How was your gig last night?

[Relise]

My second ever gig in my local pub - Gibraltar Castle in Harpenden. We are a rock/Indie covers band.

Went down amazingly. We have only been going for about 8 months and have 19 songs gig worthy... We played those and then the crowd (and landlady) wanted us to play more... So we played a bad version of Times Like These (we haven't got it gig worthy yet!!) but it still went down well... We ended up replaying 3 songs to which half the pub where dancing away.

Awesome night!!!!!

[Cat Burrito]

Played well, a long night. There were 5 bands on the bill (!) and when I had stepped out to get something to eat I was met by my singer in a state of panic. One of the other bands' Jazz basses had packed up and they couldn't continue the gig. No worries, I went through and gave him the nod that he could use it. The whole band seemed relieved. At the end of their set we were on and I went to get my bass. The conversation went something like this;

"Thanks for that, really got us out of a hole"
"No worries, happy to help"
"I'm normally a guitarist and I don't really play bass"
"Oh right"
"Those chrome covers really get in the way, I had to use a pick and then I didn't know where to play"
"Yeah I saw you change your technique a bit"
"And what's with the foam under the bridge?"
"Well I like that Motown sound so it's just a piece of foam I cut to fit"
"Yeah, no sustain, I nearly pulled it out!"

*@**!!

I didn't tell him that during his set 3 people came up and said "I wish you hadn't lent him your bass!"

I'll still lend gear out but I think I need to be more selective

[tauzero]

I was guitard last night but thought I'd do a little mention of the night anyway...

It was an acoustic night (or "nite") in a local ex-night-club. I'd noticed that the line-up had a "TBC" on it so I'd asked if we (Mrs Zero and I) could do a slot if no-one had C'ed. We got it, Emma the organiser asked us to turn up about 8 for a sound check, doors open at 9, first act would be 9.30 and we'd be on 3rd at 10.30.

So we turn up (first), get soundchecked, first act (Benji, a guitarist/songwriter who does sing too and Mrs Zero and I know) turned up next and soundchecked, headline act (singer/songwriter/guitarist a bit like Billy Bragg with a neutral accent and acoustic guitar) then turned up and soundchecked. It appeared the second band weren't turning up - they'd texted Emma to say they wouldn't be coming, then that they would, then she couldn't get in touch with them. Then, just after 9.30, when first act had been pushed back a few minutes to allow for them not being there and Mrs Zero and I were planning a slightly extended set, they turned up - four youths and a couple of dads.

Benji went on, played till a few minutes after 10 (during which time the second band stood just by Mrs Zero and I, talking very loudly), then the second band got up and plugged in. No sound from guitars. After f***ing around for a while (including Emma asking them if their guitars were turned up), they got underway with a faint sound from one guitar and nothing from the other. A bit through their set (which was sort of hippy-meets-rap), the headliner wandered over to the silent guitarist and pointed out that the volume control on his guitar was set to zero. The other guitarist was gut-wrenchingly out of tune.

Mrs Zero and I got up next and turned in our usual immaculate performance There wasn't a big audience, and it was made smaller by the fact that the second band all f***ed off partway through our set. Still, it's the difference between playing to an audience and having a sort of a musical conversation with them.

Last on was Harry and his Heartless Sleeve - I'd seen him once before and thought he was rather better this time than he was then. Talking to him afterwards, it turned out that the time I'd seen him before was his first gig.

Anyroadup, Emma liked us, Benji and Harry, and told me afterwards that the other band had asked for another gig there and she was, let us say, unlikely to have them back. Plus I should have secured another gig there for the originals band (for which I play bass, so there finally is bassist content).

The moral of this long and rambling post is that soundchecking is a bloody good idea, as is not annoying a promoter/organiser. And don't piss around like the second band did when another person at the gig is another local promoter. And word about how a band behaves does filter out to other bands too, so if bands happen to organise a gig then they might have heard about that behaviour.

[BigRedX]

Friday night gig with my covers band and the first with what is hopefully going to prove to be a stable line-up.

We were a little worried that fireworks were going to be more exciting for our potential audience, but the miserable weather worked in our favour and we ended up with a more than healthy turn out. There were some senior moments from pretty much all of us, but we also stormed through the 4 new songs including a cracking version of "I believe in a thing called love" and had nearly everyone up and dancing for all of the second set. Not bad at all!

Edit: Forgot to mention that I used my Overwater Original (for the first time live in over 10 years) and while it's not really as versatile as the Gus basses it's mutant T-Bird looks certainly gave the right image. Made me feel like a proper rock god ;-)

Edited November 7, 2010 by BigRedX

[gary mac]

Saturday was my first proper gig post surgery and it was damn fine.

I really enjoyed it, I get such a buzz when it's tight and grooving. It was only a short set, which suits me at the moment. We went down a storm and received a good number of compliments.

Set list was: Wishing Well. Travelling in Style. Echo Beach. The One I love (REM). Sultans of Swing and a Paul Weller number that I can't recall the title of.

