How was your gig last night?

[BassAdder60]

On 16/12/2022 at 11:20, Paul S said:

My blues-rock trio Toredown supported Dr Feelgood at Venue 77, Ipswich last night.  Freezing, -3C when I left home at 3.50pm.  What should have been a 1hr 5 minute trip took 2hrs 10mins, traffic was a nightmare, got there at 6pm for the 5.30pm setp up 🤪 I needn't have worried as everyone was running late.  The Feelgood guys weren't there either, nor was one of the sound guys.  I toddled off for a chicken shish, came back whilst the main guys were setting up, although their singer was still not there. 

 

Anyhow, all was well.  Doors opened late at 7.30, we kicked off at 8pm to a largely filled room.  I don't honestly think we could have played any better and we really went down well.  A couple of people said they came just to see us!  Loads of great comments afterwards, notaby from the gig promoter, MC for the night, DJ and local music celeb, Foz, who said some really fab stuff about us when we had done.  One of those real 'warm glow inside, still smiling about it' type of gigs.  I didn't stay for all the Feelgood gig as I wanted to head off home before it got too cold/late.  Journey home took half as long.  Next one is the end of January.  I love this band 😍

 

Awful pic from someone's Facebook page who was there.

 

My old home town 👍

[Paul S]

6 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

My old home town 👍

 

Did you ever work out how the roads are configured?  I've been gigging there for 3 years and still always get lost  

[Bluewine]

On 16/12/2022 at 05:20, Paul S said:

My blues-rock trio Toredown supported Dr Feelgood at Venue 77, Ipswich last night.  Freezing, -3C when I left home at 3.50pm.  What should have been a 1hr 5 minute trip took 2hrs 10mins, traffic was a nightmare, got there at 6pm for the 5.30pm setp up 🤪 I needn't have worried as everyone was running late.  The Feelgood guys weren't there either, nor was one of the sound guys.  I toddled off for a chicken shish, came back whilst the main guys were setting up, although their singer was still not there. 

 

Anyhow, all was well.  Doors opened late at 7.30, we kicked off at 8pm to a largely filled room.  I don't honestly think we could have played any better and we really went down well.  A couple of people said they came just to see us!  Loads of great comments afterwards, notaby from the gig promoter, MC for the night, DJ and local music celeb, Foz, who said some really fab stuff about us when we had done.  One of those real 'warm glow inside, still smiling about it' type of gigs.  I didn't stay for all the Feelgood gig as I wanted to head off home before it got too cold/late.  Journey home took half as long.  Next one is the end of January.  I love this band 😍

 

Awful pic from someone's Facebook page who was there.

 

 

Nice gig pic.

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

This Saturday Night 12/17
Maple Road
@The BlondiPop
8:30
West Bend WI

 

 

I'll let you guys know how it goes. Only a 5 minute commute. We're all set up and we did our sound check early.The BlondiPop is an old very small Church converted into a club.

 

Blue

[BassAdder60]

2 hours ago, Paul S said:

 

Did you ever work out how the roads are configured?  I've been gigging there for 3 years and still always get lost  

Yes after living in Ipswich for 30 + yrs I got to know it very well. 

[gafbass02]

Standard wmc Christmas party for me last night, we play it every year, pleasant enough night, I was just glad to be somewhere warm tbh! I played my incredible SR1200 all night and my shoulder was killing by the end of a 2.5 hour set with no breaks, even though it’s super light compared to something like a fender. Im vaguely considering selling it and putting the ££ towards an ehb1000. 

[Mudpup]

Medium sized music pub in Essex last night for us. It used to be a bit hit or miss there - we've built up a following now so it's been a better turn out in recent years but we weren't sure how the weather would affect it last night. It's still about minus 5 here and plenty of icy roads. 

 

Our guitarist was away, our regular dep decided to go to Vietnam on a break  at fairly short notice and we ended up with one of our other dep pool guys on guitar. He's awesome and I always enjoy it when he's onboard - a total pro and it showed on the night. We had sent him some video of a recent gig and he nailed all the links and little personal bits we do in the set. You could see he had been woodshedding for us and he's a really lovely humble guy with a great presence on stage too. Here's a link to his page if anyone wanted to throw some work his way 

 

https://simonjpinto.com/

 

Anyway, how did the gig go? 

