"barefoot" style shoes on stage

[KevInDaBassment]

...my only gig on bass was at a martial arts studio for a holiday party. We were set up in a corner on the mats and were required to take our shoes off...

PLEASE tell me you guys did "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas!!!

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

I think the Johnson twins from Albuquerque do full marathons barefoot and won some regional races. I use to work my horses barefoot, but not much lately they and me are getting old. I have a big garden these days over 1/3 acre and I mainly work on that barefoot except when I am using power tools.

Dude that I ran scholastic cross country with in HS, ran meets with one shoe on and one shoe off. He set records at our school. Pretty sure he still boxes in Puerto Rico. He is a different breed.

 

[Gluvhand]

 

[Fat Bottom Kyle]

check out whitin shoes on amazon. Good price and they are great on my feet.

 

[monsterthompson]

Have you considered MSCHF Boots?
If you don’t like closed toe red, they make a yellow croc version.

 

[overit]

Another vote for Soft Stars. The sole is super thin and the cut is simple foot shaped in a buttery leather. In all black they reminded me of old Jessee Owens running shoes with a much wider toe box. I wore mine out until the heel was basically worn through.

 

[A Bass And Its Boy]

You are a mad man. I played CBGB in the 90s. The meatpacking district was nasty on the ground, and CBGBs bathroom barefoot? oh hell no. The stage area wasn't much better, but it was definitely cleaner than the bathroom.

Yes… even the CB’s bathroom barefoot. I assumed I’d be immune to Covid as a result but I guess the immunity wore off.

 

[deff]

I think there are a lot of places in the world it's not taboo, unfortunately the northeastern united states isn't one of them so I haven't had a chance to get good thick tissue on my feet.

In the 80's I was in a hardcore band and once in a while one of the guitarists and I used to do this. The guys in The Goo Goo Dolls did this early on. I'm sure Rob & John all wear shoes now. I think there are definitely times and venues I would like to do this. Boston doesn't really go for any of that though.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I'm used to playing standing without shoes. One of the benefits is it makes it a lot easier to hit footswitches

Thread Drift: This amazes me. I've tried dancing on my pedalboard barefoot, and I find it both less accurate and much more uncomfortable than hitting most of those footswitches when wearing shoes...any shoes.

The only exceptions are the pedals where I've installed Barefoot Buttons, but that's maybe only 20% of the stompboxes I own.

Diff'rent strokes fer diff'rent folks...

 

[DaveParker39]

Thanks for all the answers!

To address a few things

1) I can (and do) play with shoes, I just would like the experience to be closer to barefoot
2) I struggle with hitting the footswitches and with balance more in flip flops than I do with shoes, for some reason
3) Safety is a concern, playing barefoot I'm not comfortable with in terms of tetanus/etc., plus I have an autoimmune condition and take chemotherapy so I'd rather not risk infection. If I need to load in in different shoes I will
4) All of my non-Boss pedals have barefoot buttons or are Pete Cornish donut style footswitches, so that may explain my ease of hitting footswitches with my feet.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I am looking into all of them