How was your gig last night?

[bassix]

Saturday night we headlined our own punk festival in Sussex and the reaction was fantastic. We decided to headline and was so glad we did, the crowd went absolutely MENTAL! We had a pit in the middle with everyone else dancing on stage or at the sides. By the end it was like the walking wounded with paramedics turning up to treat people who had got caught up in the frenzy. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt, but the feeling of knowing we had made a group of people give that much energy and emotion to our songs was pretty amazing.

[Cat Burrito]

We played in Newport last night. I took my smaller rig as we wanted to keep the vehicle space down so we weren't paying for more cars going over the bridge. Sounded great & we played well. A great gig

[tauzero]

Saturday night's gig was a fun one...

It was the third gig since I'd joined the rock/blues covers band, and I invited the other members of the originals band as well. And Mrs Zero had chatted with the former band who had dumped me and invited them down too. So present at the gig were one guitarist and the vocalist from the former band, and one guitarist and the drummer from the originals band (and also the other covers band) and Mrs Zero, who is the other 50% of the acoustic duo I'm in. Just to add to the big cosy famil thing, not only were daughter and son-in-law Sub Zero and Zero Offset present, but also Sub Zero's previous partner and father of her first child.

We had been supposed to play downstairs at the pub - the Black Horse rock bar in Birmingham. However, the downstairs PA had blown up so we finished up upstairs, where the bar is yet to be completed but there was a PA. Set went well but there wasn't much audience other than current and former bandmates plus friends and family.

Hatchet now buried with the former band, they invited us to support them next Saturday at a party, so we've agreed to that. Plus we can go back to the Black Horse - didn't exactly pay a fortune but it's better than nothing (just). And I think I'll see about getting the other other band in there too.

[w...]

Last night was the first gig with my band The Penny Whores at Hollywood and Vine in Hull. There were quite a few people in the audience and the reception we got was a warm one. No rotten fruit or veg thrown at all!

More importantly it was my first ever gig My live playing cherry has been popped, roll on the next gig, I like the rush!!

[tauzero]

[quote name='w...' post='969405' date='Sep 27 2010, 01:04 PM']More importantly it was my first ever gig My live playing cherry has been popped, roll on the next gig, I like the rush!![/quote]
Congratulations. It's a great experience, playing live.

[dave_bass5]

We had a regular social club gig on sat and played a blinding (as in good) version of........Mustang Sally.
Most of the room was up dancing and for the first time ever we all had smiles on our faces during it.

Ok, bring it on. :ph34r:

[Low End Bee]

Played the Half Moon as a short notice fill in as they had two bands cancel and the venue flattered us by saying we'd be good value for walk ups.

The Support band 'Hundred Ways' described themselves as 'indie geek punk'. They were much better than that sounds though. Enjoyed their set. They have some good songs and are a bit unusual.
Their bass player turned up without an amp and I felt a bit mean for not letting him use my rig. I would have had he asked in advance. Their drummer managed to contact us and sort out a kit share easily enough. Luckily they have a house Trace head and Ashdown 4x10 tucked away for these situations that I didn't know about.

Very sparse crowd but we played well and treated it as a stage rehearsal. Hard to get our crowd out at short notice on a school night.

On to the Inn On Th Green on the 15th. Already a good crowd confirmed for that one.

Edited October 1, 2010 by Low End Bee

[ShergoldSnickers]

Another really cracking gig - this time at the King Billy in Cottingham as part of a 'Springboard' evening. It's nice when everyone suddenly changes key when it just feels right, and it all happens together.... AND.... the same key! Never had this level of communication in any other band. Spooky but good. Plenty of dynamics again, and ranging from moody floaty stuff to aggressive groove orienated stuff in the same 'song'. Yeah... liking this a lot.*

* The audience may beg to differ.

[Lozz196]

Sounds like King Billy gigs are good for the system.

We slso played a King Billy gig, though in Northampton. 1st set was a bit sloppy, as due to a band members illness we hadn`t rehearsed for a good while (and he was in fact still ill last night), still, we`re a punk band, so not too much of a problem. 2nd set however was great, went down really well, crowd as always at The Billy were amazing, really vocal - nice to have virtually the whole audience on backing vocs, lol.

All in all, another great gig at The King Billy in Northampton.

[ShergoldSnickers]

[quote name='Lozz196' post='975729' date='Oct 3 2010, 09:27 AM']Sounds like King Billy gigs are good for the system.

We slso played a King Billy gig, though in Northampton. 1st set was a bit sloppy, as due to a band members illness we hadn`t rehearsed for a good while (and he was in fact still ill last night), still, we`re a punk band, so not too much of a problem. 2nd set however was great, went down really well, crowd as always at The Billy were amazing, really vocal - nice to have virtually the whole audience on backing vocs, lol.

