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...Embarrising Moments At a Gig?

#81
i formed a band with my younger cousins a long time ago, they were both on guitars and i was on bass. we were invited by this organizer who told us he would supply us nice marshall halfstacks for the backline. my cousins being young and all were really excited to play through halfstacks, an upgrade from their 10 watt combo amps.

come gig day, we were ushered into the shoddiest looking stages ever known to man, where we weren't sure it would hold the 3 of us onstage. my bass amp input said "mic 1" ... it wasn't even a real bass amp. it was a PA poweramp that must have been an electronics class project of a 12 year old.

as for the "marshall halfstacks" .... there was only 1, the other amp had no brand or known markings to it. one of my cousins complained, saying he wanted to play on the "halfstack" ... the organizer who was also the stage manager remedied it by plugging cousin A into amp B, while cousin B was plugged into amp A - without their knowledge.

hilarity ensued when cousin A couldnt really find out why he keeps cutting treble when his treble knob is all the way up, and cousin B wondered why his tone is trebly as hell, when he has already cut all the treble on his amp.

best gig ever!

and the night ended with a power converter falling off my cousin's pedal board and smashing my right toe.
 
#82
its funny now but one time I's bent over fkn w/my pedalboard between songs and as I'm comin back up (quickly) Bobby Vox is leaning over to grab his beer and I just nailed him on the forehead with my headstock. Solid. I still remember feeling it thru the neck how hard I hit him. So he goes "UGH!!!" into the mic. I'm like "Dude watch what your doing" He sang the next tune on his back. He still has kind of a lisp cuz of it.
 
#83
I tell this story a lot. But I'm not sure whether it belongs here or not.

The first time I played bass in front of people wasn't intended to be a gig at all. We had made a deal with my keyboard player/girlfriend's Dad. He was pastor at a church that had bought a defunct church with the intention of building a new building on its location.

The two richest members of the congregation promptly died, changing them from a fairly affluent church to a pretty marginal one. So construction plans evaporated instantly.

But the old/abandoned church still had electricity. So we talked Jan's dad into letting us practice there.

Time passes.

One night we are playing and we get invaded. We had each mentioned to some friends that we practiced in that particular building on those particular nights. But frankly didn't expect anyone to care. Surprise! Dozens of people showed up basically all at once and more trickled in as time went on.

They started dancing and making a party out of it, which was fine until someone decided to make more dancing room by pushing the amps back against the wall.

Guitar amps have these REALLY hot glass things in them called 'tubes'. Apparently, these so-called 'tubes' things are somehow NOT something one should shove into close contact with many-decade old, very dry, wall hangings.

So. Yeah. Kevin's amp set the curtains partially on fire. Not like blazing. But definitely smoldering. And stinking.

The Fire Department came.

They were cool about it. But we still weren't ever allowed to play in that building again.
 
#85
Playing a wedding. We learned a bunch of songs just for the wedding, including a few jazz songs with far more chords than I can remember. So, even with the music in front of me, I loose my place and screw up. The guitarist goes off rails at the same time. My son, who is a good musician instead of a hack like his dad, turns around and glares at me and hisses "don't you people rehearse..." Um, yes, but it didn't help. He is a real jazz musician and lives in Los Angeles. The rest of us here in Seattle decided we just aren't a jazz band.
 
#87
1985- Needed a 5 night-a-week-gig, Lounge gig arrives, I'm dressed in full Metal fashion statement (Spandex,studded leather gloves, scarfs, cat collars, Flying V etc,),Keyboard/bassist = John Travolta 3-piece suit,moustache, Female singer = Celine Dion evening dress/cocktail party outfit,Drummer =invisible behind large vertical support beam, Smallest stage known to mankind, no room for a guitar amp,Playing through a 1st version Scholz Rockman(only ran on batteries) direct to PA,Rockman sitting on railing, Restrooms conveniently located involving direct pathway by railing with aforementioned Rockman, Drunk Lady stumbles & knocks Rockman off said railing,Rockman plummets to floor, battery compartment opens, 8 AA batteries scatter to various global locations, was broke that week with no backup pack of batteries, chaos ensues, band shuts down to play the game "battery search", tables & chairs examined, found batteries, considered suicide for a few moments, life resumed, The End
 
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#88
B4snrise said:
We had a gig where I played one song short of an entire set with my fly open. Across from the bandstand is a table with three cute girls who keep giving me the eye. They would come up and dance for a bit then sit down and have a drink, looking and smiling at me the whole time. Of course as the set went on I started feeling pretty proud thinking all I have to do is finish the set, walk to the table with three girls and talk for a bit then reel one in like dynamite fishing in a barrel. The embarrassing part was having the one I thought was the most attractive politely inform me of my mistake between songs. With my ego deflated I thanked her, spun round and fixed things, finished the set and disappeared in the opposite corner of the bar. Too bad I'm not smooth enough to recover from that one, she was beautiful. :crying:
Click to expand...

