Gig Reports - How did your gig go?

[TimR]

This is an idea I've stolen from another forum that I thought would work well here.

 

A single thread to post how your gig went. Just mainly for the mundane everyday gigs that we all do. Nothing special just a record of who's gigging and what type of gigs we're doing. One liner or essay it's up to you.

 

It's not for those who want to gripe about your gig or show off a big special event or ask why your guitarist is a nob - those gigs deserve threads of their own.

[TimR]

Yesterday was one of those gigs that you have no idea how they will turn out.

 

I received the setlist on Saturday morning. After doing all the "honey do" tasks I sat down to run through it. I usually top and tail all the tunes in a set on the day of a gig to remind myself of any particularly tricky tunes. The setlist is usually pretty much the same for each gig.

 

After that I loaded the car. LED lights and stands from the loft (attic). Shoes, trousers (pants) and shirt - and poppy: it was a Royal British Legion fund-raiser for the poppy appeal. Bass, amp and gig bag - in all three trips to the car. Then a 20min drive to the gig which was a local as I can probably get.

 

We were sharing the night with another local band and using their PA. I'd never met them before and the amount of gear for a five piece with keyboards was amazing. Stereo 4x10" for the keys, three keyboards. 4x12 for guitarist. Two Trace Elliot amps into a 15" and 4x10" for the bass player. Speakers on stands for the monitors, tops and subs for the main PA. Slightly overkill considering they were expecting around 100 people in a small village hall.

 

As they set up their bass player/soundman made the obligitory sqeals, pops and bangs testing the mikes - Why do they have to do this? - Whenever I set up a PA I do it as quietly and with as little fuss as possible.

 

They sound checked and I was impressed with the sound, not as loud as I expected, it's nice to have that power and not use it but they could have done with some newer lighter, more compact gear IMO. The guys were all in their 60s. I'm 40 and loading 4x10" speakers is not my idea of fun.

 

Then our turn to soundcheck. I used the bass rig but turned off the amp driving the 15", a nice Trace Elliot GP15 easy to set up and got a nice big sound that filled the hall easily.

 

Then back to the guitarists for a light snack.

 

We played from 8.00 to 8.45 as the hall started to fill. Then the other band took a 45 min set. We stopped to eat and draw the raffle. Then repeated with the other band finishing the night at 12.00

 

We emptied the floor with one number and won't be playing it again. They emptied the floor with about 3 numbers. Sometimes that happens, it was soon full again.

 

Free food and beer for the band and we raised £700+

[Ross Brown]

Scheduled to play a new venue last night. Checked on details (ie load in and time) earlier in the week and found out that they had sold the venue and no one had paid licensing fees. They of course had not bothered to tell us the gig was off.... Glad we called.

[biguglyman]

What songs emptied the floor?

[TimR]

We played "Always were I need to be" by The Kooks. 4 girls in their early 20s stayed to dance. The other band played some obscure 60's tunes that I (and pretty much all of the audience) had never heard of. I think they had all been requested by someone. The 4 girls continued to dance, although I think the amount of alcohol they had consumed played a big part in that.

[b5pilot]

Did gigs Friday and Saturday. Both the crowds were pretty small. Guitar player was in a jamming mood meaning extended solos. The people there seemed to be somewhat into it so we just blazed on. The Saturday gig our drummer seemed a bit off his game so I did my best to keep him on. I felt good and played well both nights, especially Saturday, despite a couple minor clams. Bar staff seemed happy and receptive to us. Wish the crowds would have been bigger but from what we heard from the staff a lot of their patrons were getting ready for gun season. Today, Sunday, we have a benefit to play and it should be fun. After that nothing 'till New Year's Eve. Hopefully something turns up.

[bassbuddy]

Played 3 gigs with my band this week...all great gigs, even with the guitarist and his little attitude..LOL. Did 3 church Services this weekend, with a drummer that slows down.................almost quit music for good today, and then remembered why I like to play in Church...oh well.

 

Best,

kENNy

[Chad Thorne]

We played at The Grog in Newburyport, Mass. last evening. Always a fun time - the Grog crowd likes to party - but it was extra fun last night because our friend Dinah brought her electric fiddle up from Cape Cod and helped us rock out a few of our country tunes. A blast! Then later on we got approached about doing a private party down there for LOTS more money than a bar gig. :grin: Good times!

