How was your gig last night?

[dmccombe7]

7 minutes ago, markbunney said:

 

I had to Google what NFG meant lol

What version did you settle on for NFG ? 

 

More important ........... what amp are you gonna try next. ?

Dave

Edited May 16, 2023 by dmccombe7

[markbunney]

14 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

What version did you settle on for NFG ? 

 

More important ........... what amp are you gonna try next. ?

Dave

Either Orange Terror Bass, i had one for 12 years before, but just got bored of it, but it was very reliable. Stick with what you know etc.

 

possible an Aguilar tone hammer, or I am considering getting one of the Blackstar active cabinets and using my sansamp in front of it, but not sure yet

[gafbass02]

Been a tad busy this week, but last weekend was fab. Just a local boozer where I’m squished into a corner, but my uni course is so intense it felt amazing just to feel like ‘me’ again for a few hours. This weekend is a double whammy so I’m looking forward to that! 
here's a few pics from Sat. 

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by gafbass02

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, gafbass02 said:

Been a tad busy this week, but last weekend was fab. Just a local boozer where I’m squished into a corner, but my uni course is so intense it felt amazing just to feel like ‘me’ again for a few hours. This weekend is a double whammy so I’m looking forward to that! 
here's a few pics from Sat. 

 

Nice looking bass there.

Dave

[gafbass02]

Thanks. It’s got lovely figuring and a high gloss that almost looks wet. ‘Twas a find for sure

[moley6knipe]

An excellent choice. Still regret flipping my SR.  Idiot. 

[cetera]

Just got home from playing the beautiful, ornate Ilkley Kings Hall and the more modern Solihull Core Theatre.... and both fabulous shows! Our band is really on fire now... it's amazing what a series of shows can do for cementing a band socially, musically and performance-wise.... Loving it!

 

Next stops.... Swansea Grand Theatre, Eastleigh Concorde Club & Hunstanton Princess Theatre!

Edited May 19, 2023 by cetera
corrected name of Hunstanton theatre

[uk_lefty]

In a taxi right now after playing four forty five minute sets in Amsterdam city centre. Absolutely crazy, great crowd. Did this gig last year and was worried there wouldn't be the excitement, but the excitement was just different. Knowing the venue, the route etc. And being a tighter band a year on... Absolutely brilliant. Now to sleep....

[Len_derby]

4 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

In a taxi right now after playing four forty five minute sets in Amsterdam city centre. Absolutely crazy, great crowd. Did this gig last year and was worried there wouldn't be the excitement, but the excitement was just different. Knowing the venue, the route etc. And being a tighter band a year on... Absolutely brilliant. Now to sleep....

Excellent. I spent a lot of time working for BASF in Arnhem, NL. There was a great appetite for live music and bands were appreciated and looked-after well.

[Bluewine]

18 hours ago, cetera said:

Just got home from playing the beautiful, ornate Ilkley Kings Hall and the more modern Solihull Core Theatre.... and both fabulous shows! Our band is really on fire now... it's amazing what a series of shows can do for cementing a band socially, musically and performance-wise.... Loving it!

 

Next stops.... Swansea Grand Theatre, Eastleigh Concorde Club & Hunstanton Princess Theatre!

 

Nice theater !

[gafbass02]

Another standard local pub gig last night, but the crowd was a lot of fun and it was a much needed release. Off to play at a wedding later. 

[Paul S]

My blues rock trio Toredown played at a new pub last night.  Well, new to us, its the oldest pub in Ipswich built in 16th century - the Black Horse.  Plusses and a minus.  The minus - hardly anyone there!  Lots of our regular crowd said they would come but only 2 did and there were at most around 15 people from the pub's regular punters.  Nevertheless they got into it, as did we.  Plusses - it is easier for me to get to than our regular place being just outside of the confusing one-way system.  Guitarist and I got there for 7:30 but drummer (who has the pa) was held up and arrived at 8:15 - for a 9pm start.  But the pa is such a quick assemble that we sound-checked and started bang on time.  The owners couldn't do enough for us, room was already cleared (big space, too), free drinks, opened up the beer garden gate so we could park off-road, easy load in/out.  No hold-ups or diversions on the A12, home by 1am.  We have another one there next month and, I hope, more in future.  

