How was your gig last night?

[radiophonic]

Infuriating. We played an all originals rock / Christmas bill at Alberts in Nottingham, organised by a band our drummer knows. Good set up, solid sound guy, well organised, all the signs were positive. Except our drummer just won’t practice and his playing is really starting to slide, as is his stamina. It’s a tragedy because he’s totally good enough to play the music if he puts the work in and his style is right for the sound, but tempos were all over the place and I had to just play defence - rooted to the spot, fixating on the hi hat. My feet never left the ground (I usually take off in a few places). Bear in mind that this is across 5/4>7/8 changes and were all tap dancing on pedal boards too. Exhausting. Band meeting tomorrow and guess who can’t make it?

[Stub Mandrel]

44 minutes ago, radiophonic said:

Band meeting tomorrow and guess who can’t make it?

Might that not make the space to raise the issue...

[leschirons]

Lovely new hall, hired out for a big company end of year party for about 500 employees. Huge stage (I prefer small venues) and great acoustics.

Good pay, but the worst gig of the year for me. I've woken up this morning, 300 kms from home,  (Air BnB) singers husband still in bed and I,  just want go home. My arthritic wrist is killing me and we didn't finish playing until 3.20 am.

On top of all that, our guitarist had a pedal board problem and decided to check every f#####g connection mid song rather than just cut the board out of the system and finish the number. He has 23 pedals on the board of which in my opinion, about 19 are not actually needed

So that's how my gig was. 

[stewblack]

played a club last night, the kind of place you'd not be surprised to discover was run by Brian Potter. 

Empty bar a handful of octogenarians tucked away in the far corner. 

BL was late, guitarist got pi§§ed  and basically just shredded over everything and dep drummer got bored so used it as a chance to run through some Faith No More stuff. 

The shame of it is, on its day it's a great band. BL has a wonderful voice but drinks and smokes and puts it through a terrible PA. I get on really well with the drummer who also deps for me on bass so I can pursue my other musical ventures, but a band which is so laid back it is on the edge of disaster will never fulfill its potential 

Anyway I mustn't complain, they get me a lot of work and I love playing regardless. 

[dmccombe7]

Mixed feelings about gig last night. First up the van i hired had an engine management light on that they said wasn't affecting the running of the van. Once on the motorway the power died every time we hit a hill. From 60-70mph down to 30-40mph. It did get us to the gig eventually. Torrential rain and extremely windy when driving a high sided LWB van.

Once in the venue it appears the venue didn't promote the event so it wasn't very busy. Everyone that was there was really into the gig tho and we had them dancing from early on till the end. ( two 1hr sets )

Because the venue was not as busy as expected the promoter struggled to get the money to pay us the agreed price. At half time he told us and said he would pay us 2/3 and would sort out the remainder later. (Guys in the band know him and he's true to his word) He said if we wanted to pack up now he would understand. Obviously we said we would play the gig as agreed. End up he paid what he had and said he was starting with a new venue and would pay us the extra at the first gig we play there.

Band sounded great last night. Bit of a boomy wooden stage tho but manageable. Promoter said we were the best band he'd seen in that venue so high praise. Lot of people asking for photos with the band at the end too so that was nice. (70's Glam covers band with full costumes etc)

Back to trying to get the van home. Loaded up and about 15mins into the journey the dual carriageway was closed due to an accident. That held us up for about an hour or so. Once we got moving it was nurse the van home time.

Finished the 2nd set around 11pm.  Got changed, sorted out the money within the band as you do, loaded the van and headed off around 12:30. Dropped the drummer off along with his drums PA and lighting (only 2 off us loading and unloading the van at his house so that was hard going. Finally got home at 4am. A 75mile journey that i can do in my car in 90mins took us 3.5hrs. 3hrs later had to take van back to hire company before 9am with a few choice words on van. They didn't really care.

Used my Sandberg VM4 with flats and still not sure about them. Was difficult to decide on them with stage being a bit boomy. Sounded ok out front at sound check tho. 

One thing i did find was that my fingers seemed to feel tight and quite stiff causing me to struggle with playing the exact bass parts in some songs. Had to miss out some notes on faster parts. Not sure if it was down to all the lifting of gear when loading the van or just the stress of a van that wasn't working properly. Could it have been the flats causing a problem moving across the strings ? No idea.

