How was your gig last night?

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Gig tomorrow and band still haven't agreed on what our set list will be. Why is it i'm always the one chasing up set lists for a gig. I detest it when we dispute on stage what we do next hence having a set list on stage for everyone.

We've even had gigs where we had different sets on stage.

Problem is we added some new songs in and removed a couple but it was done on the hoof at the last gig.

Looks like i just have OCD when it comes to set lists being prepared well in hand so i'm not running about trying to print stuff out for others who don't have printers.

Dave

 

I like a set list, but I don't mind if we alter it to suit the audience.

[Stub Mandrel]

57 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Anymore info on the ink tank thing. Not heard of that except in the workplace. ?

Dave

 

They are ace, I've had one for ten years and only filled the tanks twice. Also a HP laserjet that is decades old and uses a refill every two years...

[casapete]

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I like a set list, but I don't mind if we alter it to suit the audience.

Yup, me too. Bit of structure always good, but on the night you sometimes have to be flexible. 

[Stub Mandrel]

44 minutes ago, rwillett said:

Ink tanks convert printers from highly expensive cartridges into a refillable tank of ink that you can fill as needed. It means you don't need to buy dedicated cartridges but can use cheaper inks. 

 

Some printers are easy to convert, some less so. Google for ink tank conversion kit and your model of printer.

 

Rob

 

The Epson EcoTank printers are like that from the beginning, so no stupid nag screens or chipped cartridges.

[Boodang]

Well, that was an interesting gig tonight.... enjoyable but not what we were expecting. We've played the Canadian club many times and it's always at the back of their bar room with plenty of room for those who want to be up front and into the music. Show up this time and apparently we're playing outdoors in their BBQ area, ok so far but we get told it's a BBQ buffet and we're the background music, can't play louder than people talking. At this point I mentioned that they'd hired a punk band and Hendrix band to do background music! Not negotiable apparently and there's obviously been some missed communication although they knew what music we play.

Anyway, it's a small scene here, so on with the show and don't ruffle feathers. We start the Hendrix band with some slow blues, JJ Cale and the like, then once everyone is lulled into a false sense of security we launched into Fire, just kicked it up several notches and left it there. When we finished the set, we gave them no time to gather their thoughts, got the other guys up and went straight into the Sex Pistols with barely a break. By then people were dancing so all seemed well, no recriminations from management and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Only other downside, got told no recording, no videos, no pics, so this gig lives on in memory only. 

[dmccombe7]

To be honest we normally have a set list with encore(s) added at bottom and asterix at possible songs to drop if needed. We would either decide on the night to drop the ones marked or the singer could make that call on the night but to be honest we generally don't drop songs unless specifically asked to stick to 2x45min or 1 hr sets. Typically we play 2 sets at 1hr 15mins and 1hr 20-25mins.

I do have the key marked for one song mainly because i used to play it in another key and its easy to forget.

Think what annoys me most is that if i didn't raise it tonight then we'd all turn up at the gig with different versions of the set to be played.

We had discussed and agreed sticking to 2x1hr sets and that's what we price on but that seems to have got lost in the wind. If we ran over it would be because we wanted to rather than being forced to because we priced it for longer.

2x1hr sets is just nice for me and my fingers don't get sore and i don't lose too much sweat in that Glam gear 

Dave

 

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Gig tomorrow and band still haven't agreed on what our set list will be. Why is it i'm always the one chasing up set lists for a gig. I detest it when we dispute on stage what we do next hence having a set list on stage for everyone.

 

I have the same issue, its very irritating, as quite often they are made before the gig which means when I should be setting up the stuff,. I am trying to copy over the set list to my iPad

 

4 hours ago, Gasman said:

Funny how many folk nowadays don't have (or don't admit to having!) a printer, but are quite happy for mugs like me to do all the work on sets, spend time and pay for the ink and paper. Admittedly the ink thing is so much cheaper now I've converted to an Epson ink-tank printer (first black fill has lasted over a year) compared with the HP ink cartridge rip-off...

 

We have an epson ink tank printer too, as my wife does printing for her labels for her shop - we have had it 3 years and have gone through 1.5 bottles of black and still on the original colours.

 

But I don't have a printed out set list.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

2x1hr sets is just nice for me and my fingers don't get sore and i don't lose too much sweat in that Glam gear 

 

Given up trying to get it down to 2x1hr sets. I think it gets sloppy once it goes past that, but the singer will happily go on for hours if you ddin't stop him.

