Post your worst keyboard load in stories

[clpete]

Craziest: We were playing the patio at a local ski resort. We get there and they say they have been trying to call us to cancel because the owner showed up and theyre nervous about having rock on the patio. (Hes pretty old and in pour health.) Plan B. They decided to put us at the top lodge, so we had to haul every thing to the top of the mountain in gondolas. (The owner made is way to the top and enjoyed us. The next time he showed up we played at the main patio.)

 

WORST: Two and half hour drive in a snow storm. Thirty some steps up to the front door. A hundred feet to the back of the building. Twenty some steps to the second level. A hundred feet back to the front of the building. Ten piece JBL PA plus monitors, power amps and all the other band equipment. Two and a half hour drive back in the snow storm. (Too much work and not enough money. Still Fun!)

 

[Moonglow]

Ok, this one ventures into the "crazy load-in" category:

 

I recall this one particular wedding reception that involved a load-in during the pouring rain. The care-taker of the hall was this gruff, 400-pound (Im not kidding), ex-Marine type (sporting a flat-top hair cut) who directed us to load in at the back of the hall. He emphatically told us to not drive our large equipment van on the grass, located on either side of this narrow concrete strip leading to the load-in door. It required some careful maneuvering, but our crazy drummer George expertly backed up the van to the door. After the load-in, and this is a little difficult to explain, it really was much more convenient to drive across an approximate 15-foot patch of grass approximately 40 feet from the building in order to cut over to the parking lot. So George, being the pragmatist he is, said f*** it and proceeded to drive the van across this section of grass. Well, the care-taker dude must have been vigilantly watching him, because just as George drove onto the grass, he charged out of the hall like a mad bull, screaming his head off. Seeing this guy coming at him from the back of the van, George decides to floor it, spraying a mixture of mud and wet grass all over him. Im still not sure how we (especially George) lived to play another job.....

[resigned]

I did play at a college one time where water was an issue. Actually I was supposed to give a lecture on music technology, and the weather was so nice we decided to hold the lecture outside. I setup under the awning of the building and the students sat under the trees... the audience quickly grew. As I was playing on a DX-7, a kindly old woman slowly shuffled out and set a huge glass of ice water on the sloped front of the keyboard for me, then turned and left. You know what happened next. As I freed my left hand and kept playing with the right, I tried to grab the glass and set it on the floor, but it slipped from my grasp and the entire drink poured into the DX-7, which immediately sputtered and stopped working. A hush fell over the crowd as I unplugged the synth and poured the water out of it. I went into the lecture part of my presentation to let the keyboard dry. When it was over, I nervously switched the keyboard on and it worked fine. I quickly traded the DX-7 away on a new keyboard while it still worked.

[J. Dan]

On Friday nights during the summer months at Busch Stadium, they have local live bands play before the Cardinals games - we've done it a couple times. The stage is in the corner of the stadium in a big plaza at the outfield. There's nothing but a tall ornamental Aluminum fence between the back of the stage and the street. But do they put any kind of gate there? no. You have to call the person in charge to have a security guy let you in one of the gates 1/4 way around the stadium. And then there is not parking - you have to go pay the $20 or whatever that everybody else pays who are going to the game.

 

OK, so that's bad enough, but we were there once when it was REALLY hot, and we were geting occasional showers. They had one little canopy that was big enough to cover the drums. I brought tarps. We were actually setting up in the rain (it was dry when we loaded in and then started raining). So I'm actually under the tarp plugging in wires. It stops raining about 5 min before we are supposed to start, and the sun comes out in full force. BLAZING hot and ridiculous humidity. We play the whole show with no rain. As soon as we start tearing down - MASSIVE downpour - rain blowing sideways. EVERYTHING got completely soaked before we could get it in the cases. Because of the parking situation, I threw my rig in the drummer's car with his stuff. I didn't get a chance to check it out until our gig the next night. My keyboards were still wet in their cases. I let them set out and dry for a while before I turned anything on. Everything worked fine.

