What's your worst gig experience?

[TheOxBlues]

At one gig, it was the first time i took the lead vocals spot on "905" by the Who. So i was nervous all day. We sound checked, everything was fine, accept i couldnt get any treble out of the p.a (This was my first gig playing bass, i'd only been playing for 3 months so i didnt have a proper amp". We get to 905, I start the song, start to get more confident..Then the power shuts off. Apparntly we had so much equipment we blew a fues. We go back into 905 and the arse of the lead singer starts singing my parts and had turned my mic off. He never explained why. I soon left after that.

[The Owl]

This one dates back to my days on the LA club circuit, playing lead guitar in a band, at good 'ol Club 88, circa 1985

When after ONE BEER (I kid you not), the bassist forgets the parts to nearly EVERY song you've played a billion times and this actually happens ON STAGE! I had to call out chord names and notes to him. The lead singer and I both quit the band a very short time after that.

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by WJGreer

• 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.

Great story, the last line certainly made me laugh!

[yorks5stringer]

We had a corporate gig in York Minster recently, a big Cathedral for those of you not in the UK
I didn't check it out having been there about a year ago thinking it would be in the main part, big high ceilings, and lots of hard surfaces that our PA would just disappear into...
But we were in the 11th Century(?)Chapter House, a fairly small annexe and when we got there it was explained all the 20 plus Bishops used to sit in there opposite each other round the outer walls in little cut-outs and because of the acoustics could hear every word each one said, even way across the room.
If you clicked your fingers, it echoed round the room!
Luckily we were just there as mood music in the background but even with all my EQ rolled off the bass, the PA on v.low and the electric guitar so quiet I could hear it acoustically, the sound just reverberated around the room.
Still we got a chance to play our sets, a very nice meal sat on 11th Century stone seats and paid quite well too.
Even the after dinner speaker had trouble being heard, as the room was so alive!

http://www.britainexpress.com/cities...pter_House.htm

[crimsonfox]

I had a drummer with 0 timing. Made me look terrible

[Marcus Willett]

(clears throat)

WORST GIG EVER!!

[fretlessspence]

Played a gig with a pop group just before Halloween. I was a sub for their bass player so I was reading charts that I made from their cd's. It was on a Sunday, in the middle of the afternoon, at a children's museum, outdoors. The band told me that they all dress up (Halloween party) and their costumes are always crazy. I feel I should also (pays pretty well) and, it's for kids anyway so what the heck. I show up in a full blown cow costume. Three of them show in with a blacked out tooth and mullet wigs. One guy wears a hockey jersey (which he would wear any given day). I felt like a full blown ass, not a cow. The kids kept running up to their family and saying "it's a cow mom..." Yep, not my finest hour.

[bassandbeyond]

Most miserable gig:

I had a 3 gig weekend and got through the first two just fine, although feeling inexplicably fatigued. Before carpooling to the third gig with the drummer (he was the leader), I mentioned to him that I wasn't feeling quite 100%. "Do you want me to call a sub?" "No, no I'll be fine. I'm just a little tired." In fact, I felt good enough to set up my gear, eat dinner at the club, and get through the first set okay. By the second set, I knew I was in trouble....it was that impending doom feeling when the flu hits you out of nowhere. Third and fourth set, I literally had to put down my bass and run to the bathroom on every other song, and this was a trio gig, where the band really can't spare a member! Thank goodness the bar was almost empty and I had carpooled with the drummer. He graciously agreed to pack up my gear and drive my car home (60 miles) with me passed out in the front seat. Oh, and I threw up in the car, too.

Most embarrassing gig:

We were all young and inexperienced at gigging. The band leader distributed directions to all of us to the hotel in Northern Virginia where we were supposed to play for a corporate Xmas party. Unfortunately, the directions specified the correct exit number to take, but from the WRONG highway! So four out of six members blindly followed the directions, taking us each more than 50 miles past the gig, almost all the way to West Virginia, before we exited and realized the directions were wrong! This was in the days before cell phones, mind you. Upon this realization, we each found a pay phone, called the hotel, and raced back to the gig in a panic. Of course, we all arrived very late, but the guitar player actually ran out of gas far from the nearest exit in the middle of the boondocks of rural Virginia. Somehow, he managed to flag a lady down and persuade her to give him a ride to the nearest gas station and back to his car. Then he continued racing to the gig and got within a mile of the hotel, when a cop pulled him over and gave him a ticket for running a red light!!! He also forgot to bring black socks for his tux. I think he wound up being two hours late to the gig. And at the end of all this, we had to get up on stage and smile and get the crowd in a partying mood. The funniest thing is, the company actually hired us back for their Xmas party the following year!

