What's your worst gig experience?

[BassistSVT]

This is mine.

It was nothing big, we were just gonna play for an hour at our high school dance (for free, so we didn't really have anything to lift our spirits after this experience) so our guitarist and drummer didn't think they needed extra gear. (strings, drumsticks, picks, etc.) About 10 minutes into the show, our drummer breaks his stick right in half. He keeps playing for a little while until that half a drumstick slips out of his hand. He now has to finish the song with one drumstick. THAT SAME SONG, our guitarist breaks his B string, e string and A string. The only plus side to this whole incident? The rest of the song's a bass solo! We couldn't finish the dance though.

[ClassicRock55]

I'd say the time that I was slappin' and poppin' on Low Rider a little too hard and I literally decoiled my G string on a pop.....the strings were cheap GHS ones that guitar center gave out for free.

I finished the show with three strings, its not horrible but i will never forget to bring a backup pack!

[B4snrise]

It wasn't my worst experience but a bad experience no less...
The bass player for a band that opened for us once smoked his amp 3 or 4 songs before the end of their last set. The guy just stood there while the amp wailed it's final death moans and the band played on so I knew he had no spare or DI to use. I had all my gear at the back of the stage ready for the quick band change so I offered to let him use my head with his cabinet. He declined and they stopped the gig and got off stage early while some of their ravenous fans were begging them for more songs. Sadly their band was pretty good and many of those fans had ridden motorcycles a long way to see them perform and never got satisfied.

[RobinBetton]

I played a gig in a small town outside of the city i lived in. I was invited by a guitarist i was playing with at the time. It was a small birthday function at a coffehouse. We played some jazz standards. On one the breaks the guitarist introduced me at the table where his friends and the birthday person were. One of the guests mentioned one of the flyers up on one of the boards. It was for a gay pride parade in the town. They then went on to say how gays were ruining the world and said some stuff that I just couldn't believe other human beings were capable of saying. the guitarist just nodded his head in agreement. I was very shocked but at the same time I didn't say anything. I finished the gig and took my check. I never played with the guitarist again.

[Calebmundy]

I got a call one afternoon from a country artist in town to play some kind of battle of the bands hosted by a local radio station. It was 5 songs, no rehearsal, so I said I'd go in for $50.

I learned the tunes off his website and headed for the venue-a large dance club place.

I showed up around 6 or something, and everyone was ALREADY drinking. I let the drummer buy me a beer and heard the first warning sign-the drummer was a "good friend" of the artist's and was "sure to be good". The guy was pumped off his ass to be at a gig-another bad sign.

Drinking with the drummer was a very ZZ-top looking blind guitar player. "Awesome," I thought, "blind musicians are ALWAYS amazing."

Also along was another guitar player, who seemed a like a usual Nashville kind of working cat, and a steel player who seemed like he might be the real deal.

During the load in I watched as the blind guitar player was led up on stage where he proceeded to say "I don't have an amp, just plug me into the board, and put a little distortion on it." Fortunately there were some really nice guys around who lent him some ******-looking peavey 2x12, and fiddle with the knobs until he liked the tone-the loudest most obnoxious classic rock tone I'd yet heard in all of Nashvegas.

So we hung around and the drummer and blind guy drank and drank while the radio station put on some stupid contests, and I find out that the artist doesn't really know what's going on, and even though I learned (and quickly charted) five songs off his website, the promoters might want him to play more like 6 or 7 tunes, and he was sure we would all know them. As a side note, one of my biggest weaknesses as a Nashville guy is that I don't really know any tunes. I can learn anything, and I can read like a nerd on prom night, but I don't know many tunes off hand, so I'm just a little nervous, but the guitarist who didn't look like a Texas-hobo-in-rock-attire assured me that he would shout changes to me-no sweat.

