How was your gig last night?

[AlexDelores]

Last gig of the year last night for us.
 

Cracking little bar called Vandal Bar in Warrington. Bit different to the usual wedding venue and a really up for it crowd, albeit small party of 50. 
 

This was wedding #68 for the year for us but it was the first one we’ve ever done through an agency and all went well, got the payment through nice and fast this morning so all ‘round a good first experience. 
 

It was a bit of a squeeze to fit in the corner but my ‘rig’ was my Gretsch into my B3, direct into the PA, 64 Audio IEMs and brown DM Thurston boots, oh and my SM58 and Tama kick pedal. 
 

 

 
 

 

[steantval]

1 hour ago, cetera said:

Xmas gig with local covers band 'Too Much Fun' at Thames Side Brewery in Staines last night. Fantastic evening.... 100+ punters in, all up for a sing and dance and enjoying our varied set of 60's/70's classics.... and there were some interesting ales/ciders on tap alongside some good food! 😉👍

 

Cool For Cats and Rhythm Stick went down especially well.... as did the Xmas songs (Slade/Wizzard)... but surprise of the night was seeing pensioners rocking the dance floor for our mental encore of Pretty Vacant... 😲🤣😂

 

I played my Jap Fender FSR 70's P, thru my Haz pedal, GK Legacy800 and Genz 2x12 last night and had some lovely compliments afterwards on both my sound and my playing, which sealed the deal nicely. 🎸👍😎🥰

Great to hear you guys are playing some tricky songs, but what’s with all the music stands on stage.

[neepheid]

Uh oh - shots fired!

[scalpy]

10 hours ago, tubbybloke68 said:

Just back from our usual 2 nights at Trading Boundaries Christmas gigs. Lovely intimate atmosphere as always and only just under an hour’s drive away from home. Both nights went very well and I always feel Xmas is here on these occasions. Happy Christmas everyone, my best wishes to you all 😊

Now that is a tasty bass. On my lottery win list one of those.

[cetera]

1 hour ago, steantval said:

Great to hear you guys are playing some tricky songs, but what’s with all the music stands on stage.

They have music and/or lyrics on them.....

 

 

 

 

..... and noone cares.....

[steantval]

47 minutes ago, cetera said:

They have music and/or lyrics on them.....

 

 

 

 

..... and noone cares.....

Never seen Peter or his band using them 😀

 

 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, cetera said:

They have music and/or lyrics on them.....

 

 

Why dont they know them?

 

Asking for a friend 😎

[tauzero]

Last gig of the year for us, and indeed our last booked gig (see later) - time to get some diary action for 2025 (not dairy action, that's a particularly specialised area of Pornhub). The Walsgrave in Coventry, a goodly size stage area (albeit flat to the floor). I took the acrylic bass which I'd just sorted shimming the neck on, or at least I thought I had - some notes were choking out on the bottom two strings so I did some revised finger positionings with only a few cockups. Used the Sei for most of the gig.

 

 

 

And me committing "Come up and see me". This is as good a reason as anyone needs for me not to be principal lead vocalist.

 

 

One audience member came up to me after the gig and asked me where the subs were. He was rather surprised that everything (well, all the vocals plus kick drum) was running through the Alto TS408s. Turned out he was the drummer for Flat Badger, a Coventry band.

 

When I got home, after settling down for a bit, I thought I'd check that the gigs page displayed correctly as we have no gigs - it's supposed to show a message saying we'd got no gigs and to check back, but it showed column headings with no content. This was due to a change I'd made a little while ago, so at 3am I was unable to go to bed without having sorted it out first (didn't take too long though).

[Cat Burrito]

Not so much of a "gig last night" but today marks 35 years of playing live! With all the occasional rubbish that life throws at us all, it's been the one constant source of sanity. Across 16+ bands, several countries and several instruments (I reckon 80% of them have been on bass), it's been amazing. I'd be surprised if I manage a 2nd 35yrs and I definitely have reached a stage where I enjoy the small local pubs as much as the ones that sound more impressive. 

 

22nd December 1989 was pretty woeful and I am so grateful we didn't have the internet but it will always be a fond memory because it set the wheels in motion for what was to come. 

 

[dmccombe7]

6 hours ago, grapefruitmoon said:

 

Cracking gig last night Dave, thoroughly enjoyed it! First time I've seen Blockbustarz, such a good set and energy. As I mentioned, I thought the bass sounded great, I was down at the front and there was no boominess there. Got some pics of you and your Santa cape if you want them posted. 

 

Also, Dave wins any footwear contests on here hands down.

Any pics just fire them up. Its all good fun for us.