"I'm kinda busy here, Darlin. Do you mind?"
 
#89
I started playing again a few years ago after a 20 year break (never was in a real band before either). After a few weeks, I met a drummer and a guitarist/singer and agreed to do an open mic -- as long as we stuck to the 3 songs that we rehearsed earlier in the day. I was REALLY green, terrified really. I arrive at the open mic at this huge warehouse and realize this isn't some dive bar with a few drunks in the corner. There are easily 250 people packed in the place with all eyes on the stage. I felt prepared, so I was willing to go through with it.

We take the stage and get through the first two songs pretty well. It's going good. I'm ready to close with "Hey Joe" as we agreed on. The singer turns to me and says "I forgot my lyrics... just play a 12-bar in E," and immediately launches into the most tedious, plodding 12-bar. Glacially slow. I'm already dying -- I know what a 12-bar is, but I am barely beyond root notes at this point in my career. I am initially embarrassed about my shoddy playing. Then it gets worse. The tool ad-libs an entire song about underwear. He won't stop. He's singling people out of the crowd and asking their personal preferences. Fabrics, colors, degrees of freshness. There are children and grandmothers in the crowd. You look like the g-string type. Wait... did he really just say "venereal disease"?!? This guy had more lines than a freakin' Dylan song. From the stage, I could clearly see that people were getting uncomfortable. I'm waiting for the hook or the gong or whatever they use to get this major a**hat off the stage. Mercifully, the drummer smashed his cymbals, ended the song and walked off. As I'm unplugging, the tool walks by me and sarcastically says "well, that couldn't have gone any worse" as if it was all my fault. All I said was "You think?" I wasn't embarrassed any longer. I held my own and this guy made himself look like a complete fool.
 
#90
Hmmm had a few. Most notably playeeda venue witha sound limiter that cut the power off if you went to loud, fine for the usual acoustic acts that played there. Not so good for a metal band. Needless to say we could barely get through the intro to any of the songs without it cutting out and ended with the band and audience just watch the limiter until it hit the red until someone climbed up and managed to bypass it. The management were not pleases ha.

Another time my folky rocky pop sort of band played a freezing club in the middle of winter. We were keeping all our gear int he back room which had a heater unlike the rest of the club, we ahd a bit of local press around and we'd been getting some pretty good momentum. Need less to say when we took our guitars, bass and violin out of the hot backroom and into the cold club area everything went severely out of tune. With no tuner and being less than sober it was a pretty savage catastrophe as we had to tune after every song and sometimes duing songs as the instruments adjusted to the temperature. eventually another band took pity on us and lentus there tuner pedals. fiasco
 
#91
kikstand454 said:
Were kicking the poop out of 'whipping post'. Its amazing...... we do the walk up...the double stops....Singer yells perfectly "sometimes I FEEL"! And I promptly come in on a great big loud A.

I can't explain how completely just right in your face this was. It was like I punched everyone in the bar in the eye at the same time.

I wanted to die.
Click to expand...

Similar experience here! Years ago my band launched into "Sweet Child o' Mine," and the guitar intro in D was building & building, getting ready for the full band to come in. The moment comes...big cymbal crash and I hit the root note. Only instead of a D, I hit an A! Ouch! :crying: We've played that song countless times since then, and the trauma of that moment ensured I'd never make that mistake again!
 
#92
Man, I feel ya. That reminds me of all the times at church when my left hand piles up and I end up hitting a half step lower than the root, resulting in the entire tennis court going WUPWUPWUPWUPWUP... Thing is, ya don't dare do a grace note then, or else it'll be more jarring. Actually, I think the worst wrong note I've hit was a Dom7 instead of a Maj7.
 
#93
I was filling in for an absent guitar. So I was lead guitardist and during the last song (Hotel California) my hand decides to cramp. So here comes the solo I go a quick get rid of the capo turn around and hit the drive pedal and... The cramp from hell decides to hit me. Forget embarrassment and not being able to bend notes let alone think on my feet. It hurt so bad I was shaking by the time the song ended... hahaha Makes me shake my head every time I think about it.
 
