How was your gig last night?

[WalMan]

Dep last night. No one died, but how the heck did I get so lost on one even with the dots in front of me 🤦‍♂️🤪

 

Generally ok but DAMN! Just ht one damned me 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬

[Bluewine]

12 hours ago, knirirr said:

This afternoon's gig was at the Ramsden Village Fete. The brief, apparently, was: Start 30 minutes before the end and keep playing until the beer tent has been drained dry.

The covered stage area had little protection against sun coming from the sides so it was uncomfortably hot. But, not for long! This is England, and so some wind and heavy rain was along soon enough to fix that problem.
Luckily the amps escaped but the drummer and his kit got very wet.

The audience seemed to be enjoying the set and they wouldn't have fancied leaving anyway in such weather, and we had fun and got paid.

 

 

Everyone should be careful with gigging on uncovered stages on hot summer days.

 

We had this challenge  last weekend at a 10 band 2 stage festival.  We were lucky, our slot was only 40 minutes,  and that was cut by 10 minutes when the " powers that be" announced the winning raffle numbers .

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

We played a wedding tonight as a favor.  We're  not a wedding band. We had enough standards and songs people could dance to to get by.

 

We were sounding  good tonight.

 

We have new lighting. 

 

Blue

[stewblack]

Did my wedding dep gig last night. Beautiful location in Wiltshire with views of the rolling hills of somewhere or other outside the open sided marquee.

It was the one with monitoring replaced by earphones and a click track. 

Playing wise I got away with it. 40 odd songs, most of which I didn't know, so happy with that. 

Playing without proper monitoring is never going to be my bag. No one can hear anything anyone says so the band retreat into their shells and don't communicate with one another. The click was buried in the mix so I basically didn't use it. Didn't have time to learn the app so couldn't adjust it myself. 

Still, nice people to work with and they seemed happy with what I did.

The unscripted, unexpected version of Bohemian Rhapsody at the end of the evening is probably best forgotten. Not a song to busk.

[neepheid]

That was good fun. Private party in a big old shed, a new one with insulation in the walls/celiings so not quite the echo chamber that some sheds I've played in were.  The organisers had prepared well - we even had a large, homemade stage to play on!  We got fed and watered and it was a good gig - a small but enthusiastic cohort of dancers, a lot of people stayed outside and listened until later on because it was a warm, dry evening but we got lots of nice comments from people and a decent pay too, more than our usual fee. A worthwhile endeavour.

 

 

 

Team G&L FTW (CLF L-1000, with Tribute LB-100 lurking in its gigbag behind)

[martthebass]

A hot and sweaty one in a small pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield last night. A bit of an education in logistics after the last few weeks of reasonable stages but we cracked on regardless. Had the obligatory drunken bloke crash through my set up in slow motion in the second spot, no damage to my mouth thankfully, the only casualty being my mic stand which was a bit lop sided for the rest of the gig.

Only pics were from behind the band which appeared to mainly feature my backside.

Onwards and upwards, next week is the Farmyard bikers rally in Helmsley North Yorkshire, always a cracking gig.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

That was good fun. Private party in a big old shed, a new one with insulation in the walls/celiings so not quite the echo chamber that some sheds I've played in were.  The organisers had prepared well - we even had a large, homemade stage to play on!  We got fed and watered and it was a good gig - a small but enthusiastic cohort of dancers, a lot of people stayed outside and listened until later on because it was a warm, dry evening but we got lots of nice comments from people and a decent pay too, more than our usual fee. A worthwhile endeavour.

 

 

 

Team G&L FTW (CLF L-1000, with Tribute LB-100 lurking in its gigbag behind)

Liking that bass colour. Very nice.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

Had a 60th birthday party last night with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band.

We were booked by the guys brother after he booked us for a bike rally back in Feb and was really impressed by us.

Was an odd night tho. Reasonable sized stage but not a lot of dancers altho it really took off for the last 6 songs where floor was full.

Was expecting a hot sticky night as it was 26 C when i left the house but only 16 C at the coast in Boness.

Loads of vids being taken throughout both sets and i always take that as a compliment of doing something right.

Lots of great positive comments at the end of the night to be fair and the manageress said she was very impressed by us as she had also booked us in same venue later in the year around Nov for a Sat afternoon gig. She's already sold 80 tickets for the gig in Nov. Think it only holds arounf 120-150 max.