Many thanks for coming along and so glad you enjoyed it. Dreadnought at Xmas is always a good night.

We were back in there again this afternoon at a private party which turned out really good fun too. Slightly different set list to accommodate the more mature audience members which all worked really well.

Hopefully i'll be able to catch you guys at The Dreadnought next year. 

Dave

[Jackroadkill]

2 hours ago, Cat Burrito said:

Not so much of a "gig last night" but today marks 35 years of playing live! With all the occasional rubbish that life throws at us all, it's been the one constant source of sanity. Across 16+ bands, several countries and several instruments (I reckon 80% of them have been on bass), it's been amazing. I'd be surprised if I manage a 2nd 35yrs and I definitely have reached a stage where I enjoy the small local pubs as much as the ones that sound more impressive. 

 

22nd December 1989 was pretty woeful and I am so grateful we didn't have the internet but it will always be a fond memory because it set the wheels in motion for what was to come. 

 

 

That's a great montage, Cat.  Here's to the next 35 years (you'll still be there!).

Edited Sunday at 21:19 by Jackroadkill

[cetera]

5 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Why dont they know them?

 

Asking for a friend 😎

Because they're very busy working people with family lives and multiple bands (and hence hundreds of songs) who get together as this band for fun....

 

You know....fun...... that thing the audience were having....

[Lozz196]

Although I’m not a fan of “the look” of music stands on stage I’m envious of those who have the ability to use them. Prompts I could do but sight reading def beyond me, even without taking middle aged eyesight into account. 

[Geek99]

10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Although I’m not a fan of “the look” of music stands on stage I’m envious of those who have the ability to use them. Prompts I could do but sight reading def beyond me, even without taking middle aged eyesight into account. 

It’s not as hard as learning to read English, and you have the advantage of not having to learn to write it as well as read. I’m learning slowly, I’m good at spotting rhythms now, but pitches are coming slower

Edited Sunday at 23:56 by Geek99

[MacDaddy]

1 minute ago, Geek99 said:

It’s not as hard as learning to read English

 

 

Depends on how easy you find learning Italian.

[dmccombe7]

Its no different from bands using screens disguised as monitors on stage. When you have that many songs to remember it must be difficult remembering so many lyrics.

You see a lot of pub / club bands using their phones or tablets on stage, same thing.

My attitude to them  is simple. If the band sound top notch i'm happy. That's it.

Dave

[casapete]

Played our final gig for this year at the Sun Inn in Beverley yesterday. Arrived a tad late to find the

pub absolutely rammed, with the landlord having to be on the door to restrict capacity - one out

one in etc. We got the PA set up as quickly as possible, quick line check and a feed into the 

house system for the rear of the venue and then got cracking around 5.30pm, playing as many

of the dozens of requests that we could. ( Although we’re normally an ‘acoustic duo’ I took

my trusty Precision Lyte for this gig, knowing the volumes we needed to play at would 

probably have me battling feedback with my acoustic basses. Turned out I was right ).

Plenty of Xmas stuff as you’d imagine, including ‘Fairy Tale of NY’ which involved some of the 

ladies in the audience doing Kirsty McColl’s parts, thank goodness! We’d also arranged for 

a few friends to get up and sing a song with us, something we rarely do. First up was a local

guy who sang the Ray Stevens version of ‘Misty’, then a friend who was celebrating his 70th 

who did ‘Mess of Blues’. During the 2nd set we had a mate do a great version of ‘Sympathy

for the devil’ - he's recently left his band and sounded amazing - and then the landlord Paul

sang ‘Wild Horses’ brilliantly and to deafening applause. Finally had another friend do

Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ ( in the original key too!), and we were done.

 

Although a few hours of mayhem, I still managed to enjoy the gig atmosphere despite having

a bad case of man flu. Had lost my voice by the end though, and feel pretty crap today.

Just hope I’m gig fit for tomorrow and NYE, playing at a hotel in Scarborough.

 

[bassbiscuits]

Final gig of the year with the Andy Wales Band at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester.
 

It’s a sort of Cuban-themed tapas bar and I wasn’t aware it had live bands until recently. 
 

But it turned out to be ace. Decent turnout despite the freezing windy weather, and a relaxed vibe. 
 

Brought just my little PA (pair of old Mackie SRM350s and a little Allen and Heath desk) and a single cab bass rig but it was plenty. 

 

Really fitting end to my gigging year, with a cosy local Sunday afternoon gig. 
 

Here’s to 2025. 

[Mickeyboro]

11 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

 

 

Depends on how easy you find learning Italian.

