How was your NYE gig?

[J. Dan]

As a followup to "What's your new years eve gig", I figured I'd ask how it went, after sseing Dave's post on "Happy 2010":

Just returned from a NYE gig. 10:30-2 A.M. on the Queen Mary down in Long Beach. Everything was going great till the last set when a drunken woman fell into our Sax player and almost destroyed his vintage, irreplaceable Selmer. A fight almost ensued when the drunken woman's husband got pi...ed at the Sax player for being pi..ed that she almost fell into him.

Unf....ing believabel!! Does anyone ever take responsibility for their own stupid actions anymore or is it always someone else's fault?!

 

We had to call in Security before this thing escalated, kinda put the damper on the rest of the evening. Too much alcohol= stupidity!

 

Ours was good. A couple things:

 

1) People were asking for months if they could buy Tickets, and the Casino always just collects at the door for NYE - which I don't get, because if you don't get in line early enough you don't get in. It's been a few years since we've played it, but Corporate replied to our request to sell advance tickets that they've never sold them before and don't have a problem with it filling up. Well, sure enough, by the first set, it was full with probably another 100 people in line and they were telling them they should just go home because they weren't getting in. Some of them were regular fans who called us to let us know. They have restaurants and a hotel - I don't know why they wouldn't try to sell package deals with dinner a room and advance tickets - they could sell the heck out of them and make a killing, and people would know if they were going to get in or not.

 

2) Somebody was throwing ice around and it landed on the lighting console. The sound guys were back stage BS-ing with us before the show, and all of a sudden we hear the crowd out there cheering. We all poke our heads out, and the house lights and everything are just gonig nuts, all flashing like crazy. The sound guy runs out and stops it, but some water apparently got into the board and it was acting up all night. Every once in a while out of the blue, the house lights would start flashing. He had to reset the DMX quite a few times.

 

3) At midnight, the balloon fall malfunctioned. An employee was yanking on the "rip cord" with all her might and the whole net was jerking around and wouldn't open. So we went ahead and just started playing. Eventually, patrons got on each other's shoulders and managed to reach it and rip the whole thing down. Then the challenge was hitting the balloons back into the crowd while playing.

 

All in all though it was a good gig - everybody had a lot of fun and we had a good crowd. I'm sure the Casino made a killing at $20 a head (which includes nothing but getting in the door), and probably in the ball park of 500-600 paid admission. (we made out pretty well, too)

[KeyMoe]

Ours went great, although we had the same balloon snafu. Majority of the ballons ended up on the stage area.....All in all a very good night!!

[BluesKeys]

Ours was perfect. Easy set up ... opps I forgot the mic stands and wiffie had to run back and get them.... So I started early in case it took her a while to get back. I figured they would not miss her. They did, but it didn't matter. Not a great tip night but done by 10pm. Made our first party by 10:30 hit the second one about midnight. Beer,Champagne,hooch,beer,Champagne, and more hooch. I woke up at 6:45am with a VERY LARGE rubber band tightening on my head. Lotsa water, 2 Advil and I have been good to go today.

[frogmonkey]

Haha Dan, that sounds like a mess to me! My main band stopped taking NYE gigs (ok, we priced ourselves out of the market) because that band always seemed to get pain-in-the-arse gigs on NYE.

 

So I played with a funk/soul cover band in a mellow setting. It was fun! It was an interesting scene-- a mix of old people and teenagers. I didn't even bring a monitor, because its a big band in a small space and I set up almost in front of the mains.

[clpete]

Gig was great! Good crowd and playing with a tight band. The only problem was a couple of drunks. One of these decided to reach over the railing, during our break, and play my keyboards. The band leader was up, in his face and telling him off so I didnt even have to move. Another drunk was constantly being dragged passed the stage, by his friends, to the restroom. I cant figure out why they didnt take him home as he didnt appear to be coherent.