All in all, another great gig at The King Billy in Northampton.[/quote]
Maybe they should just change all pub names to King Billy?

I was in a band in the late 70s that attempted to do stuff like Hurry up Harry - Sham 69, and Terminal Stupid by The Snivelling Shits. We were utterly hopeless. About as convincing as Boris Johnson trying to deal smack.

[JTUK]

New venue for us although I have depped it a few times.
The weather may have stopped a few walk-ins but the venue is normally a stop for all who are out in that town and even when they left at half time to see what else is about, I noticed most came back for the second set.

I'l take that.

We did well..even though this was a few weeks since we last played and one or two chords went astray, we would put that down as a very good gig.

We are always rotating our set so that can be 5-6 weeks, maybe more, between playing some numbers.

If we can get a rehearsal in Oct I know we can fix a few numbers as the feel and stuff may have drifted.
Nothing the punters can complain about, so just for our attention, really.

[Dubs]

Not posted in here before, but we played a gig with Philadelphia Grand Jury on Thursday night and they were f***ing great!!

That is all.

[bottlebassman]

We (King for a day) played at The Royal Tavern in Blyth last night, enjoyable gig, 1st set we weren't very tight and made a some mistakes, 2nd set I thought we played well. Got re-booked anyway and some nice comments, so I guess we must have been ok!

[Earbrass]

Played two gigs in the last few days. First was the Rhythm Factory in Aldgate, last Thursday. Good stage, PA and monitors, lights and soundman....but we were first on and only 4 of our mates showed up to watch. We really enjoyed playing, though, and it warmed us up for Saturday, when we played the Birds Nest in Deptford. This pub is also a hostel of some kind, I believe, so there's always a good few people there. We had a few friends in as well, and two or three got up and danced in the limited space in front of the stage. Everyone was very friendly, and I got complimented on my playing, and my choice of T-shirt, by the bassist from the band who went on after us. It's only about a mile and a half from where I live, and I was home by ten. Result!

[Cat Burrito]

We played The Troubadour last night in Earls Court. It was great to play a venue that has hosted Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon & Jimi Hendrix in the past. Aside the fact we played well, my night was made by my guitarist describing me as "playing a blinder" & "the best thing on that stage". A really good night

[Old Horse Murphy]

We were booked for a surprise 40th birthday last night at The Castle in Tooting.

I've not played at The Castle since a Tsunami Charity Gig years ago and the place hasn't changed much (awful sound).

We were asked to get the for 6pm so we could be set up by 7 when the Birthday Boy was due to arrive. We didn't end up going on until 9 so had to sit around for a fair while.

They were a great crowd but a typical party crowd where people were busy catching up/talking and a few of our numbers were greeted with stony silence and it became apparent that absolutely nobody has listened to us during certain tracks (good job I'm thick-skinned).

The second set went down really well and we had a busy dancefloor. Some of our newer stuff we've added didn't get the reaction we'd hoped for but then again, some of it went down extremely well.

We've got a 50th next weekend in Frimley, so we can try the new stuff out again and see how it goes down.

Highlight of the night was a girl in her 20's taking photos of us. At one stage she squatted down on to her haunches for an arty shot and I got to see the Cat on her lap. Don't think she realised but it must have been a bit of a draft.

Nearly put me off my stroke

[BigRedX]

Fantastic!

Dick Venom And The Terrortones played the Nottingham OxJam Festival at The Falcon Inn on Canning Circus. Despite two changes of venue between the gig being announced and actually happening - the second occurring after all the posters and other publicity material had been printed, and considering that this was a charity event IMO reflects badly on the two venues responsible - the gig finally went ahead in the tiny upstairs room in the Falcon Inn. The cramped conditions (for both the bands and the audience) just added to the atmosphere. Unbelievably as we were playing I could see more and more people squeezing into the room to see us. Mr Venom managed to avoid breaking anything this time, but still managed to put on a great show, and it looked like we made a lot of new fans.

Also a big thanks to the band who played before us - "In Isolation" who were not only a great band, but also kind enough to let us use their amps when the originally organised equipment share didn't materialise.

Edited October 10, 2010 by BigRedX

[the_skezz]

Got to the pub expecting to play relatively soon, maybe midway through the five other bands, then got told we'd been playing last (above the band that were headlining!) Had a few drinks, finally got up to play, and did four songs (lasting just over ten minutes overall) before being told the barstaff were annoyed with us jumping into stools and swearing. We were going to tone it down after that, until the manager came up and told us that we'd have to play our last song then (quite annoying, since we were prepared for a fourteen song set) and so we blasted into Territorial Pissings. People seemed to enjoy us, we've had a few people telling us we were great (and a few more avoiding us at all costs )

Playing the Hollybush in Cradley Heath with the same five bands next week...considering that I've seen larger living rooms than their 'stage area', it's gonna be interesting trying to fit in six groups worth of gear...

