How was your gig last night?

[StingRayBoy42]

2 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

One lady came up to me and said, "I absolutely love your fretless bass playing, it reminds me of Del Palmer and the fretless playing on Kate Bush's first album".

Wow! High praise indeed!

[jimmyb625]

I'm often thanked for my fretless playing. Specifically, not playing it.

[Bluewine]

On 02/02/2024 at 00:31, Downunderwonder said:

Hell wasteful to be junking barely used batteries like that, or do you use rechargeable ones?

 

The hungriest active I had would do a dozen gigs on a battery.

 

That hungry bass gave up with juice left and the other could keep that battery for months.

 

I am sure you could save a packet and whole lot of waste if you put in some research on what volts it really needs to maintain sound.

 

I got a 4 pack of cheapie 3v buttons for scales. Expensive enough. Checked the 1st one. 2.5 v out of the packet. No more of those!

 

Dave,

Agreed very wasteful.  However I got burned at a gig once. Dead battery and no sspares. 

 

Daryl

[Downunderwonder]

No need to get burned again. Fix the faulty wiring for starters then do the homework on the actual battery state that could let you down. And then you can stop buying the cheapo batteries for each gig.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

On 02/02/2024 at 20:24, Paul S said:

Played a 'blues and brews' night at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket.  Lovely venue - we've played there before - easy load in/out, big stage, lights, great sound system with a team of sound guys.  3 bands, we were on last or 'headlining' as like to call it, a selection of local beers on offer.  I wasn't confident anyone would turn on a chilly thursday in February up but apparently 60 souls made it - far more than I imagined.  Bands were Red Sky High, Jamie Williams and the Roots Collective - who were especially good, great set of originals delivered in some style.  Their bass player had a bitsa short scale Bronco/Mustang/Jazz hybrid that sounded awesome.  Good player, too.

 

Having been nicely warmed up and lubricated the crowd appreciated us and we went down very well, despite some left of field errors on a few songs we have played faultlessly for months (why does that happen?).  We played a longer set, just over an hour, and it was all round a damned fine evening.  No traffic there or back, in bed by 1am.  My gear was my SG > new Trace Elliot Transit B pedal > desk which sounded pretty fab from where I was standing.

 

Guitarist Alan's pic, taken from the mezzanine 'green room' where the performers hang out - Jamie Williams et al on their last song.

 

  

I was just about to query which band this was in the photo and/or if you’d had a hair transplant since I last saw you. Then I read the last line. Glad you had a good gig 👍

[StingRayBoy42]

Tonight!
The Pickle (?!) social club in Acocks Green, Birmingham with the Cantina band - Rock, heavy rock and more rock.
Standard stuff, first set met with bemusement, folded arms and polite applause, second set had enough up dancing to make it feel like a decent gig..
The drummer was on fire, despite having a torn rotator cuff.

Sterling -> small board -> MB CMD 121P, leopard print Converse.

Highlight was getting manhandled by a gorgeous blonde when I went for my wireless foray on to the dancefloor for the last two songs.
Two lime & sodas and a Thatchers Gold on the house, paid, home about half midnight for a Dunkertons Black Fox Organic Cider (6.8%), a cheese and Laoganma bagel (toasted) and an Old J Tiki Fire spiced rum (75.5%)

Not the worst evening I've ever had!

[WalMan]

Great night at a gig that has recently been saved from its boarded up state and threat of conversion to flats, and used to be a regular gig for us in various guises 30-40 years ago.

 

Set up as the rugby finished and the football team looked like a potential but they were great and a slightly older music audience arrived before we started.

 

Crowd up for it and singing along from the start.

 

A guitarist down for a while as he’s on holiday(s) for a few weeks but Max and I have played together as a guitar/bass/drums combo often enough for it not to be an issue.

 

Thought we might have volume issues but the landlord was asking our soundguy to turn it up so 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

Rig sounded huge tonight. Clear, solid, nice low end and just a soupçon of gnarl 😁🥰

 

More dates to come from a cracking night so all’s good 😊 

[dmccombe7]

BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band at Beat Generator in Dundee tonight.

