New Years Eve Gig stories

[RichardW]

Band played its one and only (so far) New Years Eve gig in 2011. The venue was a place we'd played before; one of the band members knew the owner. We weren't planning a gig for New Years, but in the first week of December the owner contacted us and begged us to play--he didn't have any other band lined up and said we could charge anything we wanted (!). We all checked with spouses, got the OK, and booked the gig. At that time, we also had a young guy who ran our sound for us.

The evening came, the band played, there was a good crowd (the venue was a notorious meet market for 40- and 50-somethings and the vibe on NYE was as charged and desperate as you'd imagine), and everything was copacetic, until about mid-way through the third set. We started to get a low-pitch feedback on stage and as we looked over at the mixer, our sound guy was nowhere to be seen. The problem resolved itself and we finished the show.

During tear down, our sound guy reappeared. "Dude, where were you in the third set when we had that feedback?" His response was slurred and his eyes glazed over. Basically, he'd spent the evening getting sh-tfaced while we were playing. That was the last time we hired him. I hope the drinks were worth it.

The owner mailed us a check, but had made it out to the band name. Lead singer called the owner and asked if he could resend a check made out to the singer, who would then cash it and distribute to the rest of us. The owner said "sure," but before the new check arrived the venue announced it was going out of business, effective immediately. "That's it," we thought, "we'll never get paid now."

Lo and behold, though, a couple of days later a new check arrived and the lead singer ran to the bank to cash it pronto. He handed it to the teller, who looked at the restaurant name on the check, turned to her fellow teller and said "hey, didn't this place just close?" Second teller says "yeah, but if there's money in the account, go ahead and cash it." So she did.

Moral of the story: no drinking during a show, and cash is king.

 

[Slevage]

I've got many NY's eve gigs under my belt. Did the 1st when I was 16 and played the next 40+ consecutively. This year, I'm 57--- no gig by choice.
No gigs for about the last 3 or 4 by choice. It use to be a very fun night that was also profitable. These days, they're not as fun or profitable, so I pass.

 

[flatfender]

Most memorable for me,

Grand River (Native American) Casino & Resort in Mobridge SD, New Years Eve, Friday, 12/31/1999. For you youngsters, that was Y2K weekend aka "The End of the World"

Casino was beautiful and we were treated like kings. Comped rooms for us for the weekend along with all our meals and drinks. We played 2 nights (Fri & Sat). 5 piece band and I was playing keyboards at the time. We played on the Casino floor tucked away in a corner. Place was packed all day & night, but it was really tight New Years Eve. It's a huge place and the noise of the slot machines was relentless and deafening. We couldn't play real loud since we were pretty close to some of the people playing slots but had to be loud enough to be heard. Everything was carpet so there was no proper dance floor. People would walk by and maybe stop and watch us for a song or two and move on, but no real audience or dancers.

We started at 10 and played until 1 both nights and as we counted down to the year 2000, some of us were expecting the lights & power to go off at midnight and never come back on.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... Happy New Years! ........ Power stayed on. The world didn't end. Yay!

The Good: Free rooms, food, drinks. Each of us paid $1000 for the weekend. I won $600 or so at the slots. Y2K didn't happen.

The Bad: Ate & drank too much. Lost $600 at the slots. My wife and young kids went to Denver (650 miles away) to see her sister for the weekend and I was worried about Y2K happening and if I would ever see them again. Really.

The Ugly: Loaded up and headed out Sunday back to the Black Hills (250 miles or so). Had a 1 ton crew cab pickup with a 3/4 tank of gas, a 14' trailer with the band gear. About 8 mpg. FYI - No open gas stations in rural western South Dakota between Mobridge and the Black Hills on Sundays. Ran out of gas 70 miles from home but only about a 1/2 mile away from a gas station in Union Center. I walked to the closed station, but the owner lived in a house behind the station and saw me walk in from the road. Got me going and filled up the truck and headed home. Gave him an extra $20 for this help. After that, I carried a couple of 5 gallons cans of gas when playing any distance away from home.

 

[Mattrill]

Thanks for sharing these stories. They have been great reads and have really made my day in the office a lot more exciting.