So around 8:30 we head to the stage, me with charts on the floor in front of me, the drummer with the drunk grin of a rank amateur, and the artist with the increasing look of a deer in the headlights as he considers the likelihood of having a good LIVE RADIO APPEARANCE with this motley crew he's gathered, and out of know-where a seasoned-looking keyboard player shows up who is friends with somebody and offers to tag along-why not?

So we start the set...or rather the drummer starts the set, and it is instantly obvious that this guy has never EVER heard the music, or has at least forgotten everything-including tempos, kick patterns, etc.-in his time of drinking. It was really unbelievable. This poor artist is trying to sing songs he wrote at 50 or 60 bpms slower or faster than the original stuff. Plus the drummer also just generally sucks.

The blind guitar player is absolutely BLARING rock/blues riffs over everything; mostly (to his credit) in the right key with plenty of virtuosity. The steel player with all the potential can only sit behind his rig and look out helplessly to the crowd. I never heard a note, because the damn ZZ-topper took all of the breaks, and because of the odd-corner-design of the stage, the steel player appears to be sitting out in front of everyone from the crowd. Brilliant. The rest of us muddle-through the best we can. I realized the gig for what it was at that point, and just did my best to keep playing until I could get off the stage.

The Originals stopped working immediately, and I had the chance to learn T-R-O-U-B-L-E , Boot Scootin' Boogie, and a few other choice country standards on stage as I went.

After we got done, I got my gear in my car and slipped back in to figure out the best way to get my check and leave ASAP. The last thing I heard from the singer was "Well, if I was in this for the money, I would've given up a long time ago." Maybe he should've.

P.S. His material was also pretty weak-not deserving of the stereotype-breaking horror of the blind guitar player or the stereotype-confirming drunkenness of the drummer, but still pretty weak.
THE END

[cutthroatmolloy]

our worst was a birthday party on a trailer in a field in the cold. we showed up early enough to set up with the sunlight, were treated ok and helped to load our stuff onto the trailer with a forklift, we set up, then basicly left and ignored til after the fireworks then we were demanded to play, to maybe 15 people, most brought along by us.
our singer was absolutely wasted, we played all our songs, then we were yelled at for not having more so we played a couple more again. then we were ignored again and told we should just leave our gear on the trailer overnight cos the guy couldnt be bothered to use the forklift to help get it down. and then this guy had the balls to say he would only pay us if i had a bunch of people over to drink at my place. pfft.

[iamjohngalt]

my worst experience was playing a jazz combo gig at a fair sized party. I was playing along through the chart when i heard the most horrific explosion through my amp I look down to see what happened to discover that the bridge on my fretless has somehow managed to unscrew itself and is now laying on the floor beside me... moral of the story $189 fretless basses are not to be trusted...

[skb5string]

July 4th 2005, playing a gig for the city of Oak Park Michigan, outside. Hotter than Hell it's self and humid! I'm with my oldies band Moose and da Sharks and were 2 songs into our 1st of 3 sets. The sky turns as black as night and HUGE storm starts to roll in. Now were in one of those "portastages" that has a top and folds open. The stage is backed right up against some power lines. The wind picks up and all the tents and art stations start to blow away! It's beginning to rain lightly but Moose (our leader) wants to get in another song, so we start into the 3rd tune, then all of the sudden the rain pours on and Huge gust of wind comes and a huge moon walk up stakes from stage left and smashes into the side of the stage knocking out speaker columes over and it knocked Moose over too!!! Needless to say shuttle bus showed up to take us to cover, a tornado was in the area. We pushed all the gear as far back as we could covered it and ran into the shuttle and went to the city hall. Waited out the storm and about 30 min later went back to the stage site. Remember when I said the stage was right up against the power lines! well when we got back, the area was in shambles and a live power line had fallin on top on the portastage!!!!!! Sparking, the whole 9 yards. It took DTE Energy over an hour to get out their and isolate the line and remove it from the Portastage. The stage was soaked. Just incase your wondering yes I took my bass with me!

