How was your gig last night?

[Len_derby]

The George and Dragon in Belper with 5 Hills Out. The pub hosts music every week and has a decent in-house pa and a sound man. We played well but the effects of the earlier England Scotland soccer match meant the crowd was a thin by regular standards. We got a slot at the town's food festival next month out of it (as well as payment), so all good

The stage area is fairly generous at The George so I took my Barefaced Big One, with my Genz Benz Shuttle on top. Much air was moved.

[Telebass]

Private party. Was, quite literally, a pissed up in a brewery! Entirely successful gig, likelihood of more bookings gained, and as a trio too!
Downside: car is knackered, so we did the 'real' band thing in a borrowed van. This morning I feel as if run over by a truck!
Another week to get my Merc back...

[6feet7]

You know when everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

Firstly, we were supposed to go on at a charity gig (big country pile, loads of pissed elderly people in a marquee bigger than Buck House) at 10pm (having done a sound check at 4pm having just driven over 200 miles from the south coast to near Stoke). 11.45pm we finally go on (set list cut short and no break in between sets so we could get through it before breakfast). Suddenly my A string goes out of tune, but only when it's fretted. Absolutely fine when played open. So, quick swap to back up bass (which is active). A couple more songs and suddenly the new battery goes dead. OK. Back to first bass with odd tuning on the slightly important A string. I sort of fiddle with the tuning to adapt. Then amp goes dead (luckily going through FOH, so it's not too drastic, but I couldn't hear if I was playing the A string 'right or wrong'. Quick swap over of cables etc to spare amp (sitting on top of other amp - both Markbass heads on top of cabs). Works for a song then stops working. Sound guys come up on stage whilst we are playing and swaps amps and cables again. This keeps cutting in and out again (but I keep on playing just in case FOH is still working and have to look the part anyway). Finally gig comes to an end at 1am. Sound guys worked out it was one of the speakon cables between head and cab. Luckily keys and guitar had seen my issues and had 'boosted' their bass a bit to compensate and I don't think the punters were any the wiser (great playing late to a pissed crowd

Packed up car and drove the 240 miles home, though was so tired I had to pull over at 4.45 in a layby as I was about to fall asleep at the wheel. Home by 5.50am. Woken up by kids arguing a couple of hours later. Oh it's going to be a fun day today

So, for all those people who say they never take a backup. I had two basses, two amp heads and two cabs and it still all went pear shaped. Amps off to be checked tomorrow (though hopefully it was just the cable). I was going to convert the active bass to passive anyway (pickups sitting here waiting) and also I've learnt never to drive from one end of the country to the other when you've already done it one way earlier in the day.

The pay was good though

Just realised. I'd also taken a fan up for the drummer (seeing as he get's all hot and sweaty). He never used it and I left it at the gig. Not doing a 500 mile round trip to get it though

Edited June 12, 2017 by 6feet7

[Woodinblack]

Not a bad gig seeing as I had to do the whole thing sitting down due to a recent knee replacement. I expected the gig to be cancelled but it wasn't, but I did it anyway. It wasn't bad, people seemed to enjoy it a lot. Its a faff not being able to help with the setup and we also forgot the PA so played with the monitors (which worked well).

Having spent 2.5 weeks in the house without being able to go out, it was actually nice to get out. Right now get ready for todays gig!

[leschirons]

Absolutely brilliant. Small private birthday party (about 50 guests) in a huge open sided dirt floor cow shed complete with animal urine channel immediately behind us😂 we played on the concrete milking platform. Much to the displeasure of our hygiene OCD guitarist.

However, despite the singer losing her voice near the end of the first set, it was the best mix ever. She got through the second set by knocking out the screamy stuff from the last set and we went down a storm.

[Graham]

A fun wedding last night, I think this sums it up

[Img]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/Ghost_Upon_The_Stage/20170611_074745_zpsyf01stxt.jpg" class="ipsImage" />

I'm in the beret

Edited June 11, 2017 by Graham

[blue]

When a gig is sh*t, I'll admit it.

