Boom Boom, out go the lights!

[dpaul]

So I have a once a month gig on the Jersey Shore in a town called Forked River at a place called Captain's Inn tiki bar. Yesterday, 7/9, the place was packed, and there was a good energy there. My wife and her sisters family even came to check out the band. We set up, and are five songs into the set. People are really enjoying the music, we're getting a good response from the crowd. In the middle of 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' by The Police...the power goes out. Not just my amp, or the band. The entire restaurant. No music, no lights, ventilation fans for the kitchen.... Last year, same month, at the same gig, my GK MB200 died. So, after a minute or so, I'm thinking my replacement amp shorted and caused this, or it must be a new tradition that's starting (July's on the Jersey Shore) So, after 45 minutes without power, we find out the entire grid went down. Yup, the whole town had no power. People are now leaving in swarms because the kitchen can't put out any food. I send my family away to seek out food somewhere else. The band starts packing up, close to an hour later we are about to load equipment, and...just like that we have power! The manager comes over and says 'Ok great, start playing guys!' We are on good terms with the place, so we oblige, set up everything again, and play a 70 minute set, full pay. What's really funny, is that the song we played before the power went out was a bluesy, gritty version of 'Boom Boom' by John Lee Hooker. Close enough to 'Out go the lights' I guess...

 

[RSBBass]

Clearly you were drawing so much energy that the grid couldn't handle it...

 

[Gaolee]

Gotta boast about putting on a show so high energy that it took down the grid.

 

[Skokiaan]

So I have a once a month gig on the Jersey Shore in a town called Forked River at a place called Captain's Inn tiki bar. Yesterday, 7/9, the place was packed, and there was a good energy there. My wife and her sisters family even came to check out the band. We set up, and are five songs into the set. People are really enjoying the music, we're getting a good response from the crowd. In the middle of 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' by The Police...the power goes out. Not just my amp, or the band. The entire restaurant. No music, no lights, ventilation fans for the kitchen.... Last year, same month, at the same gig, my GK MB200 died. So, after a minute or so, I'm thinking my replacement amp shorted and caused this, or it must be a new tradition that's starting (July's on the Jersey Shore) So, after 45 minutes without power, we find out the entire grid went down. Yup, the whole town had no power. People are now leaving in swarms because the kitchen can't put out any food. I send my family away to seek out food somewhere else. The band starts packing up, close to an hour later we are about to load equipment, and...just like that we have power! The manager comes over and says 'Ok great, start playing guys!' We are on good terms with the place, so we oblige, set up everything again, and play a 70 minute set, full pay. What's really funny, is that the song we played before the power went out was a bluesy, gritty version of 'Boom Boom' by John Lee Hooker. Close enough to 'Out go the lights' I guess...

I had a similar experience at a different Jersey Shore location in Lavalette. It's our first gig there, mid summer. Power goes out in the middle of our set. We had some acoustic guitars and a djembe with us, so we took those from the stage and continued to play unplugged over by the bar. The crowd stayed. About 30-45 minutes later, the power came back on mid-song. We continued playing the song, gradually moving back to the stage and adding drums and plugging back in to finish the song. Owner loved it and booked us every weekend for the next three summers.

 

[two fingers]

Good on you for setting it back up. Many, myself included depending on the night, would have thrown in the towel by that point. Setting up and tearing down a full PA twice in one night....yikes.

 

[dpaul]

Clearly you were drawing so much energy that the grid couldn't handle it...

Gotta boast about putting on a show so high energy that it took down the grid.

That's funny, I didn't look at it that way...

I had a similar experience at a different Jersey Shore location in Lavalette. It's our first gig there, mid summer. Power goes out in the middle of our set. We had some acoustic guitars and a djembe with us, so we took those from the stage and continued to play unplugged over by the bar. The crowd stayed. About 30-45 minutes later, the power came back on mid-song. We continued playing the song, gradually moving back to the stage and adding drums and plugging back in to finish the song. Owner loved it and booked us every weekend for the next three summers.

