Pet Peeve - loading in/loading out

[jmastanduno]

Venues that insist you use their crappy back line including some underpowered transistor-y type bass amp that clips the minute you drop your low B

 

[rtslinger]

Not running cables behind the band that could be. Really my only gripe

 

[Luciferiad]

Venues that insist you use their crappy back line including some underpowered transistor-y type bass amp that clips the minute you drop your low B

YES. THIS.

There's a dearth of venues in my area, especially for an originals band. So I try not to get too carried away grousing. But the house gear at one in particular is in terrible shape. They usually ask if you will use their gear. We've stopped altogether since none of it works right. The 410 Marshall guitar cab has a signal issue, the Hartke 410 bass cab has a missing driver, and the wood ring on their kick drum is cracked clean through.

 

[Bassman Spiff]

Updating and printing the set list as set and desired by the band during rehearsal, and taping visible copies on each mic stand during set-up - only to have the BL go off-script and ad lib the entire gig.

BL: "So, what do we want to play next??"

Me: "Umm... how 'bout the actual set list?"

BL: Vacant look, noodles on the strings for a bit, uncomfortable silence, then breaks into Mustang Sally

Me: [facepalm] LOL

 

[Fat Freddy]

Video evidence, PLEASE!!!

Plus one to video evidence...

 

[BooDoggie]

When you get off from your day job at 5PM and drive like a maniac with a death wish to get to a gig that is 3 hours away and supposed to start at 8PM only to find that the combined intellect of all of the other band members is not enough to set up the FOH system even with everything clearly labeled and color-coded...

 

[jmastanduno]

YES. THIS.

There's a dearth of venues in my area, especially for an originals band. So I try not to get too carried away grousing. But the house gear at one in particular is in terrible shape. They usually ask if you will use their gear. We've stopped altogether since none of it works right. The 410 Marshall guitar cab has a signal issue, the Hartke 410 bass cab has a missing driver, and the wood ring on their kick drum is cracked clean through.

So a 3X10 cab would be what 12 ohms ? Assuming you originally had 4 8 ohm drivers in series parallel? SMH

 

[Paulabass]

When the snake or 47 other cables are run right through my stage real estate. I’ve actually had folks run cables on top of my instrument cable. I guess in summary poor cable management......and yellow or orange extension cords.

By the time my stage is ready for soundcheck there is not a single cable anywhere across the stage. Any good sound co. will keep the stage clear, and at bar gigs I threaten to go postal if anybody lays down sloppy cabling. There is a reason for wireless, and long pedal snakes.

And while I'm at it...musicians who toss all their crap- bags, coats, lunch, empty cases, in a corner of the stage. It looks like hell!!

 

[two fingers]

It's a classic!!

One of our singers always say that we (guitar and bass players) are attached too much to our gear and there's no reason to load heavy/big/expensive gear to the gigs..

We're planning (in secret) to play a rehearsal with our bedroom practice combos just to shut his mouth up...

Forget a rehearsal. Do it for a show. That'll shut the singer up for good.

As for the question at hand, yeah, the stage is sacred ground. Nothing goes on stage EVER except backline, monitors and mic stands. Leave your junk on the dance floor until you need it. Don't bring ANY cases on stage! Set up your rig or drums first. THEN go grab your instrument amand d set it on its stand. To leave a bunch of cases laying in the middle of the stage while you set up is senseless.

 

[Nashrakh]

Updating and printing the set list as set and desired by the band during rehearsal - only to have the BL go off-script and ad lib the entire gig.

Had a funny experience on my last big band gig that kind of fits the theme of going off-script. The conductor likes to give the audience a little anecdotal background of the songs we play, and one time he had the whole band, 30 people, break out in a cold sweat because he was announcing a song no one of us has ever heard of. Band members were making questioning grimaces at each other, our musical director was slightly panicking because he didn't know what was going on, the whole deer in the headlights package.

Fortunately, a few minutes it later turned out to be an alternative song title to the one we were supposed to play at that point in time, but he really had us there...

 

[4-stringB]

Lead singer and girl singer don't bring a thing, but will stand in the middle of the stage during load in and load out. He's way too happy all the time. I'd suspect coke, but not this guy. And she's a chronic complainer, tell her to get out of the way, for the third time, she launches into her "victim" routine. Passive/aggressive all the way. Edit, they both will lay their gear bags, cases, etc. over the lights I've just finished setting up.

 

[Gearhead17]

People at shows who will not move and/or stare at you carrying gear. Maybe you should move over a bit, I will keep bumping you. Oh, at the end of the night, I will bump you quite a bit harder if you don't move.

That ONE show where I showed up late to setup and found there was no spot left for me on stage. We had done at least 70 gigs together at that point....

Telling the sound man to hook up the XLR feed to the pedalboard mounted JDI and finding it connected to the amp head. That's an easy fix though, but I don't understand the difficulty here.

The reluctance of bars to open up side/back doors in order to make our setup quicker and less disruptive. I just love waiting 15 minutes for someone to do this. Didn't you realize a band was coming tonight?

 

[ELynx]

My two cents: shoes, and looks overall.
I am lazy in shaving, can go without it for a week or two; I can appear at practice in (whatever you call it outside of Russia) mayka-alkashka and a hoodie.
But on the actual gig I show up shaved, hair cut, clean clothes, spare pair of shoes that fit the stage, not season. We are not playing punk, so we should not look like punks.

 

[Paulabass]

Murphy's law-
If you bring the van, the only load-in is a loading dock.
If you bring the straight truck, there is no loading dock.

 

[mellowinman]

Being in a band with someone who does less work than I, but feels the need to direct/supervise me, and berate me for not doing it "how they would have," if they were doing whatever it is I just did.

Don't miss that.

 

[mellowinman]

The bandmate who did the least amount of setting up making a comment about how long set up seemed to take.

In several states that's justifiable homicide. Check you local statutes.

 

[lermgalieu]

Hammonds...

And Leslies

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Well-meaning bandmates who don't know how to over-under cables.

Guilty. I always mess them up.

 

[QweziRider]

Folks wanting to strike up a deep conversation with you or your band mates while you’re trying to set up or tear down.

Band mates who do this.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

People (and by that I mean guitarists, drummers and keyboard players) who think the stage is the storage area for their dozens of huge and pointless cases. Tripping over some large obstructive black box that people are too idle and inconsiderate to move makes me think of double-bladed axes for some reason.