[Norris]

3 hours ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

That's one of my pet hates; in my recently-defunct covers band I insisted that we had the set list agreed on and printed by the rehearsal prior to the gig.  I would then print spares, because it seemed as if holding onto a bit of paper for a few days could be more challenging than it sounds.  Anyway, we never went on without knowing exactly what we were playing, and when we did gigs that we knew were likely to run over/under we used to know in advance what songs we'd drop or add; it was the same for encores.  Instrument and tuning changes were included on the set lists too.

 

It may all be a bit anal but it grinds my gears something chronic to see a band faffing about trying to decide what to play.  I know some bands have a pool of songs and the BL calls them on the fly, and I'd do this if circumstances allowed, but in my eyes it takes a lot of balls, a lot of organisation and a lot of being able to read the crowd on the fly.

Oh my goodness! We're the complete polar opposite. No set list, just a big list of songs we know. All are usually called out by the guitar/vocalist on the fly, and occasionally songs that are NOT on the list. If he is stuck for a second or two we'll throw in some suggestions. It's a system that works for us, although I can understand it wouldn't work for everyone. It allows us to read the room and be very reactive to what will work at any point in the performance. It also allows for requests, which we are keen to attempt even if it's in a ridiculous way.

 

There are no big gaps usually, but it does give scope for the guitarist to engage in a bit of banter with the audience. He is rather good at it, and it's a major USP of our band - good music and a good laugh too

[casapete]

1 minute ago, Norris said:

Oh my goodness! We're the complete polar opposite. No set list, just a big list of songs we know. All are usually called out by the guitar/vocalist on the fly, and occasionally songs that are NOT on the list. If he is stuck for a second or two we'll throw in some suggestions. It's a system that works for us, although I can understand it wouldn't work for everyone. It allows us to read the room and be very reactive to what will work at any point in the performance. It also allows for requests, which we are keen to attempt even if it's in a ridiculous way.

 

There are no big gaps usually, but it does give scope for the guitarist to engage in a bit of banter with the audience. He is rather good at it, and it's a major USP of our band - good music and a good laugh too

With my acoustic duo, we never have a set list beforehand. We work on requests which the audience write

down on forms we put on their tables and the bar etc. Just before we go on we check a few out for openers

and then wing it from there really! Like you my guitarist mate is good with his banter, and people generally

understand how we roll. We’ve been playing together now for over 30 years, (as a duo for around 25

of them ) and have honestly never had one rehearsal in all that time. Should we attempt a song which

may be a bit tricky, we’ll have a quick talk through in one of the breaks and then go for it. Certainly

keeps us on our toes, and the punters seem to enjoy it. We have 8 gigs this month so hopefully doing

something right! 

[Bluewine]

On 02/10/2024 at 14:46, dmccombe7 said:

Unbelievable attitude from the venue. You should have made them aware that in the event of electric shock or death they would be liable to see how they react.

I'm finding this all a bit unbelievable how stupid some organisers are.

Dave

 

Dave,I think the post hit home with a lot us

because we've been there. Last weekend we played on the deck of a residential home. There's a video clip, but it's not worth sharing. 

 

I've played on grass and I remember playing in a tent with no stage playing on dirt ,no grass.

 

Off topic.  Our local Milwaukee guitar hero Greg Koch is visiting England this week.

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/VJMhikXSREHZBUcN/

Daryl

Edited October 4 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, casapete said:

We’ve been playing together now for over 30 years, (as a duo for around 25

of them ) and have honestly never had one rehearsal in all that time. Should we attempt a song which

may be a bit tricky, we’ll have a quick talk through in one of the breaks and then go for it. Certainly

keeps us on our toes, and the punters seem to enjoy it. We have 8 gigs this month so hopefully doing

something right! 

 

Pete, Maple Road hasn't rehearsed in years and that's with adding two new members.

 

I'm a guy that believes in specific agenda driven rehearsals. Im not big on unstructured free form rehearsals I don't see rehearsals in our future. Everyone is young and busy. It would be great to nail down a few things we struggle with.

 

Daryl

Edited October 4 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, Norris said:

Oh my goodness! We're the complete polar opposite. No set list, just a big list of songs we know. All are usually called out by the guitar/vocalist on the fly, and occasionally songs that are NOT on the list. If he is stuck for a second or two we'll throw in some suggestions. It's a system that works for us, although I can understand it wouldn't work for everyone. It allows us to read the room and be very reactive to what will work at any point in the performance. It also allows for requests, which we are keen to attempt even if it's in a ridiculous way.

