Have you ever plated a gig where you've been fearful of your life???

[Swin]

Just wanted to know how many out there have played sets in very dodgy places - either the venue/stage/equipment was shocking or the crowd/ people out back were excessively violent etc...

[dmusic148]

Mobster weddings are a little scary. But they sure pay well, and the food is awesome.

[Steve!]

I'm sure a gig at the club from "Blade" would be pretty scary.

[jsingles]

i plan on that happening to me in the near future

[bass_freq]

played a show at a bar in town that is known for a gangster hang out, alot of crack heads and crack sellers go out of there... and we were a metal band, half way through the show couple retards break out into a fight in the bar, apparently there is ALWAYS a fight there, I was pretty freaked out, I laugh when people are scared of metal heads when they are 1000x tamer then any gangster crowd

[DaveDeVille]

Originally Posted by Swin

Just wanted to know how many out there have played sets in very dodgy places -
either the venue/stage/equipment was shocking or the crowd/ people out back
were excessively violent etc...

... oh man , where to begin ?
i don't play bars too much anymore , but these incidents actually happened
while my band was playing ...

The Trap - gunfire in the parking lot
= dead guy laying next to my truck , EMS / police , short gig .

Lil' Sturgis Bar - knife fight in the middle of the dance floor
= blood on the floor, EMS , DEA , many , many police , spilled beer and short gig .

Poor Richard's - drunk boyfriend beating drunk girlfriend senseless
= blood on the floor, EMS / police , spilled beer and short gig .

Walton's Buggy Works - drunk/stoned guy smarting off to the wrong people
= blood on the floor , EMS / police , spilled beer and short gig .

Time-Out Club - drunk ex-girlfriend , new years eve , bottle of champagne across my face
= my blood on the floor , spilled beer , sixteen stitches and short gig .

i'm sure there are others , but these five popped into mind .

** most of these places are now out of business ...
thank goodness .


oh yeah , the good old days ...

[Vynns]

Originally Posted by david meissner

... oh man , where to begin ?
i don't play bars too much anymore , but these incidents actually happened
while my band was playing ...

The Trap - gunfire in the parking lot
= dead guy laying next to my truck , EMS / police , short gig .

Lil' Sturgis Bar - knife fight in the middle of the dance floor
= blood on the floor, EMS , DEA , many , many police , spilled beer and short gig .

Poor Richard's - drunk boyfriend beating drunk girlfriend senseless
= blood on the floor, EMS / police , spilled beer and short gig .

Walton's Buggy Works - drunk/stoned guy smarting off to the wrong people
= blood on the floor , EMS / police , spilled beer and short gig .

Time-Out Club - drunk ex-girlfriend , new years eve , bottle of champagne across my face
= my blood on the floor , spilled beer , sixteen stitches and short gig .

i'm sure there are others , but these five popped into mind .

** most of these places are now out of business ...
thank goodness .


oh yeah , the good old days ...

Dude. How is it the feds don't see the pattern with your band?

[Georynn]

Originally Posted by david meissner

... oh man , where to begin ? spilled beer

Oh man, thats alcohol abuse... the worst part!!!

[wabbit]

the spilled beer part made me sad

[DaveDeVille]

Originally Posted by Vynns

Dude.
How is it the feds don't see the pattern with your band?

uhhhh , the band wasn't the problem ...

Originally Posted by Georynn

Oh man, thats alcohol abuse... the worst part!!!

Originally Posted by wabbit

the spilled beer part made me sad

yeah , i hate to waste a perfectly good beer ...

[Scionreality]

Wow, david meissner... rough places much? Haha. Mine seems very tame, now.

Weekend before this last one we played at a popular Cleveland bar/club along with two other rock bands. After the rock acts were to be -I found out only after our set, the last one- four hip-hop DJs. Which explained the unusual amount of bling I started seeing on the floor toward the end of the set.

Anyway, there was poor organization and the bands went on late, which in turn made the DJs start late, which in turn made the bar close before the last was to go on. This douche got all "heated" and went outside and started shooting up the place. I guess that's why there were brick walls uninterrupted by windows.

Luckily no one was hurt, and he's never allowed to work there, and the promo co. will probably black-ball him.

This last weekend we drove out kinda into nowhere to the local general-purpose entertainment/bar. They made a point before hand to tell us about the zero tolerance rule on fighting. Then after the performance while getting payed there was a fight involving two girls, pool cues, shattered glass and several bouncers. No one seemed very concerned about it. Guess picking a fight at the bar is one of the entertainment functions there.

