Gig Reports - How did your gig go?

[Bob Gollihur]

Played an outdoor show at a huge campground in Cape May NJ (the county has more vacation campgrounds than you can shake a dozen sticks at. The sound company, owned by our drummer, has a 50 foot trailer stage with lighting, and everything was mic'd/DI. Large powered monitors with custom mixes were at each position, and the board has the wifi ability so the engineer can make changes from his iPad no matter where he is. What a treat!

 

We're a blues band doing energetic and eclectic choices. A DJ played breaks, and a photographer had been hired to provide images for the sound co. brochure and our own materials. The audience was transient, but applause was regular and we had a good time. The first set songs were rock solid from the getgo, and while some were a touch shakey (dreaded and ends!), we were very well received. That's the good news.

 

While the obligatory beer flowed amongst the sound co. staff (we don't drink on the job), for some past favor the main soundman was gifted a bottle of Jamesons during the first set. This was bad timing, as it lay on the ground, empty, before we started the last set.

 

I'm not sure exactly why, but amp volumes increased and monitor mixes went to hell. Suddenly I could hear nothing but the suddenly loud guitar player (nervously tossing some chord clams on less familiar songs) adjacent and in the monitor. This really disoriented me, and while I am usually the 100% dependable Anchor Of Changes for the band, my walking bass took a couple detours from the path. And the iPad bearing sound guy, not tethered to the board, was out of sight and pretty much out of his mind. We had one minor train wreck when our dueling guitar players started their song starting unison pattern different keys, but we called it jazz and moved on.

 

So, on the whole, it wasn't that ugly, and I did get a "you're one helluva bass player! endorsement (is there anything better?) coming back from the john. And the venue owners loved us and the sound company, so maybe next season we'll have a chance to do it again, minus the Jamesons.

[butcherNburn]

we called it jazz and moved on.

 

good one

[Richard W]

While the obligatory beer flowed amongst the sound co. staff (we don't drink on the job), for some past favor the main soundman was gifted a bottle of Jamesons during the first set. This was bad timing, as it lay on the ground, empty, before we started the last set.

 

This happened to my band when we played the most recent New Year's Eve gig, with the same effect on our sound in the last set. Intolerable. We vowed never to work with that sound guy again, and we haven't.

[Basshappi]

Yep, that is my First Rule of gigging, Stay sober or stay home. Partying is for after a great performance.

[jeremy c]

And if you don't stay sober, how the hell are you going to get home? I pray that it's not by driving drunk and endangering yourself and everyone else on the road (or sidewalk).

[Bob Gollihur]

His behavior was actually a surprise to our drummer; he was pinch hitting for his partner who had a family commitment. And he's reportedly quite a good bass player, we had some nice conversations until he fell into oblivion. Sad. And stupid, as you all say.

[jeremy c]

Another one of our corporate gigs. The agent sent us to the Sonoma Golf Club and the gig was at the Sonoma Mission Inn (which owns the Golf Club). I have an email that specifically says the Golf Club.

 

So I get to the golf club, unload all my equipment (which includes a PA system, and bring it in. Then I see that there is nothing in the room, no tables, no dance floor, nothing. I find the manager of the club and he says, "there's no band here tonight, you're supposed to here on Oct 20, not Sept 20.".

 

I start to call everyone's cell phones to say, "turn around, go home", and then the manager says, "wait a minute, I'll call the Inn."

 

And sure enough, that's where we are supposed to be. So I load everything back into my van, call all the other band members, and drive to the Inn (which fortunately is only about a mile away).

 

Then the drummer/lead singer calls and says that there is a terrible accident on the road he is on, cars on fire, ambulances, police cars, and the road is closed. He's going to have to turn around and take an alternate route on country roads.

But then the manager of the Inn, says, "you were supposed to start at 7, but they won't be ready to come into the room until 7:30".

 

After that, everything goes great, the band sounds good, the people love us, blah, blah, blah.

 

I asked if there was food for the band, and was told, "just call home service, order anything you want, it'll be delivered to your break room, and the host of the party will sign for it."

The tab for four of us was $116, I handed it to the maitre d', and that was that.

 

Next up on this round of corporate gigs is on Monday. I'm praying that it will easier than the last two.

[Basshappi]

JC - Livin' the Vida Loca!

[Nicklab]

We were in Philadelphia this past saturday. It was the first time that the band and I have played there, and it's been refreshing to get out of NYC for some gigs. Philly definitely seems to be making something of a renaissance in the Northeast, and I've been making more trips there for buying records (aka vinyl) over the past several years.

