East Coast Snow Gig Cancellation Comiseration

Snakepit72 · #1 10-29-2011, 12:25 PM

My gig this weekend was a casualty of this ridiculous snow on the East Coast. I'm from outside Philly, and a part of the School of Rock, a program where we take music lessons, do shows, etc. This weekend, for halloween, we were doing our long-awaited Rocky Horror Picture Show show. We've bene working on it since mid-august, and it was a big deal, we had tryouts and everything (not a norm for School of Rock).
We played the weekend before last, opening up for Tragedy, the Bee Gees Metal cover band, at Union Transfer in Philly. That show went really well, making us all even more excited for the official shows this wednesday, friday, and saturday. Unfortunately only one of those 3 shows happened.
Wednesday was infuriating. 4 hours before show time, we get an email that Shady Brook Farm (the place we were playing at, and a place which I reccomend all Bucks County TB'ers stay away from for various reasons) was cancelling us due to "anticipated inclimate weather". Looked outside to see the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. There was a slight chance of rain in the forecast, but we were set to play on a covered stage, so we figured it'd be no big deal. It never ended up raining, and Shady Brook still held their halloween event on wednesday night with a haunted house/hayride. I guess they just didn't want us to play.
Friday night's show in Philly at the School of Rock (the Philadelphia, Doylestown, and Princeton school of rocks are all connected under one owner) went well, with no weather problems. This again got us even more excited for the show today.
Then came the nightmare. I woke up this morning to about 1/4inch of snow on the ground, no big deal. Got a text that apparantly Philly students got an email that the show was cancelled, but no confirmation from any Doylestown or Princeton kids. Later we heard from Doylestown management that the show was still on, but the final call would be made at 1pm. Wait until 1, no word, wait another hour just to be safe, still nothing, so I began to shower and get ready for the show. Of course, just when I get out of the shower we get word that the show is cancelled, moved to friday. More bad news: our Riff Raff can't make it Friday.
So in the end, we were left with about 15 pissed-off kids who are huge Rocky Horror fans, more than twice that number of pissed-off parents, one and a half good shows, and close to 100 wasted hours. Snow sucks.
Sorry for the ultralong post, really needed to vent. Anyone else lose a gig this weekend?

MrLenny1 · #2 10-29-2011, 12:37 PM

WOW! Total bummer. Outdoor gigs are always iffy, especially in the Northeast.
Several years ago I played a show outside in August in the mountains.
The weather turned into frigid, wind & rain. Could hardly move my fingers on
the last tune. So over the years I have learnt one thing.
Outdoor gigs suck!!! Bugs, rain, snow & Cancelations.
So sorry to hear this.

lfmn16 · #3 10-29-2011, 12:43 PM

That's a bummer.

When I used to play for a living we had a fat Saturday night job and it started snowing in the afternoon. I called the club owner to make sure the show was on and he said yes. It snowed all afternoon and just before we leave I call again and he said yes. We get there and it's still coming down but he says we're on so we get all set up and ready to go. at 9:00 when we're supposed to start there is no one there so he says to wait until 10:00. At 10:00 he cancels the job and refuses to pay us.

Tunaman · #4 10-29-2011, 12:44 PM

Blame the news media around here, they LOVE the ratings & claims of blizzard of 78 in October is absurd

Snakepit72 · #5 10-30-2011, 01:28 PM

Thanks guys, yesterday's gig was tentatively rescheduled to next Friday. A little disappointing, but at least we still get to do it. AND, found out I might actually get to be Riff Raff next show. So all in all, not too bad, but the snow is still annoying, and I was upset about it at the time.