How was your gig last night?

[asingardenof]

5 hours ago, Obrienp said:

This is turning into a bit of a nightmare. The singer has decided he can do the gig on strong pain killers (could be interesting). However, the drummer has tested positive for Covid! Apparently he feels fine and only tested because his son’s girlfriend has tested positive and they were all together over Christmas. The organiser has said do the gig anyway: there will be people in the audience with it knowingly, or unknowingly. I guess it’s too late for him to get a replacement act. Personally, I feel that is a bit irresponsible but the band have said they are going to play with, or without a bassist.

 

I am due to have a heart “procedure” on Tuesday, which I don’t want to compromise but I spent 4 hours in a rehearsal room with the drummer on Friday, so if I am going to get Covid from him, I will have probably caught it then. All the same, I’m going to stand the opposite side of the stage from him tonight!

 

All this for a deep gig!

EEP! Make sure your drummist wears a mask just in case if you can.

[Mickeyboro]

3 hours ago, msb said:

Our little Mexican instrumental band , The Spurs played last night in our favourite dive , not a great crowd , it was a dirty old night  , but a warm and appreciative one. This time of year the police set up checkpoints to nab drinking drivers. I drank ginger ale all night and had one beer for the tear down and wait for the pay. Sure enough , there was a check point on the way home and I did confess to having one beer so it was the breathalyzer for me. Blew into the tube and the officer said “ You did have just one beer”. 
Don’t have any gig pics yet , but here’s the stage after drum check.

Halifax, eh? I recall the cops in New Zealand doing similar!

[msb]

During the holiday season they ramp up the stops , and get a lot of people. The limit here is .5 so two beers will put you over. It’s an expensive ticket.
You can expect to be stopped if you’re out much. 
I hadn’t been stopped for a while so I was expecting a stop on the road where they were. It’s a perfect spot to set up a stop. They had about a dozen police cars there and were stopping everybody in both directions. 

They don’t fool around.

[asingardenof]

Last gig of the year was beset by technical issues. To start with our singist had forgotten to charge the batteries for his wireless mic, so that took a bit of time to resolve, after which it was my turn.

 

After some random cut outs during our first set, it was unfortunate that the first song of our second was A Town Called Malice. In an effort to find what was causing the – frankly mortifying – breaks, I tried changing over the cables and bypassing my pedalboard entirely, but it was only swapping basses that seemed to solve the issue, and although I think I detected one or two glitches after that it could have just been my imagination.

 

Thankfully the crowd took it in good spirits and our singist kept that mood light as I abandoned the P-bass and dashed across the bar to fetch the Sire. I managed to get through the rest of the gig without incident, apart from forgetting my coat in the rush to get home for midnight.

 

It's a good thing I have next week off work as I need to do a deep dive into what the frick frack snick snack is going on with my gear. I'm hoping it's not an issue with the electronics in the Squier as I can't really afford to replace them at the moment.

 

I'm also well aware of the irony of this happening after I'd started a thread about bringing spare basses to gigs...

[jimmyb625]

12 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Last gig of the year was beset by technical issues. To start with our singist had forgotten to charge the batteries for his wireless mic, so that took a bit of time to resolve, after which it was my turn.

 

After some random cut outs during our first set, it was unfortunate that the first song of our second was A Town Called Malice. In an effort to find what was causing the – frankly mortifying – breaks, I tried changing over the cables and bypassing my pedalboard entirely, but it was only swapping basses that seemed to solve the issue, and although I think I detected one or two glitches after that it could have just been my imagination.

 

Thankfully the crowd took it in good spirits and our singist kept that mood light as I abandoned the P-bass and dashed across the bar to fetch the Sire. I managed to get through the rest of the gig without incident, apart from forgetting my coat in the rush to get home for midnight.

 

It's a good thing I have next week off work as I need to do a deep dive into what the frick frack snick snack is going on with my gear. I'm hoping it's not an issue with the electronics in the Squier as I can't really afford to replace them at the moment.

 

I'm also well aware of the irony of this happening after I'd started a thread about bringing spare basses to gigs...