[picker]

Gigged at a benefit Saturday in a large mall's food court. We were the last of three or four bands, and we did 30 minutes. Our drummer canceled on us at the last minute, and we had to work with a fill-in, the drummer of the band who went on before us, who thankfully agreed to play with us. The sound was boomy and overly reverberated because to the size of the room and the hard floor surface.

 

We did mostly 1-4-5 shuffles, and a couple of slower tunes. It kinda drifted apart here and there, but pretty much stayed together.

 

The event was sparsely attended, I don't know if they raised much money for the cause, which I think was an orphanage. In any event, it wasn't very good or very bad.

[jlrush]

We hosted a blues jam on Thursday in the town of Boonville, a half hour drive from here. There is a small, but enthusiastic base of blues fans there and the evening was enjoyable. I met several new people and heard some folks play that I had not heard before.

 

I normally sing in most of the bands I've been in and I was asked to front the jam for a while. That's not really a stretch for me so I sang a few familiar tunes to warm up. Was jamming with some of my band and two others and someone started playing a slow blues and I pulled out a song that I had not sang in public before. It went well and I got good crowd response too.

 

This was particularly pleasing because I haven't sang much in public for many years, choosing to play side man instead. I was encouraged by this and have decided to work up my repertiore (sp) again. Our front man may be leaving for grad school next year, so I want to be ready if that happens.

 

Music has been a blast this year and I have improved greatly. I don't want that to fall apart waiting for another band to take me. I would prefer to share singing duties but I want to be able to make it happen if I need to. If that means being band leader, then I will do that.

[The Bear Jew]

We played a gig last Thursday as a favor to a friend who is trying to launch a music promotion company. It was supposed to be a "competition" where the best band wins studio time, advertisements, an opening slot for a national act, etc. It's really just a way for our friend's company to get noticed by local bands and venues. We went into it with the simple mindset of doing something nice for our friend. We had no real designs on winning, and, quite honestly, didn't think we had a snowball's chance in hell of doing anything but having a good time and helping out a guy who wants to do something good for music in our area. The rest of the bands were very "serious" and had a lot of quasi important things going on in their careers. There was lot of very obvious "fake it until you make it" stuff circulating through the room.

 

Long story short... we won. It was really silly. We did what we normally do, and we pretty much wiped up the floor with the other acts. I mean, it's not hard to look more professional than the other bands when you play a solid 45 minutes of rock with no breaks, no audible tuning, no awkward silences and no dumb stage patter. That's our normal set. We didn't go crazier than usual or, ya know, try to win, or anything special. We just did what we normally do. Actually, check that... It was abnormally hot in the room (they had a fireplace going!), which dried out my throat and nasal passages. Consequently, my voice was more guttural than usual, and I had a lot of thick spit in my mouth because the room was so dry. I wound up spitting a lot. I think I spat on everything on that stage--I know I nailed the curtains on the wall, I hit the ceiling at least once and... I definitely got a huge loogy on the drummer's rack tom. Too much info? Too gross? The judges didn't think so.

 

The funniest part of the evening was the interview we did for some online magazine thing. A really hot girl asked us a lot of serious questions, and we answered them with ridiculous replies. Best moment of the interview--she asked our drummer (who is a very smart and outgoing guy) to introduce himself, and he just smiled and stared into the camera blankly. I was dying. Too funny.

 

The following night was an real gig (i.e. a "not a favor" gig) at a really shady venue with a really shady promoter. The other bands on the bill were fairly awful, and they all freaked out when I played theremin. That happens basically every time we play for a new crowd. We played the same set as the previous night, and everyone freaked out. It was a really fun night. The funniest part of the night was talking to the kid who plays guitar in the band that followed us--he was the spitting image of Leslie West circa Woodstock, and he was wearing a Star of David around his neck. I high-fived him, gave him a hug and said, "Yet another guitar-playing, meaty Member of the Tribe!" We watched some of their set... that kid could play.

[Ross Brown]

... a loogy..... ??? We need a better show.... This never occured to me....