Anyway it was most enjoyable and my G&L sounded growly and huge.

[Cat Burrito]

Bath last night was fine. My solid state b-gigs head popped before souncheck but we plugged me through a guitar amp into my cab & had a just about manageable tone despite the set back.

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1017695' date='Nov 9 2010, 03:36 PM']Bath last night was fine.[/quote]

I had a bath last night as well. No issues to report ;-)

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1017726' date='Nov 9 2010, 03:59 PM']I had a bath last night as well. No issues to report ;-)[/quote]
Me too. Had to top it up half way through because I ran it too cold before I got in.
On the upside, the new soap I got seemed to cut through better than my old body-wash... and smelled nicer. Got some nice comments afterwards.

[Old Horse Murphy]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1017740' date='Nov 9 2010, 04:09 PM']Me too. Had to top it up half way through because I ran it too cold before I got in.
On the upside, the new soap I got seemed to cut through better than my old body-wash... and smelled nicer. Got some nice comments afterwards.

[/quote]

Should this not be in the "How was your Bath last night?" thread??

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110077"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110077[/url]

Edited November 9, 2010 by Old Horse Murphy

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1017740' date='Nov 9 2010, 04:09 PM']Me too. Had to top it up half way through because I ran it too cold before I got in.
On the upside, the new soap I got seemed to cut through better than my old body-wash... and smelled nicer. Got some nice comments afterwards.

[/quote]

I had 4 other bathers turn up expecting me to lend them my new Active shower gel One didn't even have a sponge.

Edited November 9, 2010 by dave_bass5

[dave_bass5]

And getting back to gigs. Has anyone played at Caerphilly Castle (THE castle. not a pub ;-) ?

We have a gig there on Sat and have been told its pretty basic. Just wondering.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1017765' date='Nov 9 2010, 04:19 PM']I had 4 other bathers turn up expecting me to lend them my new Active shower gel One didn't even have a sponge.[/quote]
I actually lolled.

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1017695' date='Nov 9 2010, 03:36 PM']Bath last night was fine.[/quote]
Very good everyone!

I realised when I posted this that it didn't read too well but I couldn't be a****d to edit the post.

Just to clarify last night we played in the bathroom. Sorry for any confusion caused

[sk8]

whys a gig thread in off topic? Surely its bass related

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='sk8' post='1017873' date='Nov 9 2010, 05:52 PM']whys a gig thread in off topic? Surely its bass related [/quote]

Not if your playing guitar or drums ;-)

[tauzero]

First gig for the new lineup of Spiral Six aka covers band A. We were a six-piece - one male and one female vocal, two guitars, and the drummer and I. However, the rhythm guitarist and female vocalist left (not band issues) and so we were four. Venue was the Grapes in Stafford, which is actually a music pub. Did a one hour set with no great problems - the bass drum hasn't got spikes on it so it migrated south, and speaking of South, if the South had moved as quickly as we did "Sweet Home Alabama", they'd have won the war. Just need to get a bit snappier between numbers.

[Lozz196]

Played The Bell, in Tring, Herts last nite, for the first time.

We played very well (not bigheaded, you always know when you`ve played either well, or badly) and the audience were very vocal in their appreciation, was a thoroughly good gig. The landlord immediately afterwards booked us for another 3 gigs next year.

But, the main point of this report - a local guy from Tring was in the forces, and was killed in October of this year (24 years old), and was buried this week. One of the guys in the pub said to our singer after the gig that it had been a very hard week, as the guy was friends with most of the people in the pub, but our performance had made many in the pub smile for the first time in quite a while.

Gotta say, I was touched by that, and can feel myself welling up just writing this.

So it just goes to show, always give the performance your all - you never know the personal circumstances of your audience, and the show you put on really can make their situation seem not quite so bad, even if only for a short while.

[endorka]

With Horse in the Queens Hall, Edinburgh last night, playing to 500 people - most excellent! I love playing in this venue, great acoustics, and the audience were great. Brighton, Inverness, Livingston and Glasgow still to go over the next few weeks.



Jennifer

[rOB]

played with my rock covers band at Loaf in Leicester last night for a friends party. Arrived in the afternoon to find the room full of restaurant furniture. Bit of a mare getting set up but got everything up and soundchecked on time.

Very helpful staff made us really welcome.

Played an iffy set to be honest but the crowd seemed very appreciative with plenty of nice comments.

Back to the drawing board on a few songs!

Edit - would also like to add (as it makes me sounds manly) that I played both sets with a cut on the tip of my left index finger. Sliced it on some metal foil on Friday. Ouch

Edited November 14, 2010 by rOB

[ezbass]

Forgot to post this last Sunday, but my gig a week ago Saturday was great. It was a dep with a function band. Was the set list awe inspiring? No. Was the crowd super appreciative and full of hotties? No (working man's club in Dunstable). What made it great? The drummer. He's an old friend of mine who I've played in a couple of bands with before and is quite simply the best drummer I've worked with, ever. He's a very good pro standard and he listens to me the same way I try to listen to all drummers. No rehearsal but one number in and we're in synch, I loved it! He had a drummer buddy in the audience from the drummer's forum whom he rates, and this guy said that the rhythm section locked together nicely. I'm so glad that at least someone else noticed. Despite the often risible set list I'd do that gig again like a shot.

