How was your gig last night?

[Bluewine]

8 hours ago, King Tut said:

Seems like I developed Superpowers at A New Day festival on Friday! 

Great shot!

 

Blue

[Mickeyboro]

On 20/08/2022 at 21:00, musicbassman said:

Just returned from an afternoon gig with a decent 7 piece south coast band who were playing outdoors at the New Forest Pride Festival.

Considering the train strike, event was well attended and a good atmosphere.

Unfortunately the band were struggling with a rather poor PA system and a soundman who gave the distinct impression that he’d rather not have been there at all. Only 3 monitors instead of the 6 requested, and no DI for the bass available, (‘sorry mate, it’s broken’) so I had to crank my Vanderkley/Hartke rig way up for the bass to be heard, which in turn meant that it was way too loud on stage. And as there were no monitors for bass player, drummer or keyboards, the backline had a real job trying to hear what was going on.

Apparently it sounded good out front, but on stage it was a real struggle. I was trying to lip read the singer to see what she was singing.

Remember guys, you can submit a technical requirements sheet for a gig to the stage manager, but when you arrive at the gig and find the PA hire company haven’t brought the right gear or some of it is broken it’s a bit late to do much about it.

 

Had a parallel experience, David, when I played a Bandstand in Bournemouth Lower Gardens a couple of weeks ago.

 

DI to the hired-in PA was denied as the Council had sent in the noise abatement team a few days earlier after complaints from nearby offices! Funny thing is the Council was funding the music… 

 

Happily I had brought both my Barefaced one10s which, with a Peavey Minimax, delivered from our perch on high with no major problems.Mini stack to left of photo as you see it.

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Mickeyboro

[casapete]

2 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Had a parallel experience, David, when I played a Bandstand in Bournemouth Lower Gardens a couple of weeks ago.

 

DI to the hired-in PA was denied as the Council had sent in the noise abatement team a few days earlier after complaints from nearby offices! Funny thing is the Council was funding the music… 

 

Happily I had brought both my Barefaced one10s which, with a Peavey Minimax, delivered from our perch on high with no major problems.Mini stack to left of photo as you see it.

 

 

The times we’ve walked past that bandstand and wondered if it ever gets used!

Looks a great place to play Mick.

[casapete]

Played at a birthday party on Monday with my country band The Fork Handles. Lovely pub on the

outskirts of Sheffield owned by an old friend of the band.

It was one of those gigs where the guy booking us loves what we do, but the rest of the

audience were in danger of not 'getting it', so we tried to keep it as commercial as we could.

First set went okay, but by the second set the audience (and some of the band..) were more

suitably refreshed so plenty of dancing going on. We played stuff they knew, like 'S.H.Alabama',

'Copperhead Road' and finished the night with the Stones song 'Dead Flowers'. 

Must admit, as I wasn't driving (rare for me) I did enjoy a few pints of Beavertown Neck Oil 

which was on draught, and very nice it was too. Due to this I forgot to organize any pics, so

just took a shot of my Dano Longhorn with GKMB800 / Barefaced Compact. Haven't used it

for a while, so it took the first couple of songs to get used to the short scale but soon got

into it.  

Edited August 24, 2022 by casapete

[Mickeyboro]

2 hours ago, casapete said:

Played at a birthday party on Monday with my country band The Fork Handles. Lovely pub on the

outskirts of Sheffield owned by an old friend of the band.

It was one of those gigs where the guy booking us loves what we do, but the rest of the

audience were in danger of not 'getting it', so we tried to keep it as commercial as we could.

First set went okay, but by the second set the audience (and some of the band..) were more

suitably refreshed so plenty of dancing going on. We played stuff they knew, like 'S.H.Alabama',

'Copperhead Road' and finished the night with the Stones song 'Dead Flowers'. 

Must admit, as I wasn't driving (rare for me) I did enjoy a few pints of Beavertown Neck Oil 

which was on draught, and very nice it was too. Due to this I forgot to organize any pics, so

just took a shot of my Dano Longhorn with GKMB800 / Barefaced Compact. Haven't used it

for a while, so it took the first couple of songs to get used to the short scale but soon got

into it.  

Nice! I sing Dead Flowers with my blues band - not really blues but more people know it than you think…

[yorks5stringer]

On 23/08/2022 at 06:54, Mickeyboro said:

Had a parallel experience, David, when I played a Bandstand in Bournemouth Lower Gardens a couple of weeks ago.

 

DI to the hired-in PA was denied as the Council had sent in the noise abatement team a few days earlier after complaints from nearby offices! Funny thing is the Council was funding the music… 

 

Happily I had brought both my Barefaced one10s which, with a Peavey Minimax, delivered from our perch on high with no major problems.Mini stack to left of photo as you see it.

 

 

Bit weird to play with your back to the audience, is it Modern Jazz?

[Mickeyboro]

No, Keith, we’re playing a B-side… beside the C-side😁

[yorks5stringer]

2 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

No, Keith, we’re playing a B-side… beside the C-side😁

But not in Deeside?

[Mickeyboro]

Eeee by gum!

[yorks5stringer]

19 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Eeee by gum!

T-side?

