned we were the best band by far that they had play there (praise indeed, they've had some good bands up there), he wants us for New Year's Eve party! Plenty of gig offers from punters there so all in all a nice little earner with potential gig interest thrown in

Slight cramp in my fretting hand near the end but really enjoyable gig, the locals still like to party it seems!

[Stylon Pilson]

We played in a small pub last night. The size of the crowd fluctuated a little throughout the evening but by the end of the night it was decently full. The audience were enthusiastic throughout, with lots of dancing and cheering in evidence. At the end of the night the landlady did speak to us and express that she hadn't been expecting us to be a four-piece (there were only 3 of us last time, as we were still looking for a new keyboard player) and that if we return, she'd prefer it to just be 3 of us. There's going to be a hefty internal debate about this - while the keyboard player doesn't mind us doing gigs without him, the guitarist feels quite strongly that the presence of the keyboard is inherent to his enjoyment of the gig, and while he'd do a 3-piece gig in a pinch, he doesn't want to actively seek out bookings for just the 3 of us. So we may or may not be returning to this venue. I think we're going to go back to the landlady and see if she can be flexible - after all, we honestly didn't take up significantly more floorspace with the extra musician.

S.P.

[steantval]

8 minutes ago, Stylon Pilson said:

We played in a small pub last night. The size of the crowd fluctuated a little throughout the evening but by the end of the night it was decently full. The audience were enthusiastic throughout, with lots of dancing and cheering in evidence. At the end of the night the landlady did speak to us and express that she hadn't been expecting us to be a four-piece (there were only 3 of us last time, as we were still looking for a new keyboard player) and that if we return, she'd prefer it to just be 3 of us. There's going to be a hefty internal debate about this - while the keyboard player doesn't mind us doing gigs without him, the guitarist feels quite strongly that the presence of the keyboard is inherent to his enjoyment of the gig, and while he'd do a 3-piece gig in a pinch, he doesn't want to actively seek out bookings for just the 3 of us. So we may or may not be returning to this venue. I think we're going to go back to the landlady and see if she can be flexible - after all, we honestly didn't take up significantly more floorspace with the extra musician.

S.P.

For the sake of keeping a happy band and the landlady not willing to budge on only wanting a three piece, I personally wouldn’t bother with the pub, it’s only a gig and not worth the hassle.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Stylon Pilson said:

 At the end of the night the landlady did speak to us and express that she hadn't been expecting us to be a four-piece (there were only 3 of us last time, as we were still looking for a new keyboard player) and that if we return, she'd prefer it to just be 3 of us.

Well, you are a lot politer than I would be there. A landlord can choose to hire us or not, that is up to them. The makeup of the band is absolutely none of their business.

edit - 

Moreso, if I was the keyboard player and there even discussions about this, I would be saying well, there are a lot of bands that need keyboard players, see you later guys.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Woodinblack

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, Stylon Pilson said:

We played in a small pub last night. The size of the crowd fluctuated a little throughout the evening but by the end of the night it was decently full. The audience were enthusiastic throughout, with lots of dancing and cheering in evidence. At the end of the night the landlady did speak to us and express that she hadn't been expecting us to be a four-piece (there were only 3 of us last time, as we were still looking for a new keyboard player) and that if we return, she'd prefer it to just be 3 of us. There's going to be a hefty internal debate about this - while the keyboard player doesn't mind us doing gigs without him, the guitarist feels quite strongly that the presence of the keyboard is inherent to his enjoyment of the gig, and while he'd do a 3-piece gig in a pinch, he doesn't want to actively seek out bookings for just the 3 of us. So we may or may not be returning to this venue. I think we're going to go back to the landlady and see if she can be flexible - after all, we honestly didn't take up significantly more floorspace with the extra musician.

S.P.

 

If you manage to squeeze in the same space I don't see why it should be a problem. Good luck negotiating. Sometimes landlords/ladies can be funny/difficult/plain-silly... but it's them who pay so it's best to at least appear like you're working with them.