As we were loading our cars a group of people coming out said that wasn't just a band playing but a complete show and had a fantastic night watching us and enjoying the songs.

Halfway thru the first set our singer asked the audience how we were doing so far and we got a resounding cheer. It was just odd that not many were up dancing. It creates an odd atmosphere when that happens but we still got paid. 

No pics or vids surfaced as yet.

Dave

Vid appeared on FB showing our biggest and smallest fan of the evening. Think she was dancing most of the night.One very happy customer 

http://www.facebook.com/ray.doull/videos/961902048354877

Edited June 11, 2023 by dmccombe7

[Len_derby]

Yesterday, my covers band, Night Shift, hosted a charity event at a local pub. We called it The Party In The (Car) Park. We raised over £2k for Prostate Cancer UK. This is a cause very close to our hearts, as Terry, seen next to me, is at stage 4 of the disease. 
It was a beltin’ day and everyone was following the advice to stay hydrated 😉.

 

 

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, neepheid said:

That was good fun. Private party in a big old shed, a new one with insulation in the walls/celiings so not quite the echo chamber that some sheds I've played in were.  The organisers had prepared well - we even had a large, homemade stage to play on!  We got fed and watered and it was a good gig - a small but enthusiastic cohort of dancers, a lot of people stayed outside and listened until later on because it was a warm, dry evening but we got lots of nice comments from people and a decent pay too, more than our usual fee. A worthwhile endeavour.

 

 

 

Team G&L FTW (CLF L-1000, with Tribute LB-100 lurking in its gigbag behind)

 

" More Than Our Usual Fee "

 

That's the best kind of fee to get. Lol 😂

Blue

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, neepheid said:

That was good fun. Private party in a big old shed, a new one with insulation in the walls/celiings so not quite the echo chamber that some sheds I've played in were.  The organisers had prepared well - we even had a large, homemade stage to play on!  We got fed and watered and it was a good gig - a small but enthusiastic cohort of dancers, a lot of people stayed outside and listened until later on because it was a warm, dry evening but we got lots of nice comments from people and a decent pay too, more than our usual fee. A worthwhile endeavour.

 

 

 

Team G&L FTW (CLF L-1000, with Tribute LB-100 lurking in its gigbag behind)

 

Lovely G & L.

 

G& Ls with the active pre amp are one of the best kept secrets out there. I used my 1993 G& L ASAT last night too.

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, Len_derby said:

Yesterday, my covers band, Night Shift, hosted a charity event at a local pub. We called it The Party In The (Car) Park. We raised over £2k for Prostate Cancer UK. This is a cause very close to our hearts, as Terry, seen next to me, is at stage 4 of the disease. 
It was a beltin’ day and everyone was following the advice to stay hydrated 😉.

 

 

 

 

Nice ! And a great charity to raise money for.

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Had a 60th birthday party last night with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band.

We were booked by the guys brother after he booked us for a bike rally back in Feb and was really impressed by us.

Was an odd night tho. Reasonable sized stage but not a lot of dancers altho it really took off for the last 6 songs where floor was full.

Was expecting a hot sticky night as it was 26 C when i left the house but only 16 C at the coast in Boness.

Loads of vids being taken throughout both sets and i always take that as a compliment of doing something right.

Lots of great positive comments at the end of the night to be fair and the manageress said she was very impressed by us as she had also booked us in same venue later in the year around Nov for a Sat afternoon gig. She's already sold 80 tickets for the gig in Nov. Think it only holds arounf 120-150 max.

As we were loading our cars a group of people coming out said that wasn't just a band playing but a complete show and had a fantastic night watching us and enjoying the songs.

Halfway thru the first set our singer asked the audience how we were doing so far and we got a resounding cheer. It was just odd that not many were up dancing. It creates an odd atmosphere when that happens but we still got paid. 

No pics or vids surfaced as yet.

Dave

Vid appeared on FB showing our biggest and smallest fan of the evening. Think she was dancing most of the night.One very happy customer 

http://www.facebook.com/ray.doull/videos/961902048354877

 

 

Nice video clip Dave.

 

Daryl

[Staggering on]

I played my first orchestra gig yesterday!

