Does anyone use caffeine pills on gigs?

[Basslice]

This is my roadie. Heisenberg brings the goodies.

 

[vvvmmm]

I used to get a chocolate milkshake, and peanut M&M's.

Sometimes put brandy in the last 1/2 of the shake.

Altho' unlikely they have milkshakes if no coffee ...

So consider a White Russian?

But my preference is Irish Coffee.

 

[Michedelic]

Pfft…here’s the old school Jolt….
Yes, I played a few places that sold this in the bar in the 80s. Guaranteed to get a real wire going on. Starting making my skin crawl so bad it had to end.

View attachment 4441812

Oh yes, I was wonder when someone would bring that up.

 

[Michedelic]

 

[AboutSweetSue]

Caffeine has no affect on me.

 

[Jefenator]

I sometimes do an early evening coffee hit for later or bigger gigs. (Cold brew from a store, latte from a stand or my own thermos if I have my act together.)
The pill concept freaks me out. (Some of my relatives got hooked on NoDoz and Benzedrine.) Before starting down that path, I'd rather rally through a gig without and plan ahead next time.

 

[Jared Houseman]

Get some instant coffee packets. It's not going to be great but they take up no room in your bag and are the closest thing to replacing your normal coffee should you forget it

 

[neddyrow]

I play DB in a fast paced fiddle band and I’ve got to keep 130-140 tempo for 3-4 hour gigs.

I go with a couple cans of sugar free red bull and it does the trick. I try to keep the caffeine intake low during the weeks but waking up at 5:30am does require a little help

 

[selowitch]

Coke and Diet Coke contain 32 and 42 mg of caffeine per 12 ounces, which is somewhat less than coffee.

 

[micguy]

My body’s list of things it doesn’t get along with:

caffeine
Alcohol
Sugar (carbs of any kind, actually)
So far that’s it, but who knows what’s next. In my earlier years, all of those were fair game.

 

[Pilgrim]

Those little energy drinks are mostly caffeine, I believe.

 

[logdrum]

There are yerba mate shots that they sell in health food stores. Yerba mate doesn't give the jitters. We used to be very particular with coffee, expensive espresso machine, stone grinder, Now I get Turkish coffee from the Mediterranean grocer, Turkish Coffee is like a P-Bass direct to an SVT, simple, unfiltered and to the point plus the caffeine is actually lower. An expensive Illy espresso machine is like an active hippy sandwich bass, with piezo pickups and a 5 foot pedal board.

I can drive my diesel jetta from San Diego to Albuquerque just over 11 hours and I only stop in Flagstaff for fuel. I have a galloon of water, A small thermos of Yerba Mate or Oolong and maybe a small bag of almonds. The shots are there for emergency

 

[logdrum]

This is my roadie. Heisenberg brings the goodies.
View attachment 4441853

He is now an ABQ hero. Our friend got her house ready for a wedding reception by partaking some rocks and did not sleep for 3 days. She never did it again, she swears

 

[C Stone]

i've tried various, non-coffee caffeine-based concoctions over the years, infrequently, but i found that my system really responded to the chocolate-covered roasted coffee beans --- a little goes a long way for me! i used them effectively on those long-haul days with multiple gigs --- might be worth trying. they were in my system fast, faster, fastest........hang on...

Yep this^ those chocolate covered espresso beans work surprisingly fast...To the OP I can't do the cold brew either (makes me jittery) but iced coffee works very well AND there is a huge difference between cold brew and iced coffee give it a try.

 

[Flog]

Not for jazz or reggae gigs...but if you are going to rock, this helps.

 

[Space Pickle]

No, I've never had caffeine. I just take a nap in the afternoon if it's going to be a late night. If I really doubt my ability to drive home I get a hotel room somewhere.

 

[MrLenny1]

No pills , just coffee.
Tried 5 hour energy once and never again.
Way to strong, I was so wired up could hardly play.

 

[bigboy_78]

I fell asleep on the way home from a gig. Very briefly, didn’t lose control of the vehicle, but enough to realize that I wasn’t awake for a moment.

I take No-Doz Plus before the last set of any gigs with more than a 30 minute drive home. Might be a placebo, I’ve never really noticed any effects, but I haven’t fallen asleep at the wheel again.

 

[pie_man_25]

I've got a bottle of the pills somewhere, frankly I've never found them to work compared to a cup of coffee. I know a couple guys who had to go to the hospital because they were popping that stuff like candy in the field. After some point their hearts we're getting all messed up. That's an extreme case, I'm sure you know about moderation and paying attention to doses.

 

[JLubinsky-Mast]

I have in the past. Especially when I'm doing duty, working during the day and gigging late night.

I do find the effectiveness wears off, if I'm on a run where sleep has been lacking and I take one on a Thursday and Friday, by Saturday it does me no good.

Naps, even a five minute in between sets can go a ling way