We once brought a 9-piece when they were expecting 5 of us (not sure where they got "5" as we had not played as a 5 piece in years at that stage). It got tricky for a minute, but once we established that yes, we'd make it work with all of us fitting in the space allocated, there was not trouble. 

 

 

[mcnach]

59 minutes ago, steantval said:

For the sake of keeping a happy band and the landlady not willing to budge on only wanting a three piece, I personally wouldn’t bother with the pub, it’s only a gig and not worth the hassle.

 

negotiate!

[mcnach]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Well, you are a lot politer than I would be there. A landlord can choose to hire us or not, that is up to them. The makeup of the band is absolutely none of their business.

edit - 

Moreso, if I was the keyboard player and there even discussions about this, I would be saying well, there are a lot of bands that need keyboard players, see you later guys.

 

again... just negotiate.

I'd agree, I would not want to to the gig without some members: the band is X and that's how we play. But a lot of times you may get landlords with concerns... it could be volume, it could be space, it could be a lot of other things. It's a lot more productive to talk to them and negotiate. They have the money, the band needs them more than they need the band (there's no shortage of bands). Talk to them and find a way to make it work, if their concerns can be appeased (which is often the case).

[taunton-hobbit]

Ask the landlord/lady what the problem is and work from there?

😎

[Staggering on]

Our jazz standards quartet played a gig yesterday providing background music from 8:30 to 11:30 for an investment company's annual Christmas party and meal for staff and clients and families, a gig we've played at least five times now. About 300 attendees and lots of nice comments and kids seeing live music for a change and the venue staff doing some nice moves to our music as they went about their work. It's a nice venue, we get well paid, easy load in/out and a nice meal as well.We had a relaxed time playing some of our "wallpaper" music with a couple of dozen Christmas/seasonal tunes mixed in, all in all a good gig.  

About the only drawback is that it is 8:30 to 11:30 AM, a Christmas breakfast party which means leave home at 6:30AM, set up and sound check at 7:30. You gotta love it!

 

[Lozz196]

Played a benefit gig for The British Heart Foundation last night, in Hereford. We knew a good few of the bands playing so nice to socialise with them.

We were the headliners and both the singer and myself have the lurg at present - cough/cold - so we were a bit concerned about vox, however all was fine, we played well and the audience really enjoyed it.
 

Big shout out to 4 youngsters who were there all day, up & dancing to all the bands apparently (where do they get their energy from) and an even bigger shout out to the organisers Raff & Sam, over £500 raised for a very good cause.

Got home at 3:15, so rather tired today, zzzzzzzzz.

[Maude]

We played a rural social club last night which was disappointingly quiet. Those that were there enjoyed it but it's hard work to put on a show when it's like that. Afterwards, one by one, most people came up and thanked us and said they really enjoyed it, and then the landlord came over and explained that the booking had clashed with other yearly events going on resulting in low numbers in an area of few people. But he said we were great, booked us for next year, gave us £50 on top of our fee and waived our bar tab by way of apology for the low numbers. So at least they were happy which is what matters. 

[Gottastopbuyinggear]

Not last night but Friday, a charity event for Blesma (https://blesma.org/) at the Exchange Hotel in Cardiff Bay.

I knew it was an old building (formerly the Coal Exchange) but didn’t really know what to expect.  As the nominated band sound man I was hoping for something not too challenging, so preferably nothing cavernous with a hard floor.  I think the photo says it all...

Sound check was interesting - the room was basically a huge echo chamber, and I found I had to set relative levels quite differently to our usual mix.  I made an effort to keep everything as quiet as possible, though with our drummer “quiet” is a relative term!

Once we were playing it was obviously impossible to know how it sounded out front, but from where I was standing there were no problems.  More importantly we didn’t cause a mass exodus from the room and had quite a few people up and dancing for some songs, so it can’t have been too bad.

Most importantly, though, the organiser (who had seen us playing in a pub and asked if we’d do the event) was very happy, and it was great to be able to do something for a good cause.