How was your gig last night?

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Made the mistake of gigging in the west country during Glastonbury weekend. The handful of folk there gathered enjoyed the band. I enjoyed my new bass,

 

Well, we have two gigs this weekend in the westcountry on a glastonbury weekend. One is a party so that should be ok. the second is one of the first hill gigs sunday afternoon outdoor in the garden on a pub. Did a facebook group post for it and it seems to have blown up, so looking forward to that. 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Well, we have two gigs this weekend in the westcountry on a glastonbury weekend. One is a party so that should be ok. the second is one of the first hill gigs sunday afternoon outdoor in the garden on a pub. Did a facebook group post for it and it seems to have blown up, so looking forward to that. 

Good luck hope all goes well 

[Jack]

I have to preface this story by saying that everywhere we play gets a set of posters a week or so before the gig as well as phone call 24-48 hours before to double check and confirm everything.

 

I get there first, see a bartender, "Hi I'm Jack I'm with the band, where's the stage? What door's best? etc etc" So I start loading in. Guitarist joins me, as does singer and drummer, everything is now in the bar. The first thing to go up is our backdrop so we put that up and then start setting up everything else. After clocking the backdrop said bartender nervously comes across and asks if that's our band name, we say it is. She says that's not the name of the band that's booked tonight. Blank looks all round, lots of fervently checking diaries, etc. Eventually we find the facebook messenger between our singer and the bar manager, which goes something like this.

Quote

Venue: Hey you guys are good, what's your price for a weekend next summer? Maybe June?

Singer: £350 for a normal Friday or Saturday, everything else can depend.

V: Perfect, what dates do you have in June?

S: How does the 24th sound?

That's it. No response from the bar. He's made us drive all the way down there after work to a venue that never bloody confirmed in the first place. Idiot.

 

Does that count as a bad gig? It wasn't technically a gig, so maybe it's not the worst gig I've ever played. It's certainly the worst attempted gig I've ever played. We couldn't even demand any kind of payment (from the bar at least) as it's clearly our singer's mistake. I wonder why the bar didn't say something when they got the posters or the phone call, maybe whomever dealt with those wasn't the one booking bands.

 

Oh well, here's hoping tonight is better.

[stewblack]

38 minutes ago, Jack said:

Does that count as a bad gig?

Possibly the worst gig ever!

[dmccombe7]

41 minutes ago, Jack said:

I have to preface this story by saying that everywhere we play gets a set of posters a week or so before the gig as well as phone call 24-48 hours before to double check and confirm everything.

 

I get there first, see a bartender, "Hi I'm Jack I'm with the band, where's the stage? What door's best? etc etc" So I start loading in. Guitarist joins me, as does singer and drummer, everything is now in the bar. The first thing to go up is our backdrop so we put that up and then start setting up everything else. After clocking the backdrop said bartender nervously comes across and asks if that's our band name, we say it is. She says that's not the name of the band that's booked tonight. Blank looks all round, lots of fervently checking diaries, etc. Eventually we find the facebook messenger between our singer and the bar manager, which goes something like this.

That's it. No response from the bar. He's made us drive all the way down there after work to a venue that never bloody confirmed in the first place. Idiot.

 

Does that count as a bad gig? It wasn't technically a gig, so maybe it's not the worst gig I've ever played. It's certainly the worst attempted gig I've ever played. We couldn't even demand any kind of payment (from the bar at least) as it's clearly our singer's mistake. I wonder why the bar didn't say something when they got the posters or the phone call, maybe whomever dealt with those wasn't the one booking bands.

 

Oh well, here's hoping tonight is better.

Ouch !!! that aint good plus you might have managed another gig on that night. Bad news all round no matter how you look at it.

Perhaps the singer should cover everyone's costs .

I jest of course......................or do i 

On the plus side the singer wont make that mistake again. 

Dave

Edited June 25, 2022 by dmccombe7

[jimmyb625]

5 hours ago, Jack said:

I have to preface this story by saying that everywhere we play gets a set of posters a week or so before the gig as well as phone call 24-48 hours before to double check and confirm everything.

