How was your gig last night?

[Woodinblack]

Playing at a venue we play at often in our home town (a cancellation - we seem to be top of the cancellation list!) and it was excellent, heaving from the start, which is unusual, we are used to the first half being a warmup to the second, but it was really busy and people were dancing.

Messed up a few things due to the first time I used a 6 string bass (which I got this week), and a few other things that I didn't have an excuse for.

Don't know if it is just a combination of things, but the last 2 nights in that pub have been heaving, where it used to be mostly empty and just used for people to drink before moving on. Either way, not complaining.

[sonsman]

First experience of a decibel limiter last night at a wedding gig.

We've played the venue before but over the winter they've added an extra barn with a nice stage area, dodgy acoustics and the decibel limiter. We're a six piece with a fairly loud drummer and inevitably set the limiter off during the sound check. We rolled everything back,  programmed the drummer to play as lightly as possible and got through the gig with no interruptions. What was strange was that the limiter particularly did not seem to like me playing a 'C'. As several of our songs are in C that made in a bit tricky. Anyone else had a similar experience? 

[Woodinblack]

Just now, sonsman said:

Anyone else had a similar experience? 

The only place I have played that had a volume limiter had an extension lead running around the bar, as the volume limiter was a non starter for any amplified band. Apparently went off with acoustic acts they had on Sundays too.

[sonsman]

We did try plugging in to sockets off stage but didn't make any difference.

Incidentally Woodinblack, if you are in 'Bottom of Somerset', the venue was just outside Cullompton so not far from you I guess. 

[Oopsdabassist]

21 minutes ago, sonsman said:

First experience of a decibel limiter last night at a wedding gig.

 What was strange was that the limiter particularly did not seem to like me playing a 'C'. As several of our songs are in C that made in a bit tricky. Anyone else had a similar experience? 

The acoustic of one place we play really doesn't like me hitting 'G' on the E string....yup they have a limiter there too...luckily we plug everything into another socket, not the one marked 'for bands use only'

[RandomBass]

1 hour ago, Kev said:

Played a great gig at scruffy murphys in Birmingham last night, we seemed to go down well despite not being too well known outside of Coventry, great atmosphere and sound and I had a blast, bloody warm though...

Great stage stance you have there sir.

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, sonsman said:

We did try plugging in to sockets off stage but didn't make any difference.

Incidentally Woodinblack, if you are in 'Bottom of Somerset', the venue was just outside Cullompton so not far from you I guess. 

About 40 miles. Did a wedding over near that way some time ago, but nothing in the small towns.

It would be pointless my current group doing anything in a place with a limiter, in fact if someone contacted us and said they had one, I wouldn't take the booking.

[Rich]

Saturday night was my 4th gig with the ska band. Best yet  good crowd up and dancing from the 'n' of the first note, the band were on fine form and a terrific laugh was had by all. I'm barely having to refer to my notes at all now, in a couple of gigs' time I'll be able to abandon them altogether.

Evening only tempered by the fact that by the time I got home, my favourite kebab emporium was closed   damn shame, I was in the mood for one of their amazing chicken/doner combos.

[Number6]

Played the Amersham Arms last night in New Cross. I shared my bass combo with the other bands, a TC Electronic BG208.....i used this as i had to travel to the venue on public transport and was a little concerned it would be way under powered. Well i needn't have worried! Volume at 3/4s was ideal, even with two bands playing loud punk! Around 45 people out to see 4 bands which enabled the promoter to give each band a bit of expenses at least. Really good sound there too. 

[dontregartha]

On 11/03/2018 at 18:33, RandomBass said:

Great stage stance you have there sir.

And I love the 13amp pedal board

[dontregartha]

On 10/03/2018 at 10:13, leschirons said:

New venue last night. None of us had ever been before so didn't know what to expect. Turns out the owner insists on filming 30 seconds of your sound check, then puts it on Facebook to advertise that evening's entertainment. A little risky I'd say😂

Anyway,  smashed it and went down a storm to the point where we think he's now cancelled someone else's gig and given the date to us. Not very nice for the other band but we'd be daft to say no. 

Social media is v.important - next gig - if the owner doesn't do it - you do it!

[dontregartha]

On 11/03/2018 at 18:04, Oopsdabassist said:

The acoustic of one place we play really doesn't like me hitting 'G' on the E string....yup they have a limiter there too...luckily we plug everything into another socket, not the one marked 'for bands use only'

Unfortunately its the bass that sets those bloody things off. We turned up at a place recently which had the tell tale box on the wall. I was about to kick up a fuss with the management and it turned out THEY had bypassed the power for the band! - Happy days.