[SteveC]

We had an interesting one on Friday. It was an experiment so you know how that can go. Anyway, we were booked to play at a hotel, in the main lobby area from 6-9. We showed up and found our little spot to play. Our keyboard player - who booked the gig - didn't bring his piano, just a Nord 3 as we were going to be in an area where we could use their grand piano - we thought. Turns out that wasn't where we were playing. OK, we move our stuff to another area and start setting up. Keyboard player/leader goes to get a keyboard stand for his Nord 3. Meanwhile, the drums and small PA are up, and another "manager" comes and says there's a Grooms dinner up above where we are at - open down to us - so that won't work. Can't have you playing and disturbing the dinner. Why don't you move down to the hall/entry area by "l'Bistro" - the bar/restaurant where we play on Thursday's. OK.

 

Why don't we just set up in the venue like we usually do? Because that would confuse people. It's Friday night and we do jazz in there on Thursday night. We don't want to confuse people. OK.

 

I tell the rest of the guys to act like this is/will be the best gig ever - just to piss off the keyboard guy when he gets back. Sure enough, the keyboard guy comes back with a WTF look. We explain. He gets pissed. Tosses stands around, f this, never doing this again, etc. Funny. All the while I'm saying (truthfully) that the worst gigs often turn out to be the best. He's like whatever, we're going to play this and that and change everything yada, yada.

 

We start. Some people are hanging around. There are some couches and stuff around the "lobby" area. Of course, everyone is a little pissy so we play very well. We had a buddy from our other band and his wife there. He said it sounded great. Some people hung around, had some drinks, and it worked out pretty well, considering. A couple people from out of town said we sounded better than anyone they heard play around home so that was nice. We got paid more than if we played in the bar so I wasn't complaining.

 

An interesting gig. We started late, quit on time, got paid more and got some nice feedback so all-in-all not bad. I was home early so that's even better.

[Chad Thorne]

We played a gig last Thursday as a favor to a friend who is trying to launch a music promotion company. It was supposed to be a "competition" where the best band wins studio time, advertisements, an opening slot for a national act, etc. It's really just a way for our friend's company to get noticed by local bands and venues. We went into it with the simple mindset of doing something nice for our friend. We had no real designs on winning, and, quite honestly, didn't think we had a snowball's chance in hell of doing anything but having a good time and helping out a guy who wants to do something good for music in our area. The rest of the bands were very "serious" and had a lot of quasi important things going on in their careers. There was lot of very obvious "fake it until you make it" stuff circulating through the room.

 

Long story short... we won. It was really silly. We did what we normally do, and we pretty much wiped up the floor with the other acts. I mean, it's not hard to look more professional than the other bands when you play a solid 45 minutes of rock with no breaks, no audible tuning, no awkward silences and no dumb stage patter. That's our normal set. We didn't go crazier than usual or, ya know, try to win, or anything special. We just did what we normally do. Actually, check that... It was abnormally hot in the room (they had a fireplace going!), which dried out my throat and nasal passages. Consequently, my voice was more guttural than usual, and I had a lot of thick spit in my mouth because the room was so dry. I wound up spitting a lot. I think I spat on everything on that stage--I know I nailed the curtains on the wall, I hit the ceiling at least once and... I definitely got a huge loogy on the drummer's rack tom. Too much info? Too gross? The judges didn't think so.

 

The funniest part of the evening was the interview we did for some online magazine thing. A really hot girl asked us a lot of serious questions, and we answered them with ridiculous replies. Best moment of the interview--she asked our drummer (who is a very smart and outgoing guy) to introduce himself, and he just smiled and stared into the camera blankly. I was dying. Too funny.

 

The following night was an real gig (i.e. a "not a favor" gig) at a really shady venue with a really shady promoter. The other bands on the bill were fairly awful, and they all freaked out when I played theremin. That happens basically every time we play for a new crowd. We played the same set as the previous night, and everyone freaked out. It was a really fun night. The funniest part of the night was talking to the kid who plays guitar in the band that followed us--he was the spitting image of Leslie West circa Woodstock, and he was wearing a Star of David around his neck. I high-fived him, gave him a hug and said, "Yet another guitar-playing, meaty Member of the Tribe!" We watched some of their set... that kid could play.

Erik, please - I'm begging you. Provide us some video of your band's performances...

[57pbass]

Played at Foxwoods Casino in Conn. on Friday & Saturday night. We had a great time...the place is always crowded.... nice stage great soundman...fun band. we are back there on 12/10 & 11.

