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Gigging Horror Stories


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Let's hear about the worst gig you've ever played. The horror story that would make even the most seasoned musician cringe....

 

Here's mine, when the band was first getting started, we got booked for a 45th wedding anniversary. Come to think of it, I don't know how or why....(we're a rock/pop cover band) But anyway, The couple of honor were well into their 60s as were all of their friends. After the second song, the old man stood up and had placed napkins in his ears. They were just hanging there. Soon after that, the entire room emptied out and we finished the last two sets to the three people (literally) who were left. 30 tables and only 3 people (one of which was the bass player's wife.) At least THEY had a good time......

 

We finished and at least got paid. But it was tough on the old ego.

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This is a sound mans' story. I was hired as a subcontractor to set up and run a stage monitor system for a big Latino street festival downtown. I had never worked with this guy before. It was over 100 degrees and 90% humidity. So by the time I was set up I already had the start of heatstroke. The show went on with the usual 30 minute festival sets with crazy stage changes and various language barriers etc. So then a quick little storm blew in. The stage was uncovered so we had to shut down and run like hell to cover up. After the rain the FOH guy who hired me wouldn't set the system back up unless he was paid a few hundred extra. Arguments ensued. After about an hour the crowd of thousands is screaming "MUSICA....MUSICA" shaking the 10 foot fence and throwing bottles at us over it. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif I had hired a freind to help out, he was cowering in the shadows. Eventually we set up again. After half an hour something died at the FOH console so sound was out again for an hour, more bottles, police etc. Just knowing there were a couple thousand people totally pissed off at me and it wasn't even my fault! I'm amazed I didn't have a coronary. Needless to say I NEVER worked with that guy again.

 

 

 

This message has been edited by Yuri T. on 03-02-2001 at 01:00 PM

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Three stories... will try to be brief.

 

1)Daytona,FL 1994

Played at some club called Road 61 or something like that. We drove over from Tampa in the pouring rain with a trailer that wasn't water proof. All the gear was soaked when we got there. After drying off and plugging in, we played our first set... (no shocks, whew!) There was a fight outside the front door between a patron and the manager. The bouncers pummeled the patron. There was a pool of blood on the pavement. We drove home in the pouring rain. All the gear was soaked. Our photo documentary of the trip was four pictures...1)Us on the trailer leaving Tampa. 2) Us unloading wet gear. 3)Blood on the pavement 4) The drummers drums full of water upon our return

 

2)We played a casino cruise ship, Clearwater Fl, 1999

This little ship never had a FULL band (we were a 3 piece). We were never told that. The patrons were mad at how loud we were... you can't turn down real drums, no matter how light you play them. The generator kept cutting off and it seemed the gear would get fried if it kept up. So we shut the whole damn thing down in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico after the "heads of the cruise" ignored us about the power problem. The boat rocked a WHOLE lot... we don't gamble. They paid us in advance. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

 

3)Tampa,FL 1999 rainy season

Playing some taste of tampa thing through a radio station... we are the headliners. We had contracted to have a covered stage and a standard rain clause. No cover... lots of rain. We tried to set-up three times during the rain breaks, but it wasn't in the stars. We had requested to move the band under cover all day prior to the opening of the event, to no avail. After the third time, we pulled the plug and explained that now that our gear was all soaked, (you have never seen three guys move so fast to cover that shit in your life)we had to get it home to assess damages. They freaked. They threw the cash at us (rain clause you see) and spouted obscenities. The guys shouted back and we even offered to return the money (I was in charge of dealing with volatile situations), after moving the guys away, I calmly explained to the head dude that our gear weas in jeopardy, it was my livelyhood, and I was sorry. He had a few more choice words and got the police to escort us out. The cop was cool, he got a T-shirt.

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I was doing music for a drama event.....I programmed all of the soundtracks for the vocalists using my old Yamaha SY77 and a few modules. Everything was running fine, between each solo i had enough time to load up the next track. About 30 seconds before a solo, i looked down to get ready to hit the run button, and on the SY display was a picture of an erupting volcano...with a little "buddah" looking guy....and the caption saying "Sorry we have to start again" or something like that....and it proceeded to restart my keyboard....losing the track....There was a few anxious minutes of...shall we say...dramatic pause...before the soloist could start singing, not before i recieved a few piercing glares though....if looks could kill......
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1. The biker wedding where they wanted us to keep playing long after the appointed hour despite no offers of extra cash...followed by threats that if we quit they'd "tear our equipment down for us"...nothing happened. I wonder if they knew somehow that I had a 12 guage Mossberg pump in a Fender bass case, just in case, y'know...

 

2. A beer tent where (during the disco 70s) we'd been hired as a country band (heck, it was easy). After numerous drinkin' and cheatin' songs, we played one light rock song and they pulled our plug out of the generator and said "We hahred y'all to play country, not that rock and roll shit"...

 

3. One gig at a forgotten bar where they kept repeatedly telling us to turn down...they weren't happy no matter how softly we played, so we turned WAY down, whispering lyrics in the mics, drummer barely tapping. They said we were making fun of them (MOI? Make fun of stupid bastards?) and fired us.

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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