How was your gig last night?

[Moody]

@niceguyhomer @tauzero @OldGit

Indeed, we were walking around the Red Lion in Sandiacre like we'd just played Wembley or something! I think the biggest thing it will do it spur us all on, personally, I'm the least experienced but it sure has motivated me to concentrate more!

[barneythedog]

Local bar "after meal" show to about 60.

Went really well considering I've been in hospital for the last 3 weeks (not much practice there then) and had to sit down for the entire 2nd set.

In fact I played better than I have for quite a while - maybe I should lay of the practicing a bit more

[bassninja]

Roots around the World gig with The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

I'd read their review in The Independent and was looking forward to it. Turned up early for soundcheck (good boys that we are), hurried up and waited as seems to be the typical way of things. Also as often happens, found I had a better chat & hang out with the crew than with the band. But hey ho...

Our sound check done & dusted in 15 mins. Given the hall, a bit tricky to balance my backline with the vox & 2 acoustic instruments in the absence of subs, but the Mackie's always sound great anyway.

Wrought carnage on the rider, played great, everybody happy, good reception.

Next Saturday: 2 gigs in one night due to our booking fella's 'intricate filing system'.

Stand by...

[tonybassplayer]

Black tie charity function at a lovely hotel. Set up and clear stage for 8 so guests can sit down. Adjourn to hotel bar for two hour plus wait till meal etc finished only to be told by member of hotel staff " you can't sit here, it's residents only" where can we sit then ?? " you will have to sit on the stage " we can't do that " well you will have to go sit in your cars"

You can just imagine the response this got from us !!! a word with the management followed by free coffee, sandwiches and a nice apology swiftly followed and we went on and played a cracking gig to a brilliant audience.

[Shaggy]

Fisherman's club, Glanamman, darkest Carmarthenshire

A youth benefit gig, and only second gig this year due to a singer-less hiatus since Xmas* (see below)
Also, after (*coughs*) years of bass-playing, my first experience of DI-ing, thru band's new 1.2kW PA. Seemed fine duirng soundcheck., but during gig;
Bass sound at audience level - absolutely awesome (allegedly)
Bass sound at my level - nothing. Nada. Couldn't hear a goddam thing, even with monitors. Not a real problem for playing, but the whole "live vibe" totally missing.
Worse - playing "Hard to handle" (funked-up version) and finally settling into a groove for the first time in the evening, I suddenly found to my horror I was DOING THE CHICKEN-NECK (rythmic "head-pecking" motion with optional side-to-side oscillation, much favoured by '70's MOR bassists). OMG - lost my sound AND my mojo in one evening!!!!!!!
Only one solution - call for the Doctor...................




.............Dr. GAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Oh yeah. uh-huh.


(*Usual tragic story - after years of grind, band finally makes it big on the local sene, largely due to sensational female singer. Guitarist's wife then accuses guitarist (probably with good grounds) of sh@gging sensational female singer, and delivers ultimatum to effect that singer leaves band or guitarist leaves house. Exit singer. Now got 2 sisters singing, not as technically good but more entertaining, just hope no-one suggests "ABBA tribute"!.........)

[OldGit]

Dep gig playing stand in for my mate who was depping for the absent bass player .. mate goes sick on Thursday so last minute rush to arrange everything, child care and stuff, and learn the two tunes in teh set I'd heard but not learned in detail. Just two out of 24 so not too arduous.
Nailed them on Friday, swift run through the set on Saturday morning to make sure and then paring down my normal stage rig to keep it as simple as pssible but to cover all the possibilities involved in depping with an unknown band with an unknown PA in an unknown room.
In the end I decided to take everything except my radio mics ...

2 pm the evening's child care phones in sick hummmmm.. so, organise a workaround then just about to start loading the car when the drummer calls .. he's the band's player manager as far as I could tell. Apparently the singer and guitarist have ejected their toys and had a hissy fit about working with an unknown bass player ... They'd rather pull the gig than risk it ... nope, my reputation hadn't preceded me, "they're just bl00dy kids", said the drummer...

So, no playing for me .. sad as the set list was nice stuff to play and loud Classics from Free, Bad Co, Thin Lizzie, Whitesnake, Kaiser's - basically Jeremy Clarkson's jukebox ....

