Gig Reports - How did your gig go?

[Richard W]

The ones we did at this gig were Back in the USSR, The Ballad of John and Yoko, Ticket to Ride, and Oh, Darling (with our female vocalist taking the lead). I sing the McCartney harmonies on J&Y and Ticket to Ride, both of which are fun to play.

 

Other Beatles in our repertoire are: If I Fell, All I've Got to Do, From Me to You, Get Back, Good Day Sunshine, Hold Me Tight, I Feel Fine, Money, Slow Down, Two of Us, and You Never Give Me Your Money into Sun King.

[TimR]

I've been playing with a couple of bands recently. One band that plays 60s and 70s numbers with the odd more recent tune thrown in. I wasn't doing many gigs with them so I started looking around for another band to supplement the gigs.

 

I found one in November, a power trio plus singer. I went along to their last gig with their last bass player, liked their material, auditioned on the Thursday and was accepted straight away. They'd seen four other guys but had been unimpressed with them.

 

Last Saturday was my second gig with them, the first was back in April. Nothing to report really other than I'm impressed with their whole attitude to gigging.

 

A medium sized pub in Hertfordshire.

The drummer and I arrived at 7.30 and the drummer set up his drums while I set up bass rig and lights. Guitarist arrived about 8.00 with more lights and PA. I helped set up. Singer arrived at 8.58. We started playing at 9.00.

 

Two sets just over an hour each, played completely from memory.

 

We added 3 tunes over the last two practices that went down well. Changing Man - Paul Weller, Wish You Were Here - Floyd, and The Seeker - The Who.

 

We covered all our mistakes well and don't think the crowd noticed.

 

They want us back as do the pub we played in April. So two gigs down and two more booked already this year.

 

We finished at 11:30, the singer finished his beer and left and we were all out by 12:30.

 

Good Times.

[Wally Malone]

Since the singer doesn't have to commit to the extra time put in by the rest of you then the band should be getting cartage for moving the equipment. This is assuming the singer is getting paid the same as the band.

 

Wally

[TimR]

Well it works. The other guys grumble a bit but it doesn't worry me too much. The guitarist deals with the money and he makes sure it's shared out 'fairly'

 

5 more gigs lined up this week for the next 3 months. Happy days!

[Richard W]

Outdoor show at a township park, sponsored by the local civic association. Bloody hot, but we were able to set up in the shade on a basketball court and thus had plenty of room, which was nice. The hot temperature made playing a little funky: the guitarists complained about keeping their six-stringers in tune. I found my neck to be very sticky in the humidity. A couple of times in the second set we would lose power for about half a second, and then it would come back on immediately. Ghosts in the machine, I guess.

 

I sang lead on The Kink's "Sunny Afternoon," and also took a lead vocal on a verse of The Band's "The Weight." Otherwise, just sang harmonies on almost every other tune--two sets of 11 songs each.

 

The event organizer was apologetic because the turn-out was relatively low. She thought her group had been emailing its membership about the show, when in fact no emails had gone out. Most of the publicity for the event was through my own efforts on email and our band's Facebook page. Still--we ended up with maybe 75 to 100 people. A lot of folks wandered over once they heard us playing.

 

Here's the set list:

Sail On, Sailor by the Beach Boys

Have You Ever Seen the Rain, CCR

Out on the Weekend, Neil Young

Better Be Home Soon, Crowded House

Tequila Sunrise, Eagles

Oh, Darling, The Beatles

Dirty Work, Steely Dan

I Saw The Light, Todd Rundgren

Funny How Time Slips Away, Willie Nelson (we cop a Lyle Lovett/Al Green version)

All I've Got To Do, The Beatles

Drift Away, Dobie Grey

 

Do It Again, Steely Dan

Sandy, Bruce Springsteen

Empty Pages, Traffic

From Me To You, The Beatles

Sunny Afternoon, The Kinks

How Long, Ace

Dancing in the Moonlight, King Harvest

No Matter What, Bad Company

Ballad of John and Yoko, The Beatles

The Weight, The Band

Too Much Stuff, Delbert McClinton

 

[jcadmus]

That's a cool set list, Richard.

