stupid gigs

southernrocker · #1 04-06-2009, 05:27 PM

Hey everybody, I wanna hear about the worst gigs you've ever had to play. I'm sure we've all had one of those.

In my high school there was to be a staff appreciation dinner. One teacher knew I had a band, and she asked us to play for the dinner. I told her that we do classic rock, and she said that was fine. My band and I were still a little skeptical.

So the night of the gig, we bring in our gear, and what did we see? A **** candle-light dinner, all fancy and stuff, and playing before us was a saxophone quartet. Man we were out of place.

Our playlist was Stranglehold, paranoid, breakin the law, and working man. My GK pushes out more than a sax. We were loud, and we played good, but talk about the most out of place gig ever.

(We didn't even get paid).

So lets hear some more bad gigs!

Demonturtle · #2 04-06-2009, 05:33 PM

Few months ago, we did a gig in a local pub. Everything was fine, we played there a few times before. Started to unpack our gear, when the barkeeper told us we had to set up on the first floor. Before we started heading up the stairs, we searched for a light switch for about five minutes, only to conclude that there was none. It was complete dark up there, and during our show we had one 40 watts light bulb for the entire room.

But that's not all, it was mid winter, kind of freezing outside, and it seemed that one of the windows had been broken, so we had snow and rain coming in all the time, our drummer was kind of frozen.

The room itself looked kind of like a construction site. There were toolkits everywhere, chairs, shovels, you name it.

ric stave · #3 04-06-2009, 05:34 PM

Try the Bass Humor & Gigs forum....

J. Crawford · #4 04-06-2009, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ric stave

Try the Bass Humor & Gigs forum....

Argh, beat me to it. This should be in the Bass and Gig Humor section.

Last gig I had, the crowd had no idea what was going on when my teachers purposefully played Dont stop Believin in a different key. Twas pretty amusing.

David S · #5 04-06-2009, 05:51 PM

Country bar that wanted to try a rock band. We said we were a loud hard rock band "that's what we want!"

During set up the bartender yell fro us to "turn those drums down" . They weren't mic'ed yet.

The stage was about 4' tall with a rail around it, bathrooms on each side, bar 30' in front. We tried to be good, almost no stage volume, pa very low, but they expected to talk in a normal voice at the bar.

We had to signal when we were ready to start, so they could turn the lights down, as the same time a waitress came out and threw sawdust on the floor, spilling it as she cam on stage to take our drink order (draw beer was free).

30 seconds into the first song, I slid on sawdust on stage, hit the rail and went head first over. Lead guitarist caught my ankle. We didn't miss a beat. Small cut on my palm bleed the whole first set covering my Warlock. We opened with our normal "enter sandman" and played regular set list (cover band). Had a full dance floor by the 2nd song, packed bar by 2nd set, then told leave before the 3rd. Got paid 2/3's, threats, etc.

That was about '92. Last month the lead guitarist called me wanting me to see his new band playing, in the same place, now a rock bar. He had forgot about it.

David

BigOldHarry · #6 04-06-2009, 05:53 PM

I was in a metal/alt/funk band (think king crimson meets Fishbone) and we opened for Tower of Power. We were Booed (!) but a roady for TOP came over and told me that Rocco dug my playing...

Jim C · #7 04-06-2009, 07:43 PM

Approx 1982; played in a decent pop/rock, original/cover band and got a last minute call to do an opener at a big club in town that we had played at before (big deal in DC, called the Bayou and owned by a huge concert promoter, seated about 500).

Featured act was a punk band called Stiff Little Fingers (I think form Ireland)

The crowd hated us and threw ice and spitted on us from the 2nd floor balcony;
best part was having to go back to play the 2nd sold out show.

Still better to be hated than not noticed at all IMO.

two fingers · #8 04-06-2009, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David S

Country bar that wanted to try a rock band. We said we were a loud hard rock band "that's what we want!"

During set up the bartender yell fro us to "turn those drums down" . They weren't mic'ed yet.

The stage was about 4' tall with a rail around it, bathrooms on each side, bar 30' in front. We tried to be good, almost no stage volume, pa very low, but they expected to talk in a normal voice at the bar.

We had to signal when we were ready to start, so they could turn the lights down, as the same time a waitress came out and threw sawdust on the floor, spilling it as she cam on stage to take our drink order (draw beer was free).

30 seconds into the first song, I slid on sawdust on stage, hit the rail and went head first over. Lead guitarist caught my ankle. We didn't miss a beat. Small cut on my palm bleed the whole first set covering my Warlock. We opened with our normal "enter sandman" and played regular set list (cover band). Had a full dance floor by the 2nd song, packed bar by 2nd set, then told leave before the 3rd. Got paid 2/3's, threats, etc.

That was about '92. Last month the lead guitarist called me wanting me to see his new band playing, in the same place, now a rock bar. He had forgot about it.

David

Whoa! Are you from NC?!?! The exact same thing happened to me a few years earlier than that! The only difference is that the bouncer put his revolver on the stage at the beginning of the 3rd set and said "You boys 'er cuttn' it off raht now!" Everybody else in the band was much older than me. They started arguing with the guy. I disappeared. There was a puff of dust where I had been standing only seconds before. And just think...that was my first pro gig ever!!!! And I stayed in the band!!!! Freakin kids are DUMB!!! HAHA!

a1bassguy · #9 04-06-2009, 08:25 PM

A guy at work had convinced me to play a bar by his house, he said it was a great place to play, yadda, yadda, yadda. He set everything up for us. We showed up at this little 'Old Man's' bar in Secaucus NJ, not much of a crowd when we got there, about 3 or 4 old men watching sports on TV drinking $1 Pabst on tap.

