How was your gig last night?

[rushbo]

Roxy Magic played at The Tropic in Ruislip on Friday night. A good time was had by all. Most of the band was travelling down from the Midlands, so it's always fun trying to work out how late everyone will be to the gig after negotiating the M50/rush hour/general Greater London madness. I'd taken the precaution of getting to London the day before, which meant I was able to go the spectacular Big Star "Radio City" gig in Hackney on Thursday night. Incredibly, we were all at the venue bang on time for a 6pm soundcheck.

 

The gig was a stormer - the Tropic was full of ladies and gentlemen of a certain vintage who rocked their socks off. The band came off stage sweaty and satisfied. I could have done without the obligatory motorway closure on the way home, which sent me down county lanes and housing estates somewhere near Oxford. Oh, the joys of being a Weekend Warrior.

 

I used my "B" rig - which is rapidly becoming my "A" rig - TC Electronic BG250 combo, Aria Jazz bass (£40!), Zoom B3 and a Lekato wireless bug system. I did give my faithful PJ Bitsa a run out in the second set though... I was delighted with my onstage sound and if my quick wander out front at the soundcheck was anything to go by, it was great through the PA, too.

 

A nice lady down the front took some lovely pics of the band. Here's our hero modelling his new suit and his old hat. Yes, I am playing with a plectrum, wanna fight about it..?

[dmccombe7]

7 minutes ago, knirirr said:

You may judge for yourself here. 😉

I made plenty of mistakes(*) but I think we didn't do too badly for an amateur band. The audience liked it and were pleased to have that sort of material played, and it was good to be doing it as a proper gig rather than a number here and there as the house band at a jam.

 

(*) E.g. forgot what key I was in for the first few bars of the first solo...

Love that. Not heard a band like this in many years.

Nice one. Very relaxing, chilled music

Dave

[WalMan]

4 hours ago, chrisba said:

I think the boot is a great look. I need to get one myself. Perhaps two.

It’s certainly easier than the appliance from a couple of weeks ago 😁 Said appliance may be pressed into service again for my dep with the punk pirates next March 

[alant]

On 03/11/2024 at 15:31, Mikey D said:

Literally just down the road from me. Not sure why I've not been there to watch any of the bands! I'll have to pop down sometime.

The nearest pub to me also, usually a good night in there 

[Bluewine]

On 30/10/2024 at 03:42, casapete said:

Played at our monthly local pub residency last night with the acoustic duo.

By the time we’d got set up it was rammed, standing room only etc. Plenty of

requests as a result with many of a Halloween nature, including  ‘Don’t fear the 

reaper’, ‘Spooky’, ‘Bad moon rising’, and ‘Highway to hell’. Finished off with the

inevitable ‘Bat out of hell’ which we managed without laughing too. 
Took my usual Ibanez electro acoustic and also a Squier SS Jaguar that a mate of mine

wanted me to try. Plugged it straight into our Yamaha powered mixer and it sounded

fine so ended up using that just for a change. Nice not having to worry about feedback

for once, found it quite liberating! Not sure about how it fits in with the ‘acoustic duo’

image though, so don’t think it will become a regular thing.

 

Standing room only. I need a gig like that.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

No gigs for me until 11/26.

 

Daryl

[dmccombe7]

23 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

No gigs for me until 11/26.

 

Daryl

When i first read that i assumed it was Nov 2026  (11/26) and then realised you do your dates with the month first 11/26 where we do it 26/11. 

You had me worried something had happened that you couldn't play. 

Same for me with the Glam band but i think i have the very last gig with the punk band this month. Looks like it will fold this year. All amicable and no hard feelings between us. I think the band has realised the audiences just aren't there anymore in our area but will see what happens in 2025.

Dave

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

When i first read that i assumed it was Nov 2026  (11/26) and then realised you do your dates with the month first 11/26 where we do it 26/11. 

You had me worried something had happened that you couldn't play. 

Same for me with the Glam band but i think i have the very last gig with the punk band this month. Looks like it will fold this year. All amicable and no hard feelings between us. I think the band has realised the audiences just aren't there anymore in our area but will see what happens in 2025.

Dave

 

Lol 😂 

 

Yeah, it a cool gig on November 26th. And we'll have our own drummer.

 

Too bad about the punk band. I thought the punk scene was really robust all over in your area?