 

The venue was called Connie's Ric Rac, and it's in the heart of South Philly. It's right around the corner from the legendary cheese steak joints like Pat's and Geno's. When we first got there, the place looked a little desolate. Lots of bare concrete & cinder block walls. It didn't come across that inviting. We were hanging out there before the first act went on, and it seemed like it was just us and the first band that were in the club.

 

Then the first band went on. It was a female singer and a guy playing a hollowbody Gretsch guitar. The songs were surprisingly dynamic for the stripped down nature of the band. But we were afraid that the slowly building audience was going to be lulled to sleep.

 

Eventually, we got on stage and started to get set up. The house backline was a little dated: Peavey bass amp combo, and this tiny cocktail drum kit. Oh, and did I mention that this was the FIRST gig with this particular drummer? Yeah, but that's a story for another day.

 

Our set was a definite shift in energy from the previous set. And we definitely won the crowd over. But the notable thing about it was their willingness to give us a chance. In NYC, if you aren't the band that someone has come out to see specifically, that segment of the audience just could not give a toss. But the Philly crowd was cool and ready to give us a shot. So props to Philadelphia audiences! Especially since this was something of a warmup for our show in NYC tomorrow night at Arlene's Grocery.

 

The trip wouldn't be complete without some Philly cuisine, and I suspect this was my wife's chief reason for tagging along. So we went to our own favorite cheese steak stand: Tony Luke's! She got the cheese steak, but I got the Philly italian roast pork. If you're in Philly you MUST try this sandwich. Just don't wind up driving through Camden on your way home to North Jersey.

[Richard W]

Nick--glad you had a good time in Philly. You (and the wife) were wise to skip the cheese steaks at Genos or Pats--those two places are the worst tourist traps in Philly, cheese steak division.

[Nicklab]

Yeah, I've done the Pat's thing before, and honestly it was underwhelming. It didn't stop my bandmates from going, though.

[Groove Mama]

Nick--glad you had a good time in Philly. You (and the wife) were wise to skip the cheese steaks at Genos or Pats--those two places are the worst tourist traps in Philly, cheese steak division.

I had one at Jim's. Thought it was really good.

[Phil W]

Great jam session rehearsal yesterday with a Uyghur flamemco guitarist. He also sings and plays some Uyghur instruments. Had my mind blown when the kora player (who has played since he was 8) and singer (sings fluently in Mandinko in a Sengalese style) were white British but hey - they loved in Senegal - great musicians.

 

The rehearsal was acoustic-ish and beautiful - lots of interplay, space and groove. Sadly some of the more delicate and sensitive interplay was lost in the gig later which was a late night pub affair with a loud PA that didn't suit the band but we put on a good show nevertheless!

 

Photos (for the FB inclined)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151250356868760.524412.706118759&type=1

[Eric VB]

We did the Elton John thing and played a funeral for a friend.

 

In addition to being a great friend he came out to support the band a lot. When we'd play the harder stuff on our set list he'd get up and dance, kind of like a mosh pit thing, and when the song was over he'd bellow "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!" as loud and as long as he could. (He would have fit right in at one of Erik's shows.)

 

When arrangements were being made we were asked to play "Sweet Child o' Mine" and another song, and a string quartet was going to play a few before us. So my bandmates worked out a nice, peaceful acoustic version of SCoM.

 

No, they wanted the full band version, just like at the bar.

 

The funeral home was ok with that because it wasn't like we'd be disturbing the funeral in the next room; we were the only service that day.

 

I got there at 2:00 pm and set up everything except for the drums so we would make the least disturbance possible. The drummer opted to bring his electronic kit to help towards this end. Since I brought the sub to support his set I figured I'd just go through the PA, too, and save some space by leaving my rig at home.

 

The string quartet was to go on first at 7:00 pm. You know, to kind of let the music build a bit. Well, violin, viola and cello arrive and set up and are ready to go.

 

Where's the second violin? Don't know. He didn't call and he's not answering his cell. He ends up being some 20 minutes late. In order not to waste time people have started to come up and say a word or two. Somehow someone is able to pause that and get the quartet to play.

 

We had worked it out that the quartet would exit to the next room to pack up before we started to play. Well, evidently we paused too long because people started getting up to speak again. So we waited until they were done.

 

So there I was, squatting without a chair, listening. I almost lost it one time. Then they were done and I had to pull it together and play music. The first song went ok and we even managed to pull off SCoM without peeling paint or sounding too lame. (Yeah, I know, electronic drums, but the vocals really carried the song.)

 

Being a funeral service people weren't sure if they were supposed to clap or not, so they just sat there in uncomfortable silence. It was so ironic to hear that silence -- that dead silence -- instead of the all too familiar bellowing.