I've been gigging on guitar, banjo and bass for about 60 years and went to upright bass in 2015 and finally started taking DB lessons last October to learn to play with the bow properly. My teacher is a virtuoso bassist and has been very patient and I have made a lot of progress since my first weekly lesson last fall and all of my DB playing(mostly jazz) has improved.

A few weeks ago I was astounded when he asked if I would like to join several of his adult students to fill out the low end of his youth orchestra for a concert. There are about 30 members of the orchestra up to about age 18 with a few very young ones who sit in for two pieces, all the members are his students. The 4 adults, two basses and two cellos, would only play on the last three selections, all of them are "bass heavy" and needed more than the single bass that he usually has. The last piece was an intermediate junior orchestra composition called "Fire in the Forge" and since I am a blacksmith I just had to get in on it so I agreed to work on the material and go to rehearsals.

It was a wonderful concert and we adults did fine but the real stars were the kids, the youngest player was 6 years old...71 years younger than I am.🙄

It was probably the most interesting, challenging and memorable of the many gigs I have played over the years and as the last booming bass notes died at the end the last song I just stood there loving it with big stupid grin on my face. I hope he asks us again, my last lesson before summer break is on June 23 but I will be back for more in September, can't wait.😊

 

The extra basses and cellos were beside the bassist in the long shot, fantastic acoustics in the church, I have been to concerts there but never played in it before yesterday.

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by Staggering on

[tony_m]

Saturday night saw another outing for Rascallion at one of our regular venues, this time for a private function (a 90th birthday party, but fortunately with a range of generations present who seemed to appreciate our brand of country-rock and blues). After a good start and a slightly tentative middle, the first set ended up OK, and we hit the requested 45 minutes bang on the nose (more by good luck than good judgement it has to be said!).

 

The second set then saw a first for us, with people up and dancing right from the opening number. This continued through the more "rocky" part of the set, with "Long Train Running" and (amazingly to us) "Rockin' In The Free World" going down particularly well. Overall, the audience response was probably the best we've ever had, and continued even after an utter trainwreck of a final, unplanned, encore, when Mr Lead Guitar started "Travelin' Band" on completely the wrong chord, then totally failed to catch up while the rest of us who'd actually remembered how the song went just ploughed on regardless. 😇

 

Next gig is an outdoor charity festival in a months time - suspect we'll not be doing "Travelin' Band" on the day, but reckon we'd probably better brush it up just in case!

[Gasman]

We did an afternoon beer festival in Gillingham (Dorset) on Saturday playing outdoors from 2-4pm. The humidity and temperature were challenging to say the least and I was bl**dy glad to see the end of the gig  after three encores and two and a quarter hours non-stop playing! Audience liked us so that was the main thing - not much dancing but a lot of beer and cider was being consumed to our musical accompaniment - still, I was totally cream-crackered by the time I got home and flaked out by 9pm

 

First try-out for our new Bose PA (it's that one with the tall thin tops sat directly on the subs, with computer controlled mixing) - great improvement on the previous rig, which is now relegated to foldback duties.

[markbunney]

Played with The 77s last night at Drakes Cork & Cask in Maidstone which went really well. Wasn’t as busy as we, or the venue were expecting but I think a combination of the heat and champions league kept people away.

 

Used my new terror bass head which sounded great, it wasn’t as loud as the Mk 1 version so I am looking at getting another cab to get more volume out if it.

I had some problems with bass last night in that anything on the A string was a lot quieter than the other stings which was very annoying.

 

The venue wanted to book us again so that was a good sign!

 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by markbunney
Typo

[Stub Mandrel]

Back at the Two Brewers on Saturday.  Pub that likes it blues rock. Numbers were down with the heat and competition from Man City, but a great reception and much praise from punters although we felt we were a bit ragged.

 

One fun bit where Alex ended radar love early just before the various runs... so I ended up doing them as a mini solo 🤣  and then the guys (thankfully) came back in.

[Bluewine]

4 hours ago, Gasman said:

We did an afternoon beer festival in Gillingham (Dorset) on Saturday playing outdoors from 2-4pm. The humidity and temperature were challenging to say the least and I was bl**dy glad to see the end of the gig  after three encores and two and a quarter hours non-stop playing! Audience liked us so that was the main thing - not much dancing but a lot of beer and cider was being consumed to our musical accompaniment - still, I was totally cream-crackered by the time I got home and flaked out by 9pm

 

First try-out for our new Bose PA (it's that one with the tall thin tops sat directly on the subs, with computer controlled mixing) - great improvement on the previous rig, which is now relegated to foldback duties.