[SK]

Funny, bizarre story here, not about the load-in, but the set-up.

 

One time I played a gig with a guitar player and drummer, at a club I'd never played before. I played electric piano and used my Mini Moog for left hand bass that night.

 

The club had a circular stage with a wooden beam in the middle, with a power outlet on the beam. I plugged the guitar player's amp into that outlet while we set up. There was a Hammond on the stage too - an old organist was to play solo before we played.

 

The band and I were standing around, talking while he was playing, waiting to go on... when suddenly the drummer said, "Is the stage moving?" It was a dark room, but we looked and saw it was a revolving stage, and the stage was slowly TURNING!

 

Instantly I thought about having plugged into the center pole, but I figured "nah, the pole must turn too, or they'd never have that power outlet on it." The second I thought that, there was a chain reaction around the stage - the power cord had wrapped around the pole and completely snapped off from the amp... the amp fell on the drums, and the cymbals fell crashing loudly onto the organ player. Like a mini- earthquake, but just on the stage.

 

The organ player covered his head, stopped playing, then flipped the switch to stop the stage, and walked off. It kind of reminded me of the crashing merry-go-round scene from the movie "Strangers On A Train". Nobody was hurt and no further damage, except for the amp cord.

 

Then WE had to go on. I let the guitar player use my amp and we made it through the gig.

[ITGITC]

...when suddenly the drummer said, "Is the stage moving?"

 

..there was a chain reaction around the stage - the power cord had wrapped around the pole and completely snapped off from the amp... the amp fell on the drums, and the cymbals fell crashing loudly onto the organ player. Like a mini- earthquake, but just on the stage.

 

And I thought to myself, "Oh My God, I think the DRUMMER is actually RIGHT!!!!"

 

And THAT, ladies and germs, was the night I made the decision to stop drinking.

 

Well... wouldn't you?

 

 

 

 

[Ian Benhamou]

The first time I played at Place des Arts (performing arts center in Montreal), I didn't know where the loading dock was and for this gig I was using 2 keyboards, a 12-space rack, acoustic guitar, plus a case with pedals and cables and all my stands and stool. So I decide to walk in, find the stage manager and find out where the dock is. He tells me that there isn't one, which I can't believe for a second because this is a huge venue with 5 theatres including a 3000 seat hall! So there must be one, right? But no one around seems to know, and my car is double-parked outside. So I go get my car and park it in the underground garage and start lugging my gear 1 piece at a time through a huge underground parking lot, through a heavy doorway, up 2 flights of stairs, and escalator (phew!) then across a gigantic entrance hall, through the theatre's door's and down the auditorium all the way to the stage. I made this trip back and forth five times only to see on my last trip of course, the drummer pull up with his kit on a trolly from backstage where the loading dock was!

 

OUCH!!!! That hurt! At least the load out wasn't as painful.

[Joe Muscara]

So I decide to walk in, find the stage manager and find out where the dock is. He tells me that there isn't one

You need to ask in French AND English. Simultaneously.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[resigned]

OK, my last worst load-in story ever...

 

It was the hottest day of the year in Savannah Georgia: July 31st. 110 degrees in the shade with 90% humidity... every heat warning is out in spades. I arrived at the gig before the rest of the band to setup, which turned out to be at a doctor's waterside home... and by coincidence the doctor was a friend of mine. The band roadie was setting up the gear and PA in the back yard facing the water - in direct sun, no trees, no hope of shade or even a passing cloud for an afternoon gig. The gear is already too hot to touch. It's a wedding reception and noone is venturing out of the air conditioned house. Turns out the band was hired as a "wedding present" by a guest who wasn't even going to be there.

 

So my doctor friend comes up and asks me to play solo indoors and he would call the guy who hired the band and explain - the band would get paid anyway (he had the band check). I said certainly.