Sunday morning I got an email - truculent kids sacked new people responding to the adverts already Fast mover this guy. He'd managed to dep in a band to the venue and keep that relationship too.

So I didn't get to play but I got to see Rich play Cardiff and made a valuable contact for future ref ... more of a draw than a win but no a bad result ..

Edited March 9, 2008 by OldGit

[allighatt0r]

Fairly standard Pub gig last night, my seventh gig ever, my first in my home town, and it was alright. Nothing too spectacular, but nothing disappointing (Apart from the nutter that was jumping higher and higher to one song, pushing himself up on his mates shoulders, everyone in the pub seemed to be willing him to whack his head on the ceiling, but he didn't.)

We got there about half 7 and the pub was full of girls dressed as army soldiers... but they left before we started. bummer. But we soon lugged everything in and got it all set up, had a soundcheck and had a five minutes R&R before going on.

T'was a decent gig, although it didn't live up to the hype that the other bands had made that pub up to be.

Roll on Saturday! I'm really getting into the Weekend Warrior spirit.

[Old Horse Murphy]

Dep gig on Wednesday for my Drummer's other band. Pretty simple stuff until some guy asks for Hey Joe. I've never played it before but know the song pretty well. The guitarist tells me what key and the chors structure and off we go.

Anyway, it goes down really well and the guitarist tells me I'm the easiest bass player he's ever played with and offered him more support than he's ever had during his solo.

Found out on Friday that they want me to join full time!! Not a bad result for a guy who could hear his P Bass through most of the gig (see other post). Maybe that's the secret; don't listen to what you're playing!!

[OldGit]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='154000' date='Mar 9 2008, 04:39 PM']Dep gig on Wednesday for my Drummer's other band. Pretty simple stuff until some guy asks for Hey Joe. I've never played it before but know the song pretty well. The guitarist tells me what key and the chors structure and off we go.

Anyway, it goes down really well and the guitarist tells me I'm the easiest bass player he's ever played with and offered him more support than he's ever had during his solo.

Found out on Friday that they want me to join full time!! Not a bad result for a guy who could hear his P Bass through most of the gig (see other post). Maybe that's the secret; don't listen to what you're playing!![/quote]

Not all bad then ...
Saw that guy get poleaxed in the Welsh game yesterday and reaslised what your inner ears must have been going through .....

[Jase]

Thursday night, The Harp Inn Mountain Ash. Odd little gig, we should have brought our lights with us, nothing like playing in a dark little corner We had volume complaints too, which was weird because the guitarist had changed his valves and the amp wasn't performing very well ( a loss in power ) but we took it down a little, don't mind doing that if it means we can come back and we also had some requests for Bat Out Of Hell Also tried my new Hartke strings, a bit light and soft for me, think I'll go back to Pro Steels.

[EntropicLqd]

We played at a friends wedding last night. It was a bit of a departure for us but we'd been asked, they were paying (not a lot but enough) so we figured we might as well. The gig went really well. We had people on the dance floor from about the middle of the first half. Because of this, and the fact that we'd come on late and had a definitive stop time we played both halves of the set straight through without our usual break in the middle.

It was tiring (need to beef up my stamina a bit I think) but it was a blast and we got loads of compliments afterwards. Some of the dancers were very distracting :brow:

[bassicinstinct]

The Limelight last night (Friday 14 March) and, as always, the good folk of Crewe were out to party!!

Sublime monitor and FOH mix as per usual - a real pleasure to play this gig.

Queens Hall Nuneaton tomorrow night for much more of the same.

[niceguyhomer]

Dickie Doodles in Kendal last night. It was very quiet - they get a lot of students in there and we could only summise that they were saving their pennies for Easter weekend.

We actually played the last four songs to a completely empty room but we were on form and had a great sound so we shrugged our shoulders and got on with enjoying ourselves.

Dunno how long pubs are going to continue putting bands on if this situation carries on.

[stingrayfan]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='154000' date='Mar 9 2008, 04:39 PM']Dep gig on Wednesday for my Drummer's other band. Pretty simple stuff until some guy asks for Hey Joe. I've never played it before but know the song pretty well. The guitarist tells me what key and the chors structure and off we go.

Anyway, it goes down really well and the guitarist tells me I'm the easiest bass player he's ever played with and offered him more support than he's ever had during his solo.