 

Looked worryingly quiet at about 9pm, filled up a bit by 9.30, we started at 9.45 and it was absolutely rammed by 10pm. Everyone was up for it and dancing from the start but you know when you get a feeling that it could get a bit lairy? There were a bunch of young lads showing off for the girls in the crowd with all the spider dancing and drink spilling shenanigans in the second set and we had to stop mid song about 20 mins from the end of the set to ask them to calm it down a bit as we could see it was intimidating the rest of the crowd (They have security at the venue and always used to put someone inside near the band on busier nights but for some reason it didn't happen last night)

Anyway, we restarted and the youngsters had been respectful and slowed up a bit. All good. Then one song later something kicked off in the middle of the crowd further back - I could see people getting shoved around and called a halt to it all again hoping security would hear us stop and come in for a look. They did but by the time they had sourced, calmed and ejected the culprits 10 minutes later we had decided to call it a day. The way our set is structured means it really picks up momentum and we needed to bring everyone down a bit rather than build them up (Drunk chavs showing off and Killing in the Name of/Enter Sandman was going to cause more problems). We only missed the last couple of songs anyway and thought it was safer for everyone - the floor was a sea of beer and someone was going to get hurt. 

 

Having said all that we totally enjoyed the gig, played really well, sound was great allegedly, dep worked out really well, the crowd really enjoyed it (and stayed safe) and I was home by about 1.30. A good night.....

 

[dmccombe7]

Last gig of 2022 for us was a Xmas Glamtastic night at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. Place was full with dancers from the word go. Very pleased with the band and the gig was just great fun.

Guy that reviews the bands in this venue (Alex Hastings) posted a nice review this morning so i'll leave it at that.

 

The weekend before Christmas in the Dreadnought, Bathgate needed a Christmassy themed band, and it got one in the guise of Blockbustarz, a tremendous in your face Glam Rock classic covers band. From the off you couldn't get moving for big hair, big platforms, sparkly tops and tinsel! We had Sweet, T Rex and The Rollers to get things moving... Before you knew it we had Cats Creeping In , Cans Canning , Little Willies, (oo er missus) and people Getting it On... Let It Snow (the theme song from Die Hard) had me on the lookout for a white vested Bruce Willis lookalike... Mama We're All Crazy Now had the punters bouncing....Alvin Stardust had us Coo ca chooing, and Dynamite from Mud nearly blew the roof off the Dread! Rebel Rebel and Schools Out took us to the last two songs of the first set, The magnificent Crazy Horses from the Osmonds (tune!) and the mighty Hellraiser from Sweet...! As the band, Mike Michaels (singer/guitar/big hair), Colin Whittit (lead guitar/bigger hair), David McCombe (bass/even bigger hair!), Barry Haywood (drums/ no hair comment/very glittering pork pie hat though) and Lynn Ainslie (singer/ her own long hair) took a well earned rest it was good to look around and see an almost full Dreadnought. Waterloo from Abba (sung expertly by Lynn) got set 2 underway.. Next we had Teenagers Rampaging, and my favourite from back in the day Tell Him by Hello which led us into I Love Rock and Roll (who doesn't?). More T-Rex in the form of Children of the Revolution, the terrific Rocket from Mud and the Jean Genie from Bowie kept the 'doon the front' dancers happy. Next up was I Love to Boogie (and most people agreed as they all indeed did boogie!).. The all time classic of all time I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday had the audience in full on singing mode. This magnificent song was followed by Suzi Quatros Devil Gate Drive, T Rexs Hot Love, Spirit in the Sky from Norman Greenbaum and the Time Warp (Where's Brian Chizzmeister Chisholm when you need him?) We now had the last four songs and everyone was a cracker... Tiger Feet had everybody practicing their 'That's Neat ' fancy footwork moves, Blockbuster had us 'not having a clue what to do'.. Merry Christmas Everybody from the magnificent Slade brought the biggest sing along of the night (as you'd expect!) and the tartan was out for the last song of the night, Shang a lang from The Bay City Rollers... A fantastic night of over 30 songs and 2 hours of energy from the tremendous band was at an end... What an effort lads (and lass), take a bow and a well deserved lie down.. Once again it had been great to see so many people in attendance and to personally see some 'well kent' faces... Top marks to everyone involved in putting on such a great night.. Big Hastie over and out from the House of Glam for the night , the Dready...