[bottlebassman]

We, (King for a day) played at the King's Head in Blyth last night. 1st time the venue has had a live band on in a long time I believe. Strange kinda night, we played pretty well, place was near empty at times and busy at other times, so hard to gauge. We enjoyed ourselves anyway, played 2 songs we haven't played live before, "feeling good" (in Joe Bonemassa style) and "runnin' down a dream" (Tom Petty), both went well. Quite a few young 'uns came in later on before going into the "jumpin' jax" night club upstairs, they seemed to enjoy it, apart from one attractive young lady who sat with her fingers in her ears! A few said we were "too loud" Oh well, can't please everyone, it is rock music after all!

[BigRedX]

Another blinder!

Went up to Leeds to play at Milo at the request of XRay Cat Trio who we supported on our 3rd gig when they played in Nottingham. Despite being on first there was already a good sized crowd in when we went on and they were very appreciative. Some of them were even dancing! A friend who was in a band with me back in the 80s and now lives locally was there too and plenty of nice things to say about the band.

There were a couple of mistakes but nothing that anyone who wasn't us would have noticed. Mr Venom did manage to break yet another Microphone stand - the upright just sheared off above where it threads into the base... However I've sure that we wouldn't be as entertaining if he didn't go wild in his performance.

[karlfer]

Crap. 1st bad one I've had with BBGM. The dozen or so there enjoyed it but;
Virtually no bugger in, landlady had gone with half the pub to a karaoke night with all her cronies. Rest of the regulars at Mexican night half a mile away.
Came back at 12.30 wanting to know why we were packing up.

1st and last at that one methinks, dummy seriously spat out.

Karl.

Edited October 16, 2010 by karlfer

[waynepunkdude]

We had a gig lined up supporting Kunt and the Gang last night but or drummer had to go to Blackpool we knew in advance but due to me being away on business all week we couldn't have a practice. We don't like pulling out of gigs so a message was sent to the two guitarists that went 'you guys got acoustics?' got 2 messages back saying yes so we f***ing did it, was a lot of fun crowd seemed to enjoy it, winner.

[ahpook]

so you finally broke the acoustic's gigging cherry...

good work

[essexbasscat]

Oh dear

Another potentially good gig ruined by the guitarist being too loud. Trouble is, he also controls the PA.

Had a last minute call - out to fill in for another local legend that had accidentally double booked himself elsewhere. All well and good. Until the halfway point.

Our guitarist / frontman and PA controller regularly turns up the volume at the halfway point. He's never explained why, even though I've asked him why he does it. Last night, he turned up to such an extent that the gain on my Ampeg B2RE was set to 2 'O Clock and the master at 3 'O Clock, in other words, full up, with my Precision going into it. This is for a small / medium size pub, with my Ampeg into one GS 112. Rating 250 Watts at 8 ohms.

I asked him to turn it down but he said no.

Thing is, I don't know if;

- it's an adolescent desire to just be loud. Repressed in childhood ?

- it's because he honestly thinks that significantly turning up at the half way point somehow enhances the evening's entertainment. Again, I have asked him about this, be he avoids answering the question. He has previously ruined the very good PA settings for the first half of a gig by turning up in this manner. The second half was abysmal as a result.


Thing is, to acheive this exercise in childish behaviour, this guitarist;

- Selfishly damages the hearing of everyone around him to acheive an aim he can't, or won't explain. It is selfish, as he refused to turn down when I asked him to.

- Sacrifices articulation, dynamics, phrasing and to a large extent, listening and teamwork by adopting this stance.


On the plus side, we can busk practically anything (that's in his style and to his liking), he does get the gigs and I've done more stage work with this guy than anyone else in my musical career.

But I do find myself thinking more and more about the musical career I'm sacrificing to have my ears damaged in this way. Additionally, I also find excessive volume highly irritating, even very annoying.
I know our moods are under our own control and not the product of our circumstances, but I have to say, some things are just genuinely very annoying.


The irony ? At the end of the evening we were offered a residency. At least I can use the income to finance a set of ER15 earplugs.

[i]It's like rain, on your wedding day[/i]
[i]it's the free ride, when you've already paid[/i]
[i]it's the good advice, that you just can't take[/i]
[i]and who would have thought, it figures[/i]

T

[Low End Bee]

Great gig with the Members on Friday.
No sound man until half an hour in on our set. Not too much of a problem as we'd more or less sorted it out between us beforehand.
We played rather well and had a laugh. The Orange/TC combination sounded great. I let Chris Payne use it and he liked it a lot.
I MC'd the Members in a Kosmo Vinyl style which was fun. They were very good. Especially when Nicky Tesco joined them for the second half of their set.
A very Notting Hill gig with lots of interesting stories that I can't tell...