[jeremy c]

+1

[Richard W]

That's a cool set list, Richard.

 

Thanks. The band puts a lot of thought into song selection. We like to focus beyond the hits of well-known artists and then some one-hit wonders too.

[5 string Mike]

Yours went better than ours-

 

My work band played at a county fair about 45 minutes away on the 18th. We had a whopping 12 people in the audience.

 

As a consolation, one of our band mates has a friend who played the same place Tuesday night, playing bluegrass- he had 9 in his audience.

 

It's not like we were playing the wrong material. It was similar to yours

 

The Weight

Folsom Prison Blues medley with That's All Right Mama (old Elvis song)

Fortunate Son

Memphis

Hoochie Coochie Man

Keep Your Hands to Yourself

Secret Agent Man

Polk Salad Annie

Rock Me Mama (Dillon)

Ring of Fire

Feelin' All Right

Dead Flowers- Stones

Some Kind of Wonderful

Fire on the Mountain

Wild Horses

Key to the Highway

After Midnight

 

A few more I can't remember right now.

 

They had us in a tent with some fans so it wasn't stifling, but to drive 45 minutes to play 3 hours for 12 people total (only 3-4 at one time) was not much of 'gig'. It was more like an outdoor rehearsal. But, we did it ias a favor to a friend that is on their fair board that needed to fill a slot.

 

[Bob Gollihur]

I've played on dark stages, but Friday night was a new experience.

 

My blues band (minus one member who is MIA, but that's another story) played a gig at the Harbor View Restaurant and Marina in Cape May NJ. The "stage" is a raised deck area all they way at the end of the outdoor marina - you could toss your bass into the bay in a fit of anger with very little effort.

 

I'd played this place on Sunday afternoons, but this was an 8-12, and as the sun set in front of us, the lack of lighting, other than candles flickering on some tables twenty feet away, and a limited glow from distant deck lighting meant it was nearly coal mine dark. The nearly full but very dim moon didn't help enough to see my little fingerboard side markers, and I have no big front dots). Had to use a flashlight to see my set list between songs!

 

The effect was more evident in my guitarist's playing, but I tossed a few clams, too. Surprise!! I'll definitely come up with some sort of lighting solution for the three August gigs there.

 

 

[Richard W]

Really nice gig on Saturday at a local restaurant/bar. This was our third engagement there this year, and definitely the best in terms of the size of the crowd. Manager was very happy with the turn out and a lot of folks stayed 'til the bitter end. I'd guess we had 150+ at the high point.

 

We started at 8:30 instead of 9:00--after much discussion with the owner. We argued that our fans wanted an earlier start. Owner finally said "start when you want but you have to play until midnight." We just added a song to each set and hit that with no problem.

 

We added two horn players this time 'round--one sax and one trumpet. Great young guys who can really play, but they were to my right all evening and my right ear took a beating. Still, worth it as they added a lot of texture.

 

Bunch of new songs for us: Witchy Woman, Into the Mystic, Bang a Gong, All I Wanna Do (Sheryl Crow), Rescue Me (Fontella Bass, and a lot of fun to play), Wonderful One (Marvin Gaye--also a lot of fun to play and sing back up on), and Super Duper Love by Joss Stone. We also did Smackwater Jack by Carol King, which has a challenging (for me) bass lick throughout.

 

The only real train wreck was also a new tune: White Room by Cream. Our drummer took that long pause before the instrumental outro when he should have just continued into the third verse. We recovered OK, however, and if anyone in the audience noticed they didn't say anything to us afterwards.

 

I sang lead on four songs and didn't embarrass myself.