Only 54 advanced ticket sales but it had a lot of walk-ins. Owner said its always a quiet time for bands but we had a lot more than even he expected. Reckon around 100 in total and all up for a great party night. Audience were dancing all night, owner loved it and said the band were brilliant.

FB comment already saying we have been the best band ever to play there and they will be back to see us.

Have to say the audiences in Dundee always seem to be very enthusiastic for us.

Pain of a load in & out as its 3 flights of stairs but PA and lights are supplied. Sound Engineer did a fantastic job on both FOH and stage sound.

1.5hr drive home but not too bad as roads were virtually empty and i managed to get parked outside the main door of the venue. Superb.

All in all a good night.

Sandberg VM4 into Ampeg SVT7 Pro and Mesa SW210/115 cabs. 

Dave

 

 

Edited February 4 by dmccombe7

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band at Beat Generator in Dundee tonight.

Only 54 advanced ticket sales but it had a lot of walk-ins. Owner said its always a quiet time for bands but we had a lot more than even he expected. Reckon around 100 in total and all up for a great party night. Audience were dancing all night, owner loved it and said the band were brilliant.

FB comment already saying we have been the best band ever to play there and they will be back to see us.

Have to say the audiences in Dundee always seem to be very enthusiastic for us.

Pain of a load in & out as its a 3 flights of stairs but PA and lights are supplied. Sound Engineer did a fantastic job on both FOH and stage sound.

1.5hr drive home but not too bad as roads were virtually empty and i managed to get parked outside the main door of the venue. Superb.

All in all a good night.

Sandberg VM4 into Ampeg SVT7 Pro and Mesa SW210/115 cabs. 

Dave

 

 

 

Dave,

100 is huge by my standards.

Daryl

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

 

Highlight was getting manhandled by a gorgeous blonde when I went for my wireless foray on to the dancefloor for the last two songs.
 

 

Dang, that never happens to me.

 

Daryl

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

 

Dang, that never happens to me.

 

Daryl

I think you may have over interpreted "manhandled"

[Paul S]

6 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I was just about to query which band this was in the photo and/or if you’d had a hair transplant since I last saw you. Then I read the last line. Glad you had a good gig 👍

 

My hair has always been quite wavy, not that there's much left these days.  One time I decided to grow it out, thinking I would look cool like Carlos Santana or similar.  But I ended up looking like my mum.  

[casapete]

Having the busiest week for a while (5 gigs) including these 3 with The ELO Experience.

 

Started off with a 6 hour trek up to Dundee on Thursday to play at the magnificent Caird Hall.

Not the easiest for sound, plenty of natural reverb! Our engineer managed to tame it though

and the gig went well with a lively audience of around 800 all in good voice. I love playing 

in Scotland, always great audiences. The gig was to replace one booked late last year which

was cancelled due to storm warnings. We had really high winds this time on both the journey

up and back down which made the drive even more arduous, but still,worthwhile.

Friday it was a drive back down to Darlington for a gig at The Hippodrome. Another great

old theatre with a near capacity audience. Just a 2 hour drive home afterwards, again in

high winds.

Last night we played at Sheffield City Hall, a favourite venue for the band. Had around 1200

punters in, great crowd up for it right from the off. Had to use a flown PA so our guys had 

a job on but they got it nailed. Home by midnight, absolutely knackered.  Am playing in 

Scarborough later today with the acoustic duo, so hope it’s an easy one! 
 

 

 

[StingRayBoy42]

2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I think you may have over interpreted "manhandled"

 

She didn't filp my D x-tender or pluck my G string... and she didn't touch my Bass either.

[Devers95]

 

Two years of filming gigs on my Go Pro and last night was the first time drunk punters finally grabbed it. All ended well fortunately! Good gig all around.

 

Bonus points to one of the photographers who actually set my Go Pro up again in a less risky position to catch the rest of our set.

 

 

[dmccombe7]

6 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

Dave,

100 is huge by my standards.

Daryl

With the Glam band it varies from around 70 to 200 depending on venue size. 

We had a lot of sell out gigs last year too which is always nice to see posted on the venue page.

 

On the other side of the coin the punk band plays to 10 to 70 

 

Dave

[Dankology]

We were at the very beautiful Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh last night but this short clip is from Newcastle the night before.