 

It was the first time I'd played at a funeral. I can't say it's something I look forward to repeating.

[Wally Malone]

Too bad you didn't have the dearly departed's "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!" recorded and played at the end of the song.

 

Wally

[jcadmus]

You're a good man, Eric.

[Paul K]

You're a good man, Eric.

 

Right on. Glad you were able to honor him that way.

[EddiePlaysBass]

The blues band played a "pub crawl" today. I had to google the translation from Dutch, but basically the idea is to have several bands play at several pubs and people go from one to the next. Bands were scheduled in such a way that you could always choose between 2 out of 4 (I think).

 

Place we were playing was small, and the first thing I noticed was a huge "Iced Earth" poster. It went well with the power metal which was playing over the stereo system :grin: I wondered if there was a blues pub tonight where a metal band would be playing Anyway, by the time we played our first of three sets (2 x 40 and 1 x 60) the place filled up very nicely. Our singer does a sing-a-long bit during one of our shuffles, and the crowd really gave it their all! Very impressive.

 

[edit]I had pasted the set list to a pole, and at one point this woman grabs said pole and starts doing a "sexy" dance for her boyfriend. All I could think of was: "Woman, get your hands off my friggin' ... set list!!" :grin: It was weird to be literally playing in front of people. If I reached out I could touch 'em! One guy kept his gaze fixed on my fingers - could've been a bass player. Or a finger fetishist

 

It was nice to see that by the second set, some people had apparently decided to stay. Still, for all three sets we got a good lot of people (place was always packed) and great participation / response. One guy told me afterwards that he felt that I was "holding myself back, choosing to stay in the back ground". Essentially he meant I should play more up front, lead style. Guess I will go Steve Harris on him next time I see him :grin: All in all a nice evening. Bum notes here and there but nothing spectacular.

 

Next gig's tomorrow! Back to my roots: it's close to where my mom used to live as a little girl

[jeremy c]

Last Thursday's gig. Another corporate party, 6 piece band. We were supposed to be set up by 5:30 for a 6:00 pm gig. I left my house at 3:30. Everyone was tense because the last time we played at this place all of us got stuck in horrible traffic jams. That's why I allowed 2 hours for a 40 mile drive.

 

So we all got there on time and then it was announced that the party would start at 7:00. Then they asked the guitar player to play on the front steps for 45 minutes as the people drifted in. He sat there doing nothing for an hour and then at 7:00 the people started coming in. The whole band actually started at 8:00 with our version of I Got a Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas.

We kept repeating verses until everyone was in the room.

Then it was down to a whisper level while they ate and ate and ate. Then there was 20 minute slide show and we all went to the break room.

We came back and finally started playing dance music and just as we got everyone on the dance floor, they stopped the proceedings to show a film that was made about the people who were at the convention. I don't understand: they are at a convention and now they are watching a video of themselves at the convention. They could have just mailed them all a copy of the dvd after the convention was over. The film went on and on as we kept looking at our watches: "ok, we're only going to have time for three songs, oop, make that two songs, nope, one song".

 

When it got to 10:00 pm (our contracted ending time), we told them that if they wanted any music, they'd have to pay us overtime. They agreed, turned off the film and we played for a half hour to a wildly enthusiastic crowd.

 

Then I drove home and as I backed into the driveway, I knocked over the barbeque which my lovely wife had left there after grilling a fish which she caught. I probably woke up half the neighborhood with the crash and the swearing. Oh well, they know they live next door to a musician.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Alright, second gig this weekend. As I mentioned before, this is close to my "roots" as it was near where my mom grew up. Driving over there turned out to be more eventful than I anticipated: due to a road block I spent about half an hour figuring out how to get there (and it was a 20 minute drive ...). The road to the pub turned out to be straight out of the Blair Witch Project. I was seriously wondering where the man with the hatchet was

 

Arrived there and there was 3 people there outside of the band wives. Great start of the evening ... Shook hands with the band, and we started setting up. Not a lot of space and the "band compartment" was chilly. Did a quick run through one of the songs we were not going to play tonight, to check the levels of the instruments and stuff. Sounded good, bit hard but hey, we play bluesrock so it's justified

 

Around 9PM there was a handful of people there. We were supposed to go on but decided to wait a bit. Turned out to be a good move because more and more people arrived, including three of my friends, my parents, a couple that seems to come to almost all our shows, and assorted people of all ages. Saying the place was packed would be a lie but there was a very good turnout, especially for such a desolate venue.

