Playing for others (Gigging)

[DocPate]

Tell us about your most memorable time when you played for others.

 

I will never forget the first time I walked up to the mic and sang on the radio. I know I must have sounded awful (or at least more than normal). Tennessee Ernie Ford had a big hit out - "Sixteen Tons" and I covered it with Carl Tipton and the band.

 

Billy Henson played the intro written by the immortal Merle Travis

 

[skipclone 1]

Playing at The Chance in Poughkeepsie NY, on the same stage as Allan Holdsworth, Steve Morse, Bad English with Neil Schon and a host of others. First act of a multi-band evening, and we KILLED it.

[Larryz]

There are a few so if I have to choose, I guess I'll pick one of the County Fair gigs my country rock band played...we showed up early just to check out the fair (rides, livestock, etc.). One of the guys in charge comes up and says hey how would you guys like to play for the race car crowd in the stands? We said OK will do where do you want us to set up? He said on that flat bed trailer over there...so we loaded our amps and PA on the flat bed trailer and they pulled us up to the stands with a Diesel Rig. Talk about an intro for an Outlaw Country band! We played about 5 or 6 tunes and the crowd loved us as the warm up for the races that were to start as soon as they hauled us off.

 

They let everyone know the name of the band and we be would be playing at the front gate till closing time that night. We had a great time, but that's the 1st and last time I ever played on a rolling stage at an outdoor gig LOL! We had some big equipment back in those days and they didn't need to mic us!

[Winston Psmith]

The Music for 100 Guitars event still stands out. I recently found a very short video, where you can see me (from behind), through most of the video. I'm the guy with the short grey hair, and the SG with the D.C. flag strap (Red & White), and I'm pretty much in the center of the screen for at least part of the video. This will give you an idea what the whole thing sounded like, but if you want to know what it felt like, turn everything way up, until the floor is vibrating.

 

[video:youtube]

[d halfnote]

This is an old story but illustrates the many reasons for careful gig prep.

Early on I played w/an arty group, using props, etc, & sometimes very precise arrangements.

 

...so there I was dressed up as the Egyptian god Anubis & psyched to play an astounding space-blues gtr solo (Memphis...Delta, get it ?).

I strode forward to the edge of the stage & pulled the lead from the amp.

Oops.

The band kept playing & I, concentrating on my perf so hard I couldn't even hear anything but my brain's version of my lines, (& I couldn't even see well b/c of my costume's head-dress) walked the front of the stage as one of the vocalists trailed me tryna grab the cable & plug me back in...which was accomplished just as my "solo" ended.

Almost astoundingly the whole thing looked, apparently, like part of our act.

:idk

Show biz.

[Winston Psmith]

"Art is anything you can get away with." - Andy Warhol

[DocPate]

@d.

[desertbluesman]

I played in several jam bands, and the best part was; I never went home alone after a gig. Every single time I played out, some girlie would hit on me, and we would wind up doing the wild thing in the back of my van on top of all the equipment.

 

Oh my my, the hippy years, they were far too much fun for those years to last.

 

 

 

[d halfnote]

Doc,thanks for the tip abt Big Red.

I kinda wish he'd done the Steve Miller toon but it's going in the file / sub Sun Ra / G Clinton

 

[whitefang]

Well, just being in basically a "basement" band in the late '60's, whenever we DID play for people, it was for house parties in basements(and for friends parties).

 

The most memorable "gig" I guess, was when the other guitar player in the band, Joe, tried to do the "Jimi" thing and play a few licks with his teeth. Of course, with our cheezy equipment, placed on damp, concrete basement floors and not really grounded all that well, I only saw Joe raise his axe to his face, followed by a loud *CRACK*, accompanied by a HUGE blue spark and Joe flying backward into the drummer's kit!

Whitefang

[splitting hare]

So many good (and bad) memories to choose from here. Among the good, opening up for Southern Culture on the Skids, performing Pink Floyd's The Wall in it's entirety in a couple of tribute shows, and seeing the most amazing and responsive crowd when we did our Rocky Horror Picture Show tributes - showing the entire movie on a big screen behind us but muting out the musical audio in it and playing it live ourselves when it came to that point in the movie. Fun stuff.