 

[Jimmy4string]

Man great stories! @Bill Fatty man that one made me laugh! That's my favorite so far

 

[Tony In Philly]

That's the night all of the amateur drinkers are out in force and driving as well. I prefer to avoid that potential demolition derby whenever possible.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

No horror stories, but just a bit of nervous. I was working with a road band doing the Holiday Inn Circuit in 1976. As the year wore on, we kept asking our agent about a NYE gig. He kept saying not to worry, he would get us booked. Comes October and no gig, we start getting grumpy. He says not to worry, I'll get you booked. Comes November, we're sort of pisses and start serious gripping. He says he knows that every year, someone will get a cancelation and he will get a call and be able to get really good money. We're not convinced. Comes mid December, he has us booked in Atlanta, where we happen to be, for better than double the going rate. It was a great gig.

 

[bryan gibson]

Sub'd cause It's also my birthday.

I was in the catering business for a good long while, so I wasn't playing NYE shows. I have only done a handful of them over the years. All went well.

I want to see a horror story!

Hmm....me too..... half-century this time. Watching

 

[podiumboy]

In our early 20s, my band did a "trilogy" or New Years gigs in my parents barn. In 2004-5 we had about 30 people there, mostly guys. We were so drunk by the end, and I cringe whenever I watch that video.

2005-6 we had about 80-90 people show up, and the guy/girl ratio was well matched, which excited us. We were on fire that night, it was a blast. Although I did have to change clothes because a girl puked all over me!

2006-7 we had about 70 people, and while it was fun and we played probably better than the year before, there was an overall "played out" feeling about it. I remember from the stage (aka flatbed trailer) realizing more people were concerned with playing drinking games and corn hole than listening to us. It was no surprise when the next year nobody really wanted to do it. Haven't played anywhere on NYE since, but the memories will last forever.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Most memorable for me,

Grand River (Native American) Casino & Resort in Mobridge SD, New Years Eve, Friday, 12/31/1999. For you youngsters, that was Y2K weekend aka "The End of the World"

Casino was beautiful and we were treated like kings. Comped rooms for us for the weekend along with all our meals and drinks. We played 2 nights (Fri & Sat). 5 piece band and I was playing keyboards at the time. We played on the Casino floor tucked away in a corner. Place was packed all day & night, but it was really tight New Years Eve. It's a huge place and the noise of the slot machines was relentless and deafening. We couldn't play real loud since we were pretty close to some of the people playing slots but had to be loud enough to be heard. Everything was carpet so there was no proper dance floor. People would walk by and maybe stop and watch us for a song or two and move on, but no real audience or dancers.

We started at 10 and played until 1 both nights and as we counted down to the year 2000, some of us were expecting the lights & power to go off at midnight and never come back on.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... Happy New Years! ........ Power stayed on. The world didn't end. Yay!

The Good: Free rooms, food, drinks. Each of us paid $1000 for the weekend. I won $600 or so at the slots. Y2K didn't happen.

The Bad: Ate & drank too much. Lost $600 at the slots. My wife and young kids went to Denver (650 miles away) to see her sister for the weekend and I was worried about Y2K happening and if I would ever see them again. Really.

The Ugly: Loaded up and headed out Sunday back to the Black Hills (250 miles or so). Had a 1 ton crew cab pickup with a 3/4 tank of gas, a 14' trailer with the band gear. About 8 mpg. FYI - No open gas stations in rural western South Dakota between Mobridge and the Black Hills on Sundays. Ran out of gas 70 miles from home but only about a 1/2 mile away from a gas station in Union Center. I walked to the closed station, but the owner lived in a house behind the station and saw me walk in from the road. Got me going and filled up the truck and headed home. Gave him an extra $20 for this help. After that, I carried a couple of 5 gallons cans of gas when playing any distance away from home.

Definitely popcorn worthy:

 

[rocu]

We Have A Winner!

I've always had a strict "no drinking no drugs" policy for myself when it came to gigs.

Which, typically, was a complete and utter failure.

Same for the rest of most of the bands I was in during the 80s.

