Gig Reports - How did your gig go?

[jeremy c]

Right on Nancy!

 

Wally

+1

[Paul K]

Most excellent! Very happy for you!

[EddiePlaysBass]

See Nancy, you are slowly getting into this whole "playing in a band" thing without even noticing it :grin: Very cool! And for the record, you look as if you fit in perfectly

[Phil W]

From Friday night - Delicatessen - Sousta medley

 

[video:youtube]

[EddiePlaysBass]

Totally love that band, Phil

[Phil W]

Thanks David!

[b5pilot]

Atta girl Nancy!

[Bottom End]

Right on Nancy!

 

+1, congratulations!

[Seamy ALB]

Strange music Phil!! Very quirky.

[Phil W]

It's a medley of three Greek tunes: Sousta, Kassap Havasi and Ehe Geia. I think they're all from 1930s rebetiko music. The last tune in particular is a real singalong for Greek people. Rebetiko was very much the protest music of its day.

[Phil W]

Rebetiko was the Greek/Turkish blues.

 

This is a Greek version of Sousta from the 1930s

[video:youtube]

 

And a Turkish Kassap Havasi

[video:youtube]

 

And Ehe Geia

[video:youtube]

 

 

[Phil W]

People dance to it like this

 

[video:youtube]

[Groove Mama]

That sounds great and looks like so much fun!

[Groove Mama]

Right on Nancy!

+1, congratulations!

Thanks, everybody! It was only one song, but gotta start somewhere; right? A week later, I am still bathed in the afterglow.

[Phil W]

Lunchtime jazz with some of the great church musicians in our church converted to an Olympic Sports Cafe for visitors. Played the Wal and also the Crafter acoustic on one tune.

 

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x463/philwbass/aslpolymicjazz.jpg

[Phil W]

Just seen the pic Nancy, love it!

[EddiePlaysBass]

We were booked to play an "annual blues evening" in the Netherlands. Since I also work there, I had loaded my gear in the car and spent the day wondering how tight our parking's security really is

 

Arrived at the locale and it turned out there was a market / fair sort of thing going on. Big truck trailer was set before what I think was the town hall. Said hi to the sound guy and went to look for the band mates. Found one guitarist in the nearest pub, drinking a whiskey (or whisky, not sure). Rest soon followed, we soundchecked and got food (I love playing in the Netherlands!).

 

Come show time there was a decent enough crowd. A lot of people passed by and stopped to watch, or frantically ran away. Most little kids (this was a fair, remember) held their hands over their ears as they passed us by. Everyone's a critic, I guess.

 

Most noticeable audience members were, in no particular order:

 

- 2 (individual) dogs who both went berserk with the sound;

- a senior couple (at least 85 years of age) where the husband was in a wheelchair: they both bobbed their head along to the music and the husband had a smile from ear to ear. I smiled at him a time or two, just to show appreciation;

- a teenage girl (maybe 13) who approached the stage, looked at the band from the corner of her eye and proceeded to take one ear piece from her MP3 player and put it in, as to drown out our sound. That cracked me up!

 

All in all, we played well. Jazz guitarist, who shares stage left with me, kept increasing his volume and proceeded to drown me out most of the time (on stage) so I went by muscle memory and fretboard knowledge more than actual ear reliance Afterwards people told us they enjoyed the show, some said we beat the headliner and one of the crew members bought me a drink. A nice evening was had by all!

[Ross Brown]

nice....

[jeremy c]

I foresee a day when there will be no amplifiers on stage at all.

Not only will all the band members be wearing in-ear monitors, but there will be earbuds (with volume controls) on every table, so that people who want to listen will, and those who don't want to won't.

 

Fortunately I will be dead by then.

 

Good gig, Eddie.

and Phil, I hope you get paid better at your Olympic cafe than the musicians inside the stadium.

[Phil W]

That was a freebie to promote my church Jeremy. In the UK, church musicians generally don't get paid but I see it as part of my service/offering to the church. I think it's very different in the US where people normally get paid to play in church. We even have an entire orchestra that plays for free. How is it Jewish religious music, are the musicians normally paid?

[EddiePlaysBass]

Played a festival gig (Blues & Rock Ternat - 5th edition). I was told it was mainly rockabilly-focused so I wore a rockabilly shirt. Turns out the crowd was not as focused as some of the bands were :grin:

 

It was scorching hot, which to a degree affected my playing. Once again made the mistake of taking the 1x15 instead of the (heavier) 4x10 cab. Couldn't really hear myself on stage very well. All in all the set went well, people seemed to like us. Handful of small mistakes but nothing ear shattering or "train wreck"-like.

 

I liked the view from the stage. To quote "La Grange" (which we play): "They got a lot of nice girls" My girlfriend asked why we didn't play "Sweet Home Chicago" ... My best friend said he'd never seen me move around and dance as much as today... Guess I was "in the zone" or something :grin:

 

Off to bed now!

[EddiePlaysBass]

Played another festival gig yesterday. This was the one we'd been prepping for since about a year now. Rather renowned in Belgium and if you do well there, it is said to lead to more and better gigs. Arrived well on time: the band was scheduled to perform at 7PM and we arrived and set up around 4.30PM. Got to meet the sound guys, did a sound-check and then they suggested we play a song or two so we did about 5 We figured some people were there anyway and we had the time, so we played a good deal of material not on the set list for the night. Sound on stage was awesome! Like listening to a high class DVD, it was just that good.