Last night we did a boat cruise gig on The Vista King on Lake Michigan. We sold out the cruise at $22.00 a head.

Great weather, dance floor on the upper deck was packed all night.

It's a 2 hour gig we left at 9:00PM and we're back on land at 11:00.

Great pay too.Mire than double our normal fee plus tips and half the hours.

We needed a good show under our belts. We also went through the set list we'll use for the upcoming show with Peter Frampton.

Blue

Edited June 11, 2017 by blue

[NoRhino]

Friday night was a bar/diner in Glasgow. Manager stuck his fingers in his ears during rhythm guitar soundcheck. We feigned interest and turned down. Set volume to normal level when punters were in and had no further complaint.
Saturday was Whistlebinkies in Edinburgh which is always a good one for us.

Edited June 11, 2017 by NoRhino

[cheddatom]

The Sun Inn in Llangollen on Saturday night. I like the pub and it's punters. We've done it a few times before but it seems quite far out of the main town, and it's always been hit and miss for us in the past. We had agreed not to do it again but somehow it made it's way back into the calendar. Apparently it's "on the scene". Well, whatever, we got there and it turned out their soundman had let them down and so the land lady had begged a friend to come and do the sound. He was clearly struggling, didn't know the system at all, took a good hour to get anything close to workable. Anyway, it turned out he saved two scenes on his digital mixer - one for the acoustic warm up act, and one for us. Then the mixer was locked and he went home. The land lady knew how to switch scenes but that was it. When we got on stage I couldn't hear a thing, just mush and (my own) drums. So from the band's POV it was a real struggle and we weren't that great. However, once again the audience were appreciative, complimentary afterwards, bought CDs etc... so like we all know, it doesn't matter if we're crap, as long as we keep it going and try not to let on, they'll love it

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1497200126' post='3316487']
When a gig is sh*t, I'll admit it...
[/quote]

But it sounds like you had a good one Blue?

[Woodinblack]

A bit of an odd one - a football club building. We got there, a brand new but slightly deserted building next to a set of fields, in an area with lots of new houses. Set up in their large empty new echo chamber, the guy said that we were too loud (we are, but that is not changing), so we decided to set up outside instead on the patio area. The guy said that it was an experiment as the place was new and the community hadn't got used to the idea that it was also a community are rather than just a football area, but he was expecting a few people.

Didn't hold out hope for either the weather or the audience, but the sun came out, the audience turned up in droves, and we went down well. At half time he offered us more money to do another few songs at the end so we did. When we did finally finish he was quite drunk and trying to offer us more money to play for even longer, but we were kind of happy to leave by then.
Wouldn't be unhappy to go back there.

[Oopsdabassist]

Hot and Sweaty on Sat night at the culmination of a week of music and stuff (Stony Live http://www.stonylive.info/pages/home/)

The place was rammed, and we had a dep drummer who only had 1 rehearsal with us, he was a total star and seemed to read my mind re endings etc. Totally locked in

Only had the 1 SEL (swivel eyed loon) who was tanked before we started and insisted on dancing RIGHT in front of the singer for most of night, he is quite energetic and spent his evening avoiding her antics, she finally went on her arse and stayed there, totally unable to stand up, for rest of set..was still trying to dance sitting down though!

We ended up doing some extra songs for encores that we hadn't rehearsed with drummer and he STILL manage to nail em...I wanna keep im!!!!