[LHbassist]

In early 2004 I played in a house show band for a country superstars 'tribute' show...I'd love to, but can't reveal the name or location due to the incriminating statements I'm about to make.... The Leader, and "musical director" - who, incidentally, could not even read a chord chart - hires a wonderful Berklee trained guitarist, a very experienced and capable keyboardist, a 'friend' on drums, and myself to be the rythmn section. That 'friend' was his drug dealer. That friend also had the worst time feel of any drum set owner operator of almost any I have met in my 35 year career. After many shows, and two near fist fights with him over his time problems, I told him "I've played with a lot of drummers in my career, and you're not one of 'em!" He is a 'tough guy', biker with lots of tats...and he went to the leaders dressing room and cried, literally. I apologized, but I meant what I had said, and it was true. The guitarist had the absolute best quote of all time about bad drummers..his line- "Playin' with (insert name here) is like drivin' on black ice". If you have ever encountered that feeling, in both cases, you know how funny and accurate that is. That was the HARDEST gig I think I ever had to do, as we signed on for a contract period, and were a very long way from home. Couldn't escape! It was like we were sentenced to session player hell or something...every show not knowin' how high and out of it the 'drummer' would be..a tough one. I've heard that that 'drummer' does something else now, but still is dealing, not good.

[dave_bass5]

I do lots of working mens clubs in the uk.
Anyone who knows this sort of gig will have the same stories as me.
Bloody depressing places, all of them.

[bassbully]

Great stories guys here's mine.

A couple of years ago in my old classic rock band our drummer kept talking all year about this great big party we will be playing for a huge family reunion that his wife is in. Ok we say how much well about 300.00 with lots of food ,beer etc...ok why not. He claims the people are cool and we should get great tips should be big payday.

The drive to the gig is over an hour one way out in the sticks and its almost 95 degrees this summer day. We get to were we think the gig is and drive on its in a privite campground area in a Logcabin type building i called Bob's Country Bunker...from the blues brothers movie. The place had a septic system and smelly well water hot as the dickins over 100 degree's indoors and 2 fans. The restrooms reaked horrible and the more they were used the smell came into the band area and yes where the food was on tables with swarms of flies and sweaty hot people everywhere.
I asked to play outside on a bricked patio to get a little air but the drummer and his sister inlaw insisted we play in the bandbox inside for the people eating. The bandbox was a 8X10 recessed in the wall with a 7 foot ceiling and a old broken down piano took up half of the tiny stage. We have a large drum kit 2 guitarists and my bass rig and a singer who stayed on the floor. In the corner by my rig was an old box of stuff you sprinkle on the floor for dancin..cool. The place was as hot as a Vegas parkinglot in August and the walls were covered in steer horns ropes, plows, wagon wheels etc..the kids had rap on the Cd player as we set up
After a warm beer we start to play an all Classic rock set Stones,Free,Stepwolf etc blasin thru Marshals and Gibson Les Pauls.The people just growled at us over their warm plates of fly laiden food like we were a Death Metal band...kids were holding their ears and my amp was cookin my *ss like a fryin pan since i had to lean against it just to fit on the sweatbox stage. The whole band was a drippin pit of sweat and we were gettin madder at the drummer by the second. We went into a set of oldies and seen a couple of toes tappin but most went for the doors...with plates in hand.
As we took a break they had a huge family raffle which took 2 hours and i went to a picnic table and fell asleep. The drummer and his wife got into a huge fight over her lame family and the sisters over the same thing. We were asked by the sister to play on after the raffle? What started out at about 150 people had become 10 after the raffle but at least they danced to a couple of songs. We broke down loaded up and started the cars and van all to learn we were payed 200.00 for the day..oh well i soon left that band but the memories

[The Golden Boy]

5-6 hour long drive to play a festival.

Last day of a 3 day festival.

It looked like a lot of people HAD been there, but everybody was gone by the time we got there.

By the time we played, our "audience" consisted of a retarded kid dancing, and his mom and dad in lawn chairs wishing the weekend was over. I'm glad the kid had fun- but he was just happy to have live music to dance to- I don't think he particularly liked 'us,' he just liked loud music and dancing.

The check bounced too...

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

5-6 hour long drive to play a festival.

Last day of a 3 day festival.

It looked like a lot of people HAD been there, but everybody was gone by the time we got there.

By the time we played, our "audience" consisted of a retarded kid dancing, and his mom and dad in lawn chairs wishing the weekend was over. I'm glad the kid had fun- but he was just happy to have live music to dance to- I don't think he particularly liked 'us,' he just liked loud music and dancing.

The check bounced too...

that ones a hoot...i bet that drive back was a blast.

[castingshadows]

Was on my first tour doing a festival circuit. We were in Johnson City, TN on the second stop and everything had been pushed back because of some transportation problems with the tour convoy. We finally get to play and I set up my Eden WT-800 and Ampeg 4x10 cabinet like normal. We launch into the first song and everything is going well. About a quarter into the second song, I feel something hit the back of my leg and I think my water bottle fell off my amp. I turn around only to see my rig laying face first on the stage. It had taken a header and wasn't working. The stage manager was nowhere to be found and our roadie and I had to pick everything up and try to get it working... Nothing... No sound what so ever. My cable had also snapped so i have to score one from another bassists off the side of the stage. I played direct the rest of the set. It turns out I had only snapped the soulder points of the input jack and it was an easy fix once I got home... Thank God for Eden! My repair guy said typically when something like that happens, the circuit board with snap in half!

[marcray]

ugh... playing with an established artist in Montreal... the record wasn't yet out and the promoter had done no advertising at all, not even a single flyer and the hall was quite large... then the kicker, my mum had visited a friend in Montreal and was in attendance... her and about 10 others. Highly embarressing, yet we still had fun...