How was your gig last night?

[stewblack]

Two dep gigs in Wiltshire yesterday. First one outside a cinema in a storm blown tent, playing to nobody, and the second in front of a big screen showing the rugby to an entirely uninterested audience. 

The life of a working musician eh?

There was a dep guitarist barely audible above the jangling of his nerves, and a two man brass section, also deps. Not quite in tune brass with not quite right guitar makes for fascinating harmonic content. In the end I stuck mostly with the root notes and watched the rugby.

 

[Burns-bass]

We had an evening gig booked in a swanky cocktail bar. In the space of an hour four lovely Welsh women drank £150 worth of booze, danced, trod on the guitarists foot and then three of them passed out. Bar owner closed early and still paid us full fee.

 

Very, very weird.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Burns-bass

[stewblack]

6 hours ago, lozkerr said:

A memorial night at Colinton Bowling Club in Edinburgh for a friend in another band we know who died last year. Five bands, with our friend's old band as headliners. The stage was surrounded with Christmas lights and looked very pretty:

 

We broke our record for packing down and loading out -35 minutes from the last note being played to driving out of the car park. That might sound a lot, but as the gear included four Hughes & Kettner PA cabs, a heavy amp rack and the lights as well as our backlines, I think we did pretty well.

 

Here's my bass rig - Sterling Stingray, Eden WTP600 amp atop a 210 and 118 cab:

That's impressive pack down time for the entire rig - nice one!

My personal best is 9 minutes from "thank you goodnight" to driving away - but that was just me.

[stewblack]

Just now, Burns-bass said:

We had an evening gig booked in a swanky cocktail bar. In the space of an hour four lovely Welsh women drank £150 worth of booze, danced, trod on the guitarists foot and then three of them passed out. Bar owner closed early and still paid us full fee.

 

Very, very weird.

 

Full fee and an early finish sounds like the perfect gig!

[casapete]

I was not going to post about my gig last night, but reading a couple of the above posts

has changed my mind 😆

 

Anyway, ours ( 3 piece blues rock band) was a small bar in a country pub in North Lincolnshire.
Bit of a trek from the car park, but we had a reasonable space to set up. Around 20 or 30 

people in, most of them staying for the evening. Very friendly landlady, left us to decide when

to go on. We did 2 x50 min sets, and had polite applause throughout but no dancers. I was a 

bit on auto pilot for some reason, despite it being our first gig in nearly a month. Subsequently

missed a few turnarounds but nothing to derail us. We did receive 3 offers of gigs though!

One back at the venue, another as a fund raiser in the village hall and also a small festival next summer.

Just goes to show you never can predict the outcome of gigs, even when they appear to be nothing

special. 20 minute drive home in the rain, but 14.5 degrees around midnight - very strange. 

Heading up to Scarborough later for an acoustic duo gig, so hoping the weather stays okay. 

Edited 17 hours ago by casapete

[Lozz196]

The Spacewasters played at The Trinity Bar in Harrow last night. Drummers car broke down yesterday so I drove me, him, and our depping guitarist.

 

Traffics was poor but got there by 6pm so all 4 bands able to soundcheck.

 

Evening was very light on punters, apparently a major psychobilly event was going on  nearby so this really had an impact.

 

The 3 other bands played well, then it was our turn. I was using my CIJ Fender Mustang into my Behringer BDI21, no amp just straight to FOH. Worked well but monitors were very small so much in them, made on stage sound very trebly. 
 

We played well and audience reaction was great, especially given we had a dep guitarist but due to the size of the stage, the load in/out, the parking, my back hurting, herding drunk bandmates, traffic, rotten weather and traffic overall my enjoyment for the gig was solely the 45mins we played - and I left home at 4pm and got in after 1am, for a gig less than 20 miles away. 

[Burns-bass]

46 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Full fee and an early finish sounds like the perfect gig!

