One of those nights... AKA nights from HELL.

Fat.Mike · #1 04-06-2007, 02:00 AM

Have you ever had a gig where nothing went right for anyone in the band? That was tonight. My playing was unusually piss poor, Feedback was a son of a *****, I couldn't hear the band, they couldn't hear me, and the crowd responded but was louder than a top fuel dragster at wide open throttle all night. This was our first gig in while due to our guitar player having some serious pnumonia, so maybe I can attribute our performance to the long involuntary vacation we took (yes, we have been practicing like crazy for weeks). We got there 5 hours before the gig to do sound check and set up. Things sounded perfect at 5:30 today, but once 10:30 rolled around it was a slippery slope downhill and straight into feedback land. Maybe I'm being hard on myself, but geeeeez, Sh*tty night.

My bandmates all felt the same way towards their own performances but, being that I was so focused on my own screw ups, I sure didn't notice. Unfortunatly we recorded, and I will promptly reformat that mini disc with extreme prejudice (not even brave enough to listen

.).
Well now that I've shared my terrible night with ya'll (and vented in a hopefully non-hostile way), help me feel better by sharing your bad night(s) on stage...

tzadik · #2 04-06-2007, 07:14 AM

Hang in there, everyone has these nights. Granted, Victor has way less of them than we do, but that may have to do with his $$ ability $$$ to hire $$$ an amazing $$ soundguy with $$ really good $$$ equipment. But I guarantee, even the best of the best have had crappy nights and lots of em. Getting a good sound is VERY HARD. Just be sure to learn all you can from the experiences.

Better gig next time.

Jeb · #3 04-06-2007, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat.Mike

Unfortunatly we recorded, and I will promptly reformat that mini disc with extreme prejudice (not even brave enough to listen

.)...

Lots can be learned from that disc. LISTEN TO IT!!
I would. I would HAVE to hear it if it were me.

Lazylion · #4 04-07-2007, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tzadik

Hang in there, everyone has these nights. Granted, Victor has way less of them than we do, but that may have to do with his $$ ability $$$ to hire $$$ an amazing $$ soundguy with $$ really good $$$ equipment.

Yes, and the fact that he's been playing since the age of 3!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tzadik

Just be sure to learn all you can from the experiences. Better gig next time.

+1 Keep your chin up, FatMike. It's all part of learning. I had a lame one just last Saturday, but I can't wait til next Friday!

B-NoteCowboy · #5 04-07-2007, 09:08 AM

I had one of those shows two weeks ago. Lower turnout than expected and a pinched nerve giving me some hand problems made it very hard to totally get into that show.

The whole band was off with little mistakes all night. I was sure that it was horrible to listen to and was shocked that people loved it and some drunks even claimed it was better than the last time we were there (it' wasn't).

Then I watched the video and nope... sure wasn't perfect but it was certainly not as bad as I had convinced myself it was. We are our own worst critics as musicians and perfectionists. I say watch the video.

invader3k · #6 04-07-2007, 09:20 AM

Yeah...that's one thing I've found in the past. One of our cover band's very early shows had a lot of technical problems (the "sound guy" left the board unattended for our whole set, and our singer couldn't hear himself hardly), but we happened to videotape the show. Watched it a couple weeks later, and, sure enough, it sounded perfectly fine, 20 feet out from the stage.

Your audience's ears typically aren't as critical as your own

beaner · #7 04-07-2007, 09:27 AM

makes the really good nights "special".next gig you could be grinning ear to ear.

Johnny Crab · #8 04-07-2007, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invader3k

Your audience's ears typically aren't as critical as your own

+100

A Zoom H4 catches every gig we do and gets dumped onto my PC then a CD. 99% of the time when it seemed like the "night from" ....a listen to the CD indicates things are good.

Blake Bass · #9 04-07-2007, 09:33 AM

Definitely listen to the disc. You may be surprised that you didn't play as bad as you think.. I used to record every gig I played and I found that the nights where I thought I was really playing well compared to the nights where I thought I really sucked were really not that different.(Maybe I just sucked all of the time) Sometimes a poor monitor mix, or a little feedback can mess with your head and make you think you are playing worse than you are.

Fat.Mike · #10 04-07-2007, 12:09 PM

Unfortunately but not unfortunately, it didn't record correctly. (mini-disc, through optical line out into a muted headphone jack... DOH!!!!

) I know I'm just being hard on myself, but it will make me a better and more conciencious player next time out. Everyone there (mostly drunks. no offense meant, when I'm not playing I am one too...) seemed to believe we put on a great show, so I'll just leave it at that and move on. Thanks for the encouragement!!!

4lPh4n0m3g4 · #11 04-07-2007, 02:00 PM

Be glad the average person in the crowd is not as nearly discriminative when it comes to live performances or sound quality; or even the quality of music for that matter.

Just look at how popular commercial pop music is; and most cant differentiate between actual musicianship and sequenced programs anyway.

IMO, as musicians we naturally notice every little inconsistancy, especially when it pertains to our own playing.

fishtx · #12 04-08-2007, 07:18 PM

I find that (as many have already said in this thread), when you listen back to a performance...it usally doesn't sound as bad as you thought it was sounding while you were playing it. For me, the difference between a good gig and a bad one is how much fun I'm having...if everyone is clicking and enjoying themselves, it's usually good...if there is tension or some other factor that disrupts the flow...well...there ya go!...lol

Another thing is, You never really know how the crowd will react. I have walked off the stage thinking the band was "on fire" that night, and had the sound guy or stage hand say "wow tough night huh?"...and I've also walked off stage thinking "man that set sucked" and had people say "THAT WAS AMAZING!!!"...

machine gewehr · #13 04-13-2007, 04:04 PM

Our last gig was like that.We almost disbanded the band.

*The PA of the "venue" we played in was very poor.

*There was one 15 watt guitar amp that was "mic"ed,the other went into the system.

*Lead guitarist ripped off his D.He had to take 3 solos without the D but he pulled it off great.

*Bass amp was not powerful enough,I had to play it on full volume,distorted and mudded my tone.

*The drums was a joke,I looked at the drummer as he was playing way out of time,he was trying to put the set together while hitting the hi-hat and kick drum.I laught my a$$ off.

*Singer forgot the lyrics.

*Audience was laughing at us.The owners were looking at as like "enoughhh,get of the stage".

We decided we do one more song and finish it.We played "Master of Puppets",we rocked the place down even under that circumstances and got off.

You think everything can't happen at a time but it does.

Fat.Mike · #14 04-15-2007, 04:37 AM

Today we played at the Stillwater Arts Festival here in town and it went off without a hitch. I don't think our Banjo player was too happy with his performance, but I was. To my standards. everyone played great (including the banjo)!!! The crowd loved it, I felt great about it, and I may have missed a few notes, but it was waaaaay better than last week. We had a sound man who knew what he was doing (fellow bass player and all around awesome dude.), a supportice audience, and a positive attitude going into the deal.
You guys have provided great encouragement/advice and I thank you all for it.
I guess it just shows that sometimes you are your own worst critic; as musicians we just have to move forward, kick ourselves in the ass, get over it, and keep doin what we love.

Lazylion · #15 04-15-2007, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat.Mike

I guess it just shows that sometimes you are your own worst critic; as musicians we just have to move forward, kick ourselves in the ass, get over it, and keep doin what we love.

+1 well said. You have good ones, and bad ones. It all averages out, hopefully on the plus side. When you have a good one, what's better than that? Not much, IMO.

Which is not to say that I won't be pissing and moaning next time I have a bad one!