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Most embarassing stage moments

djero44

djero44

Mar 3, 2009
484
118
Hotchkiss, Colorado
#1
I'm sure there are other threads on this subject, but it can't hurt to start a new one, as i'm sure many of us have messed up at one time or another.

This one moment from my gigging experience has been coming back to me lately (I just mentioned it in a different thread), and it's the type of thing that even just thinking about it now makes me cringe, even though it was from a couple of years ago.

I was debuting a new project, which was a three piece funky jazz combo, which later grew to include a guitar and small horn section. We were playing an outdoor show on the fourth of July, and it was stressful from the onset with a late sound guy and a bit of nerves. There were only a couple hundred people there at the most. We never really caught our groove, and at the end of the set we played Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke. Our keyboardist didn't have the skills to nail the bridge breaks, so it was all on me and the drummer, and i'm also singing the song which is a bit out of my range, but I can do it justice if i'm feeling comfortable. At one point I totally blank out during one of the breaks, and literally just stand there for a second. It was the kind of err that was pretty noticeable from the crowd, i'm sure (though much worse in my memory i'd bet). I then proceeded to finish the song rather poorly, and generally it was my worst stage moment ever. In retrospect it was a bad idea to do the song at that point, but what do you do....

Later we did many fine renditions of the song, although that band never did get super tight. I swear, though, thinking back to it will continue to make me shake my head for some time to come.
 
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#3
My old band was playing an out of state gig where we were getting a lot of flack about getting beers with our out of state licenses. I got two beers since it was such a pain and my drummer told me to take it easy... keep in mind these were the first two beers of the evening and we had about 3 hours before our set. It pissed me off and then I proceeded to get so drunk I played an entire show about 1 beat behind the rest of the group. Obviously it was more than those two beers that did me in.

I imposed a 2 drink maximum before performing after that.
 
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#4
A gig from hell comes to mind. Your right though, there was one moment there that stood out that was my own mistake and it was horrible. I was playing at a club in an ensemble of a guitar player/singer and me on bass. The guitar player was up on the buffet table (that is part of the gig from hell part) and we proceed to start a song that he uses a kapo on. I always forget for some reason which fret he puts it on and we start the song on different keys or notes or how ever you want charicterize it but we get a few bars into the song and he is giving me the death stare and I start searching for the right note and we finaly have to stop because it is so bad. That was the most embarassed I have ever been playing. Never had to restart a song before.:rollno:
 
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#5
Hah, reading these stories makes me feel better about my own; I cringe when reading yours too!

I thought I could say this is the only time I have messed up that badly, then I remembered a time I was performing solo about four years ago. I was playing Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah, which is something I can sing quite well. But I went for the full version and absolutely mangled the instrumental break in the middle. It was awful, and probably worse than the other story I mentioned because I was tarnishing such a beautiful piece of music and there wasn't an ear in the house who wouldn't have noticed it.

However, there was something apropos to having a difficult moment in a song about the pain and weight of incarnation. I managed to do the last verse justice, at least.

I am a perfectionist, but i've learned not to beat myself up too much for being human. We all bite it sometimes, i'd bet.
 
#7
I've read a bunch of stories here on TB, and y'all gotta step up and mess up more! If you ended up playing the song ok, and things turned out just fine, well, I'm thinking you've had it easy.

My two most embarrassing moments were:

We had a few record execs in attendance at a show at the Roxy in LA who came specifically to see us. On one of the songs, I thought we were playing a totally different song. That first note was so off that the whole band stopped and started over. Normally, that wouldn't be such a big deal, but the record execs were there. I was incredibly red-faced, and like a deer in headlights. Later on, I made a few, dumb inappropriate jokes out of nervousness, and we looked like total immature, unprofessional baffoons. No record deal for us. Probably my fault. Crap.

Another gig was for our record release about 15 years later for a totally different band. We were headlining for the first time ever, and it was our big night. Somewhere in the middle, I tripped on my guitar stand (I think) and smacked the hell out of my head. I saw stars, the band stopped the song, and I started to bleed a bit. I don't think anyone in the audience noticed the blood, but they sure noticed me going down. If someone had videoed it and tossed it on Youtube, I'm guessing that a "Douchebag Bassist Eats It" video would have gone viral.
 
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#8
Dang Ubershiest, ouch, literally and figuratively. In the first situation it was such an honest mistake, but the timing couldn't have been worse. And the second, dang...well...that just sucks!

I haven't gigged that much in my life, but intend to do it a lot more, so the odds of screwing up will go way up. That's why I want to learn to get over stuff and not take it personally.

The question is: can you look back and laugh?

I feel that way for the most part.
 
#9
Thank god nothing extremely embarrassing has happened, but one comes to mind:

Playing an outdoor gig to a tough crowd at a festival. When it was our turn, and I said "we'll playing some blues for you tonight!", to which no one reacted...

So just as the count reaches 4, the guitard's string pops on the first note we hit... so he had to replace the string while we kept jamming away till he did so.

What a horrible gig... after 3 songs we just left the stage (we were to play for 45 mins)!
 
#10
Not embarressed by my self but by my drummer....

I was 14 and it was my first gig. Durring our third song in the lighting guy kicks on the fog machine which is positioned directly behind the drums. The drummer stops playing mid song, jumps out from behind his drums and starts screaming, FIRE!!!! His mother, perfectly sincronized with her son, rushes the stage screaming, FIRE!!!! The guitarist and I keep playing while watching in total dismay.
 
