While on Stage: The best thing somebody said...

[KuruPrionz]

... to you at a gig, while you were on stage. In the spirit of MPN, let's keep it more or less PG.

And, it's OK if they said it to another band member and you heard it, just as good in fact.

 

I'll start. We were hired for the Annual Comas Dance Club Rock and Roll event. Usually they would dance to waltz and other classic dance from the European tradition.

They were VERY serious about it and some of the couples had incredible moves together. But, once a year they just wanted to blow off some steam and have some fun.

 

So there we are, on stage and rocking out. There was an especially elegant older couple, dressed to the nines times nine and they persisted in trying to do their fully rehearsed dance steps, graceful and flawless but pretty weird in the context of Who's Makin' Love and other funky rockers. They began to have frustrated expressions on their faces.

 

The lady came up to us and spoke to the lead singer. She said "Do you know any of that "not jumping around music?" I had to turn around and pretend I was tuning my guitar, I contained myself but nearly split a gut. Later at break I almost died laughing.

 

Cuz, I only know that "jumping around music!!!!"

 

Post yours, this could be a fun thread!

[The Real MC]

Dance floor was to the side of the stage, on my side. I'm playing keyboard standing up and singing, and a girl on the dance floor gooses me.

 

It did not go unnoticed when I yipped into the mic

 

Not exactly an exchange of words, but it was a good prank.

 

(She was with somebody...)

[Anderton]

By far the best thing anyone said to me was when I was coming off stage. We'd opened for the Electric Flag, and Mike Bloomfield was coming up the stairs with his Les Paul, while I was going down with my SG. He said "Was that you playing guitar?" "Yeah." He kind of paused for a second, stared at me, and said "Man, you play like Coltrane!" To say I was floating off the ground for weeks afterward would be an understatement.

[The Real MC]

OK just thought of this one

 

At my last job there was a company jazz band that I played piano in. We played a lot of company events and the company provided the gear. On the few events we played outside of work, I brought my gear.

 

At one of these outside events I brought my Fender Rhodes and Hammond dual manual clonewheel with Leslie. One of the folks from the audience called me a "rare breed". I was walking on air for a few days.

[Notes_Norton]

I've made a career playing on stage, and I've had so many good (and not-so good) moments it's hard to say what is 'best'.

 

Here is one that made me feel good.

 

Many years ago, the band I was in broke up, and I joined another that lost their sax player. I had to jump in right away, so keeping up with the band while I got comfortable with the songs in their keys was exciting. One night we played "This Masquerade" (George Benson style) and they gave me a sax solo. For some reason the band lowered the volume when I started, and I built a solo that turned out to be excessively long, and self-indulgent. At the end of the set, the guy who led the band told me that I could wail as well as the best players, but not many of them could play slow songs that well. For a new guy feeling his way in a new band, that was great to hear.

 

Opposite.

 

We were playing at a yacht club as the house band for about 10 years. A regular customer wanted to hear "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime" (Dean Martin). I'm an adequate singer, and this isn't my style. I tried it out and a regular customer that we knew well enough to know he wasn't being cruel told me later that I shouldn't sing that song. I already knew that. So I gave it to Mrs.Notes who is a fantastic singer and can cop just about any style. That worked.

 

Notes

[Anderton]

The weirdest thing I ever heard on stage was after the first song, when the person who hired us for a party said that if we recognized any of the people, we could not tell anyone we saw them there. He was so emphatic that he insisted all the band members had to promise this, or we wouldn't get paid.

 

Turns out it was a wife-swapping party. I was 16 years old at the time...let's just say it accelerated my education about a variety of things

[Tedster]

I had someone say the exact same thing to me once...only when I stammered "As in John Coltrane?" the dude laughed and said "No, Roscoe P."

[Chip McDonald]

People say all sorts of hyperbolic, complimentary things it's hard to tell if they're being serious or not. Coming off stage I've gotten "you made me cry" a few times, but I don't know if that's good or not? The things people say off stage is sometimes difficult to respond to, onstage it's the Wild Drunk Hyperbolic Compliment that gets lost in the churn of sound so I can just smile and not have to figure out the Proper Response.

 

But if you want to talk about *weird* or *funny* things heard on stage, that's a different thread.....

[KuruPrionz]

People say all sorts of hyperbolic, complimentary things it's hard to tell if they're being serious or not. Coming off stage I've gotten "you made me cry" a few times, but I don't know if that's good or not? The things people say off stage is sometimes difficult to respond to, onstage it's the Wild Drunk Hyperbolic Compliment that gets lost in the churn of sound so I can just smile and not have to figure out the Proper Response.

 

But if you want to talk about *weird* or *funny* things heard on stage, that's a different thread.....

