How was your gig last night?

[Gasman]

Delayed update to our weekend adventures as I was cream-crackered after it all! Saturday we played at an exhibitors-only gig at a steam fair near Taunton, out in the back of beyond surrounded by railway lines belonging to the West Somerset Railway. The ground was still pretty wet after all the rain but no real problems. The crowd were farmers, steam and real ale enthusiasts and they intended to enjoy themselve to the max! From an 8:30 start we ended  up finishing after encores at 11:30pm - got back home at 1 am. While loading up we found we had to dodge around half a dozen traction engines and steam rollers parked up right outside the marquee, chuffing and puffing (that was just the owners!) - the first pic was taken at midnight - my Jeep on the left, 10-ton steam things on the right...

 

I was up again at 7am for the local West Bay Days event - I'm on the committee as treasurer, entertainments booker and stage manager, as well as playing bass in our band at 5pm, so a pretty full-on day finishing at midnight after paying the last band. We had six acts this time:

• Nina Garcia, a very talented local country-oriented solo vocalist/violinist with backing tracks
• Sugar Rush from Weymouth, a three girl + 1 bloke heavy metal band (yes, really...)
• Mustang Sally (my lot doing a wide range of covers 1960 - 90)
• D-State - very competent covers band in a more 80s-10s vein
• The Loop - A funkity funk outfit
• d'Ska Assassins - a seriously good six piece ska outfit with great audience interaction

Being on both sides of the event (booker and performer) I immediately saw that I'd made a mistake by booking the lady-driven metal band. They were all very good musicians - their young bass player was the equal of, or better than, any of the others there that day. Their vocalist had Tina Turner-level lungs, and their drummer and guitarist were equally good - yes a bl**dy good outfit - but NOT for a 3pm slot with many young families and old farts in the crowd, which rapidly halved in size when they took over from Nina at 3 x the volume. Wrong band, wrong event, wrong slot - my fault. 

 

My lot had fun and a very good reception, and as both organiser and player I was glad to see the crowd filling out again for us and the acts that followed. The crowd redoubled again for the Ska band, the skankers went bonkers and it finished up a great evening nicely.

 

We appear to have made a very good profit on the event and will be making donations to local good causes as a result - we're not-for-profit - but OMG I'm still tired after stage managing, playing, then today counting and banking the takings!

 

The other pix below show me spanking my new-to-me Harley Benton short-scale, an aerial view of the stage area at night, and the start of the fireworks display. The vicar on the committee claim that he's only 'in sales and marketing' but weather-wise I'm sure he knows someone very high up in management!

 

[Bluewine]

Double header this Weekend

 

I'm a little worried about the 9:00 start time Friday night. I haven't had a late night gig in a couple of years. Plus it's an hour commute one way.

 

Blue

 

Maple Road

Plymouth Jazz & Blues Crawl
August 11th
Wild Shots Pub & Grill
Plymouth WI
9:00 PM

 

Sunday August 13th
The Stillery (outside)
Grafton WI
3:00

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, Gasman said:

 

Their vocalist had Tina Turner-level lungs, and their drummer and guitarist were equally good - yes a bl**dy good outfit - but NOT for a 3pm slot with many young families and old farts in the crowd, which rapidly halved in size when they took over from Nina at 3 x the volume. Wrong band, wrong event, wrong slot - my fault. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I happen to be a card holding member of The " Old Farts" union.

 

Blue

[Gasman]

I think I've achieved vintage fart level now myself...

[msb]

Geezer here.

 

2 Young 2 Old will be at it again this weekend. This time we’re doing a rehearsal to add some more adventurous things on the set list. 

[Rich]

On 07/08/2023 at 10:07, dmccombe7 said:

I feel your pain. Only ever happened to me once and like you i muddled thru enough to get decent applause but i've made it clear in every band since that i don't do bass solos and if the band hits me with an unexpected request to solo i would leave the band. (probably won't but it would be considered)

Dave

OldGit did that to me once... I sat in with his ceilidh band so he could play his bari and do some calling. He knew I hate soloing and that the last thing on god's earth I wanted was to take a solo. I'd even reminded him. So of course, halfway through one of the songs he was calling, he turned with an evil grin and pointed at me and bellowed "BASS SOLO!".

