How was your gig last night?

[Lozz196]

55 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

The Pit in Newstead on Thursday. This was a practise run for our "almost acoustic" set at Rebellion Festival on Thursday. It's a long story but I have to use this "tupperware bass drum" contraption I made a few years ago. Unfortunately the PA at The Pit wasn't really up to the job, so although it apparently sounded fine out front, we were really struggling on stage. Anyway, usual positive reaction from a crowd that seemed impervious to our decidedly average performance. 

 

 

Star and Garter in Manchester on Sunday. There were two great bands on before us - Iconoclasts and Instant Agony. Classic punk stuff really, loud, noisy, and a lot of fun. We were headlining but I don't really have a drum kit I can share with support bands at the moment (another long story), so opted for the house kit which is always great here. Unfortunately, although everything was expertly tuned as usual, I could not get my kick pedal to clamp to the bass drum properly. That combined with agony in my wrist lead to a few errors on my part. Nothing disastrous though, and again, the audience had no idea. I had 2 different people tell me that's the best they'd seen me play! 🤣

 

 

 

 

Have a good one at Rebellion, hope all goes great!

[Greg Edwards69]

A sunday evening wedding for us last night (so glad I booked the morning off work today!). A beautiful converted farm venue called Apton Hall in Rochford, so, nice and local for most of us. The drummer was a guest at the wedding, and one of the guitarists lives about a 3min drive away so they could get in there early in the morning to do the main setup of drums and PA.

 

Since we added an EV sub and upgraded our IEM system, we've been relying on our backline a lot less lately. So we decided this would be a good opportunity to eschew the backline and rely only on the PA and IEM. I'm pleased to report it worked well and was incredibly liberating to walk into the venue with a bass on my back, Helix in one hand and a guitar stand in the other. No need to fight over plug sockets at the back of the stage, just one power lead, a guitar lead, XLR to stage box, quick line check and I was set up.

 

Great crowd who were up for a boogie from the start. Unusual set list for a wedding, however. The bride and groom and their friends are into more alternative music, so they asked us to play our party stuff in the first set and rockier stuff in the second, which is contrary to what we'd usually do, not to mention some of the requests we'd never normally play at a wedding (such as By The Way and Oughta Know) but I was happily surprised how well they went down with their guests.

 

Rolled into bed around 1am, still glad I booked the morning off today!

 

The next one is in a couple of weeks for a biker club in Dagenham - for a complete change of pace!

[martthebass]

6 hours ago, Cat Burrito said:

Where as Def Leppard broke records in October 1995 for playing in three continents in one day (thank you Wikipedia), we achieved the more environmentally friendly three shows in 24hrs in our local village! Thankfully as I was on mandolin, all the shows were walking distance so I just carried my small pedal board and mandolin around the village.

 

First up was "The Crown" which was amazing for music a few years ago. Whilst stopping short at needing chicken wire, it wasn't a great start. Line checking, the sound guy asked one local who kept saying "turn down" (it's an experienced acoustic duo so nobody was troubling the neighbours). The second we had lost any edge or bite to the sound he proudly announced "Well, I wasn't going to stay anyway!" Needless to say, I just pushed that slider right up! We seemed to play to nobody, only to find out a fair few were sat outside listening. The bar staff charged me £4 for 2 lime and sodas just prior to going on too. They knew we were playing a free charity show for disadvantaged kids so I thought they could have waivered that but I just politely paid it. Such a shame overall though, as a few years back it was an amazing venue for live music. 

 

We then went on to "The Club". This is not normally open in the afternoon and was the one I knew would be a disaster. However, against all odds, there was a small but very enthusiast crowd. We both agreed that it was really enjoyable. We had some downtime between sets so stayed and watched the next two acts. As we left the barmaid made a point of coming over and saying how much she enjoyed the show. 

 

The final show was at our regular haunt "The Blue Boar" so I knew it would be well attended and fun. It was. Much like the Club, we were offered a free drink for providing our services for the charity. We had a family down the front who seemed to love our set. The Dad was straight up afterwards asking about our instruments and we chatted about growing up in the 80s. They were one step further, finding us on social media and writing some really nice comments. 

 

 

It was worth adding, the show was our first since launching our zombie inspired third single. So, although we did the show for charity, it was a good opportunity to plug our new video. And talking of which...

 

 

Great video Cat!

[Woodinblack]

11 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

some of the requests we'd never normally play at a wedding (such as By The Way and Oughta Know) but I was happily surprised how well they went down with their guests.