#94
In rehearsal a few weeks before a performance, the band extended the intro to one of our songs, to give the singer time to introduce the band. It went well in rehearsal. A couple of days before the performance, a few of the horn players got sick and we had to get subs. No one thought to tell the subs that we had extended the intro. So in the middle of the singer's introduction, our band name gets covered up by a nice loud trumpet blare. The singer was startled enough to turn around and say "What the hell...?" Fortunately, the mike didn't pick that up; we were playing at a church.
 
#95
I've had a lot of little embarrassing things happen, some people might think they're major blunders....

I had a sub gig where I needed my music sheets because I really didn't know the songs, only having a few days notice. Right in the middle of one song the binder topples off my music stand and I have absolutely no idea where I'm going in the song. I totally murdered it. And the crowd said it sounded great.

Had the drunk singer who suddenly stops singing and starts mumbling words into the mic...and we still have one set to go. I take over the singing for the rest of the night. Went okay, but I definitely "Peter Brady'd" a lot of the songs. I felt very embarrassed.

Another one that comes to mind....BATTERIES. So I use rechargables in my wireless transmitter. So proud of myself because I have two, I keep them charged, and I bring the charger to the gigs. I can usually get about 2.5-3 hours out of a battery, but we often times play 4 hours, so I have to change them. So we're between sets, and it's time to change it up. Battery indicator says it's getting weak. I pop it out, slap it in the charger, and then one of the audience comes up and starts talking to me. Cool. He leaves. And then....crap, which battery was it? Panic. I can't remember which one is the fresh one and which is the weak one. It turned into me asking the others to delay starting up again because now I have to scour through all the bags looking for that "emergency" 9V I keep....somewhere.....Yeah, they were kinda irritated with me. Now I always remember....front battery first...burned...into...brain....and marked them 1 and 2 with a sharpie. I felt pretty stupid.

I forgot to turn off the mute (music break) button.....on the PA......

Had my wireless transmitter pop off my belt and swing around freely. And wondered what the guy at the table was pointing at, but figured it out when I almost stepped on it.

Had a singer who was kinda sick one night. He kept farting and unfortunately I was closest to him, and those air biscuits were really, really rancid. I gagged and the sound went through the mic...when we were between songs.

I guess those are just some. Probably no big deal but I was kinda embarrassed by these little events.
 
#96
Gotta share my story... And thank you all for sharing yours, had some good laughs at your expense lol

SO my story is after a 1 set gig for our big album release party - all friends and family and new fans - so after the show everyone is hanging out and cleaning up gear - and that night I had brought my laptop and hooked it up to a projector to add some cool visuals behind the band - so I went to close up my laptop - and completely SLIPPED on a wire right at the edge of the stage! The cameras happened to still be rolling cuz I hadn't shut them off yet, so caught my epic fall from 2 angles.... ENJOY

PS - Was not hurt at all besides my pride a little bit.. but if you can't have a laugh at yourself, you're taking life too seriously!



Actual *good* video from the same show (before the fall!):
 
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#98
My first gig ever with my current band, we were about halfway through with one of our songs and I went to walk by the drum kit, not noticing a rotted floorboard in the stage, I fell through and took a particularly hard hit below the belt in front of the audience...I give kudos to our singer/guitarist as he somehow kept a straight face and managed to finish the song while I composed myself.

Another time, I somehow managed to get my boot wound up in a cable before a show and as I got onto the stage it caused me to trip and hit my head on a cymbal, attracting a lot of attention to myself. While I was unhurt, I wasn't able to live that down for the rest of the night. :bag:
 
#99
My biggest gig with my old band we count in (and we had the potential to get upwards of 1000$ for a 5 song long set mind you) and my guitarist plays the whole intro and first verse sharp while singing out of key. I run over and I turn to show him my fretboard indicating he was off and he sort of fixed it.

At a pretty dead show (my new band is just starting out) we were the last band. It was like 1 in the morning and the only people in the crowd were the girlfriends, drummers dad, and sound guy. I'm thankful that this was the only "crowd" to be seen. We finished our set and my bandmates wanted to jam a nearly done song. I hate doing this because I'm a perfectionist and the potential for disaster is not really worth one more song on a dead set to me. They all want to do it though and it's all good. Thats not the embarassing part. Right before we start my drummer (who admitted to getting nervous verbal diarrhea in these situations) decides to thank everyone for coming out and out slips out the "even though this is really just a glorified PRACTICE". I don't remember giving him a face but he said I looked at him as he said it mortified. He was also very embarassed. We are all early to mid twenties and haven't had the "Dream to break big" crushed out of our little youthful souls yet and so we try to maintain an air of professionalism and well written musical product delivery to every establishment no matter the gig attendance or size. Luckily enough, that's as bad as I've had it so far.
 

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