It became hostile as we went through our 1st set, getting dirty looks and no applause. (and we did not 'suck', we really were a very tight and meticulous classic rock band with 2 guitars, bass, drums, and 3 part harmonies). After the 1st set, the patrons would continue giving us 'the treatment' and it began to feel like a gig from hell. No applause, dirty looks, and otherwise being ignored.

Half-way through the night, we stopped and agreed that this sucked. Some of the guys wanted to bail, but we then decided to turn this into a rehearsal instead and work on new material for our next gig at a more 'happening' club. We would work on sections of the songs, stopping to work out parts, working out the harmonies. The rest of the night went great because we basically ignored the patrons just the same amount that they were ignoring us. The bar still paid us and we went on our merry way.

Rick Auricchio · #10 04-07-2009, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southernrocker

I told her that we do classic rock, and she said that was fine....
Our playlist was Stranglehold, paranoid, breakin the law, and working man.

You need to be more specific when describing your music.

I don't consider that "classic rock" at all...

wideload · #11 04-07-2009, 12:54 PM

Gig at the Army NCO club, late 70's, VERY country band. The three rednecks there were outnumbered by the black soldiers, who wanted soul music (I guess we were the affirmative action choice at that base!). On the third or fourth request for soul, the leader calls for "My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You", by Ray Price. We made an early exit shortly thereafter.

BassScum · #12 04-07-2009, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

You need to be more specific when describing your music.

I don't consider that "classic rock" at all...

I totally consider that classic rock. Just harder edged and not the greatest for dancing.

Rick Auricchio · #13 04-07-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassScum

I totally consider that classic rock. Just harder edged and not the greatest for dancing.

Shows you that everyone has a different definition of "classic."

Classic for my baby-boomer age group is stuff from the late 60s thru the early 80s.

For my 23-year-old son, "classic" is much more recent.

denhou1974 · #14 04-07-2009, 02:38 PM

I did a "Milli-Vanilli" gig. The band played to a track but the singer was live. When I say "played" I mean we were plugged in but there was no sound coming out of the amps/PA. We were faking it. Pay was $200 for 4 songs.

Never again.

southernrocker · #15 04-07-2009, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

You need to be more specific when describing your music.

I don't consider that "classic rock" at all...

It's true that we all have different perspectives on "classic rock", but about any radio station that plays those songs probably labels the music "classic rock." None of those songs were made after 1980. Maybe you see it as hard rock or metal.

bikeplate · #16 04-07-2009, 10:38 PM

HI

I played in an original 3 piece rock band in Cali 10 years ago. Kinda a mix of different vibes. Think 70's art rock, Zep, etc. Very guitar heavy with extended guitar solos. The guitar player, leader, booked us at an outdoor thing on the street in Seal Beach. This town is kinda sleepy, lots of cute stores, places to eat, etc. Right on the beach. It was supposed to be this great gig. Then again, all his gigs were supposed to be great. Town would have a PA set up in the street on a stage they used every summer. I though "ok, could be cool" Being I lived there for 4 years I should have known better. LOL

Anyhow, I show up early as usual. I pull my truck around the corner to where he told me the stage would be. First thing I see is him standing in the middle of the street with an orange extension cord in his hand. No stage, no PA, no nothing except for a couple cones to keep out traffic. LOL. I knew we were in trouble. Fortunately my friend, who was also the leader in my dance/cover band, wasnt busy and drove done with his PA last minute. We set up in the street, on the pavement. As we setup, people started arriving. Mostly seniors with lawn chairs! LOL. Talk about a mismatch.

We started to play. We werent loud by any stretch of the imagination but the cops asked us to turn down a number of times. We werent kids being difficult, either. I was the youngest band member in my early 30's!! My buddy told me later all he was running thru the PA was vocals. The drummer was playing so quiet you could hardly hear him. Needless to say, I never gigged with the guitarist again. That was it for me. Time to move on. Total comedy. If I had a video camera and taped the events, I swear you'd think this story was 20x funnier!! Had to be there!!

Rob

southernrocker · #17 04-07-2009, 10:47 PM

^I hate those gigs that were supposed to be "awesome".

at least you had fun!

bikeplate · #18 04-07-2009, 10:48 PM

HI

Yea. It was surely entertaining to say the least. I even think he paid me a couple bucks that day. What the heck

Rob

southernrocker · #19 04-07-2009, 10:56 PM

My band got paid 25 bucks for a dumb gig in a dominoes parking lot. Man that sucked. It was for the mayoral race, I think. As a 5-piece band, I got 5 bucks. I blew it on ice cream!

B4snrise · #20 04-08-2009, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by denhou1974

I did a "Milli-Vanilli" gig. The band played to a track but the singer was live. When I say "played" I mean we were plugged in but there was no sound coming out of the amps/PA. We were faking it. Pay was $200 for 4 songs.

Never again.

Isn't that called karaoke or american idol?

Maybe you were shooting a music video and didn't know it.