[leschirons]

15 minutes ago, dontregartha said:

Social media is v.important - next gig - if the owner doesn't do it - you do it!

Understand your point but when I said "risky" I was referring to the venue. They don't audition bands and had no idea exactly what they were getting. They could've hired a really terrible band. In addition, by definition, a sound check is performed to sort out and eliminate any sound and balance problems so, it's unlikely to be the best performance of the night.

[FinnDave]

Just back from a fairly unpleasant drive back from the far side of Swindon in surprisingly heavy snow. Gig wasn't one of our best, on balance I'd have been better off staying at home in front of the fire!

[Rich]

Gig with the ska band tonight, just got home after a horrid drive through the falling snow. Towards the end of the second set, a rather sozzled punter asked if we played any 'old skool ska'. We pointed out that we'd just played well over an hour of it. She then asked if we do any Stereophonics songs. *rolls eyes* 

Melksham. 'nuff said.

[BreadBin]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

Melksham. 'nuff said.

Scene of Gary Glitter's first gig, allegedly! 

[FinnDave]

6 hours ago, Rich said:

Gig with the ska band tonight, just got home after a horrid drive through the falling snow. Towards the end of the second set, a rather sozzled punter asked if we played any 'old skool ska'. We pointed out that we'd just played well over an hour of it. She then asked if we do any Stereophonics songs. *rolls eyes* 

Melksham. 'nuff said.

I've played a few times in Melksham, it's an 'interesting' place! Where were you? I think I played the most fraught gig of my life in Melksham last year!

[leschirons]

Played at an Irish pub/restarant last night for a St Patrick's do. Not sure why they booked tbh as the nearest we get to Irish music is Pride by U2

However, packed house and all up dancing till the end of the encores. Great night though apart from guitarist faffing around with the 17 pedals on his board and the OCD tuning every 30 seconds.

 

[lurksalot]

A bit of annoyance last night though a great gig . 

We were booked to play a little community pub which is a great, if intimate, venue. 

Catching the feed on FB shows it's going to be a well attended gig , well, considering it turned out to be a 50th party it was always going to be 

The doors were still open to anyone so it wasn't  a private party as such, but it does feel like we've had our hats nailed on.

still, we played our std pub set and didn't embellish it too much with party stuff , and it went down great with a recall for July , I don't know whose party that will be for 

 

[Rich]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

I've played a few times in Melksham, it's an 'interesting' place! Where were you? I think I played the most fraught gig of my life in Melksham last year!

Yes, I've played quite a few in Melksham too. Last night was the Forester's Arms, it was rowdy but ok. At least they danced  i've also played at the Pg & Whistle, which is snug but nice, and The Pilot which is a ghastly s***hole upon which I would not pee if it was on fire. Where was your fraught experience?

[FinnDave]

8 minutes ago, Rich said:

Yes, I've played quite a few in Melksham too. Last night was the Forester's Arms, it was rowdy but ok. At least they danced  i've also played at the Pg & Whistle, which is snug but nice, and The Pilot which is a ghastly s***hole upon which I would not pee if it was on fire. Where was your fraught experience?

I've played the Parson's Nose a few times, they don't want the band to start until 22.25, then play through til one. It's over an hour's drive for me, so by the time we've broken everything down and loaded the cars, I get in very late. Fun gig, though. Agree about the Pilot, that was the scene of our memorably carp gig. The landlady is a nightmare. They nicked our drummer's cymbals (£600 worth) and put them in the rubbish bins out back! Their loss wasn't noticed at the time as we were trying to make a quick get away from the aggressive LL. Luckily, we had a smart friend who lives nearby who worked out what had happened and retrieved them the next day. 

We're playing the Pig & Whistle in a few weeks, so it's useful to know it's 'snug'. We were in Swindon last night, and the venue was so tight for space that I was standing more in the audience than with the band. Thankfuly, I was on a wireless set, so no leads to trip unwary punters.

[phil.c60]

First gig for us at a new venue. Crowd a bit thin due to the snow but those that came had a good time. Landlord chappie gave us very clear instructions (!) "I know my room and  I play in a band - there's lot's of bare brick and hard flooring in here - roll off the treble or no matter how much you turn down it will still be too loud and keep the drums in check. I'll come and tell you if you can go louder" Which he did.  Apparently his door staff have noise meters and he checks with them to make sure he won't upset the neighbours. He told us bluntly that there were a few bands who wouldn't listen and he won't ever re-book. Seems a bit silly of them really when there are so many bands chasing fewer venues. We played well and it was a good vibe so over all a success despite it only being half full, he was happy and want's to give us more dates - plural duly noted by our harp player who dealt with him! No hanging around at the end either - a tap on my shoulder while I was packing up and a very nice bar staff lady apologised for the turnout (it was actually snowing with a couple of inches on the parked cars) and handed me the money.