 

I get there first, see a bartender, "Hi I'm Jack I'm with the band, where's the stage? What door's best? etc etc" So I start loading in. Guitarist joins me, as does singer and drummer, everything is now in the bar. The first thing to go up is our backdrop so we put that up and then start setting up everything else. After clocking the backdrop said bartender nervously comes across and asks if that's our band name, we say it is. She says that's not the name of the band that's booked tonight. Blank looks all round, lots of fervently checking diaries, etc. Eventually we find the facebook messenger between our singer and the bar manager, which goes something like this.

That's it. No response from the bar. He's made us drive all the way down there after work to a venue that never bloody confirmed in the first place. Idiot.

 

Does that count as a bad gig? It wasn't technically a gig, so maybe it's not the worst gig I've ever played. It's certainly the worst attempted gig I've ever played. We couldn't even demand any kind of payment (from the bar at least) as it's clearly our singer's mistake. I wonder why the bar didn't say something when they got the posters or the phone call, maybe whomever dealt with those wasn't the one booking bands.

 

Oh well, here's hoping tonight is better.

That's awful, but what's even more awful is that I actually laughed.

 

I'm sorry, I'm a terrible person. Hopefully it will be something you can laugh about in the future.

[yorks5stringer]

40 minutes ( meant to be an hour) at the Sun Inn Frome, this afternoon. We went out as a Trio, normally 6 piece so I suggested we call ourselves 50 cent....Appreciative audience and it was nice to break the material back down to acoustic guitar, bass and harmonica and 2 vox. House Soundman  has finally found his mojo so he had a DI box and put me through into the PA.

We'd have done 45 minutes but I was waiting for the previous band's Bassist to undo his vintage fender hard case, (held together with a bungee cord) insert his 70's Jazz, reverse the proceedure and generally faff around before moving out of the way. The rest of our band were ready but I then had to set up my amp for the DI and tune. Don't think he even realised that in a quick change you move your stuff off the stage area ASAP and pack your precious Bass off the bleedin stage and don't impede others....

[moley6knipe]

To be fair, if they’ve not done such gigs before the sound guys should tell ‘em before kick off to haul donkey offstage as soon as done. TBH every band at these sort of gigs should be told that anyway!

[obbm]

First outdoor gig for several years yesterday afternoon at the Lostwithiel Gin Festival.  A relatively small event but a very good crowd who obviously appreciated the music. Great covered stage and PA set-up however it was in a well shaded part of the ground adjacent to the River Fowey.  There was a very strong cold wind blowing straight through the stage so it was bl@@dy nithering.  I sat around wearing 4 layers and gloves for an hour before our set and I was still cold.  In fact my hands were still cold at the end.  Ridiculous because at the other end of the ground there were no trees, brilliant sunshine and quite warm.  Still it was Cornwall after all.  I took my trusty Sadowsky PJ, Backbeat and a recently acquired Tech21 Fly-rig so I was travelling light for our 90-minute set.  One great piece of news is that the band leader has decided we should dispense with his drum tracks and find a drummer.  Hallelujah.

[wateroftyne]

Interesting one for us last night. A do in a big club room about an hour's drive away.

 

PA was provided - they asked for, and we sent, a full spec. I brought my little cab 'cos I knew the hump was going to be a pain, and the PA would take care of FOH.

 

We got to the venue to find the most tin-pot PA in place.

 

PA guy (pointing at the stage box): 'There's your ins for the desk'.

 

Us: 'Err....'

 

PA guy: 'You do have XLRs with you, don't you?'

 

Us: 'No. You're doing the PA. Not us.'

 

Eventually we cobble something together, during which it becomes apparent there are no channels / mics available to put the drums or bass through the PA. Ah, well.

 

At some point, I ask when the monitors are arriving.

 

PA guy: 'No monitors. Sorry.'

 

So, the theme of the day was to keep the volume down.. basically 'cos we had no choice. And it actually worked out OK in the end.

 

Incidentally, situations like this are one of the reasons I don't fancy going down the IEM route. At least I had something with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[warwickhunt]

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

Interesting one for us last night. A do in a big club room about an hour's drive away.

 

PA was provided - they asked for, and we sent, a full spec. I brought my little cab 'cos I knew the hump was going to be a pain, and the PA would take care of FOH.

 

We got to the venue to find the most tin-pot PA in place.

 

PA guy (pointing at the stage box): 'There's your ins for the desk'.

 

Us: 'Err....'