We've  been using the RCF PA for a few years. Small and powerful .

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

14 hours ago, martthebass said:

A hot and sweaty one in a small pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield last night. A bit of an education in logistics after the last few weeks of reasonable stages but we cracked on regardless. Had the obligatory drunken bloke crash through my set up in slow motion in the second spot, no damage to my mouth thankfully, the only casualty being my mic stand which was a bit lop sided for the rest of the gig.

Only pics were from behind the band which appeared to mainly feature my backside.

Onwards and upwards, next week is the Farmyard bikers rally in Helmsley North Yorkshire, always a cracking gig.

 

 

Was it just the one guy that fell or was everyone there shined up ? 

Lol 😂😂

 

Blue

Edited June 12, 2023 by Bluewine

[NancyJohnson]

Just an observation here, based off the numerous photos here, I'm still in awe of the pedalboards some of you guys are running.  I took a (somewhat easy) decision to just nail my desired tone through the Darkglass AO head, travel light and leave everything else at home; so much so all the outboard gear is for sale here.

 

I'm knocked out that people speak to me post gig and comment on my tone (four people on Friday in Brighton).  Makes me warm and fuzzy.

[cheddatom]

Here for the music festival in Devon on Friday night. Only 45 minutes on drums but I've never sweated that much in my life! I must have drank 5 litres of water and still got dehydrated!

 

[dmccombe7]

12 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Just an observation here, based off the numerous photos here, I'm still in awe of the pedalboards some of you guys are running.  I took a (somewhat easy) decision to just nail my desired tone through the Darkglass AO head, travel light and leave everything else at home; so much so all the outboard gear is for sale here.

 

I'm knocked out that people speak to me post gig and comment on my tone (four people on Friday in Brighton).  Makes me warm and fuzzy.

Unfortunately i operate sound effects for the Glam band via floor pedal plus i use the Roland GRB6 for an overdriven Ric tone when i need it plus envelope filter for Virginia Plain mid section. Takes up a lot of stage space especially bad in small stages. On rare occasions i miss out the envelope filter completely and dont use the Roland. Also my Shure wireless sits on my pedalboard too.

I'm looking into making my footprint smaller tho with use of small pre-amp DI pedal of some kind and a decent envelope filter as soon as i can find a decent one.

Dave

[NJE]

We had an astounding gig in Chepstow a couple of weeks ago, a real confidence booster as it was the first gig with this band lineup.

 

In contrast, Saturdays gig was a function, black tie and ball gown type evening. It ran late so we were on at 10:30 instead of 9, and we had set up and sound checked at 5:30.

 

They were all hammered by 9:30 and the disco was playing songs that I swear were pulled from a school disco in the late 90s which the audience seemed to love.

 

We soon put a stop to that with a selection of soul/funk/soft rock, and we kept getting asked for ABBA and Oasis. I had one lady get very frustrated that I couldn’t talk to her about song requests while I was singing lead and playing bass. She got up on stage and was talking in my ear while I was playing. 
 

She was not offensive, she said we sounded good, but they wanted more modern music which we could t help them with. Anyway we had them dancing for a few blues brothers/commitments numbers but then got out and let the disco delight them with a Grease medley, some Whigfield, and Jive Bunny.

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Unfortunately i operate sound effects for the Glam band via floor pedal plus i use the Roland GRB6 for an overdriven Ric tone when i need it plus envelope filter for Virginia Plain mid section. Takes up a lot of stage space especially bad in small stages. On rare occasions i miss out the envelope filter completely and dont use the Roland. Also my Shure wireless sits on my pedalboard too.

I'm looking into making my footprint smaller tho with use of small pre-amp DI pedal of some kind and a decent envelope filter as soon as i can find a decent one.

Dave

 

I just see guys jumping all over pedals - guys *obviously* seem to think stomping on a chorus/etc. for a few bars in a certain place will make all the difference, but in truth from front of house those nuances are lost.  I run a wireless once in a while; one of those Lekato things (USB charging, tiny), headstock tuner.  The Darkglass does dirty perfectly well for me!