Jacqueslemac Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We played a black tie dinner last night. When we sound-checked, the organiser asked us if we had to be "all Spinal Tap, turned up to 11". The place has a sound-limiter so we were playing quieter than we rehearse, so it put us all in a bad mood. Then we had to vanish for three hours while they had their meal. Most of the time was taken up in driving back to our rehearsal space to collect a stand the drummer had forgotten. She drove really badly, made a couple of mistakes, got overtaken by two emergency vehicles (at different times), which really rattled her as she's only 20. The result was we all sat in the pub wishing we could go home instead of gig. As a last desperate measure we put 500 Miles by the Proclaimers on in the car on the way to the venue. All singing along at the tops of our voices put us in a better frame of mind. The dinner was running late, so we went on a little late. None of us started off very well, but as soon as people started dancing, it lifts your spirits, doesn't it? By the end of the second set we had the dance floor packed. The sound limiter kicked in on our last song, but the crowd carried on singing until the power came back on. When the venue told us to stop playing, the crowd still wanted more. Amazing how gigs often turn out completely the opposite of what you expect, isn't it? And we got another booking. Next step is to develop two set lists - one for pubs and one for getting people to dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) [b]Sue Ryder Bass In Prestigious Gig Shock![/b] Played at the Excellence In Marketing Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane. Event was hosted by Rory Bremner, who was on top form, and introduced the band, which was nice. We went on at 11pm, did 45 mins, had a quick break then another set of 1 hour. Our dressing room suite had [i]chandeliers [/i]in it, ffs! We got fed and watered as well, which was a bonus. There were 90 tables, 10 punters at each table... quite a lot of booze went down! I had a few qualms considering how our rehearsals have been going, but everyone got their fingers out and we played really well. The sound was great, and the dance floor was packed for both sets. Got asked for a [i]lot [/i]of business cards afterwards and the gig generated loads of positive feedback, so I'm hoping we'll get more work on the strength of it. Got paid, too! What more d'you want? And... my custom P is yet to arrive, so I did the gig with my Sue Ryder bass! No-one said anything... here's some rubbish pics I took of the room before everyone arrived. Apologies for the quality, my BB camera is really very crappy. Our stage is at the far end of the room in the tables pic. The presentations took place on the stage at the right. The FOH crew handled our lights and did a great job. The dance floor was laid for the night and removed after the gig. The whole place is very professionally run and the staff there are really friendly and helpful. Can you imagine it? There were some pics taken of us in action, so I'll post a few when I get hold of 'em. Edited February 25, 2012 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueslemac Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Yep, top place. I attended an awards dinner there, hosted by Bob Monkhouse (and Ronnie Corbett the following year). I had to go on stage both years to collect an award, so met both of them. It's a bit daunting just to be up there for 30 seconds, so well done for performing too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Jacqueslemac' timestamp='1330190900' post='1553982'] ...It's a bit daunting just to be up there for 30 seconds, so well done for performing too! [/quote] Thanks very much! I stand behind our backing singers who tend to get a lot more attention than I do! Edited February 25, 2012 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Just got back from my first gig with my new band and it went quite well I'm pleased to say! Room was a cube with a tile-imitation floor so was very reverb-y so we sounded pretty awful, but once the dance floor filled up a little we could hear ourselves better and settled down and really grooved through our covers! This was also the first love outing for my Blazer and PF500. Didnt take the Eagle because I've not been able to practise with it enough to feel proper comfy with it yet. Next gig's a month away so hopefully I can use it then! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Regular gig tonight at one of our local residencies. There were three sets of couples checking us out for their weddings! How i didn't drop more notes when 3 girls, all tall blonde wearing next to nothing started kissing and girating in front of me is another matter . Gonna be difficult to sleep tonight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 End of two nights, and it was hard work as it ran to[list] [*]two one hour(ish) sets with the classic rock band - and some moaning on my part re fighting to be heard in the melee (see elsewhere) home and in bed around 1 am; folloed by [*]back up at 8 am to get to a four hour rehearsal with the prog band [*]haircut, end of the England game, iron the Sh1teShirt and back out to last nights (Saturday) gig [*]which with encores ran