How dare you bring Bananarama into this?😈

[Rosie C]

11 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Although I’m not a fan of “the look” of music stands on stage I’m envious of those who have the ability to use them. Prompts I could do but sight reading def beyond me, even without taking middle aged eyesight into account. 

 

I've played in orchestra, brass band, big band. When I first started playing folk-rock in pubs, I was conscious of using a music stand, but I've just accepted I am the sort of musician who uses a music stand. I do memorise the lyrics and guitar chords, but for the other stuff - the band use written music. Even the drummer sometimes! 😉

 

Edited Monday at 11:10 by Rosie C

[Mykesbass]

1 hour ago, Mickeyboro said:

How dare you bring Bananarama into this?😈

That's one for the kids...

[StingRayBoy42]

FRIDAY!
I know that's not last night, we've been through this.
Azura 3 piece at The Old Crown, Digbeth (Birmingham).
Early start, the load in and setup had all been done by the time I got there (at 6:30!) which I was furious about again.
Cool place, we were out the back in a sort of massive permanent marquee with rows of bierkeller style benches and tables.
It was a ticketed event (supposedly 'Bad Santa' themed), the third Friday of three. We were billed as a nineties/noughties band (?!), so we'd made the effort to learn *three* 90s/00s songs as we're consumate profeshionuls.
Got my gear set up, quick line check, then hang around for a bit and take advantage (responsibly) of the free drinks tokens we'd been given.
Quite a few in there by the time we went on, but they were all sitting on the benches and not many got up on the dancefloor. They were enjoying it though, a few groups of drunken, rowdy lads singing/chanting/shouting along (especially to 'I predict a riot'... drunken, rowdy lads love that one apparently... good job we didn't do 'Seven Nation Army') and a few folk got up and had a dance so it was all good.
Singer/Guitar/Keys/Henry snapped a string, so I had to entertain the mob for a bit while he got his spare out and tuned up (unfortunately, no system has yet been invented that involves him getting it out and tuning up before we start playing... we have our finest minds working on this seemingly intractable quandry), but they were a very understanding rabble, so no harm done.
The drummer managed to get a fag out of a packet and light it while playing (and not missing a beat (like I say... consumate profeshionuls)) which was hilarious, me and S/G/K/H cocked up the words to 'Escape (The Pina Colada song)' as we do at pretty much every gig  (again, no system has yet been invented that involves us actually learning the words (or in his case, reading them off the iPad that's attached to his keyboard (In my defence... there are lots of words and all the choruses (chorii?) are slightly different to each other (and I don't want an iPad on stage (and I don't own one))))).
Went down well, lots of positive comments from the mob (and the organiser) which was nice.
Quick break, back on for round two, quite a few dancers up (hooray!), everyone loving it until the organiser came and told us there'd been a noise complaint from one of the neighbours (Let's not get into the 'This pub's been here for about two hundred years, why in the name of God's trousers would you buy a flat near it and then complain about the noise, you absolute frotting felchspoon?!' discussion) and we had to do one more song then finish.
We were FURIOUS at being told we'd be finishing even earlier than the really early finish we had booked as you can imagine.
We did two more - we *had* to do an encore so I could visit the dancefloor, which was packed by this point.
The organiser was incredibly apologetic and offered us a handful of yet more free drinks tokens to make up for it (which we respectfully declined (apart from the drummer and his mate, who weren't driving)) but we managed to contain our abject misery and packed up in fairly short order.
Load out (complete with incredibly drunk scottish man talking to us as we loaded the van), pack the car, back to Bewdley at a reasonable hour for a *very* stiff Gin (Hendrick's (41.4% ABV)) and (Fevertree (I think I'm supposed to be boycotting Fevertree for some reason but I can't remember exactly why, so don't tell anyone) Elderflower) tonic.

Played the StingRay -> small board -> secret weapons -> MB802 -> PA, Cherry Red/Oxblood DMs.
A good night and a decent payer. Cheers.

[Greg Edwards69]

Saturday's pre-Christmas gig was at the Sarah Moore pub in Leigh-on-Sea. Little bit of a strange one TBH.  It's been in the diary for months, but the boss contacted us some time ago when the big boxing match was announced and asked us to start a bit earlier than usual. We didn't really have much choice in the matter so we went with it. I think most of us here get a little annoyed when we have to compete with televised sport.

 

So, we turned up after 5pm for a leisurely setup, aiming for a 7.30pm start, only to be told by the person in charge that we couldn't set up in the usual band area. Someone had reserved a couple of tables in that area for 20 people as they wanted to watch the boxing and those were their favourite seats.  We argued to no avail that technically, we'd had that space reserved since spring. So we were told to set up in a different corner which although raised and has more space (the usual area is tiny), there's a partition wall cutting off visibility to half the pub. Be begrudgingly accepted defeat - the only other option was to not play at all. Still feeling annoyed whilst setting up and humping tables around, this was the last weekend before Christmas and had been advertised as a Christmas party + boxing.