 

I've been gigging with my Epiphone Jack Casady bass all year, but at the last moment brought out my Fender Jazz for this gig. It was like getting together with an old friend.

 

Our last gig for the year, but we should be back at this venue at least twice in 2014.

[jeremy c]

Good job!

[Ross Brown]

I love gig stories..... This one sounds like fun. Cool.

[Tom Capasso]

Sounds nice - great mix of songs.

 

Stonefly used to do White Room. We didn't have the issue you had going into the third verse, but struggled one time with when the guitar solo starts. We took the easy way out - after a pause the drummer hits the hi-hat 4 times and we're in. Not quite as "cool", but we never muck up the timing!

 

We've played a few restaurant/music places. They usually want us to start at 9 sharp, but start with quiet music so the last of the "dinner-only" crowd doesn't get irritated. At first we were not happy with this, but dug around for a bunch of softer songs that we don't always use in other venues (Van Morrison "And It Stoned Me" and "Caravan" among others).

 

Tom

[b5pilot]

Good job Rich and those are some great songs. I too like playing White Room except the guitar player insists on playing his cheesy little keyboard to fill in the "ahhhh ahhh" back up vocals. He is not a keyboard player.

 

Good for you convincing the bar owner to start you at 8:30. It's hard to figure why they start bands so frickin' late.

[Richard W]

We've played a few restaurant/music places. They usually want us to start at 9 sharp, but start with quiet music so the last of the "dinner-only" crowd doesn't get irritated. At first we were not happy with this, but dug around for a bunch of softer songs that we don't always use in other venues (Van Morrison "And It Stoned Me" and "Caravan" among others).

 

This is the approach we take, too. Softer or less uptempo stuff predominates in the first set, and then we get a little more raucous. We find most people are just settling in during the first set and need to get a drink in them before they start dancing. And, as you say, it doesn't bother the late diners who were there first.

[EddiePlaysBass]

This is the approach we take, too. Softer or less uptempo stuff predominates in the first set, and then we get a little more raucous.

 

Yes, my pop band does the same: first set is mellow, lots of acoustic stuff. Heck, we start off with "Stand By Me" I found that weird, but it works. Sets 2 and 3 are increasingly more up tempo. That too works

[jeremy c]

I was in a band which played Moondance as the first song in our first set.......6 nights a week for five years straight.

 

I used to like that song.

[Eric VB]

I had three gigs with three different bands back in November. (Sorry for the length!)

 

Gig 1 was the reunion/final show for the '60s-to-today rock/pop band I played with for six years. Our lead singer moved to Cali but was back in town visiting family so we decided to do one more show. This one made up for our official last show which, due to a scheduling mixup, occurred on a Friday when we advertised as the following Saturday. (We figured it out on the preceding Tuesday!) Usually a 4-piece, we went on as a 5-piece with both our original and final guitarists since our singer had played guitar on some songs but didn't want to bother with it this time around. I tried to get a former drummer but, like Spinal Tap, we needed another so I called on a local pro whom we never performed with before. Luckily we were able to book her; a couple days later she was on a plane to tour Great Britain. (I thought it fitting as our original drummer was also female.)

 

The show went over well. One comment that got back to the venue owner was we were even better than the house band ... which is lead by the venue owner, a truly talented local singer. (We usually have him come up and sing a few but he was DJing a wedding that night. He was mock hurt over the comment.) Of course the guitarists worried we'd flop miserably. I rehearsed with both of them so they could work out their parts but we only had one rehearsal with the singer and none with the drummer. Sometimes on stage we'd have a short discussion on how to start a song and we all helped out with cues but she probably didn't need them. The only song I worried about was "The Red" by the Chevelles since it almost rocks too hard to fit with the rest of the set list. Happily people came up and rocked along to it.

 

In order to accommodate all the singers (everyone except the drummer) I only sang the male lead on "Love Shack". I shared backgrounds, too. As always I got to start only one song: "White Rabbit".