to over three hours. [/list] Cramped up in the second set last night. Drank 4 x 500ml orange isotonic type drinks during the main sets and around 6 or 7 pints of coke, three just in the encores rying to rehydrate & stop cramping in my fretting hand. Tonight the GB STM 6 was just barely on and eq'd Bass rolled off to around 9 o'clock, treble backed off to 11 o'clock, and mids set @ 600Hz and at around 2-3 o'clock just to try to punch through. Others (guitars & drums), and sound guy, happy enough, but as far as I was concerned most of the time the bass was only barely there for me and (I trust) was coming through better FOH in the PA. Audience probably cared less and were all enjoying themselves and joining in, but for me I am having to compromise to a middly, and frankly fizzy & sh1te sound (IMO) to accommodate for others who will not GIT OOOORF MOI FREQUENZEEES . I just don't feel that the bass is giving the rythm section drive that the songs need. Still perhaps I just a deaf old fecker who needs to invest in an 8 ohm cab the will lower the amps nominal output and allow me to get past master a micrometre past completely off. Ah well lets see me proved wrong when I listen to the recordings. Still the gigs went really well - other than my bas centred gripes. I shall, however, be p155ing like a horse most of the night bearing in mind my fluid ontake during the evening, despite being a regular sweaty betty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.i.stein Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 (edited) gigged in Brighton on Friday and Bournemouth on Saturday, supporting the Sub-Humans (great fellas !) Saturday was a revelation for me, as the larger than normal stage allowed me to place my Barefaced cabs directly [b]against the back wall of the room[/b]. this seemingly minor move made the onstage sound massively different . it felt like the PA was behind me rather than in front, and my onstage sound was crystal clear. i will endeavour to do this whenever i get the chance from now on. TRY IT !!! Edited February 26, 2012 by phil.i.stein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Played at a charity ball in a marquee in this nice country house. Very good effort by the organisers and a lot of money raised. TOP TOP totty in ballgowns (can't recall a gig with so many really attractive women at the same time ) but I can't say we were that great after more than a few weeks off. No time to sound check as we got there at the required time but they let the guests in too early and after the burlesque show, it was all too much of a rush. I think it was a very good effort all round though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Played a private 30th Birthday Party last night, with The Tuesday Club. We were politely received, as in, the audience were there for the party, and not the music. Played ok, but we`d not actually rehearsed for a while, as we`d been concentrating on our latest recording session. No point in getting disheartened though - there was recorded music being played at the venue as well, and no-one was up dancing to that either, they preferred to concentrate on the free hog-roast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftyhook Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Good'n'. Though Barnsley clubs like their rock, we were reasonably received .songs verdict by a Barnsley friend: "50% were alreeet, 25% were goood, 25% were chuffin' crap" (the latter referring to Lady GA Ga, Any Winehouse types) I think the tallest girl in Barnsely was dancing in front of me. Looked like she was wearing stilts. Oh, clubland! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Opened for GBH and The Vile last night. Took all our gear (see Bad Amp Share thread) and walked through the door to see they had brought all their own stuff. Then I spotted the GBH bassist was using a tiny Marshall combo that was being pushed to the max and sounded awful. So I was glad I'd taken my old rig (old Peavey head and Laney 4x10). We played our 35 minute set in 25 mins, thanks to the drummer going into gig speed mode! But we had to do a couple of encores, which was a surprise, so we played couple of songs we haven't rehearsed for about 3 months. They went well, the sound guy signalled we'd come to the end of our slot and people were still shouting for more. As I was packing up a guy from the crowd came and had a chat, said we were pretty awesome and he liked my beard . The drummer from GBH actually watched us, the rest of them and The Vile hid upstairs until they played, he also really liked us and told me I was "an exceptional bassist"... I think I replied with "erm... ok... er ta." The Vile were actually pretty good and GBH played a blinder of a set. We talked to a few punk promoters and members of other local, and not so local, bands... All in all a top night!! Oh, and the green DR strings glowed nicely under the UV light that was on and they drew a few comments... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1330191722' post='1553998'] Thanks very much! I stand behind our backing singers who tend to get a lot more attention than I do! [/quote] Understandable, .