 

Anyway, the pub was really busy by the time we started playing. A lot of people had turned up just to see us, and a lot to watch the boxing who ended up enjoying the free music as well.

 

Then apparently during our break the actual boss turned up and went apeshit wanting to know why the band wasn't in the usual, better sport, and allegedly read the riot act to whichever member of staff it was that reserved the tables 😆🤣. As nice as it was that he was on our side, it was too late to do anything about it (time-wise and the pub was bursting at the seams by this point), and he should have been on top of the situation and never let it happen in the first place.

 

The second set went down amazingly well judging by the people we could see and hear - the whole place joining in for Fairytale of New York was a particular highlight. Liam, one of our singers was encouraging everyone to be as loud as possible and annoy the neighbours (this was our last time playing here as the pub is closing for good in the new year - sold to developers to build flats).

 

"Let's upset the neighbours!" he said. "What are they going to do, shut the pub down?"

 

So it was bittersweet in the end. We've always had a good gig there, and this was a good gig too, just marred by poor logistics!

 

Oh well, roll on next weekend for the Cow & Telescope, one of our favourite venues.

[StingRayBoy42]

SATURDAY!
Still not last night, bear with me.
Cantina Band at Hennesey's in Digbeth, Brum (again).
Loud, fairly rowdy Irish bar the Saturday before christmas... what could possibly go wrong?! Let's find out.
Managed to park right outside (the car park had an old K8 phone box as the ticket machine which was very cool (if you're a nerdy phone box fan (I am))).
Setup all normal, stage was just about big enough for us all.
Guitarist was using a Kemper that he'd borrowed from a mate, which sounded a lot like his normal amp if I'm honest.
He was excited about it though - kept talking about triple rectifiers, whetever they are.
Rowdy (but seemingly OK) crowd, few mates of the band in, all good.
A few up dancing for the first set and a few singing along from their tables, the DJ arrived halfway through first set and managed to unload his stuff through the stage (as we were playing) and set up - unfortunately, he unplugged our desk while he was at it, so the vocals all disappeared for half a song (probably no bad thing TBH).
He seemed to be loving it, he was air-drumming along... turns out he's an ex-student of our drummer.
The crowd interaction section in 'Blitzkrieg Bop' ("I'll say A! O! then you say "Let's go!"") went down a treat, people were pretty much queueing up to join in, 'Seven Nation Army' was very popular (not sure if you're aware, but drunken rowdy lads LOVE that riff and often improvise their own profane lyrics about what Darren does (or does not do) in his spare time), 'Anarchy in the UK' was well recieved, all good fun.
Short break to ingest legal poisons, then the manager dropped an absolute BOMBSHELL.
They were showing the big fun punching game (Dyson Furious (?) and Etchy Uzbek (?) would be hitting each other in the face for the entertainment of all and sundry) so would we mind only doing half an hour for the second set?
You can imagine the white hot fury we unleashed at being told that we'd be finished for about 9 o'clock (which meant singer and guitarist could go home and watch Tegan Ferocious (?) and Itchy Offset (?) beat each other senseless (for entertainment)), but we managed to contain our collective ire and not let it affect our performance.
Second set was good, full dancefloor by the end, wireless wander (through the dancefloor, right to the back of the pub, back round past the bar and finish up in the middle of the dancefloor) was great, paid, finished by 9, pack up, load out, back to my Pop's crib in the hood (Moseley) for 10 (!) for a pint of homebrew Pineapple, Mango & Spiced Rum Cider (ABV: Plenty)

Played the Sterling -> small board -> secret weapons -> MB CMD121P, animal print Converse.

I've had worse nights!

[Greg Edwards69]

39 minutes ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

Short break to ingest legal poisons, then the manager dropped an absolute BOMBSHELL.
They were showing the big fun punching game (Dyson Furious (?) and Etchy Uzbek (?) would be hitting each other in the face for the entertainment of all and sundry) so would we mind only doing half an hour for the second set?
You can imagine the white hot fury we unleashed at being told that we'd be finished for about 9 o'clock (which meant singer and guitarist could go home and watch Tegan Ferocious (?) and Itchy Offset (?) beat each other senseless (for entertainment)), but we managed to contain our collective ire and not let it affect our performance.

Yep. See my post above. At least we had some warning, but bad planning still spoiled what should have been a perfect "last weekend before xmas" party.