Found out on Friday that they want me to join full time!! Not a bad result for a guy who could hear his P Bass through most of the gig (see other post). Maybe that's the secret; don't listen to what you're playing!![/quote]
Result! Well done. It's nice to be appreciated.

[MissPenguin]

Friday afternoon went well ^^

Apart from our bari getting up at the end and spectaularly knocking over her stand.. At least the judges giggled!

[wateroftyne]

The Court Theatre, Tring, near Aylesbury. A long day.. we drove down at 10am, and we're driving back to Newcastle. I should be home by 4am. Yikes.

The gig was great.. 220 seater, from what I gather it sold out, too. Nice converted stables with good facilities, and a nice meal beforehand. I like these gigs!

It wasn't totally smooth, though. Mrs WoT couldn't make it (shes in the band, too), and we also had a dep drummer. Fortunately he's spot-on, so it wasn't to much of a problem. He did forget his snare stand, though... prompting a major panic. We got sorted in the end...!

We've worked with the PA company before - they came down from Mansfield. Top lads. used my Jazz and my Fretless P. I'm Stil LOVING my Warwick Tubepath head. Overlooked gems, I tell ya!

Next gig.. Monday Night in a pub with a scratch band, playing Irish stuff, and then off to Skegness on Tuesday with my main gig. My head hurts.

[stingrayfan]

So-so gig in a pub with crap acoustics. Playing a narrow room so couldn't turn the PA up without getting feedback. Bass cab was on a hollow stage so it was booming all over the place too. Had a nice crowd in who wanted to watch rather than dance for the mainstay which always kills it a bit for me. Biggest annoyance was the pub though, who hadn't bothered promoting the fact we were on.

You've got to have the bad ones mind, to make the good nights, good.

[Faithless]

Just after the gig with friends' Alternative-Metal band.

Public took it very nicely, but, as it was our first [i]real[/i] gig, we messed up a lotta times, sound was quite horrible too (until gu*itarist's string broke and soundman could do some changes).

We did 8 Metallica covers, 1 from Pantera and another one from Kiss.

I dunno what happened to me, but my thumb was simply falling off from the string at the very beginning, it simply felt like I took my bass after a month... Though I haven't got a free day from rehearsals since the last week.. And practised before the gig any moment I got... General-rehearsal was quite good too.

Well, things happen, but I'm so dissappointed about our playing. Still, major public appreciated our playing, 'drive', and energy ( as they said) very much, so this makes things a lil bit better.

I'm sooo ashamed after all

Edited March 16, 2008 by Faithless

[OldGit]

[quote name='MissPenguin' post='158197' date='Mar 15 2008, 09:23 PM']Friday afternoon went well ^^

Apart from our bari getting up at the end and spectaularly knocking over her stand.. At least the judges giggled![/quote]


Judges?

[Freuds_Cat]

Well I know its not really the same naming my gigs on here as it is for most of the rest of you, Adelaide being on the other side of the globe 'n all. But I don't like feeling left out so;

We did a last minute show out at the Sandy Creek Pub on friday night. I don't now if you get the TV show McLeods Daughters in the UK but this little pub is in the same place as where they film the show. Just down the road from Jacobs Creek (no, really). Anyway Adelaide has had one of the longest hot spells on record recently. We are now on our 15th straight day where the temperature is above 35C (95F). Put it this way Today (Sunday) is the city's 11th straight day of a maximum temperature in excess of 38C (100F).

Anyway...... (sorry for digression...ooops I did it again), Left work and drove out to Sandy Creek and started playing at 9pm and the temp was still 34C (93F). The gig is at a purpose built outdoor beer garden complete with permanent stage and is a fantastic little spot. As we were playing our second set, sweating our guts out under the added heat from the lights a weird thing happened. The temp dropped down to 24C (75F) over the course of 2 songs as a cool damp change came over us. The guitars went out of tune pretty quickly and we had to end the set early just to make adjustments. Was very freaky.

All in all it was a great show and they paid well so I hope we get to do that gig again.


[attachment=6509:sandy_creek.jpg]

[bassninja]

To local Butlins at 5pm to load most of the stuff in to their Irish bar, it being St Pat's. Agency gig on an 'adult themed weekend' with some kind of Motown theme (fine by me...).

Geno Washington was playing upstairs. Lots of stag/hen parties in a bar about the size of Cornwall. Many ladies in seasonally inappropriate clothing (also fine by me...)