 

Among the bad, getting fired 3 days into our first ever road trip - a gig that was supposed to last 2 weeks. We will blame it more on the booking agent and the venue - we advertised ourselves as a high energy rock and roll band (this was in the mid 80s). When we walked into the venue (about 700 miles from home) we couldn't see the bar through all the cowboy hats. Talk about a Blues Brother's chicken wire moment! And although pretty much every time on stage is a fun moment for me, when you end up working your arse off setting up and tearing down and only end up playing for 10 people or less (and half of them work at the venue) it is discouraging. But we move on and continue to do our thing.

[Kenji13]

My most memorable performance was when I played at a nursing home. I played classical music such as Tarrega, Sor, Giuliani and etc. It was a lunch concert and everyone seemed enjoying my music and lunch. But eventually one lady came up to me while I am playing, she said to me, "why don't you play the Beatles' music!". Unfortunately I was not prepared for beatles...

 

I leaned musicians are an artist, but at the same time an entertainer!

[whitefang]

I find that you get requests for Beatles tunes from some old fan in a NURSING HOME a bit distressing.

 

Sure, it gets confusing at times...

 

When I did wedding photography, a DJ at a wedding that I was talking to said he gets weird requests. "Sometimes, a kid that looks in about the 8th grade comes up and asks for some CHICK WEBB or some COUNT BASIE. THEN I might get some guy about 80 shuffle up and ask if I have any DEPECHE MODE!"

Whitefang

[Larryz]

Playing at an old folks home or at the Veterans hospital can be a very rewarding experience. They really appreciate you (no matter what you play)...it is cool when a very young or very old person comes up and makes a request that you least expect coming from their generation LOL!

[surfergirl]

2014 8th grade we played for our high school grad dance. The committee had hired a older band and they cancelled a week before the dance so they hired us. It was 3 hrs with a break. We assured them we could do it. Our math was bad and during the break we came to the realization we hadn't practiced enough songs to finish. We thought we would take 4 songs from the 1st set and mix them in, but if someone noticed we would never live it down, small town you know. The good thing is we have had our own way of communicating since before we could talk and used that to just play 4 songs we all new and pulled it off with no problems.

[Larryz]

Cool story and we're glad you're back in town Surfergirl!

[whitefang]

Yes, I agree...a cool story and I'm, glad too, that you're back in town Surfergirl, despite reminding me that it's been FIFTY FOUR YEARS since I was in the 8th grade!

Whitefang

[d halfnote]

My most memorable performance was when I played at a nursing home. I played classical music such as Tarrega, Sor, Giuliani and etc. It was a lunch concert and everyone seemed enjoying my music and lunch. But eventually one lady came up to me while I am playing, she said to me, "why don't you play the Beatles' music!". Unfortunately I was not prepared for beatles...

 

I leaned musicians are an artist, but at the same time an entertainer!

That's great that yer playing for those who have fewer options for live entertainment, Kenji !

What got you motivated there ?

 

I find that you get requests for Beatles tunes from some old fan in a NURSING HOME a bit distressing.

:idk

Although The Beatles continue by virtue of both their original quality & their deep marketing to attract new fans, it's entirely logical that older folks in nursing homes would request their songs.

The age group of orig Beatles fans is exactly the demo beginning to fill those facilities.

Not only that but a certain nostalgia was built into their music from the start. It's well-cited that McCartney's 1st song was "I Lost My Little G" & one of Lennon's loveliest melodies is matched to a lyric that begins, "I was dreaming of the past..."

Not to mention that one of their 2 main breakthrough tracks of 1963 starts, " You say y'lost yer love---I saw her yesterday...".

[d halfnote]

It was 3 hrs with a break. We assured them we could do it. Our math was bad and during the break we came to the realization we hadn't practiced enough songs to finish. We thought we would take 4 songs from the 1st set and mix them in, but if someone noticed we would never live it down, small town you know.

It's not uncommon for beginning bands to underestimate that or even to play far faster in perf than rehearsal.

The good thing is we have had our own way of communicating since before we could talk and used that to just play 4 songs we all new and pulled it off with no problems.

I think that deserves a bit of elaboration !