 

First set came and went with little surprises, and good crowd response. We changed up the second set a bit: added a slow song because the mood felt right, and then switched a slow song for a fast song because again the mood felt right. We were definitely in better shape than yesterday, and I thought yesterday was fairly good! My bass tone was killer - the whole band commented on it (I may post something tomorrow) so I may have to look at how I set my amp, and remember those settings for future reference.

 

We concluded our second set, which involved a lot more jamming and extended soloing and people wanted more. Earlier during the day I had said to the singer how it would be fun to actually play "Rockin' In The Free World" because he always announces "Cortez The Killer" as "a Neil Young song, but not that one". So for our first encore, while one of the guitarists went to the toilet, he picked up the guitar and we played that Neil Young song :grin: Definitely a unique moment but the crowd loved every minute of it. We almost did "Smoke On The Water" next but decided against it - shame!

[Ross Brown]

Sounds great. Smoke on the Water is so stupid it is great! We used to play it... always got a great response... I don't know why.... probably because we had the balls to play it. We did play it well....

[Phil W]

Last night was great (despite a lower than average sized crowd).

 

Positives: someone in the crowd singing one of my basslines after the song finished; lots of plate smashing (ultimate compliment in a Greek place); band members fighting over who gets to sit in front of the bass cab; endless compliments from the audience.

 

Then, this morning, afterwards, I had to rehearse at church at 8:30am - it was like I'd never played bass before, never read music or a chart before.

 

Talk about coming down with a bump. Luckily by the time we had to play for real at 9:30 I had it together but phew!

[Richard W]

A fun gig last night, playing a benefit for my local education foundation (of which I'm a board member). Good crowd--maybe 200 people at its height. We made an effort to play at a lower volume so as not to blow out the crowd--they really wanted us for "background" mostly, and by all reports the volume was good. Of course, playing at a lower volume always makes it tougher to cover up mistakes.

 

We debuted our version of the Abbey Road medley, but only did You Never Give Me Your Money and Sun King. We'd spent a lot of time working the vocals on each, which are challenge. We were a little pitchy on Sun King, but not as anyone noticed except us. We also debuted Dancing in the Moon Light (by King Harvest) during which I got a little lost but managed to find my way back.

 

The plan had been to play two sets, since they had some other programming taking place in between. As it turned out, however, we didn't get to start the second set until very late in the party. The crowd was dwindling to less than ten people, I'd say, and we still had about half a dozen songs to go. I said to the band "let's just do one more and call it a night." We closed with Walk of Life, in which your's truly sang lead for the first time and I think I acquitted myself nicely.

 

We got great feedback from the audience, though, even as it disappeared. We had played Empty Pages by Traffic and one guy came up to me (while we were in the middle of playing another song, which I really didn't understand) and told me it had been years since he'd heard that song and that he really liked it.

 

All in all a good gig, even if we didn't get to finish everything we'd prepared. That's the breaks.

[EddiePlaysBass]

We played our penultimate gig for 2012 (unless someone books us, but I doubt it) on 02 November. A band called The Nimmo Brothers was playing a club and our singer suggested to the owner that he put us on the bill as opening act. Said owner loves us, and we occasionally use his club as a rehearsal place. No price was agreed, since both parties were doing the other party a favor.

 

We set up, sound checked way too little and then the main act came in and started moving around their gear. The club owner had already suggested we ALL set up on stage - it's pretty big for a club, but got "cozier" with all the equipment I chatted a bit with one of the Nimmo brothers (he highly discouraged me from going wireless) and wanted to offer help, but these guys are Scottish and they could probably lift me with one hand

 

When they set up, I went on stage to help move my stuff around and arrange everything to be as comfortable for them as possible, so I would not have to tear down prior to their set ending. At one point the brother who'd be on "my" side of the stage came and asked if his pedals were in the way Not a prob, good man! I figured that we are the opening act and everyone came to see them, so I was not about to go prima donna on them! Told him to leave everything as he set it up, and that I would be fine!

 

We, the band, were more anxious than usual. The club was sold out (give or take 150 people) and since this was our third gig there (3rd time opening for an international act) we wanted to throw in some new material. Got a last-minute request to trim the set list, and since I am now in charge of that I suggested one of the shuffles be kicked out. In retrospect a bad move, as it's the club owner's favorite shuffle. But he was too busy working his *** off to listen

 

Out of 12 songs played (roughly an hour), 5 were new. 3 to the point of having run through them during two consecutive rehearsals and with a vague idea of the structure / ending. We tend to make our covers our own I am sure no one in the audience noticed much - both on the recording I made and in reviews published later, people commented on how "tight" the band sounds - but some of the new songs were performed a bit messy

 