[blue]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1497266373' post='3316855']
The Sun Inn in Llangollen on Saturday night. I like the pub and it's punters. We've done it a few times before but it seems quite far out of the main town, and it's always been hit and miss for us in the past. We had agreed not to do it again but somehow it made it's way back into the calendar. Apparently it's "on the scene". Well, whatever, we got there and it turned out their soundman had let them down and so the land lady had begged a friend to come and do the sound. He was clearly struggling, didn't know the system at all, took a good hour to get anything close to workable. Anyway, it turned out he saved two scenes on his digital mixer - one for the acoustic warm up act, and one for us. Then the mixer was locked and he went home. The land lady knew how to switch scenes but that was it. When we got on stage I couldn't hear a thing, just mush and (my own) drums. So from the band's POV it was a real struggle and we weren't that great. However, once again the audience were appreciative, complimentary afterwards, bought CDs etc... so like we all know, it doesn't matter if we're crap, as long as we keep it going and try not to let on, they'll love it



But it sounds like you had a good one Blue?
[/quote]

One of our best in terms of the crowds response and how many people paid $20.00 a head to see us.

We had been struggling for a few weeks and really needed a good gig under our belts.

Blue

[blue]

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1497266936' post='3316859']
A bit of an odd one - a football club building. We got there, a brand new but slightly deserted building next to a set of fields, in an area with lots of new houses. Set up in their large empty new echo chamber, the guy said that we were too loud (we are, but that is not changing), so we decided to set up outside instead on the patio area. The guy said that it was an experiment as the place was new and the community hadn't got used to the idea that it was also a community are rather than just a football area, but he was expecting a few people.

Didn't hold out hope for either the weather or the audience, but the sun came out, the audience turned up in droves, and we went down well. At half time he offered us more money to do another few songs at the end so we did. When we did finally finish he was quite drunk and trying to offer us more money to play for even longer, but we were kind of happy to leave by then.
Wouldn't be unhappy to go back there.
[/quote]

Cool story. Nice job!

Blue

[cheddatom]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1497290574' post='3317095']
...We had been struggling for a few weeks and really needed a good gig under our belts.

Blue
[/quote]

I know that feeling only too well!

[vsmith1]

Saturday was my first gig with an established band - a 4 piece covers band. So I'd worked over a few weeks to get their set list up to speed. We only had had just a couple of rehearsals, when I find out that some songs I thought were under my belt, turned out they had some different arrangements. One rehearsal was mucking about with the new Behringer X AIR XR18 which after somehow getting the monitor mix into the main mix was sorted.

Anyway, small pub/hotel in Windermere, where they found out that a) the landlord wasn't present they had to set up in a different part of the pub, which was smaller and had a bit of a walkway through it. We set up and got sound checked quickly then started on set 1 at the usual 21:15 after finding out that we had to finish at 23:00! If we'd been told that when we came in we would have started earlier. So it was down to chopping songs out of the set list, a very short break and a reduced set 2. I was glad I'd not taken my second cab, as the parking is tricky as well as the space. Still good to be able to hear myself.
The audience was receptive but small, and the pub wasn't full by any means. But we got some great comments back. I was pretty much on the money except for a couple of fluffs which even my missus hadn't noticed. I only had to resort to notes for the 8 songs in 1 medley!

Onwards and upwards!

[AdamWoodBass]

My new band played a 2 tune guest slot at the Indigo Jazz Jam in Manchester last night. It was our first live appearance and we were really looking forward to road testing the band to a crowd that would "get" us.

We opened with our own arrangement of Actual Proof by Herbie Hancock, it's more of a hiphop groove than the original and instead of following the form it riffs around the Cm for solos. We intended it to be as stanky as possible! Very well recieved and the crowd was bouncing!

We moved quickly onto a similar hiphop based rendition of Billy Cobham's Red Baron, our drummer keeping it dirty with a "sloppy 8's" hi-hat groove. Awesome solo's from everyone including a few other horn players.

Finished the set on a massive high with people cheering, amazing feeling considering this was our first outing as a band. Lost of people coming up to us afterwards wanting to get to know more about the band.

Probably the best jam night I've ever been to to be honest, it was a proper "jam" in that people would just get up an improvise. The house band were incredible, the crowd were super enthusiastic and the beer was excellent! What more can you possibly need? It should be noted that the caliber of musicianship there makes it practically criminal that you can see this for free too, even if you don't get up to play it would definitely be worth going down just to watch!

