Gig Reports - How did your gig go?

[Paul K]

Played another solo gig last night. I covered the whole three hours with a whole bunch of tunes to spare. Pleased with the whole thing. And I got to keep all the money. All of it, I tell you. Even the money in the tip jar: all mine. (insert evil laugh here)

[Richard W]

Great gig last night, but it started with a curveball. We were supposed to set up in a room off the bar, but when we got to the venue, "our" room was set up for a birthday party. "Oh, you'll be playing over there," the manager said, pointing to another area with a riser crammed into a corner and a completely different configuration. Our sound guy was a little miffed, but all's well that ends well. Drums, keys, and bass up on the riser, two guitars and harp player on the floor. I did feel rather exposed being on the riser.

 

Did 33 songs in three sets, including two encore numbers--one of which was a real encore in that we had already taken off our instruments and our keyboard player had unplugged when a woman came up and begged us to do one more. We finished with Pink Cadillac by Springsteen.

 

Couple of nice comments: one of the waitresses said we were the best band she's heard in the place and she's a singer who asked if she could try out with us as backup singer. The manager came over at the end and deemed us "awesome" and that he'd like us back "as soon as possible." Our guitarist said "sure, we could probably do something in early fall," and the manager said "Fall?! Can't you do anything sooner?"

[Ross Brown]

Sounds like fun!! I can't wait to get back out...

 

Do you really have no openings until Fall?

[5 string Mike]

Gig report:

 

Our "work" band performed at a local charity event Saturday morning.

 

It was a "walk for the cause" style event, sponsored in part by our company.

 

Two major caveats- we played outside- in 20 degree weather and we were scheduled to begin setup at 6:15.....AM

 

We had a 20 x 20 canopy, but as an improvement over last year, they added two side curtains and a space heater. We were set up in the corner of the 10-space parking lot. It put us a little close to the people, but we were going to try to dial it back.

 

We set up under a spotlight, trying not to trip over everything for the first hour or so until the sun came up. Once we got all set up, we did a few sound checks and sounded pretty good. The guy running the band's board was another co-worker who has deejay'd the event in past years. He's been in a couple ongoing classic rock bands over the last 20 years, so he knows how bands should sound. He did a great job for us. We didn't mic the guitar amps, keyboard, or bass, but mic'd the drums, percussion (bongos, timbales, mini- cowbells, etc) and singers.

 

We all had cold-weather gear such as little hand-warmer chemical heat pack things, hats, Company logo fleece, etc.

 

We cranked up as people started filing in for the registration, and I have to say the band sounded great. We knocked out the first 5-6 songs and had a lot of people taking pictures and telling us we sounded great.

 

The rest of the performance went very well. We all had a great time, even in the cold. Once the sun came up and took the cold edge off, it was pretty smooth. We had some good banter going on with the audience, there was a good crowd, and the event raised almost $65,000.

 

The only issues we had were one time the lead guitar player had a hand cramp during the slide stuff on "Werewolves of London" and someone tripped over the extension cord running the PA in the middle of "Bobby McGee", about 10 seconds after our sound guy stepped into the port-a-jon.

 

We had lunch afterward (finished and packed up by 11:30) and we all felt it was our best gig ever. The event organizer even said she had so many great compliments on the band, and another organization in the area was getting our contact information.

 

 

[jcadmus]

Gig report:

 

Two major caveats- we played outside- in 20 degree weather and we were scheduled to begin setup at 6:15.....AM

 

I can't even BEGIN to count how many ways that's just wrong.

 

 

But I'm glad the gig went well and you had fun.

[Ross Brown]

What is 6:15am? I have not heard of this....

[Richard W]

Do you really have no openings until Fall?