 

 

 

[dmccombe7]

17 hours ago, joel406 said:

Small beach gig last night, that quickly grew too large for the venue. Lots of people. Partied till 3am. Just now waking up to go do it again tonight at a larger venue. Been there before and we are well known. Crazy nights. I'll try to take some pics.

Love it when that happens. You know you are doing the right thing when a venue gets too small for you. Nice one.

Dave 

[Paul S]

Looks like an awful lot of fun   One thing about dressing up is losing inhibitions - must help with the on-stage persona.  It does that for me, anyway.  

[dmccombe7]

2 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Looks like an awful lot of fun   One thing about dressing up is losing inhibitions - must help with the on-stage persona.  It does that for me, anyway.  

I've noticed that too Paul. Its like i'm hidden in a disguise. Its funny because a lot of people dont recognise me when i re-enter the hall with my jeans and t shirt. LOL

The Glam thing does make for a good party fun atmosphere. Really enjoyed last nights gig. Singer had a throat infection and was struggling a bit but Lynn our other singer stepped up to the plate and took on the higher end stuff for him. I love it when a band gels so much that we can do that. 

All great people in the band too.

Dave

[neepheid]

Last gig of the year last night in the Rusty Nail in Aberdeen. There was a 60th birthday party in and they were very musically open minded, up for dancing to most things and singing along if they were sitting it out. A joy to play for. Cake at half time too which they shared with us - bonus!

 

Had a blast, not one but two "one more tunes" (quick look over at the landlord for the second one, and he nodded his assent), very warm feedback at the end.

 

An excellent end to the year.  Home for a dram before bed.  Tidy!

[tubbybloke68]

Double header , Friday and Saturday night at Trading boundaries in East Sussex with No jacket required Phil Collins tribute. Great venue and atmosphere.we do these every year about this time, punters have a sit down meal etc and we come on after the food is done, generally about 9.30pm. Played both my WAL 5,s different one per evening. Really enjoyable. Happy Christmas everyone xx🥰

[tony_m]

Fun evening playing at one of our regular village hall haunts for somebody's 70th birthday party on Saturday. After the usual rigmarole getting our frontman's crappy pedalboard / mixer thing working properly (one of these days, it *will* be getting accidentally run over in the car park... ), we finally finished soundchecking just in time before folks started to arrive. The onstage sound left a bit to be desired with every B and C seeming to boom out, but this wasn't replicated in the FOH sound so shouldn't really grumble too much. 

 

Anyway, the original plan was for us to do 45 minutes after the buffet, then another 45 minutes after the cake-cutting, but we were asked if we could do a few tunes before the buffet as the chips were still cooking, so we ended up doing our first three songs then taking a break while the buffet was served. Post-buffet (and very nice it was too... 😋 ) we picked up where we left off, adding an unplanned song plus the first song from the second set to fill the time until the cake-cutting. Once the cake was cut and the speeches had been made, we then unleashed the rest of the second set and got a few folks up and dancing. Mr Singer went slightly off-piste with one arrangement, while Mr Lead Guitar came up with a couple of *interesting* solos as he was apparently struggling to hear what he was doing, but apart from one table who were giving us snarky looks all night (while still tapping their feet... 🤨 ) everybody seemed to enjoy the evening. 

 

Next gig is a wedding bash on Wednesday evening - apparently the groom likes what we do, hence booking us, but quite how a bunch of country-rock songs mostly based around failed love affairs will go down at a wedding remains to be seen. We have already taken the precaution of dropping "Dead Flowers" and "It's All Over Now" from the set... 😁

[asingardenof]

In the salubrious surrounds of Birkenshaw Liberal Club. Set 1 wasn't great, but Set 2 was killer. Got to try out my new (to me) Barefaced Two10S and it's looooovely.