 

Winter is generally pretty slow for us.

 

Daryl

[casapete]

Another Sunday night acoustic duo gig at one of my favourite venues, The Lookout Cafe in Scarborough.

We were the first to use their new PA set up, which consists of a pair Turbosound Milan powered

cabs. A definite improvement on their previous Alto cabs, with a crisper high end. Sound man Bob

was well pleased with them, and one or two customers noticed the difference too.

 

Anyway, a busy night with requests, including quite a few we’ve rarely or never done before - 

‘Summertime’, ‘Blackbird’, ‘New York state of mind’ and ‘Downtown’. ( Some of these made even more

difficult for me due to a very attractive & slightly inebriated lady dancing nearby ). 
We are next there at the end of November, and then also at their Christmas party in December.

 

and here for @Mickeyboro
Milestone Acoustic Duo

Ibanez PCBE12MH bass into Fender Rumble 100 combo / DI into house PA.

The Lookout on The Pier, 

18, West Pier

Scarborough.

 

 

 

Edited November 6 by casapete

[BigRedX]

Gig on a school night with Hurtsfall, supporting goth icon Aurelio Voltaire. 

 

There was weird stuff going on with the backing that supplies our drums and second synth and we ended up having to mute the left channel in the PA. That means my job later today will be taking the rack apart to try and track down the problem. Despite that the gig was absolutely fantastic! Sold out several weeks in advance (nothing to do with us, Voltaire is extremely popular and this is his first UK tour since COVID - there were people who had travelled a long way to come and see him), the audience were queueing to get in a good 20 minutes before the doors opened.

 

All this meant that despite playing first at 7.30 the room was packed when we went on and the audience were most appreciative even though most of them were seeing us for the first time. Played well although I lost the plot at the end of our latest single the whole set went down brilliantly. There were obviously some people who know us because several were singing along and a couple of songs got cheers when we announced them.

 

Afterwards there was another massive queue of people to buy merch and have selfies taken with Voltaire, which the promoter had arranged so that everyone had to file past both support bands' merch tables so we sold a load of new T-shirts and CD copies of the single (my mistakes can't have been that obvious). Voltaire is a throughly nice person and insisted in paying for a copy of our CD as well as giving us some contacts should we want to go to the US to play. Also picked up a couple of excellent UK gigs for 2025 which I can't say any more about yet. Didn't get home until 1.30 despite it being a local gig with pub hours!

 

For @Mickeyboro as usual I played my Eastwood Hooky 6-string bass through my Line6 Helix going direct into the PA.

 

No photos of us yet, but my girlfriend took some of the audience during "Calling Out"...

 

[dmccombe7]

5 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

Lol 😂 

 

Yeah, it a cool gig on November 26th. And we'll have our own drummer.

 

Too bad about the punk band. I thought the punk scene was really robust all over in your area?

 

Winter is generally pretty slow for us.

 

Daryl

I think the punk band have lost a bit of drive in getting better gigs and possibly learning new songs. I've been with them 3 yrs but apparently they've been playing the same set list for past 16yrs with just 2 new songs added recently.

I'm quite busy with Glam band from end of Nov with 2 gigs every weekend thru to first week in January 25 so that's good news for us.

Dave

[Bluewine]

16 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I think the punk band have lost a bit of drive in getting better gigs and possibly learning new songs. I've been with them 3 yrs but apparently they've been playing the same set list for past 16yrs with just 2 new songs added recently.

I'm quite busy with Glam band from end of Nov with 2 gigs every weekend thru to first week in January 25 so that's good news for us.

Dave

 

Our set list is also getting old. I don't really know if there's a plan for adding new songs.

 

Daryl

[dmccombe7]

18 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

Our set list is also getting old. I don't really know if there's a plan for adding new songs.

 

Daryl

My attitude to the set list is to keep it fresh by adding a few new numbers every 6mths but also to make sure we replace songs in the set and don't just add songs onto the existing set list.

The punk band seems to be missing that drive to rehearse the new songs enough that they are up to scratch whereas the Glam band would book rehearsals to get the songs done properly.

Its an odd one as we have the same drummer, bass and vocalist in both bands. ? 