 

There are no big gaps usually, but it does give scope for the guitarist to engage in a bit of banter with the audience. He is rather good at it, and it's a major USP of our band - good music and a good laugh too

We're pretty lose with set lists unless it's a higher profile theater show.

 

Daryl

Edited October 4 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

7 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Given up trying to get it down to 2x1hr sets. I think it gets sloppy once it goes past that, but the singer will happily go on for hours if you ddin't stop him.

 

It's why I like 80 minute featured shows.And believe me they're hard to come by for us.

 

It's easy to manage 80 minutes. It's a much faster paced performance than a festival or fair show.

 

Daryl

Edited October 4 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

On 01/10/2024 at 20:22, Bluewine said:

 

I would be very embarrassed to ask a band to set up and play on grass.

 

Daryl

 

I refused, I don't smoke .

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 30/09/2024 at 06:27, cheddatom said:

Headsticks on Saturday at Eleven in Tunstall (Stoke-on-Trent)

 

It was an all day event with 6 acts on, starting at 3:30. We got there at 1pm to load in up a fire escape. Not too bad. The sound engineer tried arguing that we couldn't use our own mics. We insisted that we use our own due to hygiene concerns. We have this problem very occasionally, and it's only ever with the stereotypical grumpy sound guys. The rude control freaks. You know, the classic soundman. Anyway, that's exactly what he was, talking to us in the rudest possible way all night. We (including the other acts) all tried to kill his attitude with kindness, lavishing him with praise and thankyous. It had no effect. Why do people stay in jobs they hate?

 

Anyway, despite that it sounded great on and off stage, and the lighting was great too. Here's a photo with us doing our song Miles and Miles with Carol Hodge on guest vocals. She did it on the record so whenever she's on the same line up we persuade her to get up for it. What a voice!

 

 

 

Love the lighting. The band looks great.

 

Daryl

[dmccombe7]

8 hours ago, casapete said:

With my acoustic duo, we never have a set list beforehand. We work on requests which the audience write

down on forms we put on their tables and the bar etc. Just before we go on we check a few out for openers

and then wing it from there really! Like you my guitarist mate is good with his banter, and people generally

understand how we roll. We’ve been playing together now for over 30 years, (as a duo for around 25

of them ) and have honestly never had one rehearsal in all that time. Should we attempt a song which

may be a bit tricky, we’ll have a quick talk through in one of the breaks and then go for it. Certainly

keeps us on our toes, and the punters seem to enjoy it. We have 8 gigs this month so hopefully doing

something right! 

Think what you are doing is part of the show and makes for great entertainment IMO. When i see a band play i do find it very unprofessional when they are discussing what song be played next or the singer is telling the band what song is next. Our guitarist uses some pedals and needs time to change settings for some songs. 

I don't mind if the singer is announcing to the audience that this is a song by XXX called YYY but its more when a singer turns round to the band to tell them. Its a bit sloppy as someone mentioned earlier.

I'd love to see you guys do the request gig. That must be great to watch and for me a huge respect for having that knowledge and ability to be able to do it. Even if the songs aren't perfect covers its still such an amazing achievement.

Bet its a lot of fun too, for both the band and audience.

Dave

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Anymore info on the ink tank thing. Not heard of that except in the workplace. ?

Dave

 

I have a Canon ink tank printer. TBH I'm not particularly impressed with it and wouldn't have another for an number of reasons reasons:

 

1. While the ink is a lot cheaper than buying cartridges, the ink flow mechanism has a tendency to empty back into the tanks which means that suddenly your prints will be missing one or more colours. The method used to get the ink flow going again uses a significant amount of all the inks not just the ones that have stopped flowing, and while after about 4 years of usage I'm only just on my second set of refills I would estimate that half my ink usage has been fixing problems with the printer rather than actually producing prints.

 

2. The quality of the prints for anything important is nowhere near as good as my previous cartridge-based printer. It's fine for simple text documents, but for photographic prints and anything requiring colour accuracy, it's pretty poor, and that's after using my colour calibration meter to create a custom colour profile for it.

 

3. They are a lot more money than a cartridge-based printer, and to date my total usage cost (vs cheaper printer but more expensive cartridges) is about the same for the amount of usable prints I have got out of it.