 

Ross, it's not that we don't have openings, it's that our band is made up of me and five other guys who all work day jobs, have families, etc, and who are still trying to build our repertoire of songs. As a result, at this point, we like to put at least a couple of months between gigs. We've got one in April, one in June and one in July already set, and with vacation time in August, we just figured early fall is the next realistic time frame. We've talked about gig volume and all seem to agree that five or six gigs a year is a good pace for us. That could change, of course, as we learn more tunes--we're up to about 50 now, but even so still feel like we need to be well rehearsed.

[5 string Mike]

Yeah, Ross, it's that time when most people are sleeping soundly next to their significant other, getting those final rounds of restoration before tackling their weekend activities.

 

I had a half-hour drive on top of it so I was up at zero-dark-thirty (a.k.a 5:15). I have to say that traffic is real pleasant when you're one of 5 cars on the road...

 

We started doing sound checks about 7 or so and I quipped about anyone with a hangover within a 2 block radius of here will probably hate us.

 

I think we came out of the situation with two new "band laws"- no gigs before noon and no gigs where we can see our breath when we play

 

All kidding aside, it really was a blast. the best time I've had ever playing.

[Basshappi]

Congrats on a good gig man.

 

I did one like that a couple of years ago up in Phoenix for a "Rock n Roll Marthon" event. It was really great but early A.M. setup/sound check sucks. Fortunately the weather was quite warm dispite being January, that's the upside to living in the desert! As you can see...no snow!

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj260/Basshappi/235516-1.jpg

[Ross Brown]

I suppose I could do early..... could not do COLD....

 

Sounds like a great gig though! Congrats.

[SfactionBand]

Our last gig was so good that our bassplayer played 4min solo

 

[jcadmus]

I did cold and rainy once -- hated it.

[thabottomend]

Iron Reign will make their downtown Nashville debut Saturday night at the Rock Bar on 3rd Avenue. Report to follow.

[Phil W]

Full report on my Albert Hall gig:

 

http://philwbass.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/photos-from-our-evening-at-the-albert-hall/

[Russkull]

Played on Easter backing up a special musical guest visiting our church, a singer/songwriter from Tennessee, Anadara. I played with her a couple of years ago for Easter so it was great to see her again. We were set up in the church parking lot outdoors. Of course little-to-no time to warm up or even go over the songs - the sound guys that the church hired took until 8:40 to set up everything when the service started at 9:00.

 

Despite that, the first part of the service went well. I purposely played more simply than I would normally. Lots of root notes and just sticking to the basics and making sure I was following her every move.

 

We played four songs, no problem, then as soon as the pastor started the message - RAIN. As some of you know, rain in CA is the equivalent of a snowstorm elsewhere.

 

Everybody was rushing to throw tarps over the equipment, and one of my friends in the sound ministry grabbed my bass off the stage right when the downpour started (which I am very grateful for). The service finished with just Anadara playing one acoustic song under an umbrella so the set was cut short, but people actually stuck it out and it wound up being a decent day despite it all.

 

When I got home I ran through everything to make sure no permanent damage. My volume pedal got pretty soaked but doesn't seem to be any worse for wear. Next year I think we're going to have all the sound equipment in the building ready to go, for a quick move indoors if need be.

[Tenstrum]

First gig in about a year with my modern rock band.

Things went well. We opened for friends of ours in another band at one of the better local music venues. Had a pretty good crowd, especially considering that the Hard Drive XL Tour was in town playing about 3 miles down the road at another venue.

 

We played about an hour and fifteen worth of original material that went over well. I must have had a really good time because I ended up stomping the soles off of my shoes and had to duct tape them together to last long enough to get through our set.

 

My wife and her friends laughed at me all in good fun. Got lots of compliments on my playing, performance, and the bands' music. Much love was shared by all.

[Basshappi]

Played another open mic last friday night doing mostly our original tunes and had a very good response from the crowd.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKHE2FdvAl8

(Time for me to get back on my diet! )

 

The singer and drummer from my old band were there too and I played a few songs with them, lots of fun.

 

Cheers!

[Phil W]

Played a gig with Furniture at a South London pub. It was a regular gig but the drummer, Tadas, was about to complete his University music degree so we had a couple of music teachers with clipboards in the audience taking notes for Tadas' performance unit. Weird!