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftyhook Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 [b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]quote:Oh, and the green DR strings glowed nicely under the UV light that was on and they drew a few comments...[/font][/color][/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Yeah, but was it worth it if you could see white fluff on your black jacket under the UV? [/font][/color] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]well done 'exceptional bassist'! Sometimes you could have 20 fingers and it's the effects-laiden guitarist who gets the plaudits.[/color][/font] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]ha.... I remember the guitarist in my band doing "Eruption" and his effects were playing up. result: Dry signal made him sound like George Formby getting angry with his banjo. Loved it![/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 [quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1330257368' post='1554626'] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]...Dry signal made him sound like George Formby getting angry with his banjo. Loved it![/font][/color] [/quote] Brilliant. Reminds me of Bill Bailey's 'Catastrophic technical failure at a U2 gig'... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Go2DK9VtQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Go2DK9VtQ[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftyhook Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 [b]quote: [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]. Reminds me of Bill Bailey's 'Catastrophic technical failure at a U2 gig'...[/font][/color][/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]haha! Soooooo true!! Guitarists! And of course if I bring a pedal along, "er....nah, don't use that it might steal my limeli....er......too difficult to get right in the mx"[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]****!![/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 [quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1330257368' post='1554626'] [b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]quote:Oh, and the green DR strings glowed nicely under the UV light that was on and they drew a few comments...[/font][/color][/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Yeah, but was it worth it if you could see white fluff on your black jacket under the UV? [/font][/color] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]well done 'exceptional bassist'! Sometimes you could have 20 fingers and it's the effects-laiden guitarist who gets the plaudits.[/color][/font] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]ha.... I remember the guitarist in my band doing "Eruption" and his effects were playing up. result: Dry signal made him sound like George Formby getting angry with his banjo. Loved it![/font][/color] [/quote] Fortunately there were other lights so fluff was subdued.. I was kind of surprised by the compliment. I guess he's used to old punk root note plonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 (edited) Oops Edited February 26, 2012 by bartelby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 My first gig for 9 months last night after my old band ground to a halt last year and I'm so happy to be playing live again. I had two rehearsals with my new band and 3 weeks to learn the set and it all went really well, a few mistakes but no disasters. We did a few old disco tunes , Le Freak, Good Times, Lost In Music which were great fun to play and went down really well with the audience. And I get to do it all again tonight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Good gig last night and great crowd..but after our xmas lay-off..3 gigs since, I feel, as a band and individually, we are a tad off the pace atm. Not that anyone would really notice but I know it, for sure. Some hard yards to put in before the all important summer season, but we have enough time to go through the gears as we don't get out of second or third at mo. Still, no complacency is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 (edited) Confused....... Bemused....... Gobsmacked. Words to describe a fairly big gig we played at last night. Venue was the Watford Colosseum, 1200 tickets were sold for the event. Cart Wash night/70's 80's disco theme. Well we played first set at around 10pm..... DJ continued on..... then informed that we were not to play a second set. No explanation other than they felt that the band wasn't fitting with the theme of the event???? Apparently the management seems to think our set list wasn't in keeping with the disco theme.... Is it just me or are we barking up the wrong tree with these songs? [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][color=black][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][color=black]Superfly Turn on Tune In Cop Out Play That Funky Music House Party Ladies Nite DJ Saved My Wife Groove is in the Heart Little L Cosmic Girl Bad Girls Starsky & Hutch That's the Way I Like It Get Down Tonight Get Down On It Move On Up You Sexy Thing Superstitious Disco Inferno Mighty Real Car Wash You Should be Dancing Long Train Running (Moves Like Jagger?) Cold Sweat Sex Machine Sing It Back I Wish[/color][/size][/font][/color][/size][/font] Odd seeing as we are a disco covers band. Management of the venue were more than unhelpful. Dj then continued to play the