Yeah I’m happy. I don’t think they’ll continue with live music which is a shame. They would make more money with a DJ and I’m sure it would suit the venue better (but I’m not going to tell the guy that!)

[Leonard Smalls]

Multi Band event for us in Hereford last night as part of a celebration of Rebellion Festival promoter Daz Russell's 40th anniversary of putting on gigs...

Was a bit worried about being able to get there due to the many flooding hotspots on the way, but all was fine (apart from the lack of working pay machines in the carpark meant downloading the dreaded RingGo app).

We were on at 8pm after Rat Boy's famous magic show (!); all went fine apart from having no vocal monitoring which meant having to remember changes without vocal cues but we mostly got it right - though a notable exception was drummer posing for a video when he was meant to be watching me as he never remembers where we stop on "3"... 

I was pleased with my tone - Parker bass into Helix, heavily gated and compressed with light overdrive and sweep delay for my solo bits into BBE pre, DBX compressor, bridged Crown power amp and Markbass 4x10.

Had a decent full room too despite the rain - perhaps 100 of 'em - but I have no idea if anyone liked us as I'd packed everything onto my new lightweight trolley and was off like a rocket (can carry everything in one run!). I heard that Culture Shock (headline) and the Samples were good though.

Treated myself to a bit of 85% cocoa chocolate and a dram of Port Charlotte Cask Strength with Jools Holland (very impressed by St Vincent's first song!).

[Stub Mandrel]

52 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

apart from the lack of working pay machines in the carpark meant downloading the dreaded RingGo ap

 

I hate ringo. The whole system seems to designed to make you take the chance of not paying 😡

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

 

 (apart from the lack of working pay machines in the carpark meant downloading the dreaded RingGo app).

 

If no working pay machines are you not allowed to park for free. what if you don't have a mobile ?

That worries me a bit.

Dave

[neepheid]

17 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I hate ringo. The whole system seems to designed to make you take the chance of not paying 😡

 

Ringo?  The best parking app in the world?  He isn't even the best parking app in the app store...

[neepheid]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

If no working pay machines are you not allowed to park for free. what if you don't have a mobile ?

That worries me a bit.

Dave

 

Oh, get with the times, gramps

 

[Cat Burrito]

So, three weeks ago, I was messaged by a friend asking if I fancied learning 35 songs in just three weeks to dep for his band. I know the band, they are friends but it's not really stuff I know. I was flattered to be approached and I do like a challenge. I have spent every night learning these. I also thought it might be fun to dig out the upright for a few. I had ONE rehearsal.

 

 

The show was last night. In the words of Jay Cartwright from The Inbetweeners, "Completed it!" I am definitely of a stage in my playing where I can immediately correct mistakes without getting caught but in fairness, most of it went smoothly. 

 

 I really enjoyed it and the audience were well up for it. A bunch of North Hampshire farmers who seemed to like my "big cello". I did about 60% of it on my Fender Precision through a Blackstar amp. I have been invited to do there more shows this year. An amazing night. 

 

[Jackroadkill]

9 hours ago, lozkerr said:

Here's my bass rig - Sterling Stingray, Eden WTP600 amp atop a 210 and 118 cab:

 

That's a great rig.  Like mine but bigger!

[dmccombe7]

34 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Oh, get with the times, gramps

 

I'll be having less o yir cheek ya young whipper snapper that ye are.  

I do have a mobile 

Dave

Edited 15 hours ago by dmccombe7

[Jackroadkill]

2 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

In the space of an hour four lovely Welsh women drank £150 worth of booze

 

They must have been ill; that figure should have been way higher.

[Woodinblack]

Well, last night was was a biker gig, but sadly I had mistaken for that term for several biker gigs we had done around here where it is just a group of people that like riding bikes, it wasn't that sort. Tiny area in some clubhouse in a corner on a concrete floor which was damp so we couldn't stick any of the cables down. Stripped out all of the interesting songs and just played rock and blues numbers, they really didn't want abba, 9-11:30 with a break. It was pretty packed but to be honest, really not sure why we were there, noone was really bothered and I think that the only reason people watched was because it was so wet outside!