 

First two dates of the tour, a couple of minor gremlins but overall we're pretty thrilled with how it's shaping up 😀

 

[casapete]

Played in Scarborough this evening, a return to ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ cafe restaurant which

we do quite regularly. Always a great gig with a truly appreciative audience made up of many

regulars. As usual we did the set list from written audience requests, and managed most of 

them including ‘This Masquerade’, ‘Make you feel my love’ and finishing the second set with

a very extended version of ‘Another brick in the wall’. My guitarist partner Gary had a bad 

cold but still managed to sing all night, albeit more raspy than usual. We’re back there again

in three weeks time.

 

 

[msb]

We’ve had about 80cm of snow , so things have been cancelled this weekend , we’re looking at another 20 before it stops. Heavy winds so it drifts right back after you shovel it.

 

misery

[Bluewine]

17 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

With the Glam band it varies from around 70 to 200 depending on venue size. 

We had a lot of sell out gigs last year too which is always nice to see posted on the venue page.

 

On the other side of the coin the punk band plays to 10 to 70 

 

Dave

 

Dave,

 

I'm coming off two gigs in a row with low turn out. I need a good size crowd to redeem myself. Lol

 

Daryl

[Mickeyboro]

7 hours ago, casapete said:

Played in Scarborough this evening, a return to ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ cafe restaurant which

we do quite regularly. Always a great gig with a truly appreciative audience made up of many

regulars. As usual we did the set list from written audience requests, and managed most of 

them including ‘This Masquerade’, ‘Make you feel my love’ and finishing the second set with

a very extended version of ‘Another brick in the wall’. My guitarist partner Gary had a bad 

cold but still managed to sing all night, albeit more raspy than usual. We’re back there again

in three weeks time.

 

 

What’s that you’re playing?

[casapete]

8 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

What’s that you’re playing?

It’s an Ibanez PNB14E Mick. Parlour sized body, 24” scale and uses D’Addario strings designed for the 

Taylor GS Mini bass. Cheap little thing but I love it, used on hundreds of gigs either direct into the PA

or via my Fender Rumble 100v3 combo. 😊

[Paul S]

8 hours ago, casapete said:

Played in Scarborough this evening, a return to ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ cafe restaurant which

we do quite regularly. Always a great gig with a truly appreciative audience made up of many

regulars. As usual we did the set list from written audience requests, and managed most of 

them including ‘This Masquerade’, ‘Make you feel my love’ and finishing the second set with

a very extended version of ‘Another brick in the wall’. My guitarist partner Gary had a bad 

cold but still managed to sing all night, albeit more raspy than usual. We’re back there again

in three weeks time.

 

 

 

 

I love the sound of these gigs, Pete!    From a punter's perspective, do your regulars ask for the same songs each time?  And how many requests would each get?  

[casapete]

8 minutes ago, Paul S said:

 

I love the sound of these gigs, Pete!    From a punter's perspective, do your regulars ask for the same songs each time?  And how many requests would each get?  

Thanks Paul! We’ve done the requests thing for a while now. We put out request forms on the tables (say one

per person) and then go through them to see what’s been asked for and if we can do them! If not then we try

to maybe do another by the artist requested. We use iPads linked together which have literally thousands of

songs my mate Gary has written out. We do a fair bit of material without using them, but it’s often more for lyrics

than the music that we need them, especially for anything we’ve never or rarely done before. Of course there

are some we don’t attempt, but because Gary is an amazing player of many styles as well as a great singer,

we get away with most of them! We try to make sure most people / couples get at least one tune they request,

out of a choice of 3 tunes per request form. 
Last night we probably had a 90% success rate - ones we couldn’t manage were ‘Boys of Summer’, something

by Supertramp and ‘God only knows’! Our audience tend to be around our own demographic which makes 

things a bit easier- most popular stuff requested is anything by Simon and Garfunkel & The Eagles etc, but

we try to mix it up as much as possible. Louis Armstrong into Miley Cyrus isn’t unheard of. 🤣

[ahpook]

21 hours ago, Devers95 said:

 

Two years of filming gigs on my Go Pro and last night was the first time drunk punters finally grabbed it. All ended well fortunately!

 

You move fast for a man with a bass round your neck