 

Oughta know is a good one for a wedding!

Still, we learned Pinks who knew for a wedding in the first place, I guess people don't really listen to these things!

[Staggering on]

On Saturday I had my annual blacksmithing gig in a replica logging camp blacksmith shop at Marten River Provincial Park. They have a lovely forge and decent anvil and I had hundreds of visitors to the shop as I made smoke and flames from the forge and sparks fly from various things I made during a hot but fun 5 hour non stop session. The only music was the steady rhythm of hammer on hot steel but I think I can still count it as a gig. I've been doing this for over 25 years now and it is always a good day and they want me back next year. I volunteer for this so there's no pay but this year they gave me a swag bag with some nice goodies from the park store. Forge on!

Next band gigs will be early September at a bluegrass festival and a jazz gig a week later.😊

[Jack]

We played the reopening night of a newly refurbished and under new management pub the other night. Safe to say they've got 6 weeks at most. Oh well

 

As I've been told off for this before, the band is The White Line, although don't bother following us as we're winding down and not taking any more bookings. The rig was MIA P > Shure GLX > HX Stomp.

 

[casapete]

Played an afternoon / early evening gig on Sunday with my acoustic duo at a great pub ‘The Sun Inn’

in Beverley. A new venue for us with a landlord who promotes and appreciates a lot of live music.

He remembers me and guitarist Gary from our days playing in a previous band, and has

been brilliant in pushing the gig. His work paid off - the place was rammed with people, including

many local musicians we haven’t seen for years. The gig went really well - we played 3 x 45 mins

sets, finishing around 8pm. Our small Bose / Yamaha PA was perfect for the venue, and I used 

my Ibanez short scale acoustic into my Fender Rumble 100 and had some nice compliments 

on my sound. We tried to play as many requests as possible, which ranged from relatively 

obscure stuff like ‘Besame Mucho’ through to ‘Livin on a prayer’! Probably the best gig I’ve 

done for a long time, with a great audience cheering us on throughout. The landlord has

already been in touch wanting some more dates too, so happy days. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by casapete

[Downunderwonder]

2 hours ago, casapete said:

Played an afternoon / early evening gig on Sunday with my acoustic duo at a great pub ‘The Sun Inn’

in Beverley. A new venue for us with a landlord who promotes and appreciates a lot of live music.

He remembers me and guitarist Gary from our days playing in a previous band, and has

been brilliant in pushing the gig. His work paid off - the place was rammed with people, including

many local musicians we haven’t seen for years. The gig went really well - we played 3 x 45 mins

sets, finishing around 8pm. Our small Bose / Yamaha PA was perfect for the venue, and I used 

my Ibanez short scale acoustic into my Fender Rumble 100 and had some nice compliments 

on my sound. We tried to play as many requests as possible, which ranged from relatively 

obscure stuff like ‘Besame Mucho’ through to ‘Livin on a prayer’! Probably the best gig I’ve 

done for a long time, with a great audience cheering us on throughout. The landlord has

already been in touch wanting some more dates too, so happy days. 

That's awesome. Especially the muso crowd showing up. If you feel like a mid week gig you could host an open mic every week. Get those guys a complimentary beverage when they show and get them on. Shouldn't be a hard sell for you to the landlord. This gets you a high standard of jammers that makes your life easy as hosts.

[Bluewine]

On 31/07/2023 at 10:23, Jack said:

We played the reopening night of a newly refurbished and under new management pub the other night. Safe to say they've got 6 weeks at most. Oh well

 

As I've been told off for this before, the band is The White Line, although don't bother following us as we're winding down and not taking any more bookings. The rig was MIA P > Shure GLX > HX Stomp.

 

What's that SG leaning against?

 

Blue

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

What's that SG leaning against?

 

Blue

Against the front monitor. You can see it on the bottom pic.

Dave

[Jack]

20 hours ago, Bluewine said:

What's that SG leaning against?

 

Blue

 

19 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Against the front monitor. You can see it on the bottom pic.

Dave

Yes, and it makes me wince every time.

[dmccombe7]

37 minutes ago, Jack said:

 

Yes, and it makes me wince every time.

Always a stand next to or near my rig. At rehearsals i might prop up in a corner if i don't have a stand but never at a gig. That's scary neck breaking stuff.

Dave

[casapete]

19 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Always a stand next to or near my rig. At rehearsals i might prop up in a corner if i don't have a stand but never at a gig. That's scary neck breaking stuff.