 

 

C'mon, Chip, I wanna hear weird, funny stuff. My second sentence in the OP is: "And, it's OK if they said it to another band member and you heard it, just as good in fact."

 

So it's not a different thread, this is the place. I do have some things I will refrain from posting because they are filthy and nasty but that's out of respect for MPN and the environment here.

 

I've got another that might only be funny to me - I used to gig with a "blacked-out" Peavey LA 400 combo, you couldn't tell what it was. One night after our last set another local guitarist came up to me as I was tearing down and asked "Is that a Boogie?" I contained my laughter and told him it was a solid-state Peavey that I bought used for $150.

 

Then there was our name game. Roger would introduce the band and make up stupid names for all of us. One night after introducing everybody he said "And my name is Richard, Richard Deep but my friend's all call me Dick." That was pretty good.

[harmonizer]

Once one of our guitar players announced to the audience "This is a song my ex-wife wrote about me", just before he started playing the intro to "You're No Good".

[Notes_Norton]

In one of the years Mrs.Notes and I were the house band at a Yacht Club, a German by the name of Volker hired us to play for his birthday party.

 

It was in a house he rented on a canal that eventually leads to the ocean. He was a land developer trying to land a deal here in the US.

 

Volker flew 10 friends in from Germany. We set up in the kitchen, they partied in the living room. The only time we saw anyone was as they walked in to get more beer out of the fridge. They usually complimented us on the way by.

 

We played 4 hours without a break, after all we don't speak German so what else to do. At the end of the 4 hours Volker put a few $100 dollar bills on the keyboard and asked if we could play another hour. Of course, we said "Yes".

 

At the end of the 5th hour, a couple more hundreds on the keyboard and the same question. Being greedier than we are sane we agreed.

 

At the end of the 6th hour, we were both secretly hoping he would ask is to play more and at the same time hoping he wouldn't.

 

He didn't but they were kind enough to give us another tip and help us load the gear into the van.

 

So what is the best thing I've heard while gigging? "Can you play another hour?" accompanied by a few $100 bills.

 

Notes

[BMD]

I've only ever done five gigs. Last one was eleven years ago. After one of the gigs someone said to me, 'You're not a bad bass player'

 

That's it

[Notes_Norton]

I've played so many gigs, I don't know what would be considered "The Best". It's like trying to decide what my favorite song is.

 

I was playing at the Ocean Mist lounge in Ft. Lauderdale FL. The lead guitarist was quite a good frontman.

 

The Ocean Mist was right in the center of the beach entertainment district. This was right after I was divorced from my first wife, and this girl was dancing quite sexily in front of the band. I couldn't help but notice

 

The frontman invited her on stage to continue dancing (the stage was only about 10 inches higher than the dance floor).

 

So he asked her to take her blouse off. I think he said, "I bet you won't take that blouse off".

 

The owner/manager knew what was going to happen, so he ducked into the office to do some 'paperwork'. Before the song was over she had taken off all her clothes and was dancing naked on the stage.

 

The band loved it and the audience loved it too.

 

"I bet you won't take that blouse off" may not have been the best of all the good things I've heard on stage, but it is certaoinly memorable.

 

Notes

[KuruPrionz]

I was in a Motown cover band, we were hired to play for a National Librarian Convention at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle.

At one point the entire dance floor was full of librarians doing the Electric Slide. That was pretty awesome.

 

We were done and packing out. A short, rotund man with coke bottle glasses and most of his suit on although his tie was just hanging loose came up to us smiling and said "For just a little while, you made us all feel like we weren't librarians."

[RABid]

"I know you are only 15."

 

Was playing a regular gig at the Moose Lodge, At 20 I was the kid in the band but looked a lot younger. The bass player and drummer thought it would be funny to tell everyone that I was 15. I was really upset about it until I realized what was really going on. Women kept coming up to the stage and asking if I was 15. At first I tried to deny it, then it hit me, these Moose Lodge women WANT me to be 15. For the next month I had a string of dates with older (20's and 30's) women who were determined to "educate" the kid. It was the best month of my life. When the bass player and drummer realized what was going on they started telling everyone that it was a joke that backfired and I was really 20. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

[KuruPrionz]

"I know you are only 15."

 

Was playing a regular gig at the Moose Lodge, At 20 I was the kid in the band but looked a lot younger. The bass player and drummer thought it would be funny to tell everyone that I was 15. I was really upset about it until I realized what was really going on. Women kept coming up to the stage and asking if I was 15. At first I tried to deny it, then it hit me, these Moose Lodge women WANT me to be 15. For the next month I had a string of dates with older (20's and 30's) women who were determined to "educate" the kid. It was the best month of my life. When the bass player and drummer realized what was going on they started telling everyone that it was a joke that backfired and I was really 20. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.