 

I played my Wal through the house Peavey 2X15 and the PA (mostly)

 

Miklos - an original

[video:youtube]

 

Deja Vu - a Beyonce cover (really!)

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA1cB3Gcb5o

 

And the Thelonius Monk tune, Straight No Chaser

[video:youtube]

 

Those are the only tunes out of 2 sets I have usable videos of as I set up the camera on the tripod pointing to the stage but the entire first set cuts off below my head!

 

[Richard W]

Did a single set last night as part of a benefit concert raising money for cancer research. Did seven songs, and as I said to a band mate later--playing just seven tunes then stopping is kind of like making out with your girlfriend and then being interrupted. You're just getting warmed up when everything comes screeching to a halt.

 

We debuted a new backup singer with great success. She's 22 (and the rest of us are men in our 50s), but she's got a great voice and added a lot to harmonies when we did Steely Dan's "Dirty Work" and "Sail On, Sailor" by the Beach Boys. She took the lead on "Give Me One Reason," by Tracy Chapman.

 

The other nice surprise for me is that I got to play through a terrific set of amps--two 15 inch Hartkes driven with an SWR head (not sure which one). My lead guitarist said the tone sounded great--punchy and really cut through the sound. I'd love to have a rig like that all the time (currently using an SWR 2x10C), but would not relish carrying two big cabinets and a head around all the time. Still, it makes me think I should like into a cabinet/head set up. Uh oh. I feel a case of GAS coming on.

 

 

[b5pilot]

Our gig last night went well despite that we haven't played together or rehearsed for a month. A lot of rust to shake off though but the playing was was tighter than I expected. The audience was unfortunately pretty light but I was told all the bars in the area were pretty light last night. I put some Chromes flatwounds on my jazz bass as I'm really starting to enjoy that old school sound. I saw a John Mayer trio video where Pino Palladino was using his p bass with flats and I just fell in love with the sound. Anyway my bass sounded really cool and I can't wait for the strings to get settled in. Even our persnickity (well when it comes to me anyway ) guitard liked the sound. I did notice I need to fiddle with the EQ on my amp a bit as the volume with some notes seemed a bit uneven at times. Or maybe I'll add a tiny bit compression. All in all it was a fun night. Unfortunately no gigs 'till June but maybe we can get some rehearsal time in.

[Phil W]

Great gig. Packed restaurant/music venue.

[video:youtube]

 

Played a slower set and a faster set which suited the venue.

 

 

 

[Nicklab]

Just got home after a marathon gig weekend with Starnes & Shah! I had three gigs in the space of two days along with plenty of travelling. I hit the road first thing on saturday morning from the NYC area up to Boston.

 

As it seems to go with any Boston gig, it wasn't in Boston proper. The gigs for bands like ours tend to be in the outlying towns like Cambridge or Somerville. There we were playing an afternoon set at the Campfire festival at Club Passim which is just off of Cambridge, MA's Harvard Square. Despite the stuffiness that you think that might come along with it's proximity to Harvard, it really is a super cool neighborhood. And the reception we've gotten in this area has been incredibly different from the jaded response you tend to get from NYC audiences. Still, it was an afternoon set and while the reception from the club and the crowd was good, it wasn't quite like a nighttime set. All in all we had half an hour on stage for a mostly folk audience. They warmed up to us in the second half of our set, and we definitely left them wanting more. Perhaps for another visit?

 

Things wrapped up in Boston around 5 PM, and then it was time to hit the road. Where to? 190 miles northwest to Montpelier, VT. The highways through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont were all pretty scenic. But it does take some getting used to road signs warning about Moose and Bear crossings. I really wish I was kidding about that, too. And as we made our way into Vermont we were welcomed by mist in the valleys of the Green Mountains. It almost made me wish we were covering "Misty Mountain Hop" by Led Zeppelin. It definitely would have been appropriate.