So we were doing a New Year's gig at some hotel in Alberta, actually, and everybody, band and crowd, was absolutely hammered. Our keyboardist thought it would be a cool trick to get up on his organ (he had a Hammond L-101; not a B-3 but still a good piece of living room furniture) and it was strong enough to take his weight. There was a pretty low suspended ceiling in that room, and he shifted one of the tiles and hoisted himself up into the ceiling. His plan, as he told us later, was to make his way over the stage, hidden inside the ceiling, and then nimbly drop down next to the guitarist just before the solo, and "rock out" with some air guitar next to him. Had he been sober it would still have been a dumb-ass plan, and sort of cringeworthy too; (does anyone actually enjoy having somebody do air guitar next to them while they're playing?) and we probably would have gone "don't do that".
Needless to say that is not what happened.
Nevertheless, hammered as we all were, we just sort of looked and went "what the fu ck is he doing".
Since he was kind of a fat bas tard, and drunk to boot, he only made it to a point just over the drums, at which point he lost his balance, and fell, crashing through the suspended ceiling and bringing several of the tiles with him, on to the drummer. He knocked over the drummer and trashed most of the kit, which was well appreciated by some of the crowd but not all, and not much by the drummer. I busted a gut laughing but it wasn't all that professional. It was a pretty swanky hotel, two stars at least.
I think we made it through the night but I don't really remember much after that.

Actually that same drummer, at another gig in another place, had the damnedest thing happen, too. We were playing at sort of a country bar, and behind the stage, behind the drum riser, was a pair of saloon-style swing doors that had used to lead to the now unused kitchen. During one song, his throne slipped off the back of the riser, and he disappeared through the swing doors, which closed behind him. When we heard no drums, we all looked around, and surprise surprise... no drummer! It wasn't Spontaneous Human Combustion a la Spinal Tap but it was pretty funny!

 

[KevInDaBassment]

This happened last New Years, I was with Michael Rowe and he had a full band at the time. We had just got done playing a show at a venue and we were all coming back to the hotel we were staying at. The band was carrying instruments as we passed through the lobby when a couple of people at a lounge table asked us if we were in a band. We said yes and told them we just got done playing a show. They asked what kind of music we played, who plays what, etc. then asked if we would play them something. We asked the Front Desk staff if it was ok and they agreed. After we did one of the songs our backup singer wrote, one woman started crying (it's an emotional song) and thanked us for playing it. They asked us if we'd play more and we did about 3 more songs, all the while drawing more and more people stopping by. Honestly it was way cooler than the show we played before that. Made zero money off that, but plenty of memories.

 

[s0c9]

My very first NYE gig was MANY years ago.. overseas, at a golf club. Our first set went well..
Then, in the middle of the 2nd set, a group of ladies - wives of members attending the event, and some of their older daughters -- grabbed me from the stage, took me out into the middle of the dance floor.. and stripped me totally naked!!
- no kidding.. I was a fit 23-yr old at that time. It's not a night I'll ever forget!
The downside... ??
We didn't finish playing until about 2:00 am.. Then, after teardown, load out and unloading gear at the guitar players home (it was his PA), it was around 5am.
I had a morning radio show to do (6-10am), so I stayed up, went to work.. crashing when I got home. I do remember it being a little tough to stay awake

 

[delta7fred]

NYE 1971 we were playing at an army training camp. There were lots of girls dancing, our singer was chatting one up over the mic, but a marked absence of any trainee soldiers as they were all in the bar getting drunk.

Word must have got back to her boyfriend as he came back into the hall, jumped on stage and took a swing at our singer who being completely sober neatly sidestepped it. The guy was now heading towards the drum kit (brand new Ludwig kit and our drummers pride and joy) so I neatly caught him by the mouth with the machines heads of my P bass and gently but firmly guided him backwards off the low stage.

At this point all hell broke loose, trainee soldiers flocked from the bar and Military Police appeared as if by magic. We were unhurt but our van was not so lucky, most of the lights were kicked in and the wiper blades ripped off. We were advised to load out and get the hell out of there, which we did.