[Rich]

15 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

 Agree about the Pilot, that was the scene of our memorably carp gig. The landlady is a nightmare. .

Oh god, that mental beach. Our drummer had an argument with her over set lengths and payment, in the end she cancelled all our future bookings and told him to sex-and-travel. I roasted them alive on Farcebook next day and had lots of #metoo replies. From what i understand, they're having trouble getting bands and it's going down the toilet fast. Good. I hope it burns to the ground.

[FinnDave]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

Oh god, that mental beach. Our drummer had an argument with her over set lengths and payment, in the end she cancelled all our future bookings and told him to sex-and-travel. I roasted them alive on Farcebook next day and had lots of #metoo replies. From what i understand, they're having trouble getting bands and it's going down the toilet fast. Good. I hope it burns to the ground.

The pub's OK, just the people who run it... Full story - she turned up towards the end of our gig there last year, called me over when we'd finished, paid up, all very official, signed a receipt, and we got on with the load out. Few minutes later, she was asking who was 'in charge' of the band, so I stepped forward and she informed me (not unpleasantly) that we were 'the wrong sort of band' for her pub. I told we can't be everybody's cuppa, and she said she wouldn't be booking us again. I said something about that being fine and she left me alone. Then she started on our drummer who had just had words with the guitarist (they've known each other forever, and it's like an ongoing family argument!) and walked back into the bar to collect more drums and was effing and blinding about the guitarist. Landlady shouted at him 'Can you not swear in my pub', he apologised, and carried on getting ready to leave. 

Then the guitarist walked in (pleasant, affable chap) and she had a go at him 'and this one doesn't even know where he is' (on account of him leaning over to ask me what the name of the pub was when thanking the (small) audience for coming alone at the end), and he tried to explain, but she went off on one, started about his colour (he's from St Helena) and a couple of minutes later, when I was putting the last of my gear away she was shouting at all of us 'get the f... out of my f...ing pub and never come f...ing back. I so nearly said 'Can you not swear in your pub', but the guitarist was anxious to leave, which is why the cymbals got left behind (drummer travels with guitarist). Next day, I heard from the pub that 'a member of the band had assaulted an elderly lady with some musical equipment' and broken her hand. They told me it was 'all on CCTV and the footage is in the hands of the police'. No one in the band had any idea what she was talking about, local friend didn't think the pub had any CCTV, and we never heard from the police. 

Absolute nightmare of a gig, but the strange thing was that she didn't kick off until after she'd paid us!

It's not really a bad venue, just very badly run. Would be a good place to play with different people running it.

 

[stingrayPete1977]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

The pub's OK, just the people who run it... Full story - she turned up towards the end of our gig there last year, called me over when we'd finished, paid up, all very official, signed a receipt, and we got on with the load out. Few minutes later, she was asking who was 'in charge' of the band, so I stepped forward and she informed me (not unpleasantly) that we were 'the wrong sort of band' for her pub. I told we can't be everybody's cuppa, and she said she wouldn't be booking us again. I said something about that being fine and she left me alone. Then she started on our drummer who had just had words with the guitarist (they've known each other forever, and it's like an ongoing family argument!) and walked back into the bar to collect more drums and was effing and blinding about the guitarist. Landlady shouted at him 'Can you not swear in my pub', he apologised, and carried on getting ready to leave. 

Then the guitarist walked in (pleasant, affable chap) and she had a go at him 'and this one doesn't even know where he is' (on account of him leaning over to ask me what the name of the pub was when thanking the (small) audience for coming alone at the end), and he tried to explain, but she went off on one, started about his colour (he's from St Helena) and a couple of minutes later, when I was putting the last of my gear away she was shouting at all of us 'get the f... out of my f...ing pub and never come f...ing back. I so nearly said 'Can you not swear in your pub', but the guitarist was anxious to leave, which is why the cymbals got left behind (drummer travels with guitarist). Next day, I heard from the pub that 'a member of the band had assaulted an elderly lady with some musical equipment' and broken her hand. They told me it was 'all on CCTV and the footage is in the hands of the police'. No one in the band had any idea what she was talking about, local friend didn't think the pub had any CCTV, and we never heard from the police. 

Absolute nightmare of a gig, but the strange thing was that she didn't kick off until after she'd paid us!

It's not really a bad venue, just very badly run. Would be a good place to play with different people running it.

 

This sounds bonkers yet brilliant in a way! 

One of our regular haunts was run by a mental racist UKIP councillor, the gigs were actually ok though, he eventually retired and we thought it could be great, nope the new lot are even worse!