[FinnDave]

Played a pub gig with Franklin's Tower last night. It always interests me to see how the music of the Grateful Dead goes down to an audience unfamiliar with it. It was at my local pub, so there were quite a few people there who turned out to see me play (for some reason!), locals out for a meal and/or drink and one or two Deadheads who'd come just to see us. 

It was an outdoor gig in a marquee, which works well for us. We need to work on our set length, though - the first 'short' set lasted an hour and half, so break between sets was taken up deciding which songs to drop. We still managed nearly an hour and half for the second set, though. I was almost asleep by the end, running on automatic. 

People told us they'd enjoyed it, which was nice of them. The band usually plays for free or for a drink at most, so they were amazed that we were well paid. I'd arranged the gig, and I don't like playing for nothing unless it is for a genuine charity.

Overall, a good start to the weekend. I have a gig in Swindon this afternoon with The Wirebirds, and another in Oxford tomorrow with Franklins Tower again. I am not planning to do very much on Monday!

Edited August 27, 2022 by FinnDave

[Obrienp]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

 

 The band usually plays for free or for a drink at most, so they were amazed that we were ell paid. I'd arranged the gig, and I don't like playing for nothing unless it is for a genuine charity.

Overall, a good start to the weekend. I have a gig in Swindon this afternoon with The Wirebirds, and another in Oxford tomorrow with Franklins Tower again. I am not planning to do very much on Monday!

I agree. I play for enjoyment more than anything else but there are plenty of people who earn their living from music. If we play for nothing, we contribute to the devaluation of live music and undermine other musicians’ ability to earn a living from playing. As we all know, the money has largely gone out of recorded music and playing live is all that is left for most bands.

[Jack]

Indeed, please don't play for free.

[FinnDave]

My main arguments against playing for free are as above, that it makes life harder for musicians who need to play to put food on the table, and also that we all have to buy our equipment, maintain it, store it, and transport it. I have a larger car than I need for everything in my life except music, so have to bear the  expense of buying, insuring, taxing and fuelling a larger car than necessary for 90% of the time.

 

But my main beef with free gigs is that the band is not respected. People tend to value objects and other people based in what they are worth to them. A band that turns up and plays for nothing is exactly worth that to the promoter/landlord or whoever put the gig on - nothing. If they are paying a few hundred pounds to have you play, they treat with the respect that their investment in you deserves. 

 

I have never received shoddy treatment from anyone who has been paying to have us play, but at free gigs, you are a worthless commodity and I have often been treated accordingly. I have driven myself and equipment into Oxford several times, a distance of 10-12 miles, paid to park, hung around at a venue that has booked us, only to be told they are out of time and we can't play. A complete and utter waste of my time and money.

[Woodinblack]

16 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

But my main beef with free gigs is that the band is not respected.

 

I got really annoyed at a 'charity' gig a couple of months ago. It was a local school and it was effectively a favour to the guitarist, he went there, his kids were there. We had to rush after work to get there and setup. We setup.

Then this woman running the raffle came round to ask us if we were buying raffle tickets, I said no, I don't have any money (I did, but I wasn't paying them when I was doing a gig for free, and I really hate raffles) to which the guitarist said 'oh I will lend you the fiver' - gee thanks, can't say much there without looking bad. So another fiver down.

We  played, very little attention. Then we got told to stop so they could do the weirdest raffle you ever saw which took half an hour, then we played for another half an hour and apparently that was it, where the woman from the school used my PA to thank the volunteers for setting things up and the parents for coming (hello, we are right here, giving you the PA to talk through?). Then we started breaking down stuff, and one of the organisers was asking if we could hurry as they needed to put the stage away and couldn't get it done until we had finished and "didn't want to have to stay all evening".

 

Suffice to say, that is the last time we are doing that!

 

My rules for charity gigs now is, I normally get around £70+ for a gig. If we are doing a charity gig it has to be one that I would actually give that money to of my own accord.

[dmccombe7]

I've never really played for the money but in recent yrs since retiring early i've found that it comes in handy and saves me taking money out of my bank account. I just use what's in my wallet these days. 

I've played a few freebie gigs with the punk band that were already agreed before i joined. Both were a thank you to venues that have been really good to the band and it was to help them get back on their feet after the pandemic. 

I have one next Saturday night with the punk band but its for the singers best friend who followed the band a lot. 2 yrs ago on her way home from a bike rally she had a fatal anurism and dropped the bike. The family couldn't honour her during the pandemic and made arrangements on her 2nd anniversary to have a get together with all her family and friends. They asked if our singer and the band would play at the event in a large hotel. The band said yes and agreed that we would play it for free. I have no issue with that. Its for a close friend of someone in the band and someone that went to many many gigs. 

 

Dont think i would be up for doing free gigs for official charities altho i ahve done some many yrs ago for Glasgow kids hospital which was a cause that was close to me at the time.

 

Dave

[gafbass02]

Last night’s gig was awesome!  Once a year my band that split up in 2018 does a one-off as demand is still so high! 

