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How was your gig last night?


bassninja

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The New Cross Inn on Saturday - we don't get down to London very often. This was about 4.5 hours drive down for a 30 minute set. I think there were about 3 people there who actually came to see us, and the rest were there to enjoy the rather heavy punk played by the other 5 bands. Once again I'm baffled - half our songs are on acoustic guitar, half of them are fairly down tempo, and they all have folk inspired melodies, and yet we went down really well with all these hard noise loving punks! Can't complain :)

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1509458110' post='3399061']
Anytime I've played in a multi band, short turnaround situation, the back line is provided (often by the 'main' band, sometimes by the organisers) and the drummer only needs breakables s the rest of the kit is in place and ready mic'd. For me, setting up means plugging my bass into the amp and I'm ready to go, leaving the stage means simply put amp on mute, unplug the lead and walk off. More like 15 seconds than 15 minutes!
[/quote]

I'm on drums to be fair. I have to take the nuts off the stands, put the cymbals on, put the nuts back on, get the snare at the right height, put my pint down somewhere it won't spill etc. Then there's the guitarist who has to tune two guitars and put them on stands... maybe I'll start a thread to see who's the fastest to set up :)

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We got asked to play at Salisbury's big fireworks do on Saturday. No money offered (apart from expenses) but we agreed to do it as a promotional opportunity apart from our keyboard player who flatly refuses to get out his Rolands for less than £200!
It was only for 30 mins anyway so we got a mate of the drummer in to dep. He had to drive from devizes for 3 rehearsals and the gig, bless him, so we paid him out of expenses (sounds daft but we now have a keys dep in reserve).
Also we had flyers printed and 2 banners for the side of the stage, drummer's wife and daughter handing out flyers while we played. A good opportunity to get our name out there as about 3000 punters turn up to watch the fireworks.
We had to share the bill with a band called Total Recall who were great, let us use their gear (they headlined). Apart from both drummers wanting their own kit on stage which caused a bit of a squeeze. The stage btw is a lorry trailer so just long and thin.
Showtime was good, we were all suited and booted and the first 3 tunes are segued together, very slick! Another half a dozen cheesy tunes and it was all over! Back to the dressing room for m&s sandwiches and beer, pat each other on the back and get back into civvies to watch the other band.
The fireworks were pretty good but I was loading me car at that point.
Back home by ten past eight for the sh!tstorm called getting the kids to bed!
Hopefully we'll get asked back for next year.

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A great Think Lizzy gig on Saturday at The Lion in Basford, Nottingham.  We've played there a few times now and we were complimented by the manager about how professional we were and what a great sound we had.  The crowd were well up for an evening of Thin Lizzy classics from the word go which made the gig an easy one.

I told the guys that I will be leaving TL at some point in the next few months due to increasing work commitments in 2018 but there's no animosity between any of us, just a simple fact of life that means I have to part ways with the rest of the guys.  In some ways it galvanised us - we had one of our best performances ever!

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We were back in Melksham last night, unusual gig in that it starts at ten forty five and finishes at one in the morning. Then there's the break down and load out..so at two AM I'm tired and nearly 60 miles from home. But at least the roads are quiet at that time of the night, rolled into bed at 4 AM this morning.

Despite the hours and distance, I rate it a a good gig because they get such a good audience in there, including quite a few who saw us at our first time there in August. We'll go back when asked!

I was using US Standard Precison (my 2012 white/rosewood/tort one). Ashdown Rootmaster 800 and Barefaced Super Compact - a small, light and powerful combination, ideal for the pubs we play in.

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Played a small local pub last night , a lovely little pub which has had a bit of money spent on it and it looks nice. The stage area filled at least 30% of the room ! And we played to 19 people and a dog , we brought all bar the dog :) 

an enjoyable evening , though it does amaze me that the landlord was in the bar playing pool and having a drink with the 3 others in there while paying for 2 bar staff all evening , I don't get that !

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Great gig last night, actually the last 2 have been super hot bar gigs.

 

Last night, well we must be doing something right. I stopped in and played a set at an open mic with Johnny T Bird at 2:00pm and  I mentioned to another bass player I was playing the Filmore that night. He said his band played there last weekend and there were only 6 people there.

I arrived at load in at 7:00 and I couldn't even find a parking spot. We packed the place.

Again it's all about marketing and having a known and we'll liked front person.

FB_IMG_1499655496662.jpg

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Not last night, but last week, just looking at the video now, it was a charity Gig for Parkinsons Society in Newquay Cornwall, we a great laugh and the locals were wonderfully friendly. My Barefaced 2x10 held its head high against 2 Marshall wielding guitarists!!

 

Ok some of the songs were a bit cheesy,  note the looks between the drummer and the guitarist, but we had  an excellent night!

 

 

 

Edited by Oopsdabassist
hmm rats! video won't load, ok try again tomorra!
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Cracking night at the maze in Nottingham, multi band gig called farstock. Played a good tight set and saw some cracking bands and solo acts to boot. 

did learn one lesson tho, never stand behind the fiddle player, he nearly took my eye out with his bow during the intro and then had another two goes during the set, luckily my glasses saved me... Old age has it's bonuses :) 

 

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7 hours ago, Mudpup said:

One of our favourite venues and a cracking night!

Filmed from a GoPro stuck on my headstock but it catches the atmosphere nicely

Have a look from about 2.00 mins in

 

Now this looks like a hot gig.

The clip captures excitement and fun for all.

Your band sounds fantastic great musicianship and chemistry.And I don't throw words around like  fantastic very often.

Most of the time I'd say; " Ok, another marginal. rendition of " Sweet Home Alabama"  But you guys were fully committed to the song and rocked the hell out of it. 