 

I also had an all day New Years Day gig, with another band, which I had to get up with only a few hours of sleep to get to. I am tired, but I drank about 12 cups of coffee today so I wont be sleeping very soon.

 

[Bobadohshe]

I played at an upscale restaurant in Tustin called "The Winery". They had a special high priced reservation only New Year's Eve menu, and they had hired this Smooth Jazz/ contemp RnB singer from San Diego to sing, and I somehow ended up getting called to be a part of this group. We came together with none of us having played together before, just with the setlist and a copy of the Singer's CD for her original stuff, and charts for maybe 1/4 of the tunes.

 

So I shed the stuff during the day, and showed up to the gig with some makedo charts of my own. Well, when I actually met the singer, I could tell that she wasn't a seasoned band leader, which meant that I would likely end up being defacto MD for the night. And when the time to hit came around, the bass player hadn't arrived yet. (he was driving up from San Diego as well, and I can't really fault him because there was some mapquest glitch that sent everyone 15 miles away from this place). So we had to hit with me playing L.H. bass, and as nerve wracking as I thought it was gonna be, it was actually a lot of fun. Accugrooves to the rescue. We played "Lets Groove", "September", some of her own jams, and before you know it the bass player was in the door setting up. In the E-mails it said his name was James E.

 

Turns out it was James East, brother of Nathan East. And boy did he sound like it! I love playing with phenomenally phenomenal bass players, and this dude was one of them.

 

Interestingly though, it took me pretty much the rest of the night to settle back into a nice, non L.H. bass groove. It was hard to break that busy but necessary mold of playing too much, and I found myself mad that I wasn't putting my best foot forward with the bro of N East.

 

One cool thing was the second he entered the door and started setting up next to me, he looked at me with a smile and said "Damn, it sounds great! y'all don't need me, you're doing just fine". Thank you Accugroove.

[Moonglow]

I was not at all optimistic about our NYE gig at this rock club in the middle of an Indiana cornfield, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Most people (mostly groups) arrived after dinner, and the place was packed. The crowd was jumpin' all night and it was one of those performances where things "flowed" and felt like we were firing on all cylinders. The crowd and the band were having so much fun we gave them about 20-30 minutes extra.....and surprisingly, the club rewarded us with more $$$, which we did not ask for!

 

To top off the night, after the show these two young coeds jump on stage, and one of them put her arms around me and said something I can not repeat on this forum. I'm a happily married man, and of course I side-stepped this rather brazen assault, but I have to admit female adulation (a rare occurrence these days) never gets old.

 

[Mike Warren]

I haven't gigged for over 20 years, but went to a friend of a friend's house and had a jam with several people I'd never met before. We had 2 guitars, drums, bass and me on my PC3x. We had a ball.

 

Having a jam with a couple of other friends tomorrow. The PC3x won't know what hit it; being pulled out of it's home in my studio twice in one week.

 

[ITGITC]

I've been sick. I'm still sick. Stayed in bed yesterday.

 

Before that, my significant other was sick. And my eldest daughter was sick. It made for a great holiday.

 

If you hear me sneeze one more time, just shoot me & put me out of my misery.

 

[eric]

Tom, sorry to hear you are unwell. Get well, perhaps some beer would help.

 

My NYE was average, pretty much what I predicted. Upscale country club black tie event, small and fairly exclusive gathering. It started with a sit-down meal, always a recipe for yawns. We played a small jazz set and then dance music from 9:30-1:00. Amazingly, the dance floor was full all night and the crowd enjoyed the band. It had the look and feel of a wedding, which is really what my band does, so it just felt like any other gig. Nothing particularly special about NYE aside from a little bit larger paycheck.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Mike Davis]

Tom, sorry to hear you are unwell. Get well, perhaps some beer would help.