After all of this the guy who worked for the city and hired us actually had the balls to ask us if we would finish our sets!!! !!!! !!! Now, all the tents were blowen away, everybody was gone, not a soul, a soul I tell you in the park and a confirmed Tornado was in the area, a Moon walk crashing into the side of the stage making a stack of speakers fall about 8 to 10 feet along with a live down power line on top of the stage, "supercharging" that metal tin can. We LOL'd, told him NOOOO got our stuff and got the *&^% out of their!

This is a play by play of actual events.....

Oh yeah...With this same band we played a fair in which after the night was over about 1:00am we were striking the stage and we saw about 20 EastPoint MI, cops running to a trailor about 50 to 75 feet away from the stage. The fair had a carnival and I guess one of the Carnies killed another one with a Baseball bat, I guess over money. That took forever to get out of too as the cops had the whole area sectioned off!!

[interwebhobo]

During a jazz combo gig, some backstage hand tripped over our power extension cord. The whole audience laughed because all of a sudden the keys, bass and guitar dropped out, the only thing that could be heard was the drummer. (we played on until someone plugged us back in about 40 seconds later)

[CrazyArcher]

During the last song of the set, I was jumping at the stage and the upper strap-pin just went out of its spot just before my solo. My thoughts were "Eh I need straplocks... Oh no, I need a new bass!" At least it was the last song, and I played the solo pretty decently kneeling with the bass on my lap.

[jomahu]

we played a gig to a primarily Latino crowd. and we discovered when we went into our montuno song that the keyboardist REALLY didn't know how to play latin music, and never bothered to practice.
so, we got laughed at.

also, in my old band (i played drums), the bass player stopped in the middle of our 1st set, said, 'i'm done,' and walked out. didn't come back for an hour (and was probably smokin up).

not necessarily the worst gig experience, but one of our band members seemed to catch a spirit during one of our songs. she totally fell over and started spazzing out. surreal.

[pulse]

- used the headlining bands amp, a mesa 400 tube diesel rig. Ask the owner to check out my settings are ok. He says yeah dont worry. 2 songs into the set his amp goes down. Finish gig thru DI. Mad panic in change over, cant get his amp to work. Finish the night among reasonable peaceful vibes. Week later huge bills and violent threats flying around. Very ugly, after that I swore to never use anothers equipment.

[MooseLumps]

Two stories of equal and decidedly different flavors of tragedy.
Rexburg, Idaho. Playing the opening of a National chain restaurant what serves sandwiches hawked by a fellah who claims they helped him loose a lot of weight. Playing our third song we started on one of them power chord explody type I-landed-right-as-the-chord-struck things. I normally don’t jump around. Anyway I come down from ooh say, 3 feet in the air and land and the strap button screw comes shooting out of the horn of my Alvarez Sixer. I play the remainder of the set sitting on the stage with a dented bass swaying back and forth and doing my best to be cool, sobbing inside about the gash in my $200 bass’ transparent purple finish.
THEN at the same show as I was pulling down the guitard from the next band up comes up and slams some fender combo down in front of my bass cab. Fortunately, I had removed my SWR SM 400-s from its place on top, but the Henry the 8x8 cab went backwards off the stage and basically exploded. I made and angry face and later “Trounced the blighter roundly” because college kids have no money
Just outside Idaho Falls, Idaho
Playing my first ever gig at a Halloween biker con (17yo). Classic tunes and Buckle rubbers aplenty, but the three of us butcher every song. The guitarist had no idea where we were and I admit that I did not know the material well enough. We had to end songs early to stop the embarrassment. The drummer and I had to do some improv stuff which went over remarkably well given the circumstances. The guitarist unplugged and went to the bar to beg the owners not to fire us. She said that she was about to walk over and tell us not to bother to show up the next night, but got busy. Good news is we all got together and gangbanged the material the next day before the show and that was quite possibly our best show ever. The range of emotions that weekend still floors me when I think about it. We played that establishment many more times in the future until we disbanded.