Anyway i'm absolutely knackered today

Dave

Edited December 8, 2019 by dmccombe7

[Woodinblack]

Local big company christmas party, mostly call and counter staff (warehousing). Had to set up at 3 and then start at 8:30. Got there, found the place (which wasn't that hard it being haynes motor museum), stage was huge. The organisers could have been more helpful. Easy load in, easy setup. Sound check and everything sounds the clearest we have sounded in ages.

Come back at 8, there are a lot of people there, and a lot of young women. Its safe to say it made me feel old enough to know that I would have never let my daughter out dressed like that

Anyway, they also have a DJ. Do the first set, a bit of dancing, mostly the older ones, sort of went ok, not the most involved. Maybe need more drinks.

Went for a break, came back, the dance floor is heaving to the sounds of loads of homogonised hits of the 70s-00s all with a constant thumping drum track. Almost felt guilty ruining their fun by coming back on, but decide to come back on to abba, as that is one of the bass drum overlaid songs they were listening to. Actually managed to keep the dance floor going with the more modern, dancey stuff, love machine, poker face, funky music, etc, all the way up to nearly the end when we did stop the cavalry which our guitarist and singer have been insisting on (they love christmas songs). Cleared the dance floor. So the last few songs were a bit quiet, then back to the DJ, and back to lines of barely dressed young women dancing to the macarana and such like on the stage while trying to set up. 

Normally I don't like breaking down while people are in the way, so that, but also, this was actually very distracting!

 

[MGB]

We played a at a very small theatre with The Billy Joel Experience, people were sitting so close that they could touch the pianoplayer/singer.

Due to the size of this venue we (and especially the drummer and he really did an excellent job) had to play very soft.

This had a positive side effect, more space and dynamics and therefore more room to make music instead of just cranking out the songs.

I had a very enjoyable evening.

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by MGB

[radiophonic]

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Might that not make the space to raise the issue...

I think we're all on the same page but it's a problem that's crept up on us. Stamina doesn't die overnight, chops deteriorate gradually and you can still cruise for  a while.  Some band members are willing to be more patient than others though and I'm technically still the new guy. They are hoping the fact that he effectively dropped the ball in front of a lot of his friends will be a wake up. I remain skeptical.

[stewblack]

much better performance this afternoon. My band are way more focused hung over than they are whizzed. Pub empty at first but ended up being offered regular work there on Sunday afternoons  Which is just brilliant. 

Is whizzed really a swear word? Come on. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by stewblack

[cheddatom]

I played drums on Friday night, still not sure if I should be risking it with my sprained wrist. A few people helped me with all of my gear which was really nice, and then I took some painkillers and 4 pints of beer. It got me through, and actually I played really well, but it was probably a bad idea. I still can't play bass and I have a gig on Thursday!

[Twigman]

Cancelled

 

 

We were supposed to be playing in Sicily on Saturday but the promoter had 'forgotten' to book the venue due to confusion over whether UK would've brexited by now and the concern over whether entertainment visas would've been required.

[BigRedX]

Two gigs on Saturday with In Isolation.

First opening day two of In The Black Midwinter festival in Sheffield. Playing at 2.00 in the afternoon wasn't that great as there were only about 20 people in the audience and most of them were either staff or from the next 2 or 3 bands on the bill. 

However it served as an excellent warm up to the evening gig at the Lending Room in Leeds supporting Rome Burns on their album launch. Played a blinder - even the unexpected Christmas Cover went down well. A great end to our mini tour and 2019.

Big things happening next year which I am not allowed to mention yet...

[Bluewine]

On 08/12/2019 at 03:30, FinnDave said:

Got home at half two last night after playing in Camden. Exceptionally good gig for the band, everything on stage was just right, 

Hi Dave,

It's always great to hear about good gigs. I'm glad you had a good weekend.

I was talking to our Band Leader about gigs last night. It's getting tough in my area. She said a lot of bands are having problems getting a New Years Eve booking.

Blue

 

 

[FinnDave]

 

2 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Hi Dave,

It's always great to hear about good gigs. I'm glad you had a good weekend.

I was talking to our Band Leader about gigs last night. It's getting tough in my area. She said a lot of bands are having problems getting a New Years Eve booking.

Blue

Thanks, Blue - that's only about a dozen gigs this year with that band, a large proportion of the audience comes to them all, and we don't want to them to get tired of us! The sets are always different, though. London gigs are about a two hour drive for me, further for some of the others.

I'm playing NYE in Swindon, about 40 mins away, with my old band, which will be fun, and depping with another, more local, Grateful Dead band in Oxford a few days later.