 

Gig 2 was a fill-in for my friend's band, a classic-to-modern rock trio. He had just been booked to play a casino but his bass player's license was held up. (Mine was still good.) He needed a drummer, too, so I called on the guy from the R&B/rock/pop band I used to be in that played that casino. The booking agent also told him he had to have at least a 4-piece. He was able to land a female singer through the agent.

 

We had about a week to prepare so I asked for a set list. He sent about 75 songs. It was a 5-hour gig but still we didn't need that many. I added five songs I sing lead on. When I passed them along to the drummer he said he wasn't happy about having to learn 80 songs. (He's a note-for-note guy.) Since he also subbed for the '60s-to-today rock/pop band (see Gig 1 above) we ending up having quite a few songs the two of us knew that were on the list, so I told him to plan on those and a few more.

 

Well, I was wrong.

 

Those 75 songs -- which included songs recorded with female lead vocals -- were all songs my friend sang or had a volunteer from the audience sing. The female singer had her own list of songs which we got to see right before we went on and it was almost totally different from the other list. We ended up playing a lot of songs we didn't prepare. The drummer doesn't like to fly by the seat of his pants so he was upset. I had to veto a few songs because I wasn't familiar enough with them but winged a bunch more.

 

Recipe for disaster, no?

 

Actually everyone was talented enough to pull it off. The singer said those 5-hour gigs usually dragged on for her but this one just flew by. Even the drummer had a change of heart and said he had a good time. People danced and had a good time. We had people come up to give positive comments and someone even wanted to book the "band". Nobody seemed to notice that the four of us had never performed together before, let alone rehearsed together.

 

We had enough songs that I ended up cutting a couple I sing lead on. I think we did "The One I Love", "Crocodile Rock" and "Follow Me". I snuck in some backgrounds when I could, most notably on "Hard Day's Night" that really called for it.

 

Gig 3 was with the new '90s-to-today rock/folk 4-piece band. It was our first gig. They didn't have a guarantee -- they paid a percentage -- but I booked it anyway. I got lucky, though, because it turned out to be the night of the city's tree lighting. It had just ended so the place was packed when I got there about an hour before the show. That was probably the worst part as they had moved the stage so I ended up coming in the wrong door and had to part the seas on my first trip. Also, there were no outlets; we had the front windows behind us. I finally noticed an outlet in the ceiling and managed to climb up on a sturdy shelf to plug in. It was a decent-sized stage but we had too much equipment so it was really crowded.

 

Once more there was trepidation over how well we would do. Well, probably more worry over how well I would do, as the two singer/guitarists performed often as a duo and the drummer was solid. And once more we went over well. We kept the crowd entertained, got paid more than if I would have asked for a guarantee and got invited to come back for New Years Eve. (Unfortunately we are not able to.)

 

Oh, but there was drama. At one point the lead singer's girlfriend got up and left and he went after her. We only had a couple more songs for that set so we just took an early break. They weren't done when it was time to go back on so a friend of the band came up to play guitar with the drummer and me. We just jammed a twelve bar blues. After that the 4-piece was back on.

 

Earlier in the night a friend of mine surprised me by bringing his melodica. He'd never done that before. I was still trying to figure out what song to bring him up for when the crowd sent him up. He ended up playing "My Girl" which, although I had played with a country/variety band years ago, was a bit of a reach to remember. One of the guitarists winged it and we actually made it through the key change.

 

I'm the new guy in this group and we're still revamping the set list so I only sing "The One I Love". In our final rehearsal they did ask me to sing "The Ring of Fire", too, but on stage we improvised a Glee-like arrangement where each of us took one verse/chorus. (I think we should keep it that way.) I had some backups, too, but didn't have "Should I Stay or Should I Go" nailed so I just left those out. Yeah, I know, blasphemy!

