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Have you ever missed a gig?

elgecko

elgecko

Apr 30, 2007
9,062
16,934
Anasleim, CA
#1
I'm not talking about situations like when you had to go to your cousin's wedding or your wife was due to give birth so you called a sub beforehand. I'm talking about where you had every intention of going to the gig. You packed your car and everything but for whatever reason, you never made it. Maybe your car broke down or you got in a car accident. Maybe you got hopelessly lost. Perhaps a bridge you had to cross got washed out. Maybe you had an appendicitis attack. Maybe you were picked up on a warrant. :confused:

The closest I got was when I was ridiculously late (1 hour past downbeat) to a wedding gig. Brush fires had closed two out of the three freeways I needed to get out of Orange County and although I left ridiculously early, Murphy was working overtime. The saving grace was that about half of the guests were equally late. It was a nightmare all around! ...but I made it.
 
#2
Closest was when I had to pickup my upright from school (kept it in a locker there during college in my practice room) for a gig. Had to call security to unlock the door (around 6pm on a weekday, but during winter break) they took over an hour and I was 20 minutes late. I was subbing for my teacher too. It was bad.

Other than that I've had to call in to a gig last minute because of getting hit with the flu hard. I've gone to plenty of gigs sick but if I can't stand, open my eyes, or trust myself not to puke; I'm not going.
 
#4
Only one out of thousands.

I was onstage alright, but playing like a chimpanzee, and hiccupping into the mic, especially on songs I was "singing" lead on.

I was 22 years old, the rest of the band was really PO'd at me, but I made it through the night still on my feet.

I got a phone call from our manager the next day, but he was two thousand miles away and couldn't give me the butt-kicking I deserved.

An all day Gin bender with the soundman is a bad idea. A really bad idea.

...So don't do that.
 
#6
I drive a truck and I'm subject to D.O.T hours of service rules. We have electronic logs and there is no cheating. I got caught out of town on the day of a gig. No one that could come that far to get me. The bad thing was I was a sub on this gig. I was able to call them in time for them to cancel or get another sub. I felt terrible!
 
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#8
elgecko said:
I'm not talking about situations like when you had to go to your cousin's wedding or your wife was due to give birth so you called a sub beforehand. I'm talking about where you had every intention of going to the gig. You packed your car and everything but for whatever reason, you never made it. Maybe your car broke down or you got in a car accident. Maybe you got hopelessly lost. Perhaps a bridge you had to cross got washed out. Maybe you had an appendicitis attack. Maybe you were picked up on a warrant. :confused:

The closest I got was when I was ridiculously late (1 hour past downbeat) to a wedding gig. Brush fires had closed two out of the three freeways I needed to get out of Orange County and although I left ridiculously early, Murphy was working overtime. The saving grace was that about half of the guests were equally late. It was a nightmare all around! ...but I made it.
Click to expand...
 
#9
I have never missed a gig that the rest of the band didn't miss. I've played with a broken bone in my hand, stitches on my left hand index finger, swollen jaw ( fight the night before) ,so sick I had to put a bucket to the side of the PA to hurl in, and that's just what I can remember.
The closest I came was missing the last set because I was passed out on the bathroom floor. Hey that was 24 years ago and the last time I drank.
 
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#10
I showed up at the wrong place one time. The band setting up were all friends of mine. Their bass player showed up at the place I was suppose to be at! Both gigs were wedding receptions. Both of us had time to reverse directions and show up on time.
 
#11
Never missed a gig myself but the the four of us in my old band did...sort of. It was a nice quiet Saturday night in the summer when at about 8 ish my cell rings. It was the bartender from a club we Played at quite a bit. He goes " hey we're are you guys at? I said at home why? Barkeep says you are booked to play here tonight from 9 to midnight.
I said really? when was that ever booked?

I had booked three dates with this club for the rest of the summer but the owner made a mistake. We got a laugh out of it but no band played that night.
 
#13
Not a story about missing a gig, but rather a story about coming oh so close...

So I had a nice NY Eve gig about 20 yrs. ago (subbing, on sax). The bandleader had told me on the phone the usual, you know, "Harvey Hotel, [location], we hit at 10, we'll be setting up from 8:30". OK...

So I roll up to the Harvey Hotel at 9:00 or so. I ask the desk clerk where the ballroom is and she points me down the hall. But when I get there, there are three or four guys I've never seen before. Much much older guys than you would have expected in a classic-rock outfit in the early 90's. One of them with an accordion. One of them with a tuba. Huh? So I said something like "who the heck are you and what have you done with my rock and roll band?" "No, we're the polka band."

Well, I am sure I heard the bandleader say Harvey Hotel. There are several Harvey Hotels around the city. It's still early, I might be a little late, but I can still get there. Tried to call the bandleader, no answer. Tried to call the other guys, no answer. So I called my wife and said, "can you call every Harvey Hotel in the city and ask them who is the band they have tonight?"

In a minute she calls back; there was a message from the bandleader; "Hey, I need to tell you about security at the gig. You will need a wristband; when you get to the Embassy Suites go to the front desk, etc., etc." EMBASSY SUITES! NOT HARVEY HOTEL!

The Embassy Suites is next door to the Harvey! I walked across the parking lot, got the wristband, ran down the hall to the ballroom, and I was shoving the mouthpiece on the horn just as we hit the downbeat.

It turned out a great gig, but I think the drama added five years to me that night.
 
#14
I've played around 2000 gigs in my life, and only ever walked out on (or missed) 1. Was a weeknight original gig where we were promised an early spot (I think 9pm), and was told when we arrived that we weren't going on until around 1AM. The guy who booked us told me straight out that he lied to us because he knew we wouldn't take the gig if it were at that time. I told him he was right, and left.

Coincidentally enough, this Saturday I had my first gig that I almost did wind up missing - or at least be late for. The bridge my GPS guided me to was closed, and I couldn't get it to redirect me. Even after going over another bridge to get me to NJ, the GPS tried to reroute me back over that bridge to the other one. Worst part for me was that this was my first time gig with guys I only met once (this past Thursday), and the only number I had to contact them I found out then was the guy's home number. Needless to say I was pretty frustrated and pissed. I got there the time we were supposed to start, but it got pushed up a half hour anyway so I was fine.
 
#15
Never, ever have I missed a gig. Even played a gig sitting in a chair and laying on the floor back stage drinking orange juice on breaks.
Had a nasty case of the flu, but this was the first gig a that club in town that means, "if you get to play here, you are now known on the local "A" circuit."
 
#16
It's looking like completely missing a gig is pretty rare. Thinking about it, in all my years of gigging, I've only experienced one person not making the gig. It was a sub trumpet player that was being a ****. It was a big horn line so missing one guy wasn't a tragedy.

It does seem like there have been a bunch of tardies/close calls. That must've been super stressful pre-cell phone!
 
#18
I missed one. The day before the gig I suffered a kidney infarction (Google it). It was the worst pain imaginable. I went to the hospital where it took them three days to figure out what it was and another four to get it fixed. It was a big gig for us, too (the Carriage House in OC for all you SoCal guys). They managed to get a sub and, from what I heard, they had a blast. Bummer.
 
#19
I had a fit of kidney stones once, and couldn't possibly play... that's the only time I remember bailing on a gig last minute.

Probably my worst ever, I totally forgot a gig one time... it was a sub-in job, and I just forgot to write it down. Felt awful about when I remembered a week later.
 

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