what was ur first gig like?

[Huna Funk]

My first gig was at a small rock club named Sir Morgans Cove in my hometown Worcester Massachusetts. I was in a hardcore punk quartet named Rut. There were about nine people there, band included. Got paid with Beer


I wasn't overly nervous but I wasn't exactly loose either.

[snyderz]

My first gig was 25 years ago, at a biker bar in Houston, and I mean a BAD-ASS biker bar. Me and a guitar player, and I was playing the FLUTE. We played rock and roll all night, and they went nuts over it. None of them had ever heard a flute player doing George Thorogood songs before. We had a great time. Bandidos make for a great audience, but we played for tips and made about 7 bucks. Oh well.
Doc

[Brooks]

My first 'real' gig was in early '70s. Our 'manager' told us that we landed a gig some 200 miles away. We packed everything into a rented van and took off. We were prepared, having composed some 20 originals, plus we had some good covers too, all rock stuff.

We arrived to a large hall, entered, and almost died on the spot! The place was packed with 2,000 punkers, and us, with long hair and Black Sabbath jackets really stood out! We found out that we were actually entered into a Punk Band Competition. We never LISTENED to punk, let alone played it!

Anyway, we quickly took off our jackets, got some scissors and cut our hair (no kidding!), and 'composed' 3 songs on the spot. Played them half an hour later, and actually WON the competition! It was a lot of fun, except for me blowing up 2 Marshall stacks with my souped-up Ric...

Later on we found out that we beat 3 bands that had record deals and records in the shops. Our next 'gig' was similar, except when we got there we found out it was a 'Jazz Night'.

[gruffpuppy]

my first gig was very odd. we had been auditioning singers and we finally found one we liked that seemed to like us. after the audition he suggested we go to this open mike night at a blues club called cantares in Cambridge mass. he wanted to make sure that we could play in front of a audience. we went to the place and were the only white boys in the place, before getting there i was nervous because it would be my first gig in a club, usually i was just playing parties at that point. so i am nervous because its my first gig in a club, nervous because the club is in a dark alley, and nervous because i am in the minority. we all go to the men’s room and decide which songs we all know. we get on stage and i am to use the bass amp on stage, it has 2 15-inch speakers one is ripped to shreds and the other is falling out, no clean tone available but it sounded ok.
the stage was small and in front of the stage was a long narrow dance floor with seats on either side. ok sorry to ramble, we start playing and the seats fill up with the largest men i have ever seen, all wearing overcoats. the first song didn't go all that well because we were all shaking in our boots. we kick into room to move by john mayall, about 4 bars into it all the guys stand up and put their hands into their over coats, i turn and look at the drummer who has the same expression on his face as me, you know the oh crap we are going to get shot face, i turn trying to groove, waiting to duck and the guys whip there hands out of their over coats and they are all holding tambourines. we all started grooving harder and it was a great night. we told the singer about the shock we had been in and he said "they always do that, its there way of letting the new bands know that they like them" would have been nice to know that before hand. the story may seem far-fetched but if you have ever been to cantares in Cambridge you know its true.

[CjPhishPhan]

My first gig was at my sisters wedding. In between the service, and the reception we had a big luncheon at our house and my mom said my band could play. If you were in Ohio last July 24th you would know that was not a good day to be playing outside. I learned several good lessons that day. One of which is never agree to play on top of a small hill in the middle of the sun. Another is never try to run, a keyboard, three amps, eight small fans, and three big fans for the tent next to you, on the same circuit. For the first thirty minutes we blew the fuse some eight times. Finally we took our plug(We had all of our stuff plugged into one extension cord.) and plugged into the neighbors outer wall. Everything went well from then on. Until after the concert I looked at my hardshell case and saw that it had been severely warped. But the one good thing that happened wa after the wedding my sister come up to me and thanked me for playing. We also sold a twenty CD's that day!!!

[Phee]

my first gig was a volunteer gig to raise money so that some Bosnian refugee family could move into out town. we only played two songs (machine head by bush and nothing else matters by metallica) it was a fun, but humiliating experience, but it really didn't matter b/c we had just graduated 9th grade. i had been playing for a year (with out any lesson though), the guitarist had been playing for about 6 months, and the drummer had been playing for 3 months.
-besides that, we didn't have a singer for our band yet
-i had to borrow my school's keyboard amp, the drummer had to borrow our school's drum set, and our guitarist had to borrow the drummer's brother's amp.
-30 seconds into machine head, kevin (the guiatarist) dropped his guitar b/c his strap broke, and he chipped his guitar
-the drummer didn't use the bass drum at all
-during the beginning of nothing else matters, some lady in the croud rudely said that we should have tuned before we got on (which we had, it was the song)
but besides all of those mishaps, it was a fun experience, and we all learned from it.

