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Second gig with Marigold


EddiePlaysBass

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A week ago we played our first try-out, and today we had our first "full length show" - three sets of about 50 minutes each. The pub was bigger, attendance was about the same but due to venue size it seemed less :)

 

The band leader had the god awful idea of setting up at 3:30 PM while we were scheduled to go on at 9:30 PM. Being who I am, I dutifully reported at 3:30 :) We got set up in around an hour, and then had a lot of time to kill :) Amongst different things we suggested starting a latin version of the band, called MariachiGold. Pretty sure it won't stick but I like the idea nonetheless :)

 

Our first set was an "acoustic" set, with songs intended to draw people in and have them sit, listen and drink :) All in all it seemed to work well. Few minor mistakes here and there by all concerned but nothing special. I am happy to report that I played less mistakes than last week - and the ones I played today were different mistakes :)

 

The second set builds up a bit more and contains some more "up tempo" and dance tunes. We had to start "Roxanne" over, because the guitarist messed up the intro. No biggie - but I half expected I would mess this one up as I never really nail the timing during rehearsals. Got it today, though! This was really the only "train wreck" moment we had for the entire three sets.

 

For the third set, we had a prize to give away: we'd decided to award the 100th person to like our FB page with a 7" single with 2 tracks of the radio recordings we'd done. The band leader had made a nice gatefold cover for it and we all signed it :) The girl was at the gig and happily took receipt of her single. It's a one-off so she's got something truly unique there :) We put on sunglasses for the two Blues Brothers tunes we played, which went down a storm too.

 

Like last week, we got to play 2 encores and one of them was "Jolene" again. Not sure if we should just move it to "encore" position and leave it there? Anyway, the pub owner was happy, the crowd was happy - a lot of people stayed until the end. And - this was a first for me - I had someone ask me for an autograph, a picture and whether we could be friends on FB. Best part is, this was a 60-year old woman :grin: I dutifully agreed cos she seems to really dig the band and at this point we need to build a following anyway :)

 

All in all, a very good second gig. We made a little money (which we already mostly spent on renting a PA) and I am sure we will get booked again in this venue. Next gig won't be until January 4th but that gives us time to evaluate the current set lists and see what type of songs we need to focus on.

 

"I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes

 

The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour

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so..... you had fun?

 

Tons! Though the ladies (singers) sometimes looked at me and indicated that I should smile ... Apparently when I am playing I get a dead serious facial expression :) So I made a point of smiling very, very broadly - remembering how Mick Box always smiles from ear to ear on stage :)

 

60-year-old women ROCK. Just sayin'.

 

Glad it went well!

 

Absolutely no disagreement there, G.M. ;) I quite liked the attention, I will admit :) She apparently had heard us on the radio broadcast from a few weeks back, and looked us up on the net!

 

[edit] The drummer told me at Friday's rehearsal that I was really pushing and rushing at last week's gig, and said it was hard for him to hold me back. At sound check I purposefully tried to be in a relaxed state of mind, and he said it felt a lot better. Listening back to the recordings of yesterday he has a point. We sound way better and tighter than last week. I like the fact that he told me, and that he knew he could simply speak his mind about this.

"I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes

 

The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour

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Some recordings:

 

Roxanne - the only train wreck of the evening.

 

RU Kidding Me - my fave bass line to play, in our repertoire. I still haven't quite nailed it the way I want it but I am getting better at it :)

 

Proud Mary - lovely crowd participation in the beginning!

 

"I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes

 

The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour

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She still hasn't friended me on FB ... Must've been the booze talking!

 

Or she saw the picture of you and the banana.

 

A short promo video using footage of this particular gig - no idea why this particular audio was selected:

 

Video

 

Video looks good (you do occasionally smile- at least you're not frowning), but the audio doesn't go with it or the band's style at all.

 

Here's to many more gigs!

"Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion)

NEW band Old band

 

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And - this was a first for me - I had someone ask me for an autograph, a picture and whether we could be friends on FB.

That's not bad for a start. ;)

 

You know you've made it when they start asking if they can touch your hair (mine is usually spiked straight up).

 

A couple of times I had to go with a fauxhawk because my hair was too long for anything else. A lady came up to talk to me about it because that's how her son used to wear his hair. Turned out she was a VIP at the club, talked to management and we suddenly became "the most requested band" there.

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The band leader had the god awful idea of setting up at 3:30 PM while we were scheduled to go on at 9:30 PM.

Sometimes a venue will request an early setup so the band does not interfere with a busy dinner crowd. In that case it would be reasonable to check out after setting up (4:30 PM) and return in time for the show (9:00 PM).

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"Full length show". I know 3x50 is longer than you've done in the past. For a dance band it is standard over here to play 4x45 sets with 3x20 breaks for 4 hours total. The last show I played was 5 hours long (5 sets). Those can be tiresome!

 

Acoustic first set. This is fine if you don't want to disturb dinner guests. However, make sure you announce you'll have dancing later to keep your dancers around!

 

Mistakes. It's only a mistake if the audience notices. 99% of the time they will not notice ... unless you make a face. So don't make a face.

 

False start. Sometimes they happen. Sometimes it is better to laugh it off with the audience than to ignore it.

 

Give-aways. These are a great idea! Come up with something inexpensive that you can give away next time to all audience members.

 

Encores. Some venues have a hard stop time; there is no room for encores. At other venues if you go over your end time you are playing for free. I would avoid encores unless they are planned, i.e. say goodnight at 12:55 AM and then play one encore to end at your 1:00 AM end time. Also, ending late can make things unpleasant for venue staff. Patrons may not want to leave at closing time and it's that much longer before the band is loaded out and gone.

 

Renting a PA. Go ahead and buy one. I paid mine off in less than a year with gig money. Have someone else in the band buy lights.

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Sometimes a venue will request an early setup so the band does not interfere with a busy dinner crowd.

 

Possible, but this was a pub - no food served. Could still be the owner didn't want the hassle of us setting up and sound checking while the crowd came in. I'll never know :) At any rate, since this band is located in The Netherlands and I live in Belgium, it means most gigs are a minimum 1 hour drive away (one way) so when I get there, I will probably stay there :)

 

"Full length show".

 

Well in fairness, any multiple of 1 set will be considered a full show but if we learned anything it is that we need around 1.5 more sets - we had the crowd going strong!

 

Acoustic first set. This is fine if you don't want to disturb dinner guests. However, make sure you announce you'll have dancing later to keep your dancers around!

 

Yes, this was announced at the start of the first set :)

 

Mistakes. It's only a mistake if the audience notices. 99% of the time they will not notice ... unless you make a face. So don't make a face.

 

I had unlearned the face but I noticed it's back with this band. Something more to pay attention to :)

 

False start. Sometimes they happen. Sometimes it is better to laugh it off with the audience than to ignore it.

 

True - and frankly in some cases it's best to start over.

 

Give-aways. These are a great idea! Come up with something inexpensive that you can give away next time to all audience members.

 

Interesting idea! But so far the band is bleeding money so I think we won't be doing that shortly :)

 

Encores. Some venues have a hard stop time

 

True but I don't think the patron would have minded here. Nor the week before: the guy told us afterwards it had been ages since he'd had so many people in his bar - so we will get a repeat booking :thu:

 

Renting a PA. Go ahead and buy one. I paid mine off in less than a year with gig money. Have someone else in the band buy lights.

 

Yeah that is more or less planned - not sure how we will go about it just yet: who will buy what etc.

 

We will see. Either way, I am so grateful for second and third chances!!!

"I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes

 

The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour

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