Dave

[Muzz]

A lateish recap, but only a single gig last weekend, and we had the ex-main drummer call it the day before, so a quick reconfiguration back to a trio and we could afford the A Drummer (who I play with in the other band). Always good to play with the very best, and his small triggered kit and skill with sound production always means less kit and better sound overall. Quite wasted on the pub to start with, really, but it warmed up later, and we even did a couple of requests we didn't know/don't play (via some iPad-peering) at the end, which always goes down well with the punters if it's a small crowd. Less kit means quicker packup, so back on the road and home in decent time. Cheapo P, Stomp, inears.

 

Trio again Satdy night, more local and a reasonable crowd in the offing, so it'll be a run of decent gigs over the last three weeks...and I've got the next weekend off for a jaunt with the lads*, which will also be a nice break.

 

* And when I say 'lads', I mean 'five 50-somethings, but we've all known each other 40 years and we'll be away from the families for the weekend, so 'lads' it is...'

[martthebass]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

My attitude to the set list is to keep it fresh by adding a few new numbers every 6mths but also to make sure we replace songs in the set and don't just add songs onto the existing set list.

The punk band seems to be missing that drive to rehearse the new songs enough that they are up to scratch whereas the Glam band would book rehearsals to get the songs done properly.

Its an odd one as we have the same drummer, bass and vocalist in both bands. ? 

Dave

Maybe it's an 'enjoyment' thing Dave, if the Glam band is having more engagement/fun then I guess there's more enthusiasm to learn new numbers and keep it on the boil.

As we've gone through 2 drummers in 3 months (though the current one is now a keeper), we've had to go back to a core 'set', fortunately the new guy is so much better that the numbers almost feel like new.

[Len_derby]

Last night was a fun outing for my acoustic project, The Desperate Cowboys.

We’ve managed to recruit a third member, Hugh The Welshman, on harmonica and it was his first live outing with us. 
Can you spot the clue that it was a birthday party? 

 

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

... Can you spot the clue that it was a birthday party? 
 

 

Your beaming smiles..? 

 

...

 

 

[Len_derby]

16 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Your beaming smiles..? 

 

...

 

 

We were concerned that the buffet might be all gone before we got to it. 😂

[casapete]

59 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

Last night was a fun outing for my acoustic project, The Desperate Cowboys.

We’ve managed to recruit a third member, Hugh The Welshman, on harmonica and it was his first live outing with us. 
Can you spot the clue that it was a birthday party? 

Looks good - how’s the Taylor doing Neil?
Seems like exactly the sort of gig it would be suited to. 

[Len_derby]

2 hours ago, casapete said:

Looks good - how’s the Taylor doing Neil?
Seems like exactly the sort of gig it would be suited to. 

It’s lovely, thanks Pete. As you say, really well suited to that kind of gig. Nice to play, light and easily transportable. Ideally, given the option, I’d play it through my Trace Elliott Elf and BF One 10, but it’s fine straight through the PA. Since that fateful meeting in Goole my gigs have been 50% Taylor Mini Bass and 50% Mustang. 

[Rayman]

 

The Rigger in Newcastle under Lyme. Great little venue, always fun to play there. My bad luck with amps continues though…. the Ashdown ABM500 head went pop on me, again, so thankfully my trusty little TC BQ500 stepped in. A great sound all around in the end.

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, Rayman said:

 

The Rigger in Newcastle under Lyme. Great little venue, always fun to play there. My bad luck with amps continues though…. the Ashdown ABM500 head went pop on me, again, so thankfully my trusty little TC BQ500 stepped in. A great sound all around in the end.

 

Again?  You've got me nervous now - my only plan B is DI from the pedalboard into the PA.  Perhaps I should invest in a wee backup amp...

[asingardenof]

14 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Again?  You've got me nervous now - my only plan B is DI from the pedalboard into the PA.  Perhaps I should invest in a wee backup amp...

Definitely worth doing. After @Merton's ABM 500 went pop on me (no such bad luck with my ABM 600 yet!) I bought a TE Elf and it was well worthwhile.

[Stub Mandrel]

6 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Definitely worth doing. After @Merton's ABM 500 went pop on me (no such bad luck with my ABM 600 yet!) I bought a TE Elf and it was well worthwhile.

 

Yep a TE Elf is so tiny and relatively cheap, ideal backup.

[asingardenof]

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Yep a TE Elf is so tiny and relatively cheap, ideal backup.

Great for smaller gigs too to save having to lug an ABM about