Worst gig ever

[felch182]

We just played one of the worst gigs of our lives tonight. It was a shambles, our guitarists were out of time on some songs, and our singer lost his voice half way through the set. Absolute ****. I feel terrible right now

[Tony G]

Don't feel too bad. We've all been there.

[felch182]

Thanks dude, it really sucks, it kinda was not all our faults, the mixer had no guitars in any of the fold-backs and the stage sound was not loud enough to hear every one. We have another gig tommorow night so hopefully we can make it up then.

[chaosMK]

It happens sometimes. If you still put on an entertaining performance and keep the energy up, I've found that everyone still has a good time and even perceives it as being a great show.

[bhawk1]

Originally Posted by chaosMK

If you still put on an entertaining performance and keep the energy up, I've found that everyone still has a good time and even perceives it as being a great show.

Yep, I agree. The worst thing to do in that case would be to let the audience in on the fact that you're having a rough time. 9 times out of 10 they won't recognize it.

Kinda hard if the lead singer's voice goes out, but I guess then it's extended instrumental time.

[Fontaine]

i know the feeling dude, good luck tomorrow night er tonight when ever ya posted hopefully u do better! actually i know u will!!!

[pigpen02]

Happens to everyone.

My worst gig was the first half of Friday night, but, oddly, it wasn't due to anyone playing poorly:

Our singer booked a gig at a shuffleboard court. Yep. Downtown St. Petersburg has revived their large and rather nice shuffleboard joint, and wanted bands to play. They said there's usually 100-200 folks there, and that we'd be paid $150 for one hour. Not awful, and we had a second all night gig at a bar down the street right after.

So, we get there, and....there's not a soul there. No one. The band was to set up on a piece of artificial turf in the middle of the courts. The bass backline was a hartke combo 1x12 that died half-way thru the hour. Even the band playing second left, and didn't return until it was their time. Oddly, the band was hot! But....no one saw it. And the singer got stiffed on the $$, and didn't tell us until about 3 a.m. Lessons learned: don't play for the city of St. Petersburg, don't let the singer book gigs alone.

I'm not sure what's worse: sucking, and having everyone hear and see it, or rocking, and having no one there to see it.

[felch182]

Hey guys, the gig tonight went off without a bang. It was great, what a differance 24 hours can be. Must say, **** i was feeling like **** today

[blipndub]

We booked a relay for life gig once and drove 90 minutes through friday puget sound rush hour traffice to find a backlot high school track that was the venue. Our guitarist and drummer cancelled at the last minute so it was me and the singer. We arrive to find a 4 channle consumer-grade dj pa with one no-name mic and our soundman was a radio dj who had been roped into doing the whole 24 hour gig non stop, so he was alternative beers with energy drinks and was a mess. We ended up playing a really crappy set in the dirt through this home stereo-sounding thing. No money, no respect, no one cared. We even got hit up by some smarmy preacher who wanted us come and play at his "church". It was awful... But then later in the summer we played to 500 in downtown Olympia through a pro sound set up and got paid hundreds of dollars, it was our best show of the year. So it ebbs and flows, gotta crawl through the mud to get to your place in the sun.

Glad the follow up gig went well.

[excane]

Happens to all of us.

Laugh it off, have a drink (or three) and knock boots with the lady.

[RLT]

Saturday night we had a beautiful show everything went perfect.

Sundays show was totally bombed. Out of 12 singers and groups, no one did good. So I guess you could say we all bombed bad that day.

[Mickey Shane]

Tell your singer to make a thermos bottle of hot tea with plenty of honey mixed in.

Sip on that before the show and between songs.
It's a preventitive, not a cure.

[Dr. Feelgood]

This one show I was so drunk I played terribly. Never made that mistake again.
Anyway, as was said, we've all been there. Just make sure the next gig is a good one and you'll be happy as a pig in s***.

[bevel19]

Originally Posted by Mickey Shane

Tell your singer to make a thermos bottle of hot tea with plenty of honey mixed in.

Sip on that before the show and between songs.
It's a preventitive, not a cure.

Just put the mix in a Jack Daniels bottle.......makes him look hardcore rock-god like!


Once played in a band with a guy who did this.

Watched a really pi**ed guy walk up to the front of the stage and swipe it,thinking it was a real JD bottle. The look on his face as he chugged half of it down was priceless.

[PABassPlayer]

Originally Posted by blipndub

We booked a relay for life gig once and drove 90 minutes through friday puget sound rush hour traffice to find a backlot high school track that was the venue. Our guitarist and drummer cancelled at the last minute so it was me and the singer. We arrive to find a 4 channle consumer-grade dj pa with one no-name mic and our soundman was a radio dj who had been roped into doing the whole 24 hour gig non stop, so he was alternative beers with energy drinks and was a mess. We ended up playing a really crappy set in the dirt through this home stereo-sounding thing. No money, no respect, no one cared. We even got hit up by some smarmy preacher who wanted us come and play at his "church". It was awful... But then later in the summer we played to 500 in downtown Olympia through a pro sound set up and got paid hundreds of dollars, it was our best show of the year. So it ebbs and flows, gotta crawl through the mud to get to your place in the sun.

Glad the follow up gig went well.

As the father of a child with cancer, thank you.
What happened, how it happened are really of no consequence to the fact that you stuck it out in the name of charity. Even a crappy set with crappy gear is cool if it's for the right reason.