 

So if you are doing lots of prints, using it almost every day and don't need to have good colour accuracy or excellent quality photographic prints, they will work out cheaper in the long run. For everyone else probably not.

 

I'll probably get rid of mine next time I run out of ink and buy a laser printer instead.

[Woodinblack]

For irrelevant data points, my wife prints tons, mostly labels, not photographic, these are for her shop so she will be printing hundreds of labels a month, full colour as well as black and white lists, and shipping labels, mostly black and white with a small logo on them. I have had to restrain her from being physically violent to many printers, she has gone through quite a few in the time she has run the shop (20 years). This printer, the Epson InkTank she still loves after 3 years. Hardly any cost in the use of the tank and really solid printing. Also unlike the cartridge, especially not the epsons, it doesn't dry up if you forget to print over a weekend.

It was also only a couple of hundred quid.

 

But, its not a printer that we use for photographs, we just use it as a colour office printer, which is what it is. If you want something to hammer away at a ton of things day in day out without fault, this is your chap.

[Stub Mandrel]

55 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

I have a Canon ink tank printer. TBH I'm not particularly impressed with it and wouldn't have another for an number of reasons reasons:

 

1. While the ink is a lot cheaper than buying cartridges, the ink flow mechanism has a tendency to empty back into the tanks which means that suddenly your prints will be missing one or more colours. The method used to get the ink flow going again uses a significant amount of all the inks not just the ones that have stopped flowing, and while after about 4 years of usage I'm only just on my second set of refills I would estimate that half my ink usage has been fixing problems with the printer rather than actually producing prints.

 

2. The quality of the prints for anything important is nowhere near as good as my previous cartridge-based printer. It's fine for simple text documents, but for photographic prints and anything requiring colour accuracy, it's pretty poor, and that's after using my colour calibration meter to create a custom colour profile for it.

 

3. They are a lot more money than a cartridge-based printer, and to date my total usage cost (vs cheaper printer but more expensive cartridges) is about the same for the amount of usable prints I have got out of it.

 

So if you are doing lots of prints, using it almost every day and don't need to have good colour accuracy or excellent quality photographic prints, they will work out cheaper in the long run. For everyone else probably not.

 

I'll probably get rid of mine next time I run out of ink and buy a laser printer instead.

 

Ouch. My Epson head dries out a bit if unused for several months, but clears with a few cleaning routines that use tiny amounts of ink.

It's only  four-colour printer but the quality is excellent, I have several A4 'photos' framed up, landscapes and astrophotographs. Generally they are better than ones I have had done professionally as I have adjusted the print profiles.
 

[taunton-hobbit]

A friend of mine has just bought an Epson tank printer for her business, she prints postcard size colour pics which she mounts & sells. Pretty happy with it so far.

 

😎

[neepheid]

So, anyone want to tell us about a gig they have recently performed at?

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Changing the topic a bit, we've been booked to do the sort of gig @Bluewine seems to thrive on. It's a 'christmas' event for the local supporters club for Liverpool FC at Cardiff Tramshed. There are 5,000 members but the venue is 1,000 capacity. Looks like we'll only have to do an hour, but it's an amazing venue (I've seen bands like Phil Campbell and Black Star Riders there) and we get house PA and lights with pros on both, so really excited!

[Mykesbass]

57 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Changing the topic a bit, we've been booked to do the sort of gig @Bluewine seems to thrive on. It's a 'christmas' event for the local supporters club for Liverpool FC at Cardiff Tramshed. There are 5,000 members but the venue is 1,000 capacity. Looks like we'll only have to do an hour, but it's an amazing venue (I've seen bands like Phil Campbell and Black Star Riders there) and we get house PA and lights with pros on both, so really excited!

Hope you've practiced the Theme From Z Cars...

[MacDaddy]

59 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Changing the topic a bit, we've been booked to do the sort of gig @Bluewine seems to thrive on. It's a 'christmas' event for the local supporters club for Liverpool FC at Cardiff Tramshed. There are 5,000 members but the venue is 1,000 capacity. Looks like we'll only have to do an hour, but it's an amazing venue (I've seen bands like Phil Campbell and Black Star Riders there) and we get house PA and lights with pros on both, so really excited!

 

1 minute ago, Mykesbass said:

Hope you've practiced the Theme From Z Cars...

 

 

Isn't there a song by Gerry and the Pacemakers that lot seem to like? 😉