[Fenderjazz6823]

Ya i played at a place where it's wasnt a no nice section of Worcester Mass
Where the owner said until all of your gear is in side some one should remine out side to watch the cars and lock your doors everytime you leave your car
But ...
We did get to play on the same stage as the rolling stones did 20 years earlier

[ryco]

This is a repost from awhile back


In the early 80s I was booked to play a gig in Westport, WA at a nice resort/restaurant/lounge. The band featured me, my wife, a high school buddy and a college buddy who played fabulous drums.

Westport is a famous fishing town on the Washington coast. Huge working commercial fishing fleet and a huge tourist charter boat industry. We were booked for the standard two week deal, Tues - Sat, 9p - 1:30a. Decent band house about five miles down the road in the next town of Tokeland. Nice club, good food - all's good.

For some reason the lady owner of the club had paid us for our first week Friday afternoon. To be prepaid was unheard of! She was very nice and wanted to make sure we could cash our check so we would be sure to have money for the weekend. Wow!

But that week was the week Judge Boldt handed down a fishing law granting Native Americans the right to fish and shutting down a lot of white fisherman. These hard working fishermen were pissed, needless to say and were in the mood to drink and fight.

In our contract there was a provision to have a bouncer present in the room, which was separate from the bar itself by a partition. Well. there was no bouncer present, although there was one at the front door of the bar itself . All that Friday night fights broke out and there was yelling. I was singing and an ashtray flew by my head. Then someone threw a wooden chair that skidded across the dance floor and lit at my feet. Keep playing. Someone yells out 'We know where your staying!" About midnight the room erupted and a knife flashed and there was a big scuffle. So the bouncer and the bartender finally come in, stop the brawl and the room is closed down for the night. Go home early - head for Tokeland.

The next morning, Saturday, I get up and let our dog out, a german shepherd who accompanied us everywhere. Everyone is waking up and getting coffee going. I hear the dog ki-yi and a screech of tires. Some jerk has shot the dog with a pellet gun and drove off. Everybody in small towns knows where the band house is and that can be a good thing or a risky thing.

That's enough. We're pullin' out. Hell, we've been paid. We go to the sheriff's office and explain what happened at the club the night before. They knew because they were called in. We say the dog's been shot, people know where we live and we would like a police escort while we go grab our gear and head out of town. The police agree and follow us to the club. The lounge is open for breakfast so we go back and start tearing down our gear and loading it out into our trucks. A couple of big guys come out and say "Where ya goin'? You're under contract - you can't leave!" The band leader says "You broke the contract when you didn't provide a bouncer in the room, someone shot our dog this morning, so we're outta here." two cop cars were sitting right there, so there wasn't much they could do to us. We were escorted out of town and went home with our eyes glued to the rearview mirror.

[NJL]

Originally Posted by david meissner

The Trap - gunfire in the parking lot
= dead guy laying next to my truck , EMS / police , short gig .

my boss' old band, Roller (Jimmy Spacek's in there).. they just played the trap on their "3 gig" comeback tour (Gene from Krazy Kat is the soundguy)... their #2 gig was at the Trap a couple of weeks ago (Sam's Burger Joint were the two other gigs). LOL

you couldn't pay me a years salary to go back to the the Trap. #### that #### LOL

[NJL]

dave, pm me the band at the trap.. we're curious here..

[DaveDeVille]

Originally Posted by NJL

my boss' old band, Roller ( Jimmy Spacek's in there)..
they just played the trap on their "3 gig" comeback tour ( Gene from Krazy Kat is the soundguy)

you couldn't pay me a years salary to go back to the the Trap. #### that #### LOL

yeah , the Trap is still the same rough place it always has been ...
still , i do have a few " special " memories about that place .

JImmy and i used to live several blocks from each other { S.E. side of san antonio }
he's a great guy .
how's Gene doing ? any more news about the robbery ?

[Clank]

Way too many to even think about.

[Phalex]

We played a place in a very bad neighborhood that made me nervous once.

As it turned out, our sound guy heard gunfire outside when he went to get something from his truck on break. The next day the news paper had a story about the cops shooting an armed suspect about three blocks away.

I haven't been back there since!

[Bassenstien]

Once my band was playin with another band who we knew real well (The drummer is my bro-in-law) and my sis, her husband (drummer), and the club owner got robbed at gunpoint while we were loading up. That place is since shut down but I still liked that venue.

[DaveDeVille]

Originally Posted by NJL

dave, pm me the band at the trap..
we're curious here..

done .