Sorry to hear this. Lack of charge in batteries is a cardinal sin in my eyes. Hopefully your bass issues will be easily resolved.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

24 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Last gig of the year was beset by technical issues. To start with our singist had forgotten to charge the batteries for his wireless mic, so that took a bit of time to resolve, after which it was my turn.

 

After some random cut outs during our first set, it was unfortunate that the first song of our second was A Town Called Malice. In an effort to find what was causing the – frankly mortifying – breaks, I tried changing over the cables and bypassing my pedalboard entirely, but it was only swapping basses that seemed to solve the issue, and although I think I detected one or two glitches after that it could have just been my imagination.

 

Thankfully the crowd took it in good spirits and our singist kept that mood light as I abandoned the P-bass and dashed across the bar to fetch the Sire. I managed to get through the rest of the gig without incident, apart from forgetting my coat in the rush to get home for midnight.

 

It's a good thing I have next week off work as I need to do a deep dive into what the frick frack snick snack is going on with my gear. I'm hoping it's not an issue with the electronics in the Squier as I can't really afford to replace them at the moment.

 

I'm also well aware of the irony of this happening after I'd started a thread about bringing spare basses to gigs...

I’m so glad I don’t do NYE gigs anymore. I barely escaped before midnight at a gig I did last years NYE before the place erupted which would have put us back loading out by about an hour. The offset of the ‘extra money’ to my mind just isn’t worth the hassle. 
 

Singist needs a kick up the proverbial. Just no excuse for that.

 

I had the exact same thing happen at a function gig to my USA J. A wire was in the process of detaching from the jack socket. Hope you get it sorted. 

[Obrienp]

So, I got through the dep gig previously posted about. I ended up being the one wearing the mask, while Covid afflicted drummer coughed away behind me.
 

 It was a private function for a bloke’s 70 in a large pub. As can be seen from the photo, it was pretty cramped for the 6 of us. We had a lot of feedback issues tracked down to one of the drummer’s overhead mics, the sax player’s mic attachment and I suspect the guitarist’s miced cab. We cured the first two after an anxious half hour but the latter announced itself between each song. 
 

The gig itself went really well. Lots of dancing and general appreciation from around 100 party goers. I only came unstuck once, which was not being able to remember the groove for Stand By Me, which is embarrassing when you are doing the intro. My mind went a complete blank. By the end of the third set, about a quarter past midnight, I was really enjoying myself and wanted to keep going. Gear was a Maruszczyk Elwood 4a (medium scale) through an MB LMIII and Barefaced Two10, with a DI the PA. Got home about 2am.

 

Crossing my fingers that I didn’t catch Covid from the drummer and I will be able to have my operation on Tuesday!

[markbunney]

Back home from our NYE eve gig at The Oak in Sevenoaks. We had our first gig as a band here earlier in the year and so it was nice to be back.

 

gig went well, the pub was very busy but it took a while for the dance floor to fill up, but when it did it was chaos. Drinks being spilled everywhere, mic stand & iPad knocked over, people walking across the band area and tripping over our cable etc, I am amazed that nothing got broken.

 

the very drunk crowd did spoil the enjoyment of the gig due to constantly having to keep an eye on the equipment. I had to move my couple of pedals to the back of the stage by my amp due to spilled drinks.

 

we ended up moving some of the songs around to try and be more adaptive and reactive to the crowd. We initially dropped Club Foot but then ended up playing it just before midnight. The crowd were singing the bass solo, which was a very bizarre experience as no one has ever sung along to a bass solo at a gig before!

 

overall it was good fun and only half an hour from home. The main downside of today was getting some of the band lights out of the garage and discovering a leak

[Mickeyboro]

5 hours ago, Obrienp said:

So, I got through the dep gig previously posted about. I ended up being the one wearing the mask, while Covid afflicted drummer coughed away behind me.
 

 It was a private function for a bloke’s 70 in a large pub. As can be seen from the photo, it was pretty cramped for the 6 of us. We had a lot of feedback issues tracked down to one of the drummer’s overhead mics, the sax player’s mic attachment and I suspect the guitarist’s miced cab. We cured the first two after an anxious half hour but the latter announced itself between each song. 
 