And the entire band stopped, leaving me all alone. In a song I didn't know. In B flat.

The git.

[Linus27]

Difficult gig last night but also a huge honour to have played. Found out earlier in the year, one of my long term friends called Matt has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only got about 18 months to live. We go way back, something like 32 years and he used to follow one of my old bands and eventually became our roadie. I actually met him in 1991 in the queue to see The Alarm at Brixton Academy and when my other friend introduced us, he told him I play in a band which Matt responded by saying, I bet you're not very good, you'll never play Brixton Academy with your band. Funnily enough, exactly a year later, we found ourselves playing Brixton Academy, not once but twice and my friend Matt was actually there as well.

We'd planned to play him a private, intimate gig sometime in October, with family and a few friends. However, he found out he now only has 3, 6 to 9 months left so we brought the gig forward to last night. He had no idea so it was a huge surprise for him as he thought he was just leaving Cardiff to see friends in Reading. We had people flying over from Germany and driving to Surrey from Portsmouth and Cardiff.

Anyway, as you can imagine, it was a very intimate gig which was in a beautiful church in Wokingham. We set it up as if we were doing a rehearsal so the 12 or so people were really close and involved and felt part of the band. We had a joint friend play some Alarm songs first and then we played. It was very moving with lots of tears and the family couldn't thank us and everyone enough. A very special gig and not quite processed it all yet.

 

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Linus27

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I'm a little worried about the 9:00 start time Friday night.

 

Nearly all our gigs are 9pm start +/- 15 minutes, except sunday gigs and festivals.

But we are only doing about 2 1/4 hours.

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Nearly all our gigs are 9pm start +/- 15 minutes, except sunday gigs and festivals.

But we are only doing about 2 1/4 hours.

 

For the last couple of years late night bookings have been few and far in between. I think it's by design. 

 

Blue

[dmccombe7]

10 hours ago, Linus27 said:

Difficult gig last night but also a huge honour to have played. Found out earlier in the year, one of my long term friends called Matt has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only got about 18 months to live. We go way back, something like 32 years and he used to follow one my old bands and eventually became our roadie. I actually met him in 1991 in the queue to see The Alarm at Brixton Academy and when my other friend introduced us, he told him I play in a band which Matt responded by saying, I bet you're not very good, you'll never play Brixton Academy with your band. Funnily enough, exactly a year later, we found ourselves playing Brixton Academy, not once but twice and my friend Matt was actually there as well.

We'd planned to play him a private, intimate gig sometime in October, with family and a few friends. However, he found out he now only has 3, 6 to 9 months left so we brought the gig forward to last night. He had no idea so it was a huge surprise for him as he thought he was just leaving Cardiff to see friends in Reading. We had people flying over from Germany and driving to Surrey from Portsmouth and Cardiff.

Anyway, as you can imagine, it was a very intimate gig which was in a beautiful church in Wokingham. We set it up as if we were doing a rehearsal so the 12 or so people were really close and involved and felt part of the band. We had a joint friend play some Alarm songs first and then we played. It was very moving with lots of tears and the family couldn't thank us and everyone enough. A very special gig and not quite processed it all yet.

 

 

What a fantastic thing to do. Well done, love the sentiment of it all. Even tho its a sad occasion this post made me feel good this morning @Linus27.