 

So I call the band leader with the good news - they get the day off with pay and no heat stroke. He flips out... what the hell was I doing renegotiating the gig without him? I tried to explain that it was common sense, the host requested it, noone lost a dime over this - it was a total win-win. He was not buying it and was about to come do the gig regardless. I went so far with this and then cut to the chase: I was sending the roadie home with the gear and the check and I was playing alone in the nice cool house, screw it.

 

The gig went perfectly and I quit the stupid band a few days later. A lot of my gigs were solo after that.

[Ian Benhamou]

So I decide to walk in, find the stage manager and find out where the dock is. He tells me that there isn't one

You need to ask in French AND English. Simultaneously.

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

That's funny. Sounds like you know about the nonsense language battles we've had over here.

[Joe Muscara]

That's funny. Sounds like you know about the nonsense language battles we've had over here.

I watch The Simpsons a lot.

[Moonglow]

ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT!

 

Revive inspired by mate stubb's post in the "Moving Leslie and Hammonds" thread. Fun read!

[EscapeRocks]

Dang Chris!!! Dis old!

[KuruPrionz]

So, this one time I was in a band and somehow we had a keyboard player who owned a Hammond M3 and had been injured in an automobile accident and could not help move his gear. Then we got a gig at a place downtown and it was up a flight and a half of stairs - Mezzanine. Plus the bassist owned a full Ampeg SVT set up with an 8-10" speaker cabinet.

 

I helped carry all of that stuff up and down the stairs so we could play our crappy music for 45 minutes. I miss some things about being young but not the stupid part.

 

These days I would have put all that crap on craigslist 2 days before the gig, taken $25 for everything and went out of town to eat pho or something.

[U.Honey]

I've had some pretty memorable load-in experiences. Once we had a gig on a cruise ship. The load-in was from the car deck with was like on the 2nd floor and the stage was on 9th floor. For some reason we were late and we'd have to hurry up with the load in. Of course the elevator was broken and so we had to use stairs. Those of you who have been in cruise ship know that the stairs in ships are steep and narrow. I was sweating like I had just run a marathon. Since we were already late there was no time to take a shower and so there I was on stage playing "Girl of Ipanema" looking like I had just come out of a swimming pool.

[BluesKeys]

I've had some doozies! Cruise Ships are a pain in the arse to get loaded on and they usually put you in a room on the opposite end of the ship.

 

Played at several Carolina Hurricanes games. you arrive at 3:30 load in through the lobby, into an elevator (several trips). Into a staging room and then you wait! at 7pm you move equipment from storage room to dinning room and play. End of the game you get to pack up about 11-11:30pm LONG DAY!

 

WORST: BALD HEAD Island. ONE you unload the truck onto little trams.Trams take equipment to the dock. TWO load equipment from tram onto carts that fit the ferry boat. Once on the island THREE Load equipment from carts onto Trams again and the take you to the gig location. Unload and set up!!! END OF THE NIGHT REPEAT!!!

[BbAltered]

OK. We were scheduled to play a summer outdoor show at the top of a ski resort in upstate NY. We were instructed to drive to the reception area, unload our gear into 4x4s which would drive the gear to the top of the mountain where we would set up. We humans ride up the mountain in the gondola. It's a beautiful day, and everything goes smoothly. The bassist, drummer, guitarist and myself get ourselves set up under a ok-sized tent on a grassy area next to the mountaintop restaurant. We wait for the horn players and singer. The clouds move in, and a storm approaches. I had brought a tarp, something I have trained myself to do for every outdoor gig, so I pack the keyboard gear and get it and the unpacked drums under the tarp. There follows an intense 2 hr long lightening and thunderstorm. With lightening, the resort will not run the gondola, so we are stuck up there. Along with about 30 guests and staff, we all take refuge in the restaurant. The rain blows sidewise under the tent, and a small stream is now also flowing under the tent. At some point, the event manager shows up. He has guests up there he needs to entertain, so he suggests we set up in the restaurant. It's now two hours after our scheduled start time, and we know it is going to be a long day. When the rain lets up, we set all the equipment up again inside (3rd time moving gear without playing a note), and play a ragged and confused set. By now the gondola is running again and so the guests all leave. We pack all the gear into the 4x4s, and reconvene at the bottom of the mountain to load up our cars. It is now late, dark, and humid. There is no rain, but I have to run the AC and the windshield wipers all the way home to see the road. I get home a little after midnight to discover that I have no electricity - the storm brought down trees on the electric lines to my neighborhood.