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#11
My rack {when I had it} was loaded with a QSC power amp, a V-amp pro, and DOD EQ and furman power cond...
Getting ready to sound check, No sound....I am checking my cables, checking my pedal's, changed the battery in my bass, re patched everything...still nothing. I am stressing...my singer is standing there not helping by asking, "is it turned on"? I snap at him with "look, I've done this for 20 yrs...I'm not that stupid! The lights are on, it has to be a cable" He's just smiling........
Long story short after about 20 min of cussing.....he was right, the power amp was turned off......I didn't notice the one small light on the QSC DOH!!!!
Tip of the day, check the easy stuff 1st! :)
I did apologize to my singer
 
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#12
stepswork4me said:
Not embarressed by my self but by my drummer....

I was 14 and it was my first gig. Durring our third song in the lighting guy kicks on the fog machine which is positioned directly behind the drums. The drummer stops playing mid song, jumps out from behind his drums and starts screaming, FIRE!!!! His mother, perfectly sincronized with her son, rushes the stage screaming, FIRE!!!! The guitarist and I keep playing while watching in total dismay.
Click to expand...

That's awesome!!!! lmao!

Cheers,
Jim
 
#14
I've got a couple of fun ones.

At a party in Solana Beach, San Diego, my forever band RareForm is playing Toad the Wet Sprocket's "All I Want". Now, this is a song we've played a trillion times flawlessly, and we sound great doing it! But this one day... We get to the bridge, where Mike the rhythm guitarist sings "and it won't matter now..".... And i TOTALLY forget what to play!!!!

Just completely blank!!!! :eek:

But, it's worse, because at the exact same moment, lead guitarist Cliffie, a guy who never seems to err, ALSO forgets what to play!!!! :hyper: So the hole in the song was HUGE!!!!

Me and Cliff, after a couple of measures of fiddling trying to get our brains in gear, finally got back into the song. But we were standing side by side and looked at each other and laughed. What more can you do?


The other was much simpler. I'm in a dual guitar / VOX duo called Taylor-Martin, and sing Simon and Garfunkel type songs with lots of harmonies. We were playing at a cafe here in Fresno, and we both had gotten some grub before going on stage. Well, we're playing our last song, S & G's "Me and Julio" and getting to the end were we sing the refrain "See me and Julio down by the school yard" three times.

I'm just about to start singing the harmonies for the line...

I breath in...

And a freaking nut from the desert brownie served with my meal choses that particular moment to dislodge from my teeth and head down my throat, causing me to choke and cough!

It was horrible!!!

Though I was able to finish the song on the guitar, as much as I tried to power through and not die, I just couldn't get a single note out, and instead coughed and hacked while Jim had to finish the singing with out me.
 
#15
jazzbo58 said:
That's awesome!!!! lmao!

Cheers,
Jim
Click to expand...

Heh... I did the same thing to a guitarist in one of my old bands. He was brand new, and had his head in the clouds most of the time. I set up the fog machine near his amp, and thought he saw it and knew it was there. When I set it off, I casually said that it looked like his amp was on fire.

He did not see the machine or see me set it up. Unbeknownst to me, he had no idea it was there.

He freaked out for about 3 seconds.
 
#16
Check this..

In high school we were the 2nd act. Got up there singing, playing & farting around with Beachboys´ T-bird when I slipped on some slippery s*it from the previous act and fell FLAT ON MY ARS with a thud... Didn´t miss a beat with the bass in my lap but it hurt like a belly flop!

My singer classmate almost stopped dead in his tracks and the band practically fell apart!

...And the auditorium roared!!!! :rolleyes:
 
#17
Hole in the wall bar gig: Just a guitarist and I doing acoustic stuff. Our first gig, and we had to make 2 trips to get the gear because the Subaru was full with 2 bar stools that we inexplicably took to a gig at a bar full of... bar stools. :rollno:

We get there and get set up, and the guitarist is wearing a long duster/trench coat while sitting on the bar stool that we brought. We're in the middle of Southern Cross, when it suddenly becomes a bass/harmony only song. I look to my right as the guitarist finishes sliding backwards off the barstool. In addition to being an aggravating factor in the slide, his long. slick jacket is preventing him from getting his legs under him and down he goes, flat on his back, guitar and all.

Half the audience looked up, the other 2 guys didn't.
 
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#18
I was playing "Natural Woman" at a wedding last week. At the end of the chorus it's just bass and vocals for a few notes. My battery (active pickups) decided to die on me right at the moment where its just the bass and singers. So when they sang "like a natural woman", I sounded distorted and my bass crapped out. Even more frustrating was the fact I replaced the batteries that morning- i got a dud.
 
#19
I don't know about "most" embarrassing moment but one week ago tonight we were on stage and frenetically working our way to the grand conclusion of a fairly long extendo jam at the end of a tune. When we got to the last hit of the outro I jumped as high as I could (much like my profile pic...I have a habit of jumping a lot) and landed down on my knees in perfect timing for the single note hit. Except there were four more hits....whooops. I did my best to play it off like I meant to do those last four hits on the ground but I think pretty much everyone (especially my bandmates!) knew the deal. =)
 

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