Dave

Edited August 10, 2023 by dmccombe7

[Muzz]

The longest gigs I've been doing recently are the jam nights, tho this fluctuates wildly, depending on who turns up: last night wasn't too bad, there were a few bassists in, so I only played about an hour in total, but the week before was hard work: just one bunch of kids in as a band doing two numbers, then a guitarist played bass with his pals for three songs, the rest of the 3 hours was me...and maaaan, it was hot and sweaty: high street bar, so all windows and doors closed for the noise... 😐

[dmccombe7]

My longest gigs are when we do the full Set list with Glam covers band at 2hrs 40mins. Doing that on a hot night wearing all the glam gear including a hefty wig makes you sweat buckets. On one occasion i was so dehydrated i started to get the shakes on my hands at the break and i had drank 1 litre of water during that first set of 1hr 15mins. Now i have 2 large 18" gym fans one each side of stage and they help a lot.

Dave

[Franticsmurf]

The longest I've ever done was our festival band (The Hulla) gig at the end of June this year. Just over 4 hours with a 15 minute break half way. I remember thinking during the 3rd hour that I was running out of steam and just wanted it to stop. I played as complicated a bass part as I could that still fitted within 'Proud Mary' in order to try and get me out of the slump and it worked. The last hour was pretty much a non-stop dancing frenzy from the audience which gave us all the energy to continue. 😄   

[neepheid]

18 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Double header this Weekend

 

I'm a little worried about the 9:00 start time Friday night. I haven't had a late night gig in a couple of years. Plus it's an hour commute one way.

 

Blue

 

Maple Road

Plymouth Jazz & Blues Crawl
August 11th
Wild Shots Pub & Grill
Plymouth WI
9:00 PM

 

Sunday August 13th
The Stillery (outside)
Grafton WI
3:00

 

At least you've got a day between them to recover, would have sucked doing the late gig the night before the afternoon gig...  It's bad enough doing two late ones back to back.

[martthebass]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

My longest gigs are when we do the full Set list with Glam covers band at 2hrs 40mins. Doing that on a hot night wearing all the glam gear including a hefty wig makes you sweat buckets. On one occasion i was so dehydrated i started to get the shakes on my hands at the break and i had drank 1 litre of water during that first set of 1hr 15mins. Now i have 2 large 18" gym fans one each side of stage and they help a lot.

Dave

 

You're certainly giving em their money's worth Dave.  We normally do 50 minutes plus 1 hour - pretty much standard in the club scene around our parts; some want a little less, some a little more. 

On the hot gigs, the glittery jackets come off!

[Leonard Smalls]

On 07/08/2023 at 18:47, Leonard Smalls said:

From Rebellion last week

We got a completely unexpected and very positive review!!!

https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/08/10/brightons-lambrini-girls-play-rebellion-festival-day-one-report/

[casapete]

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

 

You're certainly giving em their money's worth Dave.  We normally do 50 minutes plus 1 hour - pretty much standard in the club scene around our parts; some want a little less, some a little more. 

On the hot gigs, the glittery jackets come off!

I agree Mart. A couple of hours worth of stuff should see you through most gigs, whether pubs,

clubs or festivals. In our theatre band we do around 2x60 min sets, and never had any complaints

about us short changing people! Also in seated venues in particular, people have a limited period

of concentration, and also need to walk about / use the loo / get a drink etc.
( Or maybe that’s just our audiences.) 😁

[martthebass]

31 minutes ago, casapete said:

I agree Mart. A couple of hours worth of stuff should see you through most gigs, whether pubs,

clubs or festivals. In our theatre band we do around 2x60 min sets, and never had any complaints

about us short changing people! Also in seated venues in particular, people have a limited period

of concentration, and also need to walk about / use the loo / get a drink etc.
( Or maybe that’s just our audiences.) 😁

With the state of my Prostate Pete, I'm the one who usually needs to take a break 😁

[dmccombe7]

4 hours ago, martthebass said:

 

You're certainly giving em their money's worth Dave.  We normally do 50 minutes plus 1 hour - pretty much standard in the club scene around our parts; some want a little less, some a little more. 

On the hot gigs, the glittery jackets come off!

Its rare we do the full set to be fair. I've raised the fact that doing two 1hr sets is what we should be aiming for with a few songs as a back up but it falls on deaf ears at times. Guitarist would play all night if he could and do it 7 nights a week. Seems to be that if we learn a new song we need to add it to the set along with all the others.