Due to our booking guys 'confusion', we had also committed to a charity gig on the other side of town & didn't want to let them down. So back in the vehicles with minimal kit for second soundcheck with a superb & laid back PA guy, quickly getting us a great sound, and helping towards a similarly warm reception.

So '[i]thangyewg'night[/i]' and into the vehicles again for a dash back to gig A. Meanwhile, back in the Irish bar...

[i]Casualty[/i] playing on the big telly, and all manner of weirdness going on in the audience with strange costumes, Red Coat enforced jollity and cheap booze. Straight into a bit of 'diddly diddly' and didn't look back, really.

Lousy sound, decent fee (for once). In spite of initial apprehensions: really friendly staff & punters and a good time was had by all. Home by 0100, knackered but grinning

[Scoop]

My gig last night was..... Cancelled!! Yay!!

It was a depping gig for a band that I really don't like that much musically. I agreed to dep for them, initially, a couple of years ago coz they had a really great drummer. That guy's now left the band and I hate to turn them down coz they're nice guys but their music just doesn't inspire me. It was nice to put my feet up after dashing back from the NW bass Bash instead.

[Deep Thought]

First gig on Saturday night since October-our drummer fell off his motorbike in January and made a right mess of his left forearm-broken in 5 places, major surgery to have it pinned, skin grafts, luckily no nerve damage and he should get full use of the hand back. Recovery was going well and he'd done a fair bit of work at home with his practice kit. However about a fortnight ago his consultant told him he wasn't to put any load on it for another month. This gig has been in the offing ever since we started gigging-a birthday party for a work colleague (we're all ambulance staff) who wanted us to play her 30th birthday party ever since she saw our first gig 18 months ago. Looked like we were knackered. We were going to do it without the drummer-I was gonna stomp on a box with a microphone in it, Seasick Steve-style, but our drummer reckoned he could do it one-handed so that's what we did. A bit of hassle in the afternoon rushing round to get the kit into the venue before it filled up with rugby fans watching the final (venue is a rugby club), but all sorted and our best gig to date, drummer performed admirably, usual cock-ups made by all but didn't detract, sound good and well received, much dancing and enjoyment, the bits where I do lead vocals went down well (and was even requested to do one again!) and requests from audience members to be informed when we're playing again! Much satisfaction-although I think I need a 2x10 cab to go with my Trace 1x15 combo, which performed admirably, but I need a bit more punch.

[TonyRamwell]

Sunday night at the 3 Kings, Twickenham.

Bit of an emotional night the landlord, a close friend, has finally thrown in the towel and decided to close the doors forever... It was an awesome night 4 of the local bands (including ourselves) played for free and the place was jumping. Probably the best gig we have ever had.
We thought that we had rocked the place until the headline band (Skalectrix) came on, best band I've seen this year.

All in all great night (that finished at 5am), gutted another live music venue has gone!

[3V17C]

well - having been off work for 4 days with proper flu (not [i]man[/i] flu - proper flu! - fever, cold sweats, shakes etc) and having not eaten more than the odd crumb for the same amount of time i was borderline cancelling our gig on Saturday but of course, not wanting to let anyone down, the show must go on etc etc, I dragged myself out of my deathbed, dosed myself up with Lemsip and Red Bull and went for it. Feeling [i]very[/i] ill still, and more than a little annoyed by the drummer having a [b]massive[/b] go at the bewildered guitarist for not bringing the intro tape (we don't normally use an intro tape at this venue!) - i thought sod it, i'll stay out of it and hopefully as is often the case, once i'm up onstage then i'll sweat the evil germs out of me and it'll all be good.

Didn't quite go like that though as after a couple of songs it was pretty obvious that things weren't going to improve and with the heat of the lights etc I started to feel much worse, weak and dizzy. Still struggling on I manage to get through both sets despite the fact that by half way thru set two, the music in my delirous brain was sounding like some old creepy fairground music kind of ebbing and flowing and speeding up and slowing down!!! yoinks!

really annoying thing though was despite how dodgy i felt i (think) i played pretty much fine but our widdly guitarist was dropping bum notes all over the shop!!!!! grrrrrr!!! he's been warned so many times lately too!!! gig was videoed so i'll wait to watch that before passing judgement but it did annoy the hell out of me at the time!!

peace

c