[invader3k]

Worst was after we had added a lead guitarist to the band for the first time, so our guitarist/singer could focus more on rhythm and vocals. The lead guitard organized a "birthday party" of sorts for himself, and rented out a grandstand at the local park. He did at least get permission from the city, etc.

Anyway, we show up the day of the gig, and he's nowhere to be found. Turns out he's supposed to be moving out of his apartment by the next morning so new tenants can move in. Says to our other guitarist upon reappearing "I need to use your truck tomorrow" (keep in mind, he's been with the band for not even two months at this point). Other guitarist says "No, I'm going out of town tomorrow by 5AM" (which was true). Takes a couple minutes for the lead guitard to figure out he has to find alternate means of hauling his crap out of his apartment.

Anyway, the gig is a complete disaster...lead guitard cranks his stupid Line 6 rig way too high, to the point where no one can hear the vocals or much of the other instruments. He forgets agreed upon structures and goes off on wild solos at whim. Of course, we're getting massive feedback at various times from the PA due to trying to actually hear the vocals. At one point, he launches into a couple songs we had never practiced before, and the other guitarist walks off stage. We end up finishing the show as best we could...but not before our other guitarist gets mega-peeved during "Freebird" because the lead guitard basically steals all the solo spots, when they had agreed they would trade back and forth.

After the show, and we finally pack up (of course, lead guitard is off somewhere on his phone the whole time) drummer and lead guitard are oblivious to the problems. We have a heavy handed band meeting, and lead guitard apologizes, at least somewhat.

Of course, he never changed his act and was kicked out of the band about three weeks later after a tense band practice where his Line 6 was a wall of unbearable sound in our basement practice space, and the rhythm guitarist ended up spiking his instrument cable on the floor in disgust.

I've played other bad shows, but that was by far the most amateur and disastrous.

[Stuggi]

Worst show I've played was when the drummer continued on with Verse and chorus a 6th time after we'd agreed to end it after 5 times.

[Just J]

Originally Posted by BassistSVT

This is mine.

It was nothing big, we were just gonna play for an hour at our high school dance so our guitarist and drummer didn't think they needed extra gear. (strings, drumsticks, picks, etc.) About 10 minutes into the show, our drummer breaks his stick right in half. He keeps playing for a little while until that half a drumstick slips out of his hand. He now has to finish the song with one drumstick. THAT SAME SONG, our guitarist breaks his B string, e string and A string. The only plus side to this whole incident? The rest of the song's a bass solo! We couldn't finish the dance though.

Did you slap them? I don't carry around strings (I'm going to get a set before my next gig tho), but I always have extra stuff just in case, no matter how small the gig.

[Just J]

Played a party for a friend of the guitarists and drummer. They had gotten a new pad and were celebrating it (huge house.) Anyway, we got to play with what we were later told was "the worst sound setup possible."

They had a flatbed setup outdoors in the cul-de-sac, but it was barely big enough for a small car, we're a 5 piece, so there was no way we could all fit. Figure we'll just do a step type deal. The drummer and I end up on the flatbed, singer and guitarists are in front.

• Drummer couldn't hear the singer so he missed most of his cues.
• I had a crappy tilt back combo that could NOT keep up. Distorted horribly, could barely hear myself.
• The guitarists each had their amps in front of them, so depending on where you were standing, one of them was really friggin loud, couldn't hear the other. In the middle, they were both rediculously loud.
• We were kinda put in a corner and weren't central... horrible location.
• The rhythm missed a bunch of his parts, as usual it seems.

After that we invested in a better PA setup so the guitarists don't need their amps, and if need be I can run direct. I have a much better combo now and thus far it's been able to keep up with the volume happy guitarists.

Another gig we had for the most part was ok, but one of the guitarists kept playing the wrong chord shape in the bridge of a certain song, so it sounded horrid. Another time the singer broke a string on his acoustic, so the rhythm guitarist figured we should just stop playing so the singer can change the string. Drummer got confused and kept playing through a break where he was supposed to stop. I was pissed.