[LandspeederDave]

Last night we played the Palladium in Bideford, a proper Music Venues Trust place that hosts the likes of Soap Girls, Undercover Hippy, assorted Levellers solo projects, that sort of thing. A decent low-end venue.

 

To 10 paying punters.

 

Two months ago we played for the eighth or ninth time in Camden and it was a good crowd and a  blast but, being based in North Devon, a backwater for original music, that's not really a viable regular option for four blokes in their 50s with day jobs.

 

We're all old hands and what we're doing - a sort of indie, punky psych-rock'nroll thing is great. Random strangers keep popping up on Twitter to tell us so and the streaming stats are good; this is the best band I've ever been in. But I'm really quite down about the whole thing this morning and not sure if I can be bothered to go out and do these gigs in our local area when even our friends can't be bothered to come out. For the first time ever, I'm actually starting to feel like chucking it in.

 

Sorry - self-pitying whinge, I know.

[dmccombe7]

I sometimes get that feeling too but then i ask myself what else would i do at weekends and would i miss it.

Audiences in some venues haven't quite come back after pandemic so i'd give it a bit more time. You may have it unlucky that your friends had something else on. We've been caught out that way with the Punk covers band when a major punk band was playing round the corner ........... literally and everyone was there. It was a last minute gig they booked and it was too late for us to change the gig. We played to a handful of people but we just treat it as a paid rehearsal.

Try and stay positive and give it a little more time for people to start going out again. Fri nights can be odd gigs too as i have my own theory that many people can only afford to go out one night a week if even that and a Sat night suits them better.

Do you enjoy playing with this band and do you get along with them all. If the answer is yes then stick with it a while longer.

Dave

[Lozz196]

Wise words Dave, I’m sure we’ve all had gigs where the turnout has been poor for whatever reason, it’s easy to focus on those but always best to try and remember the good packed out ones and just acknowledge the low turnout as a blip.

[msb]

In a post pandemic world there are many that are simply not going out. And with inflation , and everything else , it’s tough.  For many the entertainment dollar is stretched.
Many venues are facing rough times here , and I would expect things are similar in GB. 

I spend much of my time in several venues that are regular , and know many of their regulars by name. And sometimes , we have a dead night. I simply concentrate on the playing , some of my most enjoyable playing has been done in quiet rooms. And I find those there appreciate that extra effort. They will return , and they will bring friends.

Edited May 20, 2023 by msb

[Franticsmurf]

It always feels like a setback when you don't get the numbers you expect. But 10 paying punters is better than none and there have been gigs where I would have been pleased to have 10 (one springs to mind - zero people at a gig until just before the end when two turned up - to get away from the big fight upstairs in the pub). But every gig makes you stronger. And if two of those 10 come back, they may bring their mates/partners/offspring. And most of the well paying gigs I've done in the last 5 years have been through people seeing us play. As has been said, treat it as a paid dress rehearsal (but always perform at your best for anyone who has paid). You can experiment with new songs or the new arrangement you've been working on. 

 

There have been a lot of bank holidays and celebrations this month and another one next week. Maybe the punters are running out of money. 

[Nothingman]

Debut gig for my latest band, Rival Falls, at Roosters Taproom Harrogate.
 

Went really well and got lots of lovely feedback. 
 

great to be playing live after a couple years out. 

[Bluewine]

Home Grown Blues Festival

Tomorrow Sunday 5/21
3:00 @ Foundry 45
Kewaskum WI

Maple Road

 

Should be a fun gig,10 bands 2 stages and fantastic  weather Sound and lighting provided.