The gig itself went really well. Lots of dancing and general appreciation from around 100 party goers. I only came unstuck once, which was not being able to remember the groove for Stand By Me, which is embarrassing when you are doing the intro. My mind went a complete blank. By the end of the third set, about a quarter past midnight, I was really enjoying myself and wanted to keep going. Gear was a Maruszczyk Elwood 4a (medium scale) through an MB LMIII and Barefaced Two10, with a DI the PA. Got home about 2am.

 

Crossing my fingers that I didn’t catch Covid from the drummer and I will be able to have my operation on Tuesday!

 

No that’s what I call a gig review!👏

[dmccombe7]

Last nights Hogmanay gig with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band went pretty well. Lot better than we all expected at Westlands Country Club in Annan.

We were simply advertised as BLOCKBUSTARZ but no pics and no mention of being a 70's Glam covers band. Singer overheard a couple of guys saying they hoped this wasn't going to be a guitar rock band all night.  When you have guys turning up with tweed and wax cottons on it doesn't look good for the night. Majority of people had no idea who the band were and the look on their faces when we walked in was a treat and several bottom jaws needed to be pushed back up in place. 

It was very slow to start but we did have a row of kids sitting in a line on the floor directly in front of us who seemed to be having a great time. We did notice a lot of cameras being used and we did get decent applause and cheers after each song but the dancers didn't really start until a few songs into the 2nd set. and by the end of the night floor was full. We finished our set at 11:45 to allow for a piper to bring in the bells. As we finished the organiser came up and asked if our singer could bring in the bells and announce the piper. Not part of the contract but we obliged and the young piper took us up to and thru the bells.

Organisers were pleased with how the night went and thanked us for a great night. 

We did the usual requests for songs that had nothing to do with 70's Glam Rock and even for a song to dance the slosh too but unfortunately we dont do that.

Home for 2:30 for my usual coffee and biccies. At least the roads were quiet on way home. Think i saw about  3 trucks and 2 cars on M74.

Back up for hungry cats at 8am so a wee bit tired.

Only the pre-gig dressing room pic at moment

Dave

 

 

[stewblack]

Played a massive city centre pub for new years. To no one. Totally empty. Except for the security guard. 

[musicbassman]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Played a massive city centre pub for new years. To no one. Totally empty. Except for the security guard. 

Well, that is some notable achievement, @stewblack, especially for NYE. How depressing.

But I'm guessing it's the pub management team that has the serious issues that need looking at here, nothing to do with the band whatsoever.

[stewblack]

1 minute ago, musicbassman said:

Well, that is some notable achievement, @stewblack, especially for NYE. How depressing.

But I'm guessing it's the pub management team that has the serious issues that need looking at here, nothing to do with the band whatsoever.

It was extremely depressing.

[asingardenof]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Played a massive city centre pub for new years. To no one. Totally empty. Except for the security guard. 

As in the whole pub was empty or just the bit you were playing in? Either way that's really sad.

[dmccombe7]

We've found some pubs are just not advertising their events and when we turn up its pretty sparse. I blame the venues for it altho we do advertise on our FB page and a few local gig guides for the area we're playing in but its the pub regulars you want in and if they don't know the band or see the adverts for who's on its a bit of a disaster.

I'm assuming your other gigs are well attended and this is a fluke and a one off.

What kind of music are you playing ....... just curious ?

Sure things will be back to normal for the next gig.

Dave

[casapete]

Played a dinner dance with friends last night at a nice hotel in Scarborough.

Usual type of stuff, so we started off with some jazzy standards only for a lady

to come over and request ‘some Quo’. Quite surreal for me to be singing ‘Rockin

all over the world’ at 8.30pm on NYE sitting down & dressed in a dinner suit, but the

customer is always right! The 12 o clock thing was supposed to be done by the events

manager using the BBC feed from London, but gremlins meant we had to do

the countdown and Auld Langs Syne bit so we duly obliged.

Out by 12.45, home by around 2am. Roads very quiet so an easy drive home.

Bit knackered today so it’s going to be watching Hootenanny for me this afternoon.

 

Happy New Year to all the people on here, all the best for 2024. 
 