 

Also won a bundle in the horse racing room....dont play the slots...

 

So it was all good.....

[bassbuddy]

Daniel...went to your website....great solid bass playing..Joey Gilmore opened up for us at a gig I played bass for Rick Derringer. Keep up the great playing..

 

Best,

kENNy

[57pbass]

Daniel...went to your website....great solid bass playing..Joey Gilmore opened up for us at a gig I played bass for Rick Derringer. Keep up the great playing..

 

Best,

kENNy

 

Thank You Kenny....appreciate the compliment.... you might know of my brother Jeff Prine who works out often in the Ft Lauderdale area...I know he travels north to do shows.....

Joey Gilmoreis very talented guy and I have done a bunch of shows with him...Thanks again DP

[The Bear Jew]

We played a gig last Thursday as a favor to a friend who is trying to launch a music promotion company. It was supposed to be a "competition" where the best band wins studio time, advertisements, an opening slot for a national act, etc. It's really just a way for our friend's company to get noticed by local bands and venues. We went into it with the simple mindset of doing something nice for our friend. We had no real designs on winning, and, quite honestly, didn't think we had a snowball's chance in hell of doing anything but having a good time and helping out a guy who wants to do something good for music in our area. The rest of the bands were very "serious" and had a lot of quasi important things going on in their careers. There was lot of very obvious "fake it until you make it" stuff circulating through the room.

 

Long story short... we won. It was really silly. We did what we normally do, and we pretty much wiped up the floor with the other acts. I mean, it's not hard to look more professional than the other bands when you play a solid 45 minutes of rock with no breaks, no audible tuning, no awkward silences and no dumb stage patter. That's our normal set. We didn't go crazier than usual or, ya know, try to win, or anything special. We just did what we normally do. Actually, check that... It was abnormally hot in the room (they had a fireplace going!), which dried out my throat and nasal passages. Consequently, my voice was more guttural than usual, and I had a lot of thick spit in my mouth because the room was so dry. I wound up spitting a lot. I think I spat on everything on that stage--I know I nailed the curtains on the wall, I hit the ceiling at least once and... I definitely got a huge loogy on the drummer's rack tom. Too much info? Too gross? The judges didn't think so.

 

The funniest part of the evening was the interview we did for some online magazine thing. A really hot girl asked us a lot of serious questions, and we answered them with ridiculous replies. Best moment of the interview--she asked our drummer (who is a very smart and outgoing guy) to introduce himself, and he just smiled and stared into the camera blankly. I was dying. Too funny.

 

The following night was an real gig (i.e. a "not a favor" gig) at a really shady venue with a really shady promoter. The other bands on the bill were fairly awful, and they all freaked out when I played theremin. That happens basically every time we play for a new crowd. We played the same set as the previous night, and everyone freaked out. It was a really fun night. The funniest part of the night was talking to the kid who plays guitar in the band that followed us--he was the spitting image of Leslie West circa Woodstock, and he was wearing a Star of David around his neck. I high-fived him, gave him a hug and said, "Yet another guitar-playing, meaty Member of the Tribe!" We watched some of their set... that kid could play.

Erik, please - I'm begging you. Provide us some video of your band's performances...

 

There is video of the "loogy" show, but only The Great Pumpkin knows where it is now. Our bassist's friend and co-worker is also an A/V whiz for a local high school, and he shot video of us that night. He's supposed to hook us up with a final product of some kind. We'll see. These kinds of things rarely come to fruition quickly.

 

Part of the reason I was spitting so much was because I had been sick. The second show was kind of spitty, too. In fact, I almost made a booby trap for myself that night... I was about to spit towards the wall on my left when I realized there was no wall there... just a guy standing, watching us. Yeah, I almost spat on him, but, instead, I turned my face upwards at the last minute, which meant I spat on the ceiling instead. Right over my mic stand. Where I had to go and stand in about 10 seconds. I lucked out... the loog dropped from the ceiling at the last second. Any later and it would have landed on my head. Ew.

 

I don't usually have to spit this much. Sorry if it's gross. I'm nothing if not honest. Full disclosure, that's my motto.

