Worst thing that's ever happened at one of your gigs?

KPRott · #1 11-04-2009, 11:56 AM

Once in a while the most horrible thing you can think of happens. Something so bad it stops the show, and/or leaves you embarrassed, and possibly ends the band.

Start with mine...

My old band gets into a small BOTB at a nightclub in Providence. We decide to do mostly covers since our originals were works in progress. We go through Smells Like Teen Spirit, Brainstew, and Self Esteem. (I know, horrible choices, but we had to pick simple stuff that we could master in a week of practice...). Our last song was Santeria. We do amazing, the crowd was singing along and I felt on top of the world. Until.. the singer forgets the lyrics to the last verse. He stops, the guitarist is caught off guard and stops playing, and the drummer follows suit. I stop last...we look at each other, and pack up and leave.

The band never got together again.

dvh · #2 11-04-2009, 12:06 PM

ALWAYS use your best musicianship to play through mistakes - sing one of the other verses again, stick another solo in while the singer gets his **** together - do it all with a look of fun and confidence and all will be forgiven.

But just stopping... no.

MooseLumps · #3 11-04-2009, 12:09 PM

Had a jerk of a band leader blather on about our band name for ten minutes. During a 40 minute set.

Afterwords, my cab was knocked off stage. It exploded.

Also, the strap button on my bass fell out.

This is all the same show, BTW.

amroach · #4 11-04-2009, 12:22 PM

Drove 3 hours to play to a basically empty room and it comes to the last song of the set and the singer/guitarist snaps the head stock off his £2,000 ES335, doesn't even know how he did it. that but a Sh*ter on the whole bands night.

sevenyearsdown · #5 11-04-2009, 12:26 PM

One rule - no matter how bad someone misses, never stop playing.

One night we were playing our version of Funky Miracle which included a short bass solo in the middle. I would play it basically the same way every time...same count...same notes leading out...etc. It was one of those we've done a million times things.

One night our guitar player just competely blanks when I'm coming out the solo back into the regular part of the tune....so I continue to solo thinking, I'll just noodle a bit then play the walk up back into the song again. Wrong, by this time the drummer is also a bit out of touch because of the deviation. So I start the walk up out the solo, make eye contact with the drummer, and.....nothing. They both miss it again.

Luckilly after the third solo they came back. Very few people were wise to the mistake, and some even came up and said, "Hey man - great solo" and stuff like that. I was just happy to be able cover for the extra 40 seconds or whatever it ended up being. Fealt like an hour.

standupright · #6 11-04-2009, 12:33 PM

had a guest drummer get up from behind the kit, trip, and spilled an entire pint of beer all over my amp. immediately destroying it. never saw him again, wouldn't return my calls, no offer to cover the damage. brand new amp too. man i was beyond pissed.

Low Tone · #7 11-04-2009, 12:39 PM

One of the bands I was in a few years back was playing our first ever show. There was a young man in a wheelchair in the audience and he wanted to hear "Turn The Page" by Bob Seager. We didn't know the song. Five minutes before we are supposed to set up and start playing the lead guitarit/singer pulls up a halfassed chord chart on his portable laptop. We did one quick run through before taking the stage and then used it for our opening song.

The band never played together again after that show.

John Webb · #8 11-04-2009, 12:39 PM

Guitarist called out a tune...........I played something different.

whew.........horrible lost feeling.

I hate it when that happens!

MNAirHead · #9 11-04-2009, 12:43 PM

Playing in Jersey (showish type band)

I did the "sing to the girl".. went out in the audience.. it ended up being a fluffy rocker dude.

Next day.. sing to the girl.. she 8.5 months pregnant.

Never knew either ones until they were standing to applause

MNAirHead · #10 11-04-2009, 12:45 PM

About a month ago I was playing my 7 string and couldnt' for the life of me remember how it was tuned.. all this at a signature insttumental break.. that lasts for about 30 seconds.

jnuts1 · #11 11-04-2009, 12:49 PM

last night guitar calls out Righty & starts the intro. my opening note is loud & low in this tune & BAM! i let my Eb ring loud & long & the guitar is playing Bb!!!!

so everyone starts looking at me like i did it. good thing it was only the soundcheck. but it was still in front of a good size crowd.

standupright · #12 11-04-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

Playing in Jersey (showish type band)

I did the "sing to the girl".. went out in the audience.. it ended up being a fluffy rocker dude.

Next day.. sing to the girl.. she 8.5 months pregnant.

Never knew either ones until they were standing to applause

Ubersheist · #13 11-04-2009, 12:55 PM

The worst gig I can think of off hand was at a bar with one opener of a band. We had the headliner cancel, so we were the head liner, and expected to play well over an hour, maybe even two to cover the time.

The opening band shows up late, and takes forever to set up. They play 45 minutes (all the material they had since they were a new band), and took FOREVER to tear down - over 45 minutes just to tear down.

