Had one of *THOSE* gigs this weekend...

[bassman1185]

So about a month ago, the lead singer in my band asked if we would be willing to do a show on the 30th of January as a fund rasier for Make A Wish. We all said yeah, let's do it. A few weeks go by, and we haven't heard anything about it. I sort of assume that the show never actually got put together.

Fast forward to practice on Wednesday the 27th. We are notified that the show is, in fact, still on. Now, this practice was the first full-band practice that we have been able to have since the middle of November. Weather, illness, finals and Christmas with the respective families kind of put the kabosh on practicing for the last couple of months. Anyway, we put in a solid practice, and we agree to meet to practice one more time at 4:30 on the day of the gig, since we don't have to load in till about 6:30.

Saturday rolls around, and we get to our drummer's house where we practice. It turns out that the people who were putting the show on called us up last minute and said that they wanted us to load in by 5:30, but that we should be able to do a quick practice at the venue.

We get there, unload and set up for practice. Our first red flag was in the form of the guy "running sound" for the evening. I have dealt with the guy before, and he is absolutely, without a doubt, the WORST soundguy I have ever run into. On top of that, it turns out that he's pissed because nobody called him to run sound till two days before. On top of THAT, I think he was pissed because he had outgrown the stretching capacity of his favorite Rush shirt.

We start practicing and get about halfway through a run-through of our set (we usually play fairly short sets, around 30minutes), and he comes in and says we have to clear off the stage and that the show starts in 15 minutes. The only issue is that there are like four people outside waiting for the show. We ask if we can run through a couple of more songs, and he reulctantly agrees, but insists that we have to be TOTALLY cleared off the stage in 15 minutes. We do our songs, and clear our gear off the stage.

The first band plays, and actually does a really good job considering that it was probably one of their very first shows. They were all in high school, and this kid that played guitar on a couple of songs and bass on most of the rest was REALLY good. The next band played, and they were ok. Nothing to write home about. They finish up, and we start setting up. During the setup, the soundguy was nowhere to be found. We place all our own mics, I plug in my DI from a mic that from what I could tell was not being used at all.

And we wait.

Eventually the soundguy shows back up, and starts getting frustrated with us. He was pissed at me, because I unplugged the mic, which he claimed was there for the high hats.

"Ok, sorry, do you have a mic cable that I can use to run my DI?"
"You don't need one. You guys are killing it out there from the stage volume."
"Uh, yeah, I actually do need to be able to send a signal through the mains. I already checked, and with the guitars, I can barely hear myself past the front edge of the stage."

He finally consents to send give me an XLR to plug in. He unplugged it from another mic, and there was a loud pop in the system, so I knew that the cable was live. I turned down the volume on my DI (an MXR M-80) and plugged in the cable. I strum a note and cautiously turn up the volume till I can hear it coming out of the mains and the subs. For some reason, the soundman is claiming that I am clipping the system. I have literally NO idea how that could be the case, since I was just sending him a mic-level feed, and even if I was clipping something, he should be able to trim my gain back a touch to make it work. I think he just didn't understand why I would be sending an overdriven signal.

Meanwhile, our lead vocalist is "checking" his mic, and it sounds like he's singing through a coffee can. NO bass, NO mids. Really, nothing below about 1khz from what I could tell. At this point we were all so frustrated, that we get sort of a bare minimum monitor mix, and get at it.

First song goes ok. Part way through the second song, our guitarist who does about 1/3 of the vocals is jumping around and rips his jeans from the top of his fly all the way down to the middle of his calf. This gets us all lauging, and he ties a hoodie around his waist to try to cover up his crotch. That starts to fall off, so he turns his mic towards the back of the stage and sings towards the drummer.

Everything after that was downhill. We couldn't hear each other very well because the monitors weren't even really on that I could tell, so we were pretty sloppy. We ended up laughing everything off, because if we didn't laugh, it would have been pretty depressing.

I know this isn't half as bad as some of the crap you guys have been through, but I just through I would share my personal horror story.

[plankspanker13]

Trying gigs do happen; mine last Friday was kinda like that, with Murphy's Law in full effect. You just gotta slog thru 'em. If you can end triumphantly and get audience compliments, then you're OK. Fortunately, we had another gig Saturday, and we played as ferocious a first set as I can ever remember, just to get the bad taste of Friday out of our mouths. I could see where not having a chance to get back on the horse that threw you quickly could be a real toll-taker emotionally.

[jgroh]

Ugggg, I feel your pain! Had one of those a couple of weeks ago. Started working with a new sound guy that brought WAY too much stuff for a normal bar gig. Took him 2.5 hours to set up (actually, he wasnt completely set up, we just decided to start) I ran direct but couldnt hear anything through the monitors, and since its a small place, he convinced me to leave my amp and cab at home. Big mistake. Ill never leave my amp at home again.

Anyway...it totally blows when stuff like this happens but, if thats all I have to stress about, Im ahead of the game!

[NickInMesa]

Oh yeah, don't you hate it ... I always use my cab as my monitor, as well as for low-end support for the front of house. But is is direct to my ears.

I have been in situation when all I could do was "feel" the bass signal and concentrate on my fingering, which is something I don't mind in a sexy situation, but not when I am supposed to groove.

[rappa29]

Sorry to hear you had a bad gig bro! I had one 2 weekends ago!
The title of my thread was almost exactly the same! LOL!

Just put another notch on your strap and get on to the next one!

[kcole4001]

The "sound guy" isn't named 'Steve' by any chance?
I used to have to put up with a very similar type of doofus who was actually a part of the band (he was in before I joined).

There's nothing to do but laugh it off and forget the stupid crap that happens.

Most people in the crowd wouldn't know the difference between good sound and fairly bad sound, and the musicians in the crowd will easily understand that it was the idiot soundguy's fault that thing weren't too good.

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by jgroh

I ran direct but couldnt hear anything through the monitors, and since its a small place, he convinced me to leave my amp and cab at home. Big mistake. Ill never leave my amp at home again.

Ugh, indeed. NEVER rely on just a wedge monitor to hear yourself. Never, ever. In-ears are a different thing, but direct to the board + floor wedges only = high PFF (Potential Fail Factor).

The whole, "you don't need a stage amp, I'll give you whatever you need through the monitors" line is a 20x30 foot red flag flapping in a 50 mph wind.

[kesslari]

It does stink when a gig goes south.
OTOH, you guys did a good thing by doing the Make-a-Wish fundrasier, and that puts some good karma in the mill for you down the road.