 

We arrived in Montpelier to find the capitol of Vermont pretty dark and wet. Well, we were scheduled to go on at 10 PM. Also, there had been flooding in some of the area over the past few days and numerous people had to be evacuated from their homes. It made me nervous about people coming out to the gig. And things became more concerning since the venue that hired us had only resumed live music within the past couple of weeks. Still, Montpelier is kind of a small town and there are only so many places to catch live music. The first wave of the audience was apparently a wedding party. They were alright, although a bit reserved. Where were the fabled Vermont hippies? We played a 40 minute set and then finally took a break. It was totally necessary since the humidity was about 100% and we were soaked. Then we got alarmed, because after our break most of the audience disappeared! At one point we were down to 3 or 4 people in the bar, and we were coming close to calling it a night. And all of a sudden the hippies appeared. And they wanted to dance! We eventually were running out of material, and we had to play our whole set twice. The hippies saved the night!

 

The next day it was on to Portland, Maine. And that included a drive through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's absolutely beautiful country if you ever get a chance to visit. The mountain country is amazing to behold. And I also don't think I've ever seen so many people riding motorcycles in my entire life. Portland itself is a pretty cool town. It was my first visit to Maine and the city was pretty inviting. I also took the opportunity to finally have a lobster dinner. There's evidence, but that's as much as I'm prepared to share at this time.

 

The gig itself was a little different. We played a couple of sets of our originals, but also backed up the poets who were at the club for a poetry slam. I had done this sort of thing before, so I kind of took the lead on backing up the poets. And it seems that lots of minor key grooves with either a jazz or funk feel worked for most of the poets. But at least a couple of the poets were on the tool-ish side, and could have been a bit cooler to us. The venue was okay. We had to do our own sound, and the setup and shape of the room wasn't super conducive to live music. That's something I think they'll need to address if we want to go back there.

 

All in all, it was a good road trip. We got to play for a load of new people. And it looks like at least a couple of the venues and towns are worth revisiting.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

I love weddings. Mr. Murphy always gets an invite, even if one wasn't addressed to him.

 

I am, admittedly, the squarest person on Earth. I don't understand why a young, bright, reasonably attractive female sees fit to have her entire back tatted up, then wear a backless wedding gown. It's like the last thing I think as she walks by during the Bridal March is "UCF" or "MMA" Thank God she didn't have a goatee, shave herself bald or start 'roid ragin' on the groom in public.

 

We got there at 1:30 to start playing for guest seating at 1:45. Wedding from 2:00 to about 2:45. Pictures. Then the band at 3:30 to 5:30. We contracted have the keys play the processonal, reseccional, wedding march, etc. Explained to the "employer" that we were being paid for the time there, not the time playing. I don't have anywhere to go or anything to do wearing the class A for 90 minutes. Singer panicked because we were almost done with the first set at the end of the first set. "What are we going to do for the second set?". I replyed "Play the second set." (We had three, just in case)

 

Went cheap on the caterer. Opened the bar at 3:00 (ultimate in lack of class - hitting the bar while the nuptuals are in progress). Went cheap on the caterer (very good friend of mine) and they ran out of food in 30 minutes. The caterer had no one available to go back, so Grandma (who I think sprung the entire wedding) had to run to town to get more food. This delayed the bride and groom first dance. Keys could not see the keyboard with the sunlight and had some problems with the arranger.

 

Beautiful spring day. Sunny, mild breeze, a handsome couple (even with the back tat) and the band played well and did not add to the problems. Check in my hand at the end of set one. Heaved out some business cards. Best news? The next day - thunderstorms, sheet rain and wind.

[Richard W]

Nice gig last night, with a couple of odd parts.