They paid us £50 less than agreed, but we weren't really in a position to argue about it but in the positive side, for a change everyone helped to break down, so after finishing and breaking down / loading and driving home, I was at home within 40 minutes of the last note.  

The best part of the evening was that it was empty on the roads and there were some great but manageable puddles on the way home!

[neepheid]

7 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'll be having less o yir cheek ya young whipper snapper that ye are.  

I do have a mobile 

Dave

 

Fit's 'at for, brakkin' shop windaes?

[MacDaddy]

18 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Well, last night was was a biker gig, but sadly I had mistaken for that term for several biker gigs we had done around here where it is just a group of people that like riding bikes, it wasn't that sort. Tiny area in some clubhouse in a corner on a concrete floor which was damp so we couldn't stick any of the cables down. Stripped out all of the interesting songs and just played rock and blues numbers, they really didn't want abba, 9-11:30 with a break. It was pretty packed but to be honest, really not sure why we were there, noone was really bothered and I think that the only reason people watched was because it was so wet outside!

They paid us £50 less than agreed, but we weren't really in a position to argue about it but in the positive side, for a change everyone helped to break down, so after finishing and breaking down / loading and driving home, I was at home within 40 minutes of the last note.  

The best part of the evening was that it was empty on the roads and there were some great but manageable puddles on the way home!

 

That's disappointing to hear. My experience of Biker gangs Clubs is that bands are usually well looked after and have an appreciative audience. 

Not good they scammed you on the fee. 

[Woodinblack]

8 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

That's disappointing to hear. My experience of Biker gangs Clubs is that bands are usually well looked after and have an appreciative audience. 

 

Yeh, chalk it up to experience, I agree there are biker clubs we have played for before, who have been great but I guess it isn't going to matter any more, the guitarist has put a 'no biker gig' rule in place now.

[dmccombe7]

29 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Well, last night was was a biker gig, but sadly I had mistaken for that term for several biker gigs we had done around here where it is just a group of people that like riding bikes, it wasn't that sort. Tiny area in some clubhouse in a corner on a concrete floor which was damp so we couldn't stick any of the cables down. Stripped out all of the interesting songs and just played rock and blues numbers, they really didn't want abba, 9-11:30 with a break. It was pretty packed but to be honest, really not sure why we were there, noone was really bothered and I think that the only reason people watched was because it was so wet outside!

They paid us £50 less than agreed, but we weren't really in a position to argue about it but in the positive side, for a change everyone helped to break down, so after finishing and breaking down / loading and driving home, I was at home within 40 minutes of the last note.  

The best part of the evening was that it was empty on the roads and there were some great but manageable puddles on the way home!

Yep done a few Blue Angels gigs with our punk band and apart from the guy that booked us and possibly a few others you're just background music. Did have one night where a lot of wives and girlfriends were there possibly Burn's Night Jan 25th and they were all up dancing most of the night but that was a one off. 

Have to say its the only gig i've ever done where i don't need to carry my gear. They unload our gear at the start and then load it back at the end of the night. Got underpaid the first time i played there but not as many turned up as they were expecting but fair play they paid us without issue after that and even allowed us to get some Blue Angel T shirts.

At the end of the night several guys said we were a great band and thoroughly enjoyed it ???

Dave

 

[Woodinblack]

24 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Have to say its the only gig i've ever done where i don't need to carry my gear. They unload our gear at the start and then load it back at the end of the night.

 

Didn't have any of that, had it at other places, where it was nice. 

[Leonard Smalls]

Pic from last night...

[Piers_Williamson]

23 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Pic from last night...

 

 

That is one very beautiful bass (I'm not going to comment on its owner)

[StingRayBoy42]

8 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

We were on at 8pm after Rat Boy's famous magic show (!)

And they say it's not a glamorous business!