[Bottle]

Had an OK-ish morning yesterday - regular church P&W band. Decided to do a quick in-and-out, so just took my Ibanez, tuner and SansAmp and DI'ed straight into the PA. Got good foldback - IEM packs are two channel (although we only use them in mono), so tried something different by setting the PA desk to send bass in one channel of my 'cans and 'mix minus bass' in t'other - worked a treat, and I didn't give myself the usual hernia with the 4x10 I often bring. Even better was the single trip to and from the car.

Playing was OK - hadn't really had the chance to practice the set list beforehand, but we ended up going into a spontaneous set at the end in G-maj, so I noodled over an Em scale, throwing in some basslines from another song. Got a couple of good comments from the worship leader at the end, plus the singer/songerwriter whose basslines I'd 'borrowed' came up and gave me a smile, which made my day

So's all-in-all a good day

Ian

[dave_bass5]

We went all the way to Wales (from London) to play a small wedding reception at Caerphilly Castle on Sat.

Its pretty much a ruin other than the main hall and we just managed to get the gear in before the rain hit.

With stone walls and floor, plus being in the corner we expected the worse. I didn't eve both with my BDDI as i though it would complicate things freq wise.

As it happens we had a fantastic sound. This was the first gig ive done with my upgraded Squier CVP and it sounded exactly as i had wanted it to sound. More P sounding than my old Duck Dunn's or my Fender P5, not that i didnt like them, its just the CV P has that earthy tone (big thnaks to Andy at Wizard for producing such a good pup).

It might have been the venue's acoustics that helped but im very happy to use the Squier as my gigging bass now.

As i was so wrapped up in the new bass i played the the intro and first verse to Walking on sunshine in A rather than E. It threw the band out but i dont think the audience noticed.

Edited November 15, 2010 by dave_bass5

[razze06]

Played The Caves in Edinburgh, which is a nice venue spread over several ancient cellars and basements. Nice big stage, but insanely boomy. Onstage sound was therefore really quite tinny, but hey, at least I could sort of hear myself most of the times. The sound guy worked hard to get us a good sound for the audience, so big thumbs up for him. It was also our first proper gig with an electronic drum kit and a dedicated backing singer.

It was a charity event, and we got asked to do an early warmup set, then other singers and performers would do their show, and then we would be on again for an hour, just before the final act (a Robbie Williams tribute act, singer with recorded base).
All went was going swimmingly if a bit late on schedule, until halfway through our second set, when the organiser shooed us off stage to let the final act on. We had a full dancefloor of people dancing and singing along (we had just finished playing Take me to the river). Apparently they were afraid that too many people would leave before the final act... Net result: full dancefloor to empty in one and a half songs.

The guy doing the Robbie Williams stuff was actually very good, good singing and showmanship, but probably just not ideal for the occasion. More of a wedding/conference type of act IMO.

So we came back on, and blasted through some good and energetic stuff, and the few remaining stragglers danced away until we had to pull the plug at 12.
So all in all can't complain.

[Mog]

cracking session with diamond head in cork yesterday, even got asked for an autograph after our set?
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[WalMan]

Not a bad night. Back at a gig that has messed us about for the whole of last year, cancelling, blah di blah. Turn up thinking "We'll do this one out of five for the whole year then screw it & screw them". Last time I spoke to matey he said "I'm sorting out gigs for next year at the weekend" & I thought "I could give a flying #### cos I don't care if we don't go back", So what's the first thinghe does? Comes up at the start of the evening with next years diaries & a few dates already pencilled in.

So anyway, the gig. Been working on some new songs. Did one at last weeks gig and thought we'd chuck in one of the two Hendrix numbers as they're relatively easy & loose to play. Ran through another we had worked out in one key - but then changed at the last r/h when #2 guitarist couldn't make it so had dumped a retuned version in the band dropbox - for a quick soundcheck, and left it as perhaps we'll risk it as an encore.

Got to the end and went "ah bollox let's just go for it" and here it is in all it's [i]glory[/i]?

[url="http://www.the-alibi.org.uk/Sounds/Alibi_Live_-_Maniac.mp3"][color="#FF0000"][b]Alibi Live[/b][/color][/url]. Recorded ith the Roland R05 at the desk and quickly chopped up before I head for my pit.

D'you know I quite enjoyed it having been a tad uncertain about it.

Still got to the end of the night. Good gig. Chatting to loads of people after all of whom were most complimentary and generally seemed to reckon it was the busiest night in the pub for a while.

Edited November 20, 2010 by WalMan