[Outkaster]

Man I remember this thread. It was about D'Youville College in Buffalo, NY. Interestingly enough I have one this weekend and am not looking forward to it. The . The wedding gig is at a local historical mansion has a brick road to the front porch where the band plays. It's a huge place and we have to lug everything by hand off carts because you can't drive over the bricks as the caretaker said it will "ruin the bricks"

[The Real MC]

I don't think I've ever had a load-in horror story in all the years I have been gigging. Not even stairs.

[Stokely]

I've had some pretty bad load-ins, mostly either tight spots with some stairs or grassy areas where nothing would roll. Day cruises are a pain with the distance, bumps and tight turns.

 

Not the worst load-in, but the scariest one was watching our sound guy in our college frat band almost getting killed trying to hook up to the mains (we had a distro box). Some of the frat houses we played had REALLY poor power hookups, this was back in the day where our amp rack and huge lights required the power of a small village. From that gig, he had on these huge electrician's gloves Man we were young and dumb.

 

The worst though was partially self-inflected, we booked two gigs on one 4th of July, one was an hour-long set in the park for one city, then the evening was our a pre-fireworks gig for a different town

First problem: we had to soundcheck the 2nd gig first, then take a minimal rig over to the afternoon gig, then rush back to the 2nd gig to play.

Second problem: We didn't have much in the way of carts, and it was probably a half-mile walk from where I had to park (no load-in zone, the gig was in the center of a no-road park) to the short gig stage. I had a stand, one keyboard, a 12" powered monitor and some cables in a backpack. In Florida, in July, it was 100 degrees. When I left that short gig I literally had to run back to my car in that heat carrying all that because we were late as hell for the main gig.

Third problem: lightning storms (welcome to Fla) started coming in right after we busted ass to set back up at the main gig. Had to rush around getting tarps and bags to cover everything.

 

Soon after that, three rock'n'roller carts were seen in the band. I don't always need one--but boy, when you need it, you REALLY need it.

[Threadslayer]

I don't think I've ever had a load-in horror story in all the years I have been gigging. Not even stairs.

Seriously? You've been extremely fortunate if so. Have you ever gigged with a Hammond? It really does elevate things to a new level.

[Adam Burgess]

Worst one was after a gig a few years back...

 

Had a Kronos 73 and a Numa Organ in hard cases (wheeled), my silly heavy-but-cool Gibraltar stand in an actual Hardcase (plastic drum stands box) and a bag with cables and usual stuff in. Tired after an early soundcheck, long day waiting round, then the gig.

 

In a cab going home, get to the end of my street... the electricity company have closed the road for repairs.

Maybe a 5 min walk to my apartment without gear. With gear twice that. OK, I'll have to walk. Only 40ºC and humid as hell, haha.

 

Luckily a friendly shop-filled narrow busy street in old town Dubai - so I go to leave my stand in a store and asked the guy to look after it.

He got his mate to help me take it home, which was a much appreciated act.

 

Gets to the apartment building - no elevator - guess our apartment block was on the broken phase or whatever!

What else to do but to take it up 7 flights of stairs in the dark...? Wasn't fun. How much weight... easy 100kg in total. A little warmer inside with no AC for who-knows how long that day.

 

Going back along the road to the store I really needed a beer so called into a bar with my new friend to repay his kindness. Never has a cold beer tasted so nice.

 

Not having gigged or carried gear since March, dunno if I could do it now!

[Adam Burgess]

And one quick one - getting driven in a golf buggy heading onto the beach for the gig through the underground car park under a hotel - a Lexus taxi/limousine thing with a texting driver hits the buggy side on. Could've easily lost a leg.