[WJGreer]

There we were, in the third set of a bar gig that was, shall we say, lightly attended. At a certain point, this group of old dudes walks in, all dressed in exactly the same garish red suits. I had a good view of the door, saw them walk in, and immediately felt like I should maybe know who they are. I didn't, but I have since come to know that they were the Delfonics, a Philly-based soul quartet of some repute.

Anyway, we usually play this jammy, extended version of Fly Like an Eagle, where we sneak in some modal standard or other in the middle (So What or Impressions usually). We're playing it, and the Delfonics want to sit in. Our singer graciously invites them up. At this point I still don't know who these guys are, but they sure look important and I'm pretty excited to see what they do with Fly Like an Eagle.

They do pretty much nothing with it. None of them know the words, and they just coat the music with all this high-pitched crooning on random syllables for TEN MINUTES. They dance around a little as well. So we wrap up the tune and thank them, all a little underwhlemed with the performance.

We go on, and play a couple more tunes.

We eventually get to our last song, which is supposed to be this version of Soul Vibration that morphs into Mr. Pink and eventually turns into Hang Up Your Hangups by Herbie Hancock. When it works, it's cool. Well, the Delfonics are still hanging around the bar, and when we start playing it, they walk back onto the stage without an invitation.

Our sax player doubles on keys, and one of the Delfonics asks if he can play the keys. Matt graciously steps aside. The Delfonics assume their dance positions and, as our "Soul Vibration" really begins to vibrate, they try to turn it into a ballad.

This keyboardist dude is standing right in front of me. He turns around, looks at the drummer and me, and asks us to pull the tempo down to about 68 beats per minute because they want to "work on a ballad". OK, why not. We back it off a little, at least volume and feel-wise, if not tempo-wise, and stay there for a while. These guys go on with more random crooning, no discernible words. Maybe "Ooh Baby," "You're the One," and stuff like that. After about 5 minutes, maybe more, the guitarist, who is also our leader, cues us to move into Hang Up Your Hangups, which is pretty raunchy and definitely will screw up a ballad. We do it, and the Delfonics get livid. They all turn around, do that "keep it down" hand gesture, and again tell me that they need to "work on their ballad" [at our gig].

We go on for maybe another four or five minutes. These dudes will not get off the stage, and have certainly hijacked our song, if not our whole set. The sax player, guitarist, and I wrap the song, put down our instruments, and go get a beer. Our drummer, one of the two or three nicest guys on the earth, keeps playing. The Delfonics continue their "rehearsal" for another three or four minutes, then all stop at once, walk off the stage, chat for a moment with someone in the room, then they leave.

So anyway, I'm not sure this tale is as funny in the telling as it was in the living, but the morals of the story are as follows:

• Asking for two sit-ins is a balls out move, especially in the same set. You should really only do that if the band proactively invites you back up.
• Unless you are Stevie Wonder, when you sit in with a band, you are playing with them, not they with you. They don't become your backup band, and you definitely don't get to try out new material with them unless agreed upon first
• Beware of the Delfonics.

[casualmadness]

Originally Posted by BassistSVT

What's your worst gig experience?

The one where no one...and I mean literally not one person showed up and we absolutley sounded phenomenal. The entire place consisted of the band and the bartender. Not one other person in the entire joint.

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by casualmadness

The one where no one...and I mean literally not one person showed up and we absolutley sounded phenomenal. The entire place consisted of the band and the bartender. Not one other person in the entire joint.

We used to play in this spot in Boulder once a month, and the scene was that way two times of three. It was a nice place too, with a good stage, better than average FOH, and a very presentable room. Good food and microbrew to boot. And right off Pearl Street Mall where we should have been getting better foot traffic than we were.

Part of the problem was that the live music portion of this joint was way in the back and the restaurant part in the front - which explains the less foot traffic. Another part, we found out, was that our Boulder crew hated the staff in this place. They were rude and condescending, and it could take 15 minutes to get a drink when the place was empty. We no longer play in there.