We drove the hour home with one headlight, one rear light and no direction indicators. We had been invited to a party so managed to get there while there was still some booze left.

 

[kesslari]

My favorite NYE gig was in 1994 (or 5?). I was playing percussion in a Turkish band, and we were booked at the Green Dragon, which was the hip coffeehouse in Santa Barbara at that time. Several bellydancers were going to perform with us that night - really fun show.
There was a huge storm that blew through town - took down trees, knocked out the power to the entire downtown area for several hours at something like 10 or 11.
No electricity. We were an acoustic band, so that wasn't a big problem. We (and fans) brought in flashlights and people in the audience took turns as "spotlights". I had a coleman stove in my truck which I brought in so the coffeehouse could continue to make hot drinks. The place was packed and stayed packed. We rocked all night, lots of dancing, and we were one of the few venues to stay open and going.

 

[Hahaha]

It use to be a very fun night that was also profitable. These days, they're not as fun or profitable, so I pass.

That seems to be true. These last five years I've noticed that a lot of musicians don't have NYE gigs. I manage to stay booked, but not for the kind of money I used to be able to count on.

A few gig stories:

One NYE a car took out a power sub station near the venue and knocked the power out for over an hour as we waited for midnight. The band members took turns playing the conga beat on drums as the patrons danced the conga. Luckily most people stayed, so we had a good crowd at midnight and the power came back on in time to bring in the new year. The owner of the club was using party favors from the year before, so we were bringing in the year that was about to end. I think it was 1978, but the horns and hats said 1977.

Another time I had a really good gig booked and a storm took down the roof of the venue, so they canceled just a few days prior. I ended up working for half the money at another venue that had a buckled dance floor caused by the same storm. The act they had booked was a midi single act that had to cancel due to a DUI and an angry wife. He couldn't drive himself to the gig, and his wife wouldn't help him. Happy New Year . . .

Another time a elderly woman got mad at the band because we couldn't play any Glenn Miller songs, so she went behind the stage and unplugged all our gear in the middle of a song. I guess you're supposed to play Genn Miller songs on New Year's Eve, or at least Guy Lombardo stuff.

And finally, remember the Y2K scare? As we brought in 2000, some clown thought it would be funny to cut the power off right at midnight. He did. All our gear went silent, then came back on with a loud thump through the speakers.
Real funny.

 

[Mike N]

I've only played one NYE gig, back in 98 or so. Smaller club we had played (and packed) many times, but on this night was a blinding snow storm so maybe 20 people showed up. To top it off, the sound guy was having his own private snow storm in the bathroom and he wound up passed out and throwing up on the floor, so my buddy carried him outside and laid him on his side on a bench in front of the place. Naturally, this left the sound board running on auto pilot until the guitarist from the opening band decided to be the substitute sound guy and twiddle with the slides & knobs on the board, and you can already imagine how that worked out.

The night ended with the club owner bitching at us for the lack of a crowd, crappy sound, etc ...... I don't think we ever played there again.

 

[LT131]

We always called NYE Amature Nite cause so many peeps show that only go out one nite a year. In the early 80's we were booked in the largest venue in town. We arranged our sets where the best stuff would be last set 12-1AM. We were pumped, the place was packed but these folks just did not quite get it. So the bar passed out hats, hooters and complementary champagne! We ended the second set, counted down to midnight and everyone cheered, drank the bubbly and we headed backstage to change into non-sweaty clothes and find the zone for what would be an epic, rocking 3rd set.

After 15 minutes we headed on stage (think ROCK & ROLL CLEVELAND! but not in Cleveland) and looked out. Every except a few bored bartenders were GONE. Out of there by 1.

Moral of the story. Do the countdown at the beginning of the midnight set.

My favorite NYE gigs were private parties.

 

[McG]

Great thread. So many cool stories. Too many to comment on. Fun reading them all.

 

[Jimmy4string]

Yeah man keep em coming. I would love to play a private party NYE but would be hard to get my older bandmates with wives and kids away from their nest i think.

I want a @BassCliff NYE story -you know that guy has seen some stuff!