Jam, Wham, Dexy's midnight runners, etc...... it was like walking into a giant Chicago's pub. Any thoughts? Bemused Essex. Edited March 3, 2012 by crez5150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 (edited) I think that's the same place we played a few years ago. It was the opening night of a club night, put on my an Indian guy IIR. Huge Indian buffet, loads of staff and no more than 10 guests in the place, and 4 of thoese we winners of a local radio station competition so they didnt pay. Worst run gig I've even been to. To make matter worse the door staff were turning people, away by the end of the night as I think everyone had had enough and was going home. On the upside it turned out the sound guy (Mick) was an old friend of my drummers dad, and a few months later got us out of the poo when our PA speakers sacked up at a wedding. Oh, and your set list looks perfect for the type of night it was supposed to be. Edited March 3, 2012 by dave_bass5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 [quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1330782361' post='1562930'] Confused....... Bemused....... Gobsmacked. Words to describe a fairly big gig we played at last night. Venue was the Watford Colosseum, 1200 tickets were sold for the event. Cart Wash night/70's 80's disco theme. Well we played first set at around 10pm..... DJ continued on..... then informed that we were not to play a second set. No explanation other than they felt that the band wasn't fitting with the theme of the event???? Apparently the management seems to think our set list wasn't in keeping with the disco theme.... Is it just me or are we barking up the wrong tree with these songs? [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][color=black][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][color=black]Superfly Turn on Tune In Cop Out Play That Funky Music House Party Ladies Nite DJ Saved My Wife Groove is in the Heart Little L Cosmic Girl Bad Girls Starsky & Hutch That's the Way I Like It Get Down Tonight Get Down On It Move On Up You Sexy Thing Superstitious Disco Inferno Mighty Real Car Wash You Should be Dancing Long Train Running (Moves Like Jagger?) Cold Sweat Sex Machine Sing It Back I Wish[/color][/size][/font][/color][/size][/font] Odd seeing as we are a disco covers band. Management of the venue were more than unhelpful. Dj then continued to play the Jam, Wham, Dexy's midnight runners, etc...... it was like walking into a giant Chicago's pub. Any thoughts? Bemused Essex. [/quote] Don't get that brief at all...you played a 80's disco set for a Car Wash gig and they deemed that unfitting..?? Sounds crazy to me...and sounds like a lot more behind the scenes. If you had them all dancing and you still go bumped, I'd say there was something else going on. Who didn't perform to the brief..you or the disco..?? sounds like the latter to me. If it were me, I wouldn't give a stuff and would have been glad to be let off the second set, but I assume you would need this gig and this promoter/venue to not want to 'fail/bomb' or however you might percieve it. Move on and survey what damage there may be when you get the fall-out..or not..from this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 (edited) [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1330787404' post='1563019'] Don't get that brief at all...you played a 80's disco set for a Car Wash gig and they deemed that unfitting..?? Sounds crazy to me...and sounds like a lot more behind the scenes. If you had them all dancing and you still go bumped, I'd say there was something else going on. Who didn't perform to the brief..you or the disco..?? sounds like the latter to me. If it were me, I wouldn't give a stuff and would have been glad to be let off the second set, but I assume you would need this gig and this promoter/venue to not want to 'fail/bomb' or however you might percieve it. Move on and survey what damage there may be when you get the fall-out..or not..from this. [/quote] You are absolutely correct JTUK and that is how we are handling it. The problem is that the night was a sell out, over 1200 tickets in the end. We publicised it well too on our social media sites and had a lot of people drive from all over the country for the gig, booking hotels etc..... and we couldn't even give them what they paid for. All very disheartening. Edited March 3, 2012 by crez5150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Understand about the fan bass issues ..and you are left to pick up those pieces. In that case, you might want to get an explaination from the venue/management behind the decision and explain your concerns about your people/fans turning out and being stiffed but I would also think you aren't going to get the real reason. I doubt you will want to blow the venue/promoter responsible out ..not cutting your nose off to spit your face etc... but I wouldn't be selling their tickets anymore after that. I would take the cast-iron contracted fee and let them be responsible for the strokes they pull. In the meantime you still have to make good the mess with your fan base. You can only aplogise and try and amends but I wouldn't be treated like that again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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