(We can’t reform permanently because of various reasons) 

I play guitar and sing and did all the arrangements etc (and provide all the gear bar drums). We do bespoke rocked up versions of pop classics from

the 80s to today. Everything from

the spice girls to Bonnie Tyler gets the treatment. Plus some 90s faves that are more straight ‘rock covers’ like Therapy? Green Day and Placebo. 
Venue was packed out everyone singing and dancing and having fun. Lots of lovely comments from people, some of whom had travelled to see us. It’s was a lovely warm and friendly evening

Tonight I’m back on bass at Cheltenham ladies college for a private do and then a local festival tomorrow  

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by gafbass02

[FinnDave]

Just back in from my second gig of the weekend, this was a charity gig with the Wirebirds in Swindon. Not some abstract charity, but a fund raiser for a local chap in need of help. Great atmosphere, real family feeling. We played a similar event there a few years ago, and it had the same vibe. Great to be playing with our own drummer again, as last few gigs he has been on holiday. Real power trio stuff, great fun and a very refreshing after the discipline of playing in a six piece last night. 

Two down, one to go, with the six piece in Oxford tomorrow. I really hope we aren't on too late as I am proper tired already!

[Old Horse Murphy]

A good one with a lively crowd in the Forest of Dean tonight. The applause was particularly loud and long but that might be due to the extra fingers on each hand of the foresters.
 

 It was a small stage area so we travelled light which made setup a breeze and for the first time in all the years I've been playing and gigging I actually gigged a five string. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it too. 
 

 

[Merton]

Just back from a loud, rowdy pub gig looking after the bass seat for @Graham again.

Got to use my newly acquired Two10S (thanks again @RickW!) with the other already in my possession. Sounded marvellous!

Crowd were great (especially the lovely lady dancing right in front of me, ahem) and the dude who took this pic - a fellow bassist who was probably horrified at my sloppy playing 😀

[moley6knipe]

Green Dragon at Ryhall near Stamford tonight. No keys tonight. Played really well, I got an EXCELLENT stage and foh mix and the landlord was delighted. Paid, fed and watered. 30 min drive. Long though: arrived 15:30 left 23:30.

 

We’re their resident band now. Lots of dancing and singing along. Excellent night!

 

Fingertips aced it for once. Restrung dimension sounded smashing.

 

Bad right middle finger joint pain for the first time. Like, really bad. Don’t recall bashing it - sadly suspect this is the beginning of arthritis forcing use of pick more…

Edited August 28, 2022 by moley6knipe

[jimmyb625]

Not strictly my gig, but the band I tech for played at Krankenhaus festival in the Lake District today, which is organised by the excellent Sea Power.

A really friendly, small festival, with acts today including Steve Davis (yes, that one) and Daniel Wakeford from Channels 4's "The Undateables"

 

https://www.krankenhausfestival.com/lineup/

[casapete]

Played in a lovely Yorkshire wolds village not far from Bridlington last night. The acoustic

duo gig was in a small open sided marquee in the grounds of a pub, with the audience 

sitting both inside and outside. Lots of people with dogs and kids running around,

usually a pain but this time not a problem for some reason.

Two 60 min sets starting at 6.30pm, loads of requests which we managed to play,

and finished around 9pm. It had started off sunny and warm, but by the end it was 

getting chilly and our hands were a bit numb - feels like summer is suddenly on 

it’s way out now. Home by 10.30pm so an early one for me.

Will spend an hour today sorting out my cables case as the pack down in the dark

was a bit rushed, and no doubt everything covered in grass etc!

 

[Graham]

6 hours ago, Merton said:

Just back from a loud, rowdy pub gig looking after the bass seat for @Graham again.

Got to use my newly acquired Two10S (thanks again @RickW!) with the other already in my possession. Sounded marvellous!

Crowd were great (especially the lovely lady dancing right in front of me, ahem) and the dude who took this pic - a fellow bassist who was probably horrified at my sloppy playing 😀

Thanks, glad it went well 😀

 

It's always a fun venue there and good there was a decent view 😄

[dmccombe7]

Riverside Bar in Dumfries last night. Love this venue, great crowd, great owner and staff. 

Play there around 4-5 times a year.

Unfortunately after many years putting Sat live bands on, an elderly neighbour that has been there for many years has now decided to complain about noise levels. Unfortunately his wife passed away and the guys having some mental issues trying to cope with his loss. Its a shame all round. No winners and i do have sympathy for the poor guy.

Bands used to play in the large conservatory they have but have now moved bands into bar area which is smaller plus we were asked to keep our punk covers band quiet. It was so quiet i could clearly hear people talking louder than the band.because the cabs just weren't doing anything.

Bass sounded muffled. I actually practice louder at home. As it got busier once we started we did turn up slightly and just enough to get the speakers working and give a little bit of energy in the overall sound. It was like playing punk covers in a club band at the start. At the end of the day we still got paid and i had no issue with noise affecting my hearing 😂

Bar is literally where the camera is. Decided to try the P bass for the first set and it sounded ok but went back to my Marlowe for 2nd set and the change was amazing. P bass had lots of warmth in its tone but because volumes were so low it lacked clarity. Marlowe just brought things back to life and i could hear every note i was playing. Maybe helped by the fact we notched up the volume a little for the 2nd set.

Dave