 

My NYE was average, pretty much what I predicted. Upscale country club black tie event, small and fairly exclusive gathering. It started with a sit-down meal, always a recipe for yawns. We played a small jazz set and then dance music from 9:30-1:00. Amazingly, the dance floor was full all night and the crowd enjoyed the band. It had the look and feel of a wedding, which is really what my band does, so it just felt like any other gig. Nothing particularly special about NYE aside from a little bit larger paycheck.

 

Regards,

Eric

 

Are you sure you weren't at my gig? That's a perfect description of what our evening was like.

[Dave Pierce]

Mine was great. Really good crowd, dancing to the Latin Rock, cumbias, and salsas all night. Band sounded good, the horn sections was solid. Had a lot of fun. And for once, a pay envelope that didn't seem vaguely insulting...

 

 

--Dave

[tucktronix]

My NYE gig was great, arguably one of the best NYE nights ever. The place was packed and everyone had a great time. Our band did our set before inviting a locally well-known guitarist/singer to the stage

[AUSSIEKEYS]

mine was good..

 

Parramatta workers Club for a private function..in fact back to the town I was born in..so that was nice,

 

good crowd..in fact very good...It was a group called Anglo Indian ... ... I believe a group catering for the Indians living in Sydney ...a great group of people all looking for a good night..the dance floor was packed nearly all night..and they were veryu appreciative of us throughout the nite.

 

unbelievable as this was only our 2nd gig of a 2 month or so old band...so after my 7 year break from bands I have jumped into the deep end but at least with good results..this group responded well to our rock and made the night for us as we did for them..

 

the only downer one of the patrons set up his laptop as a guest apperance as a DJ...

why do DJ's have to boost the volume to earsplitting proportions,

that with the main MC doing a guest appearance on guitar to the same deafening volume as he is apt to do , made me put in my earplugs

 

other than that it was an excellent night...good responsive people, easy parking, so far so good for my return to band work...3rd gig for this new band is on the 9th jan up the coast to the place I windsurf at...do I take my windsurfer too???

[lightbg]

Nice. laid back gig.....senior community in South Jersey.

Guitar player, drummer, and I have been working since the advent of electricity.

 

Here's a sample:

 

Jake

[Outkaster]

Terrible. The place was cold. The bar did not advertise and I got the flu. Happy New Year.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

Terrible. The place was cold. The bar did not advertise and I got the flu. Happy New Year.

 

yes not good for you guys...all that cold

 

we have the opposite playing in heat wave conditions..I dont know which is better...

hope you get well.

[eric]

Terrible. The place was cold. The bar did not advertise and I got the flu. Happy New Year.

 

Did you get a rock?

 

Sorry you're unwell. Rest up and feel better soon Jason!

 

Eric

[allan_evett]

It was, overall, a very good night. And it was especially memorable for the bass player: His girlfriend of many years became his fiance at the end of the first set. The club was packed, with at least half of the crowd being friends/fans of the band. So the whole scene was a lot of fun, albeit a bit stunning for the new bride to be.

 

We're doing three nights at the club. Last night was about 2/3 full as NYE, though the audience started to fade pretty quickly between the second and third set.

 

The crowd has been pretty respectful the past two nights: a few drunk cases, but nothing terribly obnoxious. Nothing like the stories I can tell from my Chicago south suburban gigs back in the 90's. (Tony and I, along with other former and present midwest forum members, could likely keep a thread about that scene going for days on end). But Saturdays are usually more of party night for the regulars there; and, several of them didn't show for NYE. So tonight could be a bit more lively. If anything unusually crazy happens, I'll post it.

 

 

[AUSSIEKEYS]

And it was especially memorable for the bass player: His girlfriend of many years became his fiance at the end of the first set.

 

 

damn Allan...... that is nice , but my girlfriend sitting next to me read this and just swooned...and goes awwwwwwwwwwww.awwwwwwwww

 

be careful mate writing all this luvvy duvvy stuff...partners read these forums too, next thing you know she will be pushing me to put a ring on her finger..hee hee

 

sounds a great time