Following a smokin' set

walknbluez · #1 02-13-2010, 05:27 PM

A friend of mine has gigs and occasionally he'll invite my band up as special guests and we'll do some tunes. We play originals and have our material down but still I'm no virtuoso on bass...just in the pocket. So last night he has his band playing a bunch of classic rock at this club and it was real good and tight but nothing that wouldn't be too bad to follow. Then he announces that they're going to do a set of The Who and then have some friends of his come up (us). The bass player is just a virtuoso....close your eyes and he sounds like Entwhistle. The drummer, same thing...in fact his nickname in between his first and last name is "The Moon". They close the set with the most smokin' version of "Won't Get Fooled Again" I've ever seen by a cover band....the kind where people are smiling and saying "wow man that rocked" and I was just blown away.....

Then he announces "Thank you we'll be right back, we're going to bring up some friends of ours"

And that's us. Nothing like having to go on following a smokin' show stoppin' barn burner. I had to laugh and even said that to him.

Exploiter8 · #2 02-13-2010, 05:35 PM

Are you sure he's a friend? I doubt your band would be invited to play during the break if the roles were reversed. ...But I'm a pessimist.

X8

walknbluez · #3 02-13-2010, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exploiter8

Are you sure he's a friend? I doubt your band would be invited to play during the break if the roles were reversed. ...But I'm a pessimist.

X8

No because he had another configuration in the house, a tribute band of another name, that went on afterward that really didn't beat the smokin' Who set. The Who set was just one of those things, one of those "on" nights where the magic just happened.

He is a true friend. He's helped us out on many other gigs and lends a great deal of support in many other areas.

Steve · #4 02-13-2010, 06:08 PM

...and then you got up and did a bad version of Brown Eyed Girl and the crowd liked you better...

Civilians wouldn't know good from bad if it bit 'em on the butt. They like what they like.

IMHO

walknbluez · #5 02-13-2010, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

...and then you got up and did a bad version of Brown Eyed Girl and the crowd liked you better...

Civilians wouldn't know good from bad if it bit 'em on the butt. They like what they like.

IMHO

Well, no actually. We do originals and he really likes our originals so he was trying to showcase us. But yes to the crowd liked us...we were well received.

Jason P Bass · #6 02-13-2010, 10:54 PM

It is infinitely easier to impress a crowd by playing covers than originals.

While it may have put you in an awkward spot, there's no shame in going up there and making the best of it. You have no reason to feel bad about the outcome.

There's an important lesson here about booking gigs and sharing the stage - if you're doing originals, make sure the other guys are also doing originals.

A good originals band is like solid team basketball. A covers band is like the Harlem Globetrotters. It'll entertain the crowd, but it ain't basketball. Both have their place, but it's best not to mix the two.

Bochafish · #7 02-14-2010, 12:57 PM

JasonPbass makes a good point. One of the weirdest shows I ever played went:

1. Awesome Iron Maiden cover band- rocked the place
2. Our band- hippyish jam band, that also had a prog element
3. Black Muff- Mark Columbo's (nfl player) hardcore metal band.

Luckily our guitarist had some shred in him from the 80's, and the crowd was open minded. We went over well, but stuck out like a sore thumb in that crowd.

varunkapahi · #8 02-14-2010, 01:28 PM

it makes me a bit nervous, no matter how good the band am playing with is! if the band before us was really really good then you have to do better that night for that crowd

walknbluez · #9 02-14-2010, 05:18 PM

I didn't mean to give the impression that this was bummed me out or made us feel bad. Really, I laughed it off as just something that happened and just thought it was funny.

My friend's band and our band have done several such gigs together where we mix covers and originals. Around here, it goes off well. People in the music scene here crave original music. So we advertise it as covers and originals and it seems to go over well.