 

Wrapping up, there you go. As I hadn't been playing regularly for a while this was a real test. There really wasn't much overlap between set lists so I had to (re)learn 13-hours of material (about 9.75 hours of music). It's not as hard with songs I grew up with, but memorizing the other songs was a challenge. Hats off to you guys that routinely do this all the time.

[Richard W]

I was in a band which played Moondance as the first song in our first set.......6 nights a week for five years straight.

 

I used to like that song.

 

Wow, if my math is correct, that's 1,560 times playing that song. Impressive.

[EddiePlaysBass]

The pop band was asked to play the New Years reception / 50 year anniversary of the venue where we rehearse. We had to hire a sub on vocals because one of our singers is pregnant, and part of our sound is two-part lead vocals.

 

There was a "local legend" doing 6 or so songs with backing tracks, mostly polka-ish tracks. Crowd was old, like mostly people in their '70s. I was worried about how we would go over. Our set lists were not very well balanced and it showed a bit. People only started dancing at the end of the first set, and again halfway through the second set.

 

Having a sub meant we could not swap certain songs for others which we'd left out of the set list, but we all agreed afterwards that we need more danceable songs anyway, and we need to put set lists together based on the expected audience.

 

All in all it went well, there were no major train wrecks and we managed to stumble through certain mistakes. People did get up and dance and kept asking for more, so I guess we did something right :-) The drummer said I played very well tonight - not sure if he means I played less well the previous times :grin:

[Wally Malone]

Those now 70 were brought up on R&R.

 

Wally

[EddiePlaysBass]

Those now 70 were brought up on R&R.

 

Indeed! My rockabilly band would have gone down a storm. The drummer and I told the band leader we need more tracks with a country feel, and more rock'n'roll / swing tracks that people can dance to. Luckily he agrees with this

 

And for the record: absolutely no disrespect to the audience we had - they were rocking along and I do believe we gave 'em a good time. I just wish we could have "catered to their needs" a bit more

[Groove Mama]

I was in a band which played Moondance as the first song in our first set.......6 nights a week for five years straight.

 

I used to like that song.

Wow, if my math is correct, that's 1,560 times playing that song. Impressive.

I'll bet he got pretty good at it by the end.

[Paul K]

I went on a road trip for a couple weeks starting at christmas eve; holidays, then delivering my mother-in-law to Florida, then visiting my mother in Florida. Was glad to get home Wednesday, but had a gig Friday after not holding a guitar for over two weeks. It went very well, but I did butcher two songs. I covered well, but let's just say that the tape is ugly on those two tunes. The rest of the night was smooth and fun.

 

But more important: A table full of young ladies requested Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". That tune is in the book, so hooray for me. People request songs here and there, but even though I have 5 or 6 hours of material, I always have to come up with a similar tune to substitute. It was bizarre to pull a relatively obscure song out of the hat.

[jeremy c]

Yesterday I played a Bat Mitzvah party. (that's like a Bar Mitzvah, except it's for a girl). The band was called Adama and it's a band that specializes in Israeli folk dance music.

 

It's usually a four piece band: guitarist/singer, bass, keyboard/clarinet and a percussionist who plays Dumbek (a Middle Eastern drum, sort of like a Tabla.

 

What made the gig interesting is that the bandleader (who is the guitarist/singer) threw out his back and couldn't make it. We got a woman friend of ours who is a good singer (and is Israeli) to cover for him. She brought along a friend of hers (and ours), a woman who is also a good percussionist.

 

So we played the dances, everyone danced, we got fed, we got paid well, and a great time was had by all.

 

At one point on a break our regular percussionist asked me if I missed the guitar. We both laughed.

 

Here's a picture of me at the party:

http://www.jeremycohenbass.com/images/sunglasses.jpg

[Groove Mama]

Stylin'!

[Eric VB]

Good job, EPB, PK and JC!

[b5pilot]

Dig those crazy shades!

[Wally Malone]

Right on Jeremy!

 

Wally