 

At least me and the gear were ok, and it was for an Irish society gig with any amount of free Guinness.

[zukskywalker]

In my younger years I did a fair bit of gigging with a Hammond M3 and "upgraded" from that to a Hammond BV something or the other and luckily spared of most of the horrors described here. Very lucky I guess. (Hammonds on fire escapes?? Never in any lifetime! That is the thing of true nightmares.)

 

But more recently the band I was working with was called upon to do a wedding gig. In 90 degree weather, just as we arrived a bit late and in a rush a massive thunderstorm hit and we had to schlep gear inside through horizontal rain. And then tried to make a good impression while still soaking wet. The comedic value was pretty good though because we were soaked to the bone but quickly set up and managed to hit on time. Gear was fine. God bless the cases(and no Hammond).

 

Does anybody make keyboard player cases?

[timwat]

In no particular ranking:

 

Top of the Mark, San Francisco - Mark Hopkins Hotel.

The worst of the SF load ins. At the top of Nob Hill, everything's on a bad incline. So they have you park in the two-bay loading dock, IF there's available space. And if not you wait until one opens up. You park, schlep all your stuff onto a cart, turn over your driver's license and are given a laminated badge with rules you MUST adhere to at all times - including no fraternizing with guests and....no chewing gum. Load up is through the the maze to the freight elevator, which takes you to the top floor - and opens right into a postage-stamp landing in the crowded rear of the kitchen. So just to get your stuff out of the kitchen, you have to excuse me past the working chefs shoulder to buttock to cheek. Then, unless you can find just the right amenable parking dude, you have to park off-site, where everything costs at least $37 and possible a lot more. I now decline every TOOM gig I'm offered. Life's too short.

 

Charity walkathons

I love to contribute pro bono work for good causes as much as anyone. Cancer society, American Heart Association, absolutely. But every walkathon thing I've played for has this in common: Stage is on the OTHER side of the entire football field. No help to load in. And no, we won't let you take your cart across the field, the wheels might damage our precious turf. Violin player or singer, sure. KB player? Nope.

 

Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco

Enough stairs to make the schlep painful. The old prog band I was in in the late 80's used CS80, Prophet 10 and CP80 - all with road cases. Factor in a sound guy who was also a heroin addict, and it made for a very entertaining gig - in all the wrong ways.

[Music Bird]

I"ve never had any bad gigs but I find it interesting to find your stories.

[Moonglow]

Dang Chris!!! Dis old!

...as am I!

 

Man I remember this thread...

One of my favorite threads ever, Outkaster.

[The Real MC]

I don't think I've ever had a load-in horror story in all the years I have been gigging. Not even stairs.

Seriously? You've been extremely fortunate if so. Have you ever gigged with a Hammond? It really does elevate things to a new level.

 

Yes I gigged a Hammond Porta-B and Leslie 760 for about 15 years. Never once had to cart them up stairs. No it's not a console organ like a B-3 but those are too damn big & heavy for club gigs.

[mate stubb]

I once lugged my Hammond out into the middle of a field and set up on the ground for a frat party.

 

The power was provided by, you guessed it, a rented generator with what looked like a small lawn mower engine.

 

Voltage regulation? HA! Frequency regulation? Surely you jest!

 

My Hammond mooed like a cow for a couple of minutes before refusing to try to start any more. I tried to soldier on with just a pianet, but we called it when the bank of lights exploded.

[Threadslayer]

I once lugged my Hammond out into the middle of a field and set up on the ground for a frat party.

 

The power was provided by, you guessed it, a rented generator with what looked like a small lawn mower engine.

 

Voltage regulation? HA! Frequency regulation? Surely you jest!

 

My Hammond mooed like a cow for a couple of minutes before refusing to try to start any more. I tried to soldier on with just a pianet, but we called it when the bank of lights exploded.

Boy does that take me back. I lived every detail of that experience - including the Pianet. The only thing missing is when some idiot dumped a can of gasoline on the already raging bonfire and almost torched my rig.