 

Blue

 

 

 

 

[Bluewine]

12 hours ago, gafbass02 said:

Another standard local pub gig last night, but the crowd was a lot of fun and it was a much needed release. Off to play at a wedding later. 

 

Allot of young people. Nice !

 

Blue 

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, Franticsmurf said:

It always feels like a setback when you don't get the numbers you expect. But 10 paying punters is better than none and there have been gigs where I would have been pleased to have 10 (one springs to mind - zero people at a gig until just before the end when two turned up - to get away from the big fight upstairs in the pub). But every gig makes you stronger. And if two of those 10 come back, they may bring their mates/partners/offspring. And most of the well paying gigs I've done in the last 5 years have been through people seeing us play. As has been said, treat it as a paid dress rehearsal (but always perform at your best for anyone who has paid). You can experiment with new songs or the new arrangement you've been working on. 

 

There have been a lot of bank holidays and celebrations this month and another one next week. Maybe the punters are running out of money. 

 

Sometimes we're  set up to fail. Ever play a bar/pub gig and they have you play in a separate  room with no bar and no bar service. Over here it's  the

"kiss of death" for a gig.

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Wise words Dave, I’m sure we’ve all had gigs where the turnout has been poor for whatever reason, it’s easy to focus on those but always best to try and remember the good packed out ones and just acknowledge the low turnout as a blip.

 

I still struggle  with poor attendance  and for as long as I've  been doing this I shouldn't. I still let it get to my head and playing. 

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

4 hours ago, LandspeederDave said:

Last night we played the Palladium in Bideford, a proper Music Venues Trust place that hosts the likes of Soap Girls, Undercover Hippy, assorted Levellers solo projects, that sort of thing. A decent low-end venue.

 

To 10 paying punters.

 

Two months ago we played for the eighth or ninth time in Camden and it was a good crowd and a  blast but, being based in North Devon, a backwater for original music, that's not really a viable regular option for four blokes in their 50s with day jobs.

 

We're all old hands and what we're doing - a sort of indie, punky psych-rock'nroll thing is great. Random strangers keep popping up on Twitter to tell us so and the streaming stats are good; this is the best band I've ever been in. But I'm really quite down about the whole thing this morning and not sure if I can be bothered to go out and do these gigs in our local area when even our friends can't be bothered to come out. For the first time ever, I'm actually starting to feel like chucking it in.

 

Sorry - self-pitying whinge, I know.

 

I'm 69 and been doing this at one  level or another since I was 13.

 

I think about throwing in the towel occasionally.  The thing is , I really can't.  I'm retired and I depend on the  supplement income from gigs. Plus If I quit I'd  have nothing to do.

 

Blue

[knirirr]

Last night's gig was at Charlbury Cricket Club. It went nicely, though I had some trouble remembering which tune was which (I blame concussion from the previous gig).

[LandspeederDave]

Thanks, gang. I don't know why I let this one get to me so much but it really did. My first gig was in 1988 in a village hall and I've had plenty since then, from pubs to sold-out universities - I was once in a band that had a very, very brief 'moment' before it all went to tits 🙂. I suppose if I analysed it there have been more one-man-and-a-dog incidents than I care to remember and we've always managed to take some fun from it: my traditional greeting of 'I'd like to thank you both for coming' to a small audience (said with a smile, I hasten to add!), testing songs in the live environment. all that.

 

But the after-effect of this one has left me feeling deflated, for the first time. It's odd but I suppose it's because it was on our doorstep. In a couple of weeks we're playing in Barnstaple, 20 minutes in the other direction and I'm now beginning to dread it, which is pathetic. Oh, I should add  I'm that rare breed: lead singer, main songwriter AND bassist, so maybe I'm just taking it too personally and need to get over myself.

 

Pfft, listen to me. Grow up man!

 

But thanks, everyone - much appreciated positive vibes from you all 🙂

Edited May 20, 2023 by LandspeederDave