My argument on it is that you should leave your audience wanting more and doing such a long set might bore the audience after a while. I personally don't enjoy listening to any band for more than 2 hrs unless its Rush, Genesis or Pink Floyd but i'm biased 

Tomorrow night we have been specifically asked to do two 45min sets. That's probably the least we've played. That's gonna be a short night starting at 9pm with a 30min break finished at 11pm 2hr drive home because of the roads being closed due to cycling events. Bad enough when its motorways shut after midnight but now its cross country roads meaning i need to travel out to Edinburgh and then South down to Jedburgh adding another 30 mins.

RANT over 

Dave

[dmccombe7]

3 hours ago, casapete said:

I agree Mart. A couple of hours worth of stuff should see you through most gigs, whether pubs,

clubs or festivals. In our theatre band we do around 2x60 min sets, and never had any complaints

about us short changing people! Also in seated venues in particular, people have a limited period

of concentration, and also need to walk about / use the loo / get a drink etc.
( Or maybe that’s just our audiences.) 😁

My thoughts exactly but i get out-voted by those of lesser sense. 

Dave

[neepheid]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I personally don't enjoy listening to any band for more than 2 hrs unless its Rush, Genesis or Pink Floyd

 

To be fair, you need more than two hours to listen to those bands - not renowned for their 3 minute pop singles...

[dmccombe7]

4 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

We got a completely unexpected and very positive review!!!

https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/08/10/brightons-lambrini-girls-play-rebellion-festival-day-one-report/

Nice one. Well done.

Dave

[martthebass]

12 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Its rare we do the full set to be fair. I've raised the fact that doing two 1hr sets is what we should be aiming for with a few songs as a back up but it falls on deaf ears at times. Guitarist would play all night if he could and do it 7 nights a week. Seems to be that if we learn a new song we need to add it to the set along with all the others.

My argument on it is that you should leave your audience wanting more and doing such a long set might bore the audience after a while. I personally don't enjoy listening to any band for more than 2 hrs unless its Rush, Genesis or Pink Floyd but i'm biased 

Tomorrow night we have been specifically asked to do two 45min sets. That's probably the least we've played. That's gonna be a short night starting at 9pm with a 30min break finished at 11pm 2hr drive home because of the roads being closed due to cycling events. Bad enough when its motorways shut after midnight but now its cross country roads meaning i need to travel out to Edinburgh and then South down to Jedburgh adding another 30 mins.

RANT over 

Dave

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Dave. We always leave the punters wanting more rather than less.

Trouble with Glam genre there’s a limit on the well known numbers, especially when some bands/acts can’t be played (thanks Gary).

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, martthebass said:

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Dave. We always leave the punters wanting more rather than less.

Trouble with Glam genre there’s a limit on the well known numbers, especially when some bands/acts can’t be played (thanks Gary).

Our drummer was in The Glitter Band in 90's and even he won't play GG songs. We've tried a few Glitter Band songs but we weren't totally happy with how they sounded so dropped them. We have another one to try at some point if we ever do rehearsals again as we are getting kinda busy and fitting in a rehearsal or two would be a struggle certainly this year. January is usually a quiet month for us so maybe then. We'll need to re-learn the old Xmas songs soon too 

Dave

[martthebass]

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

Our drummer was in The Glitter Band in 90's and even he won't play GG songs. We've tried a few Glitter Band songs but we weren't totally happy with how they sounded so dropped them. We have another one to try at some point if we ever do rehearsals again as we are getting kinda busy and fitting in a rehearsal or two would be a struggle certainly this year. January is usually a quiet month for us so maybe then. We'll need to re-learn the old Xmas songs soon too 

Dave

We’re the same Dave, we put a poll out to our followers on FB a couple of years back regarding should we do GG/Glitter band songs or not. It came back about 60/40 against so we shelved the idea.

Dont remind me about the XMas song rehearsals 😂