All in all, an awesome night!

[Graham]

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1497522480' post='3318815']
My new band played a 2 tune guest slot at the Indigo Jazz Jam in Manchester last night. It was our first live appearance and we were really looking forward to road testing the band to a crowd that would "get" us.

We opened with our own arrangement of Actual Proof by Herbie Hancock, it's more of a hiphop groove than the original and instead of following the form it riffs around the Cm for solos. We intended it to be as stanky as possible! Very well recieved and the crowd was bouncing!

We moved quickly onto a similar hiphop based rendition of Billy Cobham's Red Baron, our drummer keeping it dirty with a "sloppy 8's" hi-hat groove. Awesome solo's from everyone including a few other horn players.

Finished the set on a massive high with people cheering, amazing feeling considering this was our first outing as a band. Lost of people coming up to us afterwards wanting to get to know more about the band.

Probably the best jam night I've ever been to to be honest, it was a proper "jam" in that people would just get up an improvise. The house band were incredible, the crowd were super enthusiastic and the beer was excellent! What more can you possibly need? It should be noted that the caliber of musicianship there makes it practically criminal that you can see this for free too, even if you don't get up to play it would definitely be worth going down just to watch!

All in all, an awesome night!
[/quote]

That sounds fantastic

[AdamWoodBass]

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1497526222' post='3318852']
That sounds fantastic
[/quote]

It really was mate, as a first outing for the band goes it couldn't have been better!

[BrunoBass]

We did an early gig tonight, 7-8pm at a private function, a summer party for a local business.

The room was like an oven, and there was a barbecue and bar outside. No prizes for guessing where nearly everybody was for the duration of our set... Everyone came in for the first song (70-80 people?) but soon we were playing to six people, two of whom were toddlers.

Oh well, it was a good payer, and I was home by 9 for a Chinese and a few cold ones.

[FinnDave]

Same for us in Witney this evening, plenty of people there but all sitting out in the garden listening, we were sweating buckets playing to an almost empty pub. Still, it went well, we enjoyed outsides, got paid and rebooked, so all OK.

[barneyg42]

We're a female lead classic rock covers band and I've just got in from my first gig since the 1st of April. Just after that one I had major surgery which has curtailed any thoughts of playing at all until tonight. So I needed a bit of a hand getting my gear in (not allowed to lift anything too heavy as my sternum was cracked open in the op) and I was on my stool for a fair bit of the night but had a rocking good time. We had our original drummer for the night (regular on holiday) so it was a good reunion night. The dep we had for me was there and came up for one and now wants to join the darkside (headless Status). All in all a cracking night, so many friends turned up as it was my first one back, looking forward to next Saturday's gig already!! The stamina will build up slowly so I hope to be back to some semblance of fitness by August when our schedule goes mental!

[lurksalot]

We played to the '4 blokes and dog' crowd , we played well enough to get re-booked but there were a couple of right clangers that we'll need to address .
Best part of the night was when the the 4 blokes were chasing the dog around the pub , apparently the cue ball fell off the pool table and the dog took it , priceless

[Les]

Nice pub, nice people and I'm well impressed with my new VM Jazz on it's first outing.

Ruined slightly by the lack of kebab shops in Stockport.

[bassace]

We did a freebie yesterday for Party in the Park at Adderbury in the acoustic tent. I was tuning my double bass when the sound guy came over and said 'I just want to hear how it sounds before I mix it'. Well that's a first for me, so a big shout for soundman Andy.

PS, the mix was excellent.

[Telebass]

Friday night at Callington Social Club. Thought it was going to be a bit empty, but by the time we got going, we had a proper crowd, and a good gig! Well paid, and a re-book, so all-round good gig. Last tw gigs I've had to beg a lift due to car problems. That's now fixed, so I can go back to wafting myself around.