 

Come show time the band was announced and we took the stage. Somewhat to my surprise the place was as good as packed Again some nice ladies at the front of the stage, one of whom kept eying me, or more specifically my bass' neck :grin: Guess she's a bass player, too. Her boyfriend must've been a drummer cos she kept poking him and pointing at our drummer. With around an hour's worth of material, the show was really over by the time we were well into it. Some mistakes were made here and there, by all members, but no "train wrecks" and probably nothing a non-musician would have noticed. Everyone brought their A-game and we were even called back for an encore! The organizers said we could do "a short one" and so we did. Drum solo included :grin:

 

The aftercare was as good as the PA-crew: food was excellent, beer was cold. I got compliments on my playing, and one guy who turned out to be a bass player (and a good one at that) asked about my amp and was genuinely amazed when I told him it was a Behringer He totally dug my tone. Apparently he books bands for a club nearby so fingers crossed, everyone! I went to see his band perform later on, and had a good time. Hope to run into him tonight (got a backstage pass for a 2-day festival, and they programmed Ana Popovic this evening so I am there!) so I can return the compliment and ask about the bass he was playing cos I really liked it!

 

That will be all for me for at least a month. Next show is booked in October, and there will be no rehearsals in September so it kind of feels like taking a break This show was recorded by the sound engineer on his own equipment so I am hoping to get a copy sooner or later. Again, fingers crossed!

[Groove Mama]

That's so cool, Eddie. Congrats!

[Basshappi]

First gig with the reconstituted band. This is a local show that covers the local music scene. Unfortunately it is unedited and very raw and includes the "opening act" as well. Our performance starts at around 32:00.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C15LGM6vPU

[jeremy c]

Played last night at a corporate party.

 

Things that went right:

The crowd loved us. We got applause during the dinner set and lots of dancers during the dance set. The band sounded good, all excellent players (some of whom had never met each other before this gig). We only had to play two hours (had been told we were playing for 3, then 2 and 1/2, but it ended up being only 2. food supplied by the agent was good. Pay was excellent.

 

Things that went wrong:

Friday traffic was vicious. That's why 5 of us left our homes at 3 in order to be there at 6:30. Even so, it took me 2 and 1/2 hours to go 50 miles.

We were told that there was a side door with a ramp so we could load easily. It was actually a long hallway and the kitchen took it over to plate the meals. I rolled my cart with all my gear and a PA system to the stairway (about 4 stairs), had to take everything off the cart, carry it down the stairs, and then put it back on the cart in order to roll the gear into the room. After having had the time of gig changed several times during the week and ending up with the schedule being 7:30-10:00, at about 5:45, we were told that the time was now 7:00 to 9:00. Five of the six of us were already there so it was not a big deal. At 6:50 I went outside to see if I could locate the missing sixth man and went back inside at 6:55 and the band had already started playing without me (the people came in the room and the agent said, "start playing!"). At 7:05 player number 6 showed up. He was supposed to play sax and keys. I had told him on his cell phone when I was looking for him that entrance to the room would be right through the people, so he should just bring his sax and we could worry about the keyboard on the break.

The agent was freaking out saying, "he can't bring the keyboard through the crowd," and I said, "I already told him that," which calmed her down. He was playing by the third song...not really his fault because he expected he gig to start at 7:30. But of course he didn't leave his home 3 hours early.

Once we were all playing, the agent came over and said that we should play the two hours without a break.

At the end of the night member of the band said he expected to get paid that night and made a bit of a fuss. I don't know what his problem was, but of course even if the agent had handed us the check on the night of the gig (which she didn't), we would have to get the money in our band account before we could write him a check. He's been working with the band for years and should know all this.

Lead singer gave me a list of songs she could do. I called a few of them and she said, "do you have the lyrics for that?" so all of a sudden I had to come up with a different song.

 

But considering how good the musicians were, how nice the crowd was and what I got paid, I think I came out ahead.

[Ross Brown]

Wow!.... I would have crashed and burned.... you are a pro. Cool story.

 

What was with the person that wanted paid? Sounds odd since they have been in the band a while...

[Paul K]

Solo gig update. Originally, keeping focused for the duration was real hard. I'd be dog tired after a two hour gig, and comatose after a three hour gig. Raspy voice was expected. So I'm pleased to report that it's getting a lot easier. I'm better at making on the fly corrections, better at chatting up the crowd, better at being able to focus on two things at once. My vocal range has improved so that I'm not hoarse at the end of the gig, and I can do it with better control. I still have to project and move some air, but I can do it with less effort; I can sing the higher notes quieter than I used to. My touch on guitar is better; I'm better at strumming quietly so that way the louds are louder. Sounds easy, but....

 

I originally tried to focus on songs that no one else did. But I think I'm going to change that to be doing the same old sh*^ that everyone else does, 'cause that's what gets the response from the audience. Sometimes someone will say, "Wow..Never thought I'd hear someone do 'Black Cow'" but I have to face facts. Gotta play what they want to hear. Sad, but true.

 

My new headset microphone (Shure WH30) sounds better than the old (some AKG dynamic mic). A good expenditure of gig money.

 

And I even a couple bass gigs on the near horizon. Gotta build up some calluses this week, or I'll be miserable half way through these gigs.

[Ross Brown]

Nice!!

[jeremy c]

I'd be in heaven if someone requested Black Cow and the band I was in could actually play it.

 

There are a few Steely Dan tribute bands around that are doing ok in the money department and I'd like to be in one.

[Eric VB]

Thanks for sharing, Jeremy. Nice to know things aren't always so different. Can't imagine coming to a gig as a lead singer and not having lyrics memorized (or at least bringing my own).

 

Paul, your posts really hit home. I don't quite have enough material for a full show so I haven't done anything other than charity gigs yet. I'll have to check on the headset you're using. The thing about the same sh*^ is there's so much of it that there's plenty to choose from. You should still be able to sneak in a couple deep cuts each set, just as you would with originals. I totally get the singing thing; the more you do it, the easier it gets.