I'll have to keep that in mind!

Good on you for setting it back up. Many, myself included depending on the night, would have thrown in the towel by that point. Setting up and tearing down a full PA twice in one night....yikes.

Thanks, it was a bit of a pain, but it's always worth it to go the extra mile and be professional!

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

So I have a once a month gig on the Jersey Shore in a town called Forked River at a place called Captain's Inn tiki bar. Yesterday, 7/9, the place was packed, and there was a good energy there. My wife and her sisters family even came to check out the band. We set up, and are five songs into the set. People are really enjoying the music, we're getting a good response from the crowd. In the middle of 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' by The Police...the power goes out. Not just my amp, or the band. The entire restaurant. No music, no lights, ventilation fans for the kitchen.... Last year, same month, at the same gig, my GK MB200 died. So, after a minute or so, I'm thinking my replacement amp shorted and caused this, or it must be a new tradition that's starting (July's on the Jersey Shore) So, after 45 minutes without power, we find out the entire grid went down. Yup, the whole town had no power. People are now leaving in swarms because the kitchen can't put out any food. I send my family away to seek out food somewhere else. The band starts packing up, close to an hour later we are about to load equipment, and...just like that we have power! The manager comes over and says 'Ok great, start playing guys!' We are on good terms with the place, so we oblige, set up everything again, and play a 70 minute set, full pay. What's really funny, is that the song we played before the power went out was a bluesy, gritty version of 'Boom Boom' by John Lee Hooker. Close enough to 'Out go the lights' I guess...

I think that's going above and beyond the call of duty. It's worth full pay to set up and tear down twice, even if you didn't play all night. The good rapport you've built should serve you well. Better luck next time! Maybe you should bring some acoustic instruments, just in case.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[sharkbait130]

Did a gig earlier this year. About 3/4 of the way through the first set , the power in the whole place took a dump. No windows so it was almost a total black out. We were into the first verse of Wagon Wheel when it happened. We never even missed a beat , just sang loud and clapped. Took about 30 seconds and the lighters started coming out and the whole place was singing along with us. They lit some candles after the song finished so we did an a'capella version of Copperhead Road. Only instrument through the whole song was a bass and snare drum. Just after we finished that one up , the power came back on. Talk about smooth.

 

[fhm555]

Last time I was up in TN playing, we were in a big pole barn style bar with no windows. Stage at one end and open all the way to the back. We start at nine and it's about 8:30 and we are all set up sound checked and just waiting for nine when all of a sudden the whole place goes dark. It's like being in a tomb, zero light and no sound for a few seconds before people start breaking out lighters and phones. I've got a flashlight app so I cranked that up and went to my equipment bag for my mini mag light. Turns out a fuse on the pole feeding the place got hit by lightning, it was raining like no tomorrow, and the power company was out in about a half hour and replaced the fuse. In the meanwhile the guitar player broke out an acoustic and him and the singer entertained the crowd by flashlight.

 

[McG]

The only power issue I had was at a coffee house gig back in the 90s. It was a very popular place and always full with 40-50 people. On this night we were just finishing setting up when the power went out. Looked outside to see the entire neighborhood dark. I saw a So Cal Edison truck down the street and asked the guy when the power would be back. He said they had no idea what the problem was but it was affecting a several block area.

We waited about 30 minutes but since the venue was dark and the coffee machines and blenders couldn't work the place emptied out. The place was very low paying but the tips were always very good. Figured we didn't want to play to an empty room (meaning no tips) when the power came back so we packed up and split.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

In the 70s, I was playing a Holiday Inn somewhere in Illinois. We had a blizzard come in and shut the place down. There was no power and the state police would not let anyone on the road in or out. We were stranded for about 3 days. The place was running out of food after 2 days. Good news, there was plenty of booze and they were giving it away.
We were worried about being able to get on the road and get to the next gig. The power came on and we played our last night there and were able to roll on out on schedule.