 

 

Edited January 1 by casapete
Add pic

[dmccombe7]

2 minutes ago, casapete said:

Played a dinner dance with friends last night at a nice hotel in Scarborough.

Usual type of stuff, so we started off with some jazzy standards only for a lady

to come over and request ‘some Quo’. Quite surreal for me to be singing ‘Rockin

all over the world’ at 8.30pm on NYE dressed in a dinner suit, but the customer

is always right! The 12 o clock thing was supposed to be done by the events

manager using the BBC feed from London, but gremlins meant we had to do

the countdown and Auld Langs Syne bit so we duly obliged.

Out by 12.45, home by around 2am. Roads very quiet so an easy drive home.

Bit knackered today so it’s going to be watching Hootenanny for me this afternoon.

 

Happy New Year to all the people on here, all the best for 2024. 

Happy New Year to you and yours Pete.

Dave

[stewblack]

30 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

As in the whole pub was empty or just the bit you were playing in? Either way that's really sad.

The entire place 

[Franticsmurf]

8 minutes ago, stewblack said:

The entire place 

That happened to me once. The band was playing downstairs (the dedicated venue for bands) in a pub and for the first half, there was no one. During the second half a young couple appeared and politely clapped after every song. When we finished, the landlord appeared and advised us to stay where we were as there was a massive fight going on upstairs and the police were trying to stop it. The couple had retreated to the cellar to avoid the action.

[casapete]

17 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Happy New Year to you and yours Pete.

Dave

Right back at you Dave, all the best for 2024. 

[Simon C]

Happy New Year to everyone.  Assuming no one will be offended that I’ve misread the thread name  (for today only) as “How was your gig last year?” here’s our offering from the December Jam Night. No one else did a Christmas set (or song even, other than the host band).  I think we made the right shout as it livened up from our set onwards.

 

 Our normal guitarist was absent so one of the other guitarists joined us for our set. He’d never played with the singer Vicky  before, and he hadn’t seen the set list or chords until an hour or so before we went on, so it was a proper jam.

 

 There are a few sound problems with Vicky’s voice early on, but it does improve.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

11 hours ago, Obrienp said:

not being able to remember the groove for Stand By M

 

So glad it's not just me 🤣

[Bluewine]

Maple Road NYE 2023

The Precinct 

Germantown 

 

Great gig. However NYE is always a smooth sailing gig.

 

📸 Watch this video on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/2QnnqnBYuTBBL2t2/?mibextid=qi2Omg

[Bluewine]

23 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

Not sure how this gig will pan out as the staff had no idea what we did when the drummer dropped in to see what size PA we need etc. 

No stage and having to play in what looks like a Hotel foyer

Dave 

 

Dave,

 

Last night I felt like we were playing in a restaurant kitchen.

 

Daryl

[12stringbassist]

Our NYE evening gig in Southport:
Facebook post: "
You just couldn't make it up. #365
The blind guy who wanted to video us at tonight's gig. He was somehow able to sneak behind Ian on guitar and make his way over to the side of Graham's drum kit where he lurched around rather uncertainly, threatening to fall into Graham's kit. I was having nightmares about insurance. We didn't stop playing, but Jan came up and did her best nightclub bouncer impression and gently moved him to safety. I breathed a very small sigh of relief, which was rather stupid of me because a minute later he was blundering round right in front of us, threatening to knock Ian's mic stand for six and to go a.o.t over my floor monitor. I must have looked slightly more ridiculous singing with one leg stretched out to reach my monitor, but I guess it's a lot better than him going over it and landing face first. I'd love to see the video he got from his phone. his camera seemed to miss us most of the time. That's the first set done. Two more to go. Graham has just been to tell him not to do it again."
 

The rest of the gig went without incident. We had a rather small audience, but they were into it. The bar staff loved us. My voice survived. We played from 9.30 - 10.25, then 10.45 - 11.15, then 11.30 - 11.55 (stopping to let the TV bring in the new year and to gasp in awe at the hideous waste of money that was the new year firework display in London, a total slap in the face to the NHS) and finally from 12.15 - 12.35. I got home at around 2.15am and was in bed at 2.30am and asleep moments later.