Andfor the cover haters there is nothing easy about what Mudpups band did with the song. No matter what you say it's not a paint by numbers proposition when you do a top notch job with any cover.

Blue

Edited by Bluewine
Correction
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My covers gig last night at a large chain pub illustrates quite well the ups and downs of these jobs.

On the plus side, a decent payer, and in-house PA provided, so less humping of kit required. On the minus side, the DJ in charge of the PA would have had difficulty distinguishing his anus from his arm joint.

The place got very busy during our second set (11 to midnight) as tanked-up punters piled in from other pubs. While I was playing, a bloke at the side of the stage area attracted my attention and asked whether we did any Take That. My head-shake (remember we are still playing) failed to dissuade him from his learned discourse on Take That, none of which I caught, courtesy of my ear plugs. A few minutes later, the same bloke decided to join us on stage, but a smart poke in the kidneys with the headstock of my Precision convinced him to step down. A little later he was back again, so this time I lodged the headstock between his buttocks and pushed hard, much to the amusement of his mates. Thankfully this got rid of him, but it was only a matter of time before an inebriated 'lady' fell into my mic stand, splashing the remains of my diet coke (in mic-stand-mounted holder) all over my tuner pedal. And so on and so forth...

Afterwards we faced the usual challenge of manoeuvring our kit through a crowd packed shoulder to shoulder, and very much the worse for wear.

Fun gig though.

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On 11/5/2017 at 18:16, peteb said:

Saturday night gig at the Lion, a biker's bar on the Cas Vegas strip (locals will know where I mean).

The sixth gig with the new singer and it is starting to gel now. He has had a lot of new material to learn with very little rehearsal, but you can see he is starting to feel more comfortable now and it is starting to come together. Great crowd helped make it a great gig,the best so far with the new lineup.

Hi Pete,

I didn't know you did biker bar gigs.

Always nice to hear about those of us down in the trenches.

Daryl

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Saturday night in  a bar in Stirling , normally it's a pretty good night and it was to a certain extent. Our guitarist thought it was awesome , singer/guitarist got pissed off when someone got a bit over enthusiastic  , fell into him, knocking over mic stand & bashing mic into his teeth. Sometimes chairs are placed to separate the band from the " crowd" to avoid that kind of thing

 

I was in the far corner and had plenty of space , close to the bar. However, I found myself getting annoyed that people standing at that end of the bar , about 3-4 feet away stood with their backs to me the whole night.. diva moment perhaps?o.O I just kept thinking how rude they were & that if the weren't intersted in watching  the band or me busting my move(s) .. they should've occupied another area of the bar.

I'm actually surprised how much it got to me tbh. Of course once we'd finished  a couple of the guys were  complimenting us " Best flipin' band in Scotland pal!" etc & asked if we needed any help  with our gear . 

20171118_225806_resized.jpg

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Played on Thursday with In Isolation at the Tap n Tumbler in Nottingham. We were supposed to be supporting Rodney Bakerr (legendary Chicago house music pioneer) in his Strange Circuits guise, but it turned out that the promoter wanted us to "headline". We were a little bit worried that most of the audience would leave after Mr Bakerr had done his thing, but luckily that wasn't the case at all, and we ended up with a decent sized and very enthusiastic audience. Rodney Bakerr was excellent too - like Gil Scott-Heron being backed by The Normal.

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Edit: found a photo of Rodney Bakerr from this gig:

38449263762_819256a424_b.jpg

Edited by BigRedX
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A bonus gig last , I got a tag in a FB post by a mate for a pub that had a band cancel  for the Friday , I contacted the band got availability and booked it ! Proper price, 2hrs playing and a great step into a pub/town we've been trying for a while , we had a dozen came to see us and a promise of three gigs next year.

we had them bouncing by the end of the night, our sound was great and we played really well.

a right result ?

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First gig with new band. Haven't gigged for about 3 years since our twin daughters were born. My goodness what a fabulous night, I love gigging and have really missed it. Fun, fun, fun.

This new band are really very technically competent and they are a blast to be with too. They are going to push me and that is something I need and want.

So yeah, a good gig ?

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Great gig. It was a Beaujolais nouveau night with food. Wasn't expecting much tbh as the food element usually dictates that people are sitting / timing etc. However, crowd of 150 oldies like me, seriously up for it. They even made us do Highway to hell in memory of Malcolm as a last number?

Great night, and good money and food (Beaujolais decidedly average though)

Edited by leschirons
Spelling error.
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Last gig of our 2017 tour dates, at Cannock Theatre. Really cold to begin with, but

sell out crowd were very welcoming and enthusiastic, and our tech guys did their best to distract

us after finding various props. A fun night, and a good one to end on.

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Last gig of the year for the Wirebirds last night. Fittingly, it was in the same place that we played out 2016 and welcomed in 2017. Our guitarist is heading back to St Helena in a few days, returning mid January. Definitely a good way to end the year, if a little early. Pub was well filled, we celebrated a good friend's 60th (he is sleeping on my sofa downstairs as I type this!) and generally had a good time. Played two sets, first was about 50 mins, second was nearly two hours. Introduced a new song to the set that we had never played before, as in never rehearsed, nothing, just went for it cold in the second set and it went down well. 

I'll need to find something else to keep me out of trouble for the next six weeks now though!

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Debut gig for new funky rock band, 16 Choke Start, at Knighton Community Centre in Powys with Some Weird Sin on 1st, then us, then Hereford rockers Wolfcryer.

Shame there was only 40 or so people there, but despite the drummer and guitarist being unable to hear much of the bass it went very well; we played a bit fast, but no major pinktorpedo-ups. And afterwards met a veteran free-jazz drummer (ex Evan Parker and the like) who was interested in doing a rock project with us - who knows what the rest of the band will think of that as an idea!

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