[Bluewine]

I played a 4- 7 last night with the 4 piece acoustic version of our band after a Green Bay Packers win , we're 10 and 3. 

We had a respectable crowd we were on point musically and several people were engaged with us for all 3 hours.

No gigs for me until New Years Eve

Blue

[Bluewine]

5 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

 

Thanks, Blue - that's only about a dozen gigs this year with that band, a large proportion of the audience comes to them all, and we don't want to them to get tired of us! The sets are always different, though. London gigs are about a two hour drive for me, further for some of the others.

I'm playing NYE in Swindon, about 40 mins away, with my old band, which will be fun, and depping with another, more local, Grateful Dead band in Oxford a few days later.

Nice!

My ex wife lives about an hour Noth of London. If we were on speaking terms I'd refer her to one of your gigs. Lol

Blue

[FinnDave]

Blue, Saturdays gig was the first for two months, and it was back at the same venue. We've been booked to play there six times next year, hopefully get another 6-8 bookings in other places, only 2 or 3 in the book so far.

[Bluewine]

2 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

Blue, Saturdays gig was the first for two months, and it was back at the same venue. We've been booked to play there six times next year, hopefully get another 6-8 bookings in other places, only 2 or 3 in the book so far.

Gigs are so important to me. All of the new techniques and new riffs I practice at home can only be fine tuned and perfected live.  

Blue

[Woodinblack]

39 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Hi Dave,

It's always great to hear about good gigs. I'm glad you had a good weekend.

I was talking to our Band Leader about gigs last night. It's getting tough in my area. She said a lot of bands are having problems getting a New Years Eve booking.

We have no NYE gig this year, as the singer has alternate years off. However, we have had many people ask us, including the place who we did last NYE who tried to book us last december.

[FinnDave]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Gigs are so important to me. All of the new techniques and new riffs I practice at home can only be fine tuned and perfected live.  

Blue

They're important to me too, but I have become fussier as the years roll by, there was a time I'd happily play to one man and his dog, these days I need an audience who really appreciates the music. Last Saturday was like surfing a huge wave of energy coming from the audience, we were just channeling the music for them. It didn't feel like I was playing, just letting the music flow through me. Truly a 'music plays the band' moment (to quote the Grateful Dead)

[BrunoBass]

Saturday’s gig was in one of our very regular venues. Without fail it’s always jumping and is somewhere I very much enjoy playing. However Saturday was dead, maybe because of the boxing? 
 

And then to top it off our perpetually joyless Man Who Hits Drums wants a band meeting this week; i assume he’s going to tell us he’s leaving the band...

[dmccombe7]

The really good news from our gig on Sat night is that the promoter has been asked by many of the folks there when or where we are playing again. He wants us back for Easter at a different venue. 

Here's a wee clip from the gig. Really needs good headphones to appreciate it plus keys player only had 2 rehearsals to learn 30+ songs. He did a great job.

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by dmccombe7

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, FinnDave said:

They're important to me too, but I have become fussier as the years roll by, there was a time I'd happily play to one man and his dog, these days I need an audience who really appreciates the music. Last Saturday was like surfing a huge wave of energy coming from the audience, we were just channeling the music for them. It didn't feel like I was playing, just letting the music flow through me. Truly a 'music plays the band' moment (to quote the Grateful Dead)

I'm fussier to Dave. I can't settle for mediocre riffs or overall mediocre performance. I want my notes to be heard and I want to play them right.

Yeah, I still make mistakes but not the same ones over and over

Blue

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

The really good news from our gig on Sat night is that the promoter has been asked by many of the folks there when or where we are playing again. He wants us back for Easter at a different venue. 

Here's a wee clip from the gig. Really needs good headphones to appreciate it plus keys player only had 2 rehearsals to learn 30+ songs. He did a great job.

 

Cool harmonies!!

I like your band.

Blue

[dmccombe7]

10 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Cool harmonies!!

I like your band.

Blue

Thanks Blue that's very much appreciated especially from someone with your amazing experience and talent.

Its simply a great fun band to be in. We have a great laugh doing this.

Drummer is ex-Glitter Band from 90's era so he's played some major venues around the world incl Wembley Arena.

Longest i've been with a band since i got back into playing 9 yrs ago. Coming up on  2 yrs but its been hard going getting the right people that fit with us. Keys have been a problem getting the right personality as well as good player. 

With the right audience its amazing fun to watch people singing all the songs from my teenage yrs. This is the music that started me off buying singles back in 73 onwards. I was a big Sweet and Bowie fan.

Many thanks

Dave