Dave

It’s not as if SGs (and Les Pauls) have a bad rep for neck breaks though is it? 🤣

 

A stand is an essential item wherever you use a bass or guitar in my opinion.  I keep a compact one handy

in my gig bag and always use it. 

[Jack]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Always a stand next to or near my rig. At rehearsals i might prop up in a corner if i don't have a stand but never at a gig. That's scary neck breaking stuff.

Dave

 

4 hours ago, casapete said:

It’s not as if SGs (and Les Pauls) have a bad rep for neck breaks though is it? 🤣

 

A stand is an essential item wherever you use a bass or guitar in my opinion.  I keep a compact one handy

in my gig bag and always use it. 

Me too. You'll notice my bass on a stand in the back. 

 

You'll notice a blue telecaster right at the back on a stand, that's the singer's spare so he does own one stand. That's halfway there. 

[Bluewine]

7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Always a stand next to or near my rig. At rehearsals i might prop up in a corner if i don't have a stand but never at a gig. That's scary neck breaking stuff.

Dave

When I was a kid, we didn't have instrument stands or anything decent to tune our basses.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

7 hours ago, casapete said:

It’s not as if SGs (and Les Pauls) have a bad rep for neck breaks though is it? 🤣

 

A stand is an essential item wherever you use a bass or guitar in my opinion.  I keep a compact one handy

in my gig bag and always use it. 

I know a guy that trys to show off how

" old school " he is by leaning his bass up against his amp.

 

Very foolish.

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

Wisconsin State Fair this Saturday. 

 

Blue

 

 

[msb]

I rarely bring a stand.

guilty

 

but most basses seem to be pretty tough units

[12stringbassist]

A bit of footage from St Helens last week.

https://www.facebook.com/brunosrodiziosthelens/videos/820914312987716/

Edited August 4, 2023 by 12stringbassist

[Leonard Smalls]

Played at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool yesterday... It's a big old venue! We were in the Arena. Onstage sound wasn't particularly good - I had an Ampeg fridge which had no definition and was either too loud or too quiet , the volume knob just seemed to jump from one to the other!

And there was also terrible FOH sound - the room was very echoey so the engineer presumably tried to compensate by turning everything up, which meant feedback from the bass drum mic and absolutely no defined bass, which is a shame as we're a two bass band!

However, we played well, though our guitarist completely forgot what to play in one song... There was a reasonable crowd and nobody threw anything.

Also had the pleasure of meeting @cheddatom and seeing his band, Headsticks, who were most excellent - in my top three of the day (with Splodgenessabounds and Culture Shock).

Today, looking forward to Spizz Energi.

 

[dmccombe7]

10 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Wisconsin State Fair this Saturday. 

 

Blue

 

 

Have a good one Daryl.

Dave

Edited August 4, 2023 by dmccombe7

[cheddatom]

A pleasure to meet @Leonard Smalls yesterday. His band are great but there were definitely issues with the sound. After the first 4 songs myself and guitarist (from Headsticks) got sick of the droning feedback from the bass drum and went to leave. Walking to the top of the stairs to a small balcony made all the difference, suddenly we could hear the band clearly, both basses were cutting through, the drums sounded great... we stopped to watch some more, and then a security guard moved us on. You're not allowed to stand where it sounds good apparently!

 

The Almost Acoustic stage for us in the afternoon and it was awesome. Plenty of people in at the start and they kept coming. It's a big room with a load of reverb and bright lights. Last year there were lots of tables and chairs so people sat down and it felt pretty empty and echoey. This year, no tables or chairs, just loads and loads of bodies to soak it all up. Great gig. Here's a terrible photo from the stage halfway through the set

 

 

[asingardenof]

13 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I know a guy that trys to show off how

" old school " he is by leaning his bass up against his amp.

 

Very foolish.

 

Blue

Definitely not a good plan, particularly when you have strap locks and/or an offset body shape

[casapete]

22 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Definitely not a good plan, particularly when you have strap locks and/or an offset body shape

I’ve always found jazz basses tricky on a stand, let alone leaning against the wall.😆

 

(Should add that I use K&M stands which have the bass resting on the stand supports, not

one of the ‘hanging by the neck types like Hercules ones etc.)

[Woodinblack]

16 hours ago, msb said:

I rarely bring a stand.

 

 

I rarely bring a stand if I only have one bass - it is either in its bag or I am playing it.