 

 

[Danzilla]

My gig this weekend was helping run sound & lights for the play my kids are in with a local theater group. The PA is a real hodge-pdge, that I've finally figured out, and only three shows into the run. 4 more to go!

 

The weekend before (Nov 6) I did have a gig. A small local church, with a decent PA. I was glad to finally have a gig in my hometown, as a lot of friends pull the "when are you going to play closer to us?" line. I had advertised on Facebook, our mailing list, and a few flyers, as well as personal word of mouth with friends, several times. Quite disappointed that, after lots of replies that they would be there, NONE of them showed up. Oh well- "A prophet is not accepted in his home town." Our first song went well; second song is a cover that I've been having issues regarding our guitarist (gave him the song on cd, along with chord chart; he found another version by another artist on Youtube (he claims) but never was able to give me a link. It helps if we're all learning the smae version ofhte song). He's playing somethign that I can't even recognize, so I'm not sure when to come in (the drummer, either). Fortunately, the singer just starts singing at some point, and we jump in with her. Next few songs were ok; until I make a screw up. Two songs that are very similar, back to back; and I start out playing guitar. I try to do the "talking between songs" thing to segue; and I thought I had it ok, but apparently I was playing the chords for the 2nd song at the tempo of the first. Eventually we get it sorted out. Rest of the show was good. Just wish there were more people there to hear it. Later, our singer says she did awful and screwed up all the songs- she's amazing and I only caught one little part where she skipped a repeated chorus (but we all followed along anyway). Anyway, it's going to be our last gig for a while because (1) nothing else is booked until March; and (2) our drummer is having hernia surgery this Friday, and will be out of commission for at least a month. Maybe that wil give the guitarist time to find that version on Youtube.. or listen to the darn CD.

The band that played after us, Anglestone, was really good. We've played shows with them before, but it had been a couple of years. They had a little trouble mixing their vocals for their in-ear monitors; but otherwise played well and were tight. Their bassist, Jeff, used a 5-string Fender Jazz into an older Peavey combo; all played pickstyle. Good stuff; and I only had a 5 minute drive afterwards.

[Chad Thorne]

I'm nothing if not honest. Full disclosure, that's my motto.

"Tell the truth and shame the devil" is what I heard as a kid. I usually tell people "I love you too much to lie to you."

 

Remind me sometime to tell the story of the Maine Blues Festival this summer when I woke up with a vicious case of food poisoning. Detailed descriptions might well cause your spit to fade into insignificance.,..

[The Bear Jew]

I'm pretty sure the devil is already fairly ashamed of anything bearing my involvement.

[Seamy ALB]

I did 2 ALB shows this past weekend 1 in a new venue for us in a local city and the other in a small rural village. Both shows rocked. I was running a new set of pa speakers for these gigs as I have been going through a spell of cooking them. Sold albums both nights and I'm still wrecked so it was a good weekend!!

[The Bear Jew]

The goofy interview.

Oh yeah, we use some filth-flarn-flarn-filth language on this... the worst of it really comes from the host, though. You have been warned.

[Michele C.]

... and we raised £700+

 

seeeven hundred pooounds? Last gig I played in a bar we had some £150 and free beer. We tried to have them reconsider the choice.

[nycfunk]

This past Friday my band and I played the annual Delta Sigma Theta Sorority holiday award show and benifit. The gig was held at the ballroom of the new University of Antelope Valley.

 

As usual I was the first to arrive I had just aquired new Yamaha PA speakers and stands and I was biting at the bit to try them out. I also packed my Harke 3500 head, Harke 210 cabinet, and my Pevey cabinet with the one 20 inch speaker for extra bottom if needed.

 

Let me start by saying that my keyboardist and sax player are the newest member of this cover band (R&B and Funk),and from the start it was apparent that neither really knew the material (read: setlist). Regardless of the "train-wreck" openings to each song, their natural musicianship shined through and we Jammed the hell out of each song.

 

I had a cold that night, so my background singing was not up to par. Yet I managed.

 

For the most part, we had the dance floor full all night long. Played three sets and sat through some awards, speaches and raffle drawings. The Sorority feed us and I even got a free margarita that night becuase the bartender dug my outfit. We got to oggle some very beautiful women all night long, and received numorous compliments from them.

 

All-N-all it was not the best gig we ever played, but it was sure was fun, and I got to jam the night away.