 

PA guy: 'You do have XLRs with you, don't you?'

 

Us: 'No. You're doing the PA. Not us.'

 

Eventually we cobble something together, during which it becomes apparent there are no channels / mics available to put the drums or bass through the PA. Ah, well.

 

At some point, I ask when the monitors are arriving.

 

PA guy: 'No monitors. Sorry.'

 

So, the theme of the day was to keep the volume down.. basically 'cos we had no choice. And it actually worked out OK in the end.

 

Incidentally, situations like this are one of the reasons I don't fancy going down the IEM route. At least I had something with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh dear... what a 'mare!   

 

We turned up for a pub gig Saturday afternoon to be asked would we mind playing outdoors, at the bottom of the beer garden?  'Bottom of the beer garden' was exactly that - 50m from power (we can get you some extensions), no cover (there's a gazebo in the shed), nothing to stand drums on (do you want us to get some cardboard boxes); we politely declined and retreated to play in the bar... 1 hour later the heavens opened!  

[SICbass]

25 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Oh dear... what a 'mare!   

 

We turned up for a pub gig Saturday afternoon to be asked would we mind playing outdoors, at the bottom of the beer garden?  'Bottom of the beer garden' was exactly that - 50m from power (we can get you some extensions), no cover (there's a gazebo in the shed), nothing to stand drums on (do you want us to get some cardboard boxes); we politely declined and retreated to play in the bar... 1 hour later the heavens opened!  

Oooh, all the markings of a deftly dodged bullet there matey!

[Staggering on]

Finally....the first gig since our last one which was on February 27 2020! Things are starting to open up here now and our jazz standards/swing quartet returned to play at a craft brewery that we have played at a number of times before Covid. It is in a small town an hour and a half from me and we were worried about attracting a crowd, partly because our pay is based on cover charge only and also because it is an out of the way place.

As it turned out we had an almost full room of about 40 of our "fans" and some them drove for over an hour to get to the gig. The band has been together for 11 years and it was great to see some familiar faces and get out in public again and the crowd was in the mood to enjoy the evening and was one of the best we have ever played for.

It was also the first outing in a club for my Shen SB 100 and it sounded fantastic through our Bose PA, band was in fine form and we had a fun night and made good money for a gig like that and we will be back at that venue in August.

The downside is that our vocalist/keyboard player who is very talented and popular is moving away sometime in the next few months and the band will have to fold after 11 years of fun, it's been a great ride and we still have a few more gigs and we plan to make the most of them. 

 

[mcnach]

21 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

On the plus side the singer wont make that mistake again. 

 

 

Come on! You know better than that!

 

[neepheid]

A hot and sweaty one last night at The Rusty Nail in Aberdeen with my covers band Nine Lives.  Good turnout with plenty folk getting up and having a dance/general move around to the music.  Got saved by the singer from being completely wiped out by a drunk lady overestimating her powers of balance and toppling towards me fast.  Singer grabbed her outstreched hand as she and gravity conspired to make me part of the table behind me.  The perils of performing at floor level!  She managed to stand on my tuner pedal as she bumped into me, briefly knocking me out of the game physically and sonically but we kept going.  Still, she continued to be rather annoying througout the gig until some of the rest of the giggoers "suggested" to her that she leave.  There's always one, right?

 

Played really well and got a lot of good comments afterwards.

 

Played the Jack Casady through the 2x1x10" frankenrig.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

Come on! You know better than that!

 

I was trying to calm his and every other bands fears.  

Dave

[dmccombe7]

A return gig at The Riverside in Dumfries for the Punk band last night.

Always a great audience in this venue. They just get really into their punk music.

Lots of very positive comments at the end.

One guy said he couldn't understand how i played punk fingerstyle. He also said he loved my composure on stage and likened me to Jimmy Page but i think he may have meant JPJ instead. Said i made it look easy. The blisters on my plucking fingers tell me otherwise .

Another guy that just happened to be passing and heard the band came in and after 2-3 songs called his mates to come down, "you got to hear these guys, f****g amazing". He told the guitarist's wife at the interval about it. His 3 mates arrived before the 2nd set and loved it. 

I think we had a captive audience thrown in as everyone was wearing summer wear with girls in summer dresses and it came down in torrents of rain half way thru 2nd set. They had nowhere to go 

Lots of vids but all direct to FB and difficult to copy over i'm afraid.