[Rohan]

The first time I played live, man, I wish it had been at least the third time I played live. My band somehow hit the jackpot and was asked to play at a festival in St. Louis. We were told not a big crowd, no money in it, possibility of free recording time....
We practiced solidly for the two months prior to the show. The songs were as tight as they could get on the crap we were playing on in my garage. The only problem was that, while only myself and the guitarist were first timers, the guitarist was totally freaking about it.
Everyone drew straws for what time slot they played in. Well, luck was with us again, and again I say I wish we would have played some live shows before that. We pulled the best staw and received the time slot right before the headlining band at the show. As we were sitting around waiting for our time to come along, the building started filling up. The little festival started with maybe 200 people, but around the time we were to play, it probibly had more like 2000.
Well, our nervous little guitarist sat there and tuned his guitar, which he had tuned before he left and had fastened the stringlocks before he left to go to the gig. We got our little five minute warning and so we all went outside to make sure we were tuned up. Well, the guitarist opened his gig bag and to all of our horror, his guitar was broken at the headstock. Somehow he had managed to put weird tension on the stings, then I guess bumped the neck on something and it simply snapped. So we ran around like idiots for the remaining minutes before the show looking for a guitar to borrow. We found one, and then after all the **** had happened, we got up on stage. We were allowed a 7 minute set up time, or supposedly. I was watching my watch and I know they killed the lights three minutes earily. So we had an audience of 2000 people, ready for a show to start, and we were not even in tune because the guitar he borrowed also had string locks and was two steps to high. Our first song blew flying monkies, but after that we sorta let out and it was a decent show. Also, at the end everyone cheered for us regardless of the fact that we sucked, because before the show I had bought about 4 pounds of assorted candy and on our last song called "Don't Take Candy from Strangers" the singer threw candy all over the place and then at the end I dumped the rest of it in the crowd. It was a bad experience at the time, but looking back on it, I learned a lot from it. I also want to play live again as soon as I can because I enjoyed it a lot.
I also had an insteresting comment from someone. I guess because of all the people, and the fact that it was my first time playing live, plus the stress of all the bull in dealing with the guitar situation, I went a little crazy. A guy from a band called 6 Gauge found me in the crowd after the show and said I looked like a bass playing Angus Young.

Later!

[JWC]

My first gig was playing at a Pizza Parlor. We set up our equipment against one of the walls in a walkway connecting the actual dining area and the restrooms and jukebox in the back. We face a wall and the crowd couldn't really even see us. I stood there like a scared duck the whole time and playing was terrible. One thing that makes me laugh still is our drummers spur of the moment drum solo which I know must have made someone choke on their food.

[lowtones]

My first gig (if you can call it that) was playing at my school's Halloween Dance (yeah .. I'm 14). We just had me at bass, and my 2 friends at guitar and drums (no vocals), and we just played about 10 cover songs.

Maybe someday I'll play with a vocalist.

[ThePaste]

My first "gig" was a school talent show. We had to bring our gear to the stage about a week before tryouts because the teachers wanted to make sure everyone was serious about being in it. So for the next week at lunch me, the guitarist and the drummer and the drummers friend (also a guitarist) just sat there and played little mini jams. The drummer (Alex) sucked so bad, he could play on pattern (on the snare, highhat, and bass drum!). The only song the drummer's friend (Brian) knew was "Carousel" by Blink 182. So he just played that while me and the only good guitarist (David) jammed with the drummer. Ok, we started to draw crouds, and they all wanted to play our instruments and such, so you know, to be popular...

Ok, so then we had tryouts, and got to get outa class! Me and David were in the same class, so when the announcement came on to go to the gym, we went. But Alex and Brian were nowhere to be seen! So 1 minute before we were supposed to go on stage, they appear. The stupid ****** Brian forgot his guitar and amp (a 10w to be specific), so we're like, "Get the F*** out here ******". So he ran away. Then when we started, our set was a Blink 182 song (I forget which one), "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer, and "Hey" by Suicide Machines. We didn't have a vocalist, so it was pretty much instruments (duh...). So about 10 seconds into the song, the drummer just gets up and goes "Man I suck! You guys just go on without me!". We're stunned! I promptly kicked his kneecap into the wall, almost breaking it, then David pushed him off the stage, luckily the teachers thought he fell ). So, just me (bass) and David (guitar) went on without them. To make matters worse, this really hot girl was in the "audience", and I kept having a staring problem.

Ok so then gameday. It started at 7 PM friday.Me and David were schuedualed to go on 3rd to last act, right before a guitarist and singer do "If I saw you in heaven" by Clapton. So we started to set up at 6:30, we had our amps there and all, and we started to put them up on the stage when the leader of the show said "Hey guys, I need you to set up on the gym floor because there'll be no room for the other acts who need to use the stage. We're like "F*** you" but she made us anyway. Ok, so we're sitting in the stands watching the other acts, and I'm nervous, and I let my bros and b!***** know it. So my guitarist started smoking weed in the bathroom to get over his nervousness.

We went on.

We were like, 3 feet, literally, from the crowd. Luckily, it was our own classmates, so they didn't throw stuff at us. I think I killed one of them with my amp! But we went through it, then when "Hey" came around David yells "DROP IT" and everyone gets up and started moshing! It was great! Needless to say, we won! Then at the party afterwards, I got surrounded by girls! It was great.

[gweimer]

My first real gig was at a promo for a shoe store. The owner thought it would be "neat" to have a little band there for a big sale day. He had us set up inside the store - for about 15 minutes - when it dawned on him that none of his customers could move, or talk to anyone. He hustled outside, and we set up (again) on the sidewalk. Now, he could do business, once people walked through us to get to the front door. It was a GREAT day! We did our best to woo the crowd with stuff like:
"All Right Now"
"Do What You Like"
"Morning Dew" (ala Jeff Beck - and it's the one song I always remember)
"Stone Cold Fever".

No matter what, the first gig is always the coolest!