[Bluewine]

18 hours ago, Bluewine said:

This Saturday Night 12/17
Maple Road
@The BlondiPop
8:30
West Bend WI

 

 

I'll let you guys know how it goes. Only a 5 minute commute. We're all set up and we did our sound check early.The BlondiPop is an old very small Church converted into a club.

 

Blue

 

The BlondiPop was packed last night. Allot of engaged young folks which was great. The 21 year olds are not usually into live blues / rock. 

 

We even played " Rockin Around The Christmas Tree" completely off the cuff.

 

Fun night. Next gig is New Years Eve at The Barley Pop in Germantown.

 

Happy Holidays guys.

 

Blue

[Al Krow]

Final gig of the year for us and could have been a wipeout due to technical issues with the mixer, which meant the band started very stripped back and, in particular, without any bass - as we've always played this small, somewhat cramped, venue without backline putting everything through the PA. But we managed to fix the problem and my bandmates were then very much more appreciative of having a bass in the mix, after experiencing the sound of a full band without one for the first time! 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmTuWIlDjvN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

We got a couple of birthday party invitations off the back of the gig, so I guess all's well that ends well!

 

Happy Christmas all! 

[BassFace1991]

Just got back home from the last show for us this year. Great gig. Really enjoyed it. Brilliant way to round off the year. Very much looking forward to 2023. Bring it on.

[Cat Burrito]

Two shows over the weekend. The first was in Bridgwater at The Cobblestones, supporting The LA Maybe from South Carolina. It was a 2hr drive each way and the roads weren't great but the show was good fun. 

 

 

 

Then my 80s Goth duo played in Bath at the St. James Wine Vaults as part of a Back to the Alternative 80s night with some friends' band. We road tested a 50/50 set of originals and covers, ahead of a studio session immediately after Xmas. That really was a contender for my favourite show of 2022. An old guitarist friend I worked with came down and I think it was the first time he'd seen me play since the mid 90s. A lovely surprise and he's normally very critical - his assesment was simply "that was much more enjoyable than I thought it'd be". We nailed each song and it all bodes well for the EP getting finished next week. One show left of 2022. It's been great to be back out there so much more than 2021 and 2020. 

 

[stewblack]

You're too tall for the Vaults @Cat Burrito 🤣🤣

[stewblack]

Played a private party on Saturday in a barn in Somerset. They had somehow created enough heat in there to keep us from freezing and despite a coughing singer and flu ridden drummer we kept them up and dancing.

Then last night had a Bandeoke in Wantage which was loud, fun and occasionally hilarious with some excruciating 'singers' who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket nor could they remain in time.

At present I only have three more gigs this year but so many bands are cancelling due to the lurgy we may get lucky and pick up some more.

Edited December 19, 2022 by stewblack

[dmccombe7]

39 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

Two shows over the weekend. The first was in Bridgwater at The Cobblestones, supporting The LA Maybe from South Carolina. It was a 2hr drive each way and the roads weren't great but the show was good fun. 

 

 

 

Then my 80s Goth duo played in Bath at the St. James Wine Vaults as part of a Back to the Alternative 80s night with some friends' band. We road tested a 50/50 set of originals and covers, ahead of a studio session immediately after Xmas. That really was a contender for my favourite show of 2022. An old guitarist friend I worked with came down and I think it was the first time he'd seen me play since the mid 90s. A lovely surprise and he's normally very critical - his assesment was simply "that was much more enjoyable than I thought it'd be". We nailed each song and it all bodes well for the EP getting finished next week. One show left of 2022. It's been great to be back out there so much more than 2021 and 2020. 

 

Love that Ric bass, very eye-catching. 

Dave

[Mickeyboro]

5 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Love that Ric bass, very eye-catching. 

Dave

Must be heavy, though. His legs are buckling!😂

[Cat Burrito]

15 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Must be heavy, though. His legs are buckling!😂

The bass is light. It's my heart that is heavy!

[Tim2291]

Played my final gig before paternity leave this weekend. Very odd feeling to not have any gigs for the next couple of months! Gig was great, venue was packed which was brilliant :). Haven't had more than a few weeks off of gigging since I was about 16 so this will be a very very strange time for me!