All in all it was a good set, despite us not being quite so relaxed as we usually are. We decided (against my will but majority rules) to drop one of the new songs and another one is pending final judgment (ironically I am all for booting that one) and people afterwards came and asked why we didn't do specific songs, such as "A Million Miles Away", "Shotgun Blues" (because we already played two different 12-bar shuffles in E, dammit :grin: ) or "Cortez The Killer". Guess we are getting to a point of having a few "classics" in the set. Something I will (have to) keep in mind when composing the set list for our next gig, come December! That will be a full 2 sets + encores, so more room to move*

 

Oh in case anyone wonders: club owner approached the singer and offered EUR 50.- more than the usual rate we get there when opening for another act. Very classy, considering he did us a favor - we reached a good few new people that night!

 

 

 

 

*No John Mayall reference intended, though I'd love to cover that one!

[Ross Brown]

cool night..... sounds like fun

[EddiePlaysBass]

Last gig of the year (and possibly of this band) last night. Dusty Dollar went abroad, to play a club in the Netherlands. It being a Sunday, we did not expect too many people to show up. And we were right :grin: I think all in all, there was maybe 20 people there. That was a first, we're actually used to having bigger crowds. Okay, sometimes 30 people, but it's still bigger!

 

Soundguy was obnoxious. As we were setting up and tuning and riffing, he asked where we wanted the crowd: up front or way in the back. Up front, please. Then turn the **** down cos [he] can't work the PA like that. We countered that suggestion with one of our own: turn off the effing music so we can actually hear ourselves. Great start He loved me, though: asked me to turn down my amp and I think I cut my volume in half - not to be a tool, I actually agreed with him that I was too loud. Got a big grin from him - and a very prominent house mix, judging by the recordings!

 

Guitarist 1 starts off the first song of the set whilst guitarist 2 is still tuning up. Oops N° 2 wants us to stop but we refuse so he only jumps in halfway through the song. Several lessons learned there. Third song, drummer decides to end it about 1 minute prior to the actual ending. We've only been playing that one for 2 years so I guess I understand his confusion

 

All in all, the mistakes made were mostly small ones. I have to admit that during a few songs my timing was all over the place. Having recently seen The Nimmo Brothers and Ana Popovic in concert, I noticed that their musicians (especially the bass players) actually used the stage, rather than stick to their little square. So if the singer moves to the side, rather than leave a gaping hole, I'll move in. If the guitarists come together, I take the place of one of them to fill that part of the stage. Plus, I did my first ever "Steve Harris" move - felt like a rock star :grin:

 

Definitely not our best gig ever, and given the recent developments I really hope this was not our swan song. 2013 will make matters clear on that - we are talking of recording a new demo, cos we are not pleased with the first one. I am working on getting us some gigs. But I wonder if all noses are still pointing in the same direction (as we say here) ...

[Ross Brown]

Not sure why a song was started before everyone was ready.... unless it was a message to the guy that was taking too long to get ready.

 

When I saw Kenny Wayne Sheppard (both times) it was clear that part of the game plan was for Tony Franklin (on bass) to move around the stage in response to the movements of KWS and Noel (singer) in order to keep the stage "look" balanced. It worked. I like to move when playing and can not be placed in the back next to drummer and stand still... doesn't work for me...

[EddiePlaysBass]

Not sure why a song was started before everyone was ready.... unless it was a message to the guy that was taking too long to get ready.

 

Truth being stranger than fiction, none of the remaining four of us actually noticed he was not ready. At the same time, if you hit the stage as a band, I believe you should be ready.

[Richard W]

We had a gig at a new (for us) venue on Saturday. A nice brew pub type of place. A very positive gig overall--we played well, debuted a new (for us) female guest vocalist who was terrific, and we generated a big crowd. After it was over, the bartender came up to us and said he really liked our show and that previous Saturdays at the place had been "dead," but that we really packed 'em in.

 

A couple of minutes later, the bouncer came over to us: a big, beefy guy, bald-headed with a beard--right out of Central Casting for a bouncer. He said we were terrific, adding that he particularly enjoyed all our Beatles covers (we did four Beatles tunes). It was sweet--I wouldn't have pegged him for a Beatles fan. "You really may the time pass quickly," he said, adding that he was going to "email the owner" of the bar to tell him how much he enjoyed our show.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm always particularly gratified when the staff at a bar pay us compliments. I figure they hear everything, so their feedback is especially valuable. The staff at this place was really friendly and helpful to the band, which was great. We are anticipating a return engagement this fall.

[Seamy ALB]

It is always nice to get a complement from the staff, they know and endure every week!!

 

What Beatles do you guys play??