 

First, as we arrived and started loading in, the restaurant/bar was sparsely crowded and the guy behind the bar started saying things like: "why are you guys here? Who hired you? Are you sure your scheduled to be here?" and "It's going to be a light night, so I don't care how much you play, you can do 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off if you want." (We had planned for 50/10). He was giving us a very weird vibe, but our guitarist (who is friends with the bar owner) worked everything out with him, and as it turned out we had a lot of our family/friends/fans show up, so I think the bar ended up being far busier than they thought they were going to be.

 

We debuted a new singer--a 22 year old woman in a band of 50-something men. She was terrific, great on harmonies and we gave her the lead a couple of times, especially on Give Me One Reason, which she really nailed. This was her first time singing in a rock band--she brought her boyfriend, parents, and grandparents to the gig and they were all thrilled.

 

The oddest part of the night however, was the behavior of two guys--maybe father and son (one was older, the other younger)--who came up to us between the second and third sets to 1) say that they had been hired by the bar to dance and to encourage others (ie, the women in the crowd) to dance as well, and 2) ask if we could move all our gear back to make more room on the dance floor. You can imagine what our sound guy said to that. These guys both looked like they stepped out of 1975--one of them sporting the classic porn-star mustache and the other a long, feathered hair cut that I remember from walking the halls in high school in the mid-70s. They asked to see our list for the third set, which I thought was kind of annoying. In any event, at the beginning of the third set they were both on the dance floor thrashing around--by themselves--and sure enough soon a crowd did develop on the dance floor, though whether it was because of these two I really couldn't say. Has anyone else heard of this sort of arrangement--bars hiring "patrons" to encourage others to dance? I never had.

 

Here was our set list:

20 Flight Rock, Get Back, I'm a Man, Stuck in the Middle With You, Tell Her No, The Last Time, Ballad of John and Yoko, Black Dog, The Shape I'm In, Mary Jane's Last Dance, I Just Want to Make Love To You (Foghat version), Riding' In My Car, Give Me One Reason, No Matter What, Lowdown, Sail On Sailor, I Saw the Light, Shakedown Street, After Midnight, Werewolves of London, Wild Night, She's the One, Memphis, I Hear You Knocking, Before You Accuse Me, Little Sister, Pink Cadillac, Right Place Wrong Time, Higher Ground, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, American Girl.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Has anyone else heard of this sort of arrangement--bars hiring "patrons" to encourage others to dance? I never had.

If memory serves me, about a year ago one of the forumites relayed a story about two buxom young ladies who went out on the dance floor and proceeded to ... well ... dance. They were dressed as and sitting with the patrons. I called "fraud" and surmized that the bar owner/manager hired a couple of "professional adult entertainers" to create some buzz.

 

I may steal some of your set list. I like it a lot. We cover about a quarter of what you play now.

 

If I were the owner, I'd go that route rather than a couple of troglodytes as mentioned. They may be no-life-havin' hangers-on or related or friends of the owner an that "entitles" them cheap drinks, not having to tip and to take charge of certain things, especially if someone important isn't there to tell them to sit down and shut up.

[Richard W]

At one point, the younger one was dancing with a woman who could have been his mother and I thought to myself he's either a gigolo or into some weird mother issues. The band and I thought it was hilarious.

 

This is one reason why I love playing gigs--there is always some weird sh-t going on.

[J. Dan]

Played a casino this weekend Friday and Saturday. We had played the grand opening almost a year ago, but it was a major mess - nobody there knew what was going on, they had a band playing right before us right up until the time we were supposed to start (no teardown/setup time), with dancers doing a routine during breaks. Now hear's the thing - we weren't allowed anywhere but the dressing room or stage without an escourt from the casino, and there was no bathroom in the dressing room. So both bands, our equipment during the first band, and 10 dancers were crammed in the dressing room, asking for an escort anytime anybody had to piss. Plus our guitar player left his license at home, and they wouldn't let him in. He lives and hour away. He left same time as his wife and they met half way - and since we had to start late anyway due to the other band, he made it back in time. There were some words exchanged between our drummer and staff over the situation. Long of the short of it, we weren't welcomed back and didn't want back anyway.