They finally finish up, we very quickly set up, and we start playing... for 15 minutes.

I was absolutely livid.

All the while, the guitarist was passing a kidney stone. He was writhing in pain at the time. As soon as we were done, his girlfriend shuffled him off to the hospital.

To top it off, the bar stiffed us on the pay, claiming that too many people drifted off because we took too long to set up. I explained how the other band had acted like rockstars and just left the stage with their crap, but the bar owner didn't want to hear it.

We'll never play at that bar or with that band ever again, but it's far too very small of a comfort for how crappy that night went.

**jmattbassplaya** · #14 11-04-2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jnuts1

last night guitar calls out Righty & starts the intro. my opening note is loud & low in this tune & BAM! i let my Eb ring loud & long & the guitar is playing Bb!!!!

so everyone starts looking at me like i did it. good thing it was only the soundcheck. but it was still in front of a good size crowd.

No matter how right you might be, you will always be wrong when playing with a guitarist

MatticusMania · #15 11-04-2009, 02:27 PM

A few weeks ago my band is booked to play a show at 9:30. We all plan to show up about 8pm to chill together and have a few drinks before the show. We arrive at 8pm and the place is closed, no one around. Luckily we all brought some beers along. We drink in the parking lot and the guy who booked us shows up. The place is still closed. We drink more.

Finally the place opens at a little after 9pm... great.

We begin setting up and my drummer can't seem to find his tom. He gets angry, his snare has been stolen, he claims. We all look around, and now we're all mad as well.

"Are you sure you brought it?" we ask "Of course I did" says he. (I'm sure you can see where this is going)

Oh, I forgot to mention, one of our synth players is hardly conscious. He was depressed and took too many pills that day (very out of character for him).

Most of our stuff is all set up, minus the missing tom & the drummers cymbals. It's now about 10pm, the show hasnt started yet. I'm ready to just break down my gear and leave. Our drummer insists we play on. So we play two song, really badly, and walk off stage.

Our drummer found his tom back at his house.

FromBeyond · #16 11-04-2009, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

A few weeks ago my band is booked to play a show at 9:30. We all plan to show up about 8pm to chill together and have a few drinks before the show. We arrive at 8pm and the place is closed, no one around. Luckily we all brought some beers along. We drink in the parking lot and the guy who booked us shows up. The place is still closed. We drink more.

Finally the place opens at a little after 9pm... great.

We begin setting up and my drummer can't seem to find his snare. He gets angry, his snare has been stolen, he claims. We all look around, and now we're all mad as well.

"Are you sure you brought it?" we ask "Of course I did" says he. (I'm sure you can see where this is going)

Oh, I forgot to mention, one of our synth players is hardly conscious. He was depressed and took too many pills that day (very out of character for him).

Most of our stuff is all set up, minus the missing tom & the drummers cymbals. It's now about 10pm, the show hasnt started yet. I'm ready to just break down my gear and leave. Our drummer insists we play on. So we play two song, really badly, and walk off stage.

Our drummer found his tom back at his house.

Okay, i'm confused, was it his tom or his snare he forgot?

NickInMesa · #17 11-04-2009, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

No matter how right you might be, you will always be wrong when playing with a guitarist

So true. I compensate by learning the songs and nailing them. I don't argue with guitarists any more. Whatev'

As far as my own experience: strap coming off at the horn, good thing while playing, I managed to catch the neck before it hit, put the strap back on and came back in. 4 bars lost.

And it was a Dunlop strap lock. I am seriously thinking about going Schaller.

eyeballkid · #18 11-04-2009, 02:55 PM

I once broke my bass jack, my cord, and the input on my amp in one fell swoop in the middle of a song.

GreggBummer · #19 11-04-2009, 03:02 PM

I was playing a gig in Philly in 1989, at a place called Dobbs on South Street. It was a "battle of the bands" and I had my brand new Ibanez four string. At the end of our set I threw the bass up in the air, missed it, and it landed on the edge of one of the floor monitors. It cracked from the bridge all the way to the neck. My mom was in the audience.

jimc · #20 11-04-2009, 03:16 PM

I was playing in a band that got booked to back an Irish violinist, I'm pretty sure his name was Dermot McConville. He played Stephan Grappelli, hot club style jazz.

Somehow he recognized me as a gearhead and in the break is showing me his special violin combo. He tips it forward to show me the speaker and, thinking I have hold of it, let's go where upon it falls on my foot (breaking a toe I found out later).

So now the combo doesn't work, I identify a broken fuse and, being the bass player, I have a spare in my car. What I didn't know and should have checked is that our Irish friend has tried switching the amp back on while I'm at my car.

I push the fuse in and promptly get electrocuted and blown back 10 feet across the dance floor (this was in the UK, 240 volts there!). Spent the rest of the evening at the hospital.

Worst. Gig. Evahhhh!