An hours drive home and a bit of coffee and toast before bed.

All in all a great wee night

[Stub Mandrel]

21 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

To be fair, if they’ve not done such gigs before the sound guys should tell ‘em before kick off to haul donkey offstage as soon as done. TBH every band at these sort of gigs should be told that anyway!

 

Nervous about a beer festival next weekend. We have a two-hour slot between other bands and have to use our own PS.

Last night it took 2 1/2 hours to set up the Pa and get everything sorted...

[Stub Mandrel]

I think I said Friday's gig went well. Went to a smashing gig at my usual Saturday night haunt, by a recently reformed classic rock trio with a great guitarist. He's seen our videos and is up for a double header gig, already thinking about details.

[stewblack]

Afternoon Bandeoke in Trowbridge. Three more bookings out of it.

[Rexel Matador]

The whole cover band, two sets a night thing is new to me - first gig last night. Very strange experience, The stage was more of a mezzanine - we were about 10 feet above the pub floor so most people couldn't see the drummer (who also sings lead on half the songs, so not ideal!) On the other hand, there was giant screen showing us to the groundlings as we played, Glastonbury style. It was right in my eyeline and I had to remember not to look at it as it had about a half second delay and would really throw me off!

 

The crowd didn't seem that interested, and the venue could have easily got away with the piped music that played between our sets for the entire night - and with that in mind, I'm very grateful and impressed that they go out of their way and spend money to put bands on.

[uk_lefty]

Played a pub that my band (I joined late 2021) had played four years ago and remembered it being a good night. I didn't know what to expect, I've really gone off playing pubs now since I've mostly been doing rock clubs with this band, but we pitched up and set up in a purpose built stage area outside with a half marquee type arrangement covering a good sized area for punters. Ten minutes before we started there was a handful of people there and we had a warning about noise levels and curfew. Once we got going the place filled up, fantastic crowd of people singing along to every song. I was trying out a new amp (Ashdown ABM600 which is phenomenal) so I may have been a bit on the edge of the noise warning but we got the place rocking. Really pleased with it considering I had very low expectations. 

[Cat Burrito]

My father spent the late 5os / early 60s playing around Southampton / Portsmouth / Gosport area and after 34yrs of playing, I finally got to play in Southampton. The drummer from my first ever band turned 50 and invited my duo to play his birthday. We were joined by our old drummer for a few songs, marking only the second time we have played together since 1990. I also depped for his sister on bass as she did a couple of Creedence Clearwater Revival covers and I spent 6yrs in a CCR tribute. 

 

[Woodinblack]

Interesting weekend, tale of two halves.

 

Saturday night, local club at the bottom of town where we never play. Its a very.. local.. club, but one of the people we know hired us for their party. Big stage, disco and karaoke before us, that was an experience, always makes me worried hearing people doing karaoke, I assume they think they can sing?

Anyway, did the first hour but was so hot the guitarist insisted on having  a break there to get some air, very funny vibe. Then they went back to disco and karaoke for the break then we did a second hour and a bit. The guy whos party it was was completely out of it and had a 5 minute rant half way through about.. who knows. Went back on for the second half, then 2 songs before the end, he insisted on doing a karaoke of hazel oconner with us, then the last two songs and out of there. Then the disco - I think they would have been much happier with the disco without us interrupting, and I think so would we.

 

Sunday afternoon, local pub on top of a hill with views over most of somerset, havent played there since before covid and looking forward to it, never a bad day, but this one I had put a facebook post up and it had taken off.

They had done it up a bit since were were there. Set it up, even miked the drumkit so I thought I would record it too. By the time we started playing it was already over packed and they had got some more tables in and then it was dancing, singing and full audience interaction from the word go, sounded great, everything worked well, played my TMB35, no irritations at all. Great day.

At half time a woman in the crowd did say that she thought the singers vocals needed work as it wasn't as clear as when she saw queen with freddie mercury, but I suspect they had a separate sound guy

And the owner overpaid us. Not unheard of in a venue, but unheard of for that venue!

[MacDaddy]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

***- I think they would have been much happier with the disco without us interrupting, and I think so would we. ***

 

i've done gigs like that