 

Well since then, things have lightened up there and they asked us back. Now they have 2 keycards in the dressing room and you can take one to use the bathroom unescorted if you need. And you can visit fans on the dance floor on break without an escort, as long as you stay away from the gaming area.

 

The seating is all velvet lounge chairs, so the vibe is a little weird for us. The whole point of us is a party atmosphere with a packed dance floor. Fridays are usually slower all around town than Saturday's. This was not our crowd for sure, but we did get some people dancing. Saturday, we got OUR crowd there and it was MUCH better. A huge bachelorette party, where I swear every one of them was gorgeous, filled the dance floor, which is a great way to pack 'em in and get people dancing (not bad to look at either). We had several other large groups as well - a 21st birthday party, an anniversary, and 3 or 4 large groups of friends. That seeded the place nicely to draw people in from the gaming area.

[JBFLA]

OK - not technically a gig, but...

 

It's been over a year since I played with any other musicians - I was nervous, but you have to just go out and do it!! The nerves will settle - do what you do.

 

A rehearsal/jam with some players (that I've known for some time) who are looking to do something a little different. Different is good, no? The "band" consisted of Keys, Drums, Guitar, Sax and ...uhh, bass.

 

We had all played together at some time in the last 12 years, business is slooowwww here in the summer, so it seemed a good time to see what might be. A mix of jazz and soul and funk and whatever rocks our collective boats - initial set-list included standards like "Blue Bossa", "(Girl from) Ipanema", "Song for my Father", "Cantaloupe Island", "Autumn Leaves", and "All Blue". Funkier stuff included "Tune 88" (Lorber), "Mr. Magic", "Chameleon", "Maputo" (Crusaders), "Pick up the Pieces", "Soul Man" and "Brick House" (If you're not familiar with any of these titles, YouTube 'em - you'll thank me later). Maybe too eclectic a mix - but this was for us and not a final set list.

 

On the upside - those standards allowed me to use my fretless Roscoe 4 for the first time. No dirty looks from the Sax player (intonation problems tend to make horn players nuts!!) and the fretless fit the bill for those tunes. 10 points for taking a year to 'shed on it!

 

Biggest surprise - My Roscoe fretted 4 with my EBS BassIQ and a borrowed distortion pedal (from the guitarist) kicked some serious butt on "Chameleon".

 

Down side - Some rough patches (arrangement-wise) and the drummer is a little busy (for my tastes, especially at first take)... and I need to get back up to speed. A year off with no live interaction leads to some diminishing factor. Daily practice at home does NOT replace interpersonal reaction/listening and on-the-spot interpretation of what is happening on the stage or the rehearsal facility.

 

Good outweighs the bad so far. Too soon to tell, but there is promise - and that's all I ask for at this point...

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Played to an empty house last night. A local fraternal organization wanted to hire us for an outdoor cookout, tear down, set up at the club and play some more. Our quoted price was "too high" so we were to play the outdoor venue. Someone complained that they wanted to go dancing after, so the decision was made for us to play the club only; 7 to 11.

 

Well, four people showed up that weren't putting stuff away from the cookout. They left by third set.

 

30 minutes into set for the only crowd were the wives, my kid and his friends, and the waitress. We outroed with the outro to "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (as is our want) and I told the waitress over the PA that she was a wonderful crowd.

 

Still put money in my pocket. Used the last set as a practice as the entire rendition of this band had never played together (new guitar, keys was out of town last two weeks).

[Phil W]

Three gigs last weekend with Rebetiko/'world music'/Balkan band Delicatessen.

 

Friday night in a small and very bohemian club in East London - excellent and a real party atmosphere

Saturday afternoon at a festival in Basingstoke - well you all know the perils of outdoor sound and headlining with no soundcheck but it went well.

Sunday afternoon we played a short set at a street festival in London - great day, hot weather, went well.

 

Couple of vids from the Sunday:

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF9YyvhidRQ

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpxhq8xLFGQ