[Ross Brown]

Strange gig last night, but lately all of our gigs have been a little strange. Crowd was so lite early on that the bar owner had arranged with us to "call it" ater two sets, unless it got crazy busy (the couple that owns this bar is a class act and very nice folks, so we were happy to do what they wanted). After the first set we were sure we were going home early. During the second set the frickin place lit up like I have never seen before. One of the owners came over to me and asked us to plan to play a third set. We did. Place was hopping the whole rest of the night and we had to play two more songs at the end. We ended with Johnny B Goode and destroyed the place. Who would have guessed?

 

We played "That Smell" and tore it up. The best part of the evening was "Sympathy for the Devil" transitioning right into the drum solo intro and Cheap Trick's "Ain't That a Shame". Later on we did a solid version of "Jumpin Jack Flash". Tight, tight, tight.

 

The strange part was that we had not played together or rehearsed all since Nov 5th. and it showed. We had alots of junk during other songs and the problems I think we have as a band are still there. We have a band meeting coming up... I wonder if we have played our last gig in this configuration since this Saturday's gig may get cancelled due to the venue having hard times. No more on the books.... We have a band meeting coming up... did I mention that? That may be a seperate thread at some point...

 

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading.

[jlrush]

This week we played Fri and Sat at different venues. Both went quite well, the music was good and crowd response good as well.

We also had an article written about us in the local paper on Friday. You can see it here: http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/art-axis/2010/nov/24/the-mojo-roots-bringing-new-luster-to-old-school-b/

It's a bit lengthy but some kind words were mentioned about yours truly.

Music is rewarding right now.

[Phil W]

Had a fun one. Remember my thread about alternate rehearsal venues? Did a deal with Baptist Church near my work. They let us rehearse there (they have drumkit, amps etc) in return for us playing a function they had recently in a Tandoori Indian restaurant.

 

The restaurant gig went well and a guy (who runs a local bar) heard it while walking past down the street, popped in and offered us a paying gig at his bar. Result!

 

Big gig this Thursday featuring my jazz trio and solo guitarist Matt Stevens who I first met over on the Guitar Forum of this site.

[Eric VB]

Sat in last night (Wednesday) with the Sean Z Band. Usually it's just a trio but last night he brought keys, too, to make four. Classic/modern rock with a tendency to jam out.

 

The venue has a nice stage with lights and FOH (including two giant 2x18 JBL boxes). Still, we had to bring our own mixer and monitors. We used my monitors. As luck would have it the mixer didn't have enough inputs so I didn't get to enjoy the JBLs, but my 4x10 was able to carry the room.

 

It was a short night so I only sang lead on one song; I shared backups with keys (who also sang lead on one song).

 

Dress was a button-up shirt with tie. I wore my black-on-white, rock-and-roll Fender shirt with a sparkly black tie (both from Kohls).

 

Show went well; venue was pleased.

 

The funny part is I had hand bell choir rehearsal at church right before the show. Couldn't skip it and didn't have time to change in between. So I had to do rehearsal all rocked out; the ladies were all abuzz as most had never seen me that way before.

[Richard W]

My band had just its fourth public performance last Friday. It worked out great and we are really happy. First of all, we got paid. Secondly, people started dancing by the second set, and by the third set the dance floor was so packed, I couldn't even see my wife who was sitting at one of the front tables (maybe a good thing, as some creepy guy try to pick her up).

 

We played three sets of classic rock and blues--Springsteen, Petty, Beatles, Stones, Steely Dan, Beach Boys, Clapton, etc. Got lots of compliments on the song selection--for example, we play "Dirty Work" by Steely Dan, which is not often played by bar bands, at least in our experience.

 

Monitor sound wasn't so great, so we had a hard time hearing ourselves, which lead to a couple of flubs on beginnings, but no body really noticed. We extended a couple of songs extemporaneously because folks were dancing and we didn't want to discourage them. Lots of cheers after each song and the bar owner was happy as the place was packed four deep at the bar.

 

After we finished, the manager came up and said his only feedback was that we didn't take enough time between sets. We played for 45-50 minutes and then took ten minutes off. Started at 9:15 and ended at 12:15. I thought that was kind of an odd criticism, but whatever.

 

It was a great evening for us and we're really juiced to keep going in the new year.