shut down by the cops

[jnuts1]

so we were the last band at a blues/bluegrass fest this weekend & while we were playing our set a cop walks up to me, while playing, & barks "You're Done!" so after about 2 minutes of arguing while i am playing he decides we can finish our tune. little did i know that the tune had finish in less than 30 seconds. So the cop jumps up & actually stormed the stage & physically stopped us from playing.

the worst part is we were about 4 songs into the set when this happened & everyone was diggin us. i have been to more shows than i can count & i have never seen this happen until saturday.

shutdown at 12:01am!

[Tony G]

Why did they shut you down?

[eyeballkid]

see.. that kinda of rude authoritarian attitude is why they get called pigs. Learn a little common decency and respect for others.

[jnuts1]

it was after midnight. about 1/2 second after midnight. i don't even think it was 12 before he was storming the stage

[WJGreer]

I doubt it had anything to do with you. I assume you started late...as much fun as they can be, festivals are notorious for falling behind schedule and also for hard cutoff times. The venue may have had a curfew, or there may be some neighborhood ordinance that he was enforcing. It's too bad that you had to cut your set short, and also too bad that the cop seems to have acted a little mean about it.

[godofthunder59]

Always the sign of a good party !

[electracoyote]

No doubt a noise ordinance violation and someone called the cops and complained.

At an outdoor gig, we went past the 10PM noise deadline by 2 minutes. Cops were waiting around the corner, someone had called them in advance. The property owner got ticketed, but due to a tactfully written letter by me to the DA and judge, the charge was eventually dropped.

Once the cops are called, you are at the mercy of the long arm of the law and applicable noise ordinances.

[jnuts1]

no it didn't have anything to do with us & yes we were about 15 or so minutes late but we checked & everyone said it was cool if we ran a few minutes past 12.

i have been going to see live music & performing for over 12 years & i have never seen the police physically stop a band from playing.

[R. Laevinus]

*cough cough*

Once I got shut down by the cops for having an impromtu sax/acoustic guitar/harmonica jam session in a park in the wee hours...

[gumtownbassman]

there's one of him and loads of party goers, everyone should have body surfed him along into a dumpster.

I have had this happen quite a few times, the pigs have never directly talked to the band,
but to the event organizer, last time it happened, the organizer pulled the power fuses,
i was not impressed with my P.A system being powered down like that.

[jnuts1]

no, there were 10 monster sized cops there & they were ruthless. all the party goers were frail hippies.

[Obe]

I've been shut down several times while playing outside, and a few times while playing in a garage where it was no louder than a car radio at the road, but every time the cops were cool, just asked us to stop and we did, well except for one time when one bandmate mouthed off, but still he didn't physically try to stop us. Unfortunately, for those areas there were no noise ordinances per se, if somebody complained, you had to stop.

[Deepak]

Originally Posted by gumtownbassman

there's one of him and loads of party goers, everyone should have body surfed him along into a dumpster.

At the risk of seeming like a stick-in-the-mud in the humor forum, I have to point out that this should never ever be tried by anyone.

Ever.

[Phalex]

I once had the cops show up when I was playing a big party someplace in the Manistee National forest. The nearest house had to be like 4 miles away. It was a maze of two tracks to get back in there, and they still managed to find the party somehow.

[etoncrow]

Small college in central Ohio near Washington Court House. We were playing an outdoor show on a flat-bed truck stage. After playing about forty minutes we were asked to stop by the promoters because the generator had to be switched over to the beer truck. So 30 minutes on and then 30 off. This lasted about three sets until the cops showed up and stopped everything. The promoters gave us a keg to take home with us.

[Fetusyolk]

Originally Posted by Deepak

At the risk of seeming like a stick-in-the-mud in the humor forum, I have to point out that this should never ever be tried by anyone.

Ever.

by the authority of me, you've got permission to try it at least once.

[Jehos]

Originally Posted by Deepak

At the risk of seeming like a stick-in-the-mud in the humor forum, I have to point out that this should never ever be tried by anyone.

Ever.

Aw, c'mon. Eventually the cop will run out of mace, tazer charge, and bullets, and then it's all fun and games for the people left standing!

[singlemalt]

We played last at an outdoor fest last summer and every cop in the area was there. At least five officers from three departments.

The drummer we had subbing with us is a cop. He does a great job, plays in an AC/DC tribute band, and does really good sound recording in his studio.

He needs to hook us up with some biker gigs, they are tons of fun.

Its nice get a long with the boys in blue. Its easier to get home from the bar at closing time if you can greet them by name.

[Dan Knowlton]

Originally Posted by Phalex

I once had the cops show up when I was playing a big party someplace in the Manistee National forest. The nearest house had to be like 4 miles away. It was a maze of two tracks to get back in there, and they still managed to find the party somehow.

You must have had food - pigs are great at finding food. As far as I'm concerned, they come in two types - police and pigs....we're talking about the second set here.

Dan K.

[Manndreas]

Been there. It sucks.
Although in my case the cops just told the sound guy to cut the power. Cops storming the stage sounds like a lot more fun.