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Poll: How many shows have you played?

How many shows?

  • 1 - 50

    Votes: 122 16.6%

  • 50 - 250

    Votes: 188 25.5%

  • 250 - 500

    Votes: 110 14.9%

  • 500 - 750

    Votes: 57 7.7%

  • 750 - 1000

    Votes: 38 5.2%

  • 1000 - 1500

    Votes: 45 6.1%

  • 1500 - 2000

    Votes: 28 3.8%

  • Over 2000

    Votes: 119 16.2%

  • Still working on getting my first, or have no desire to play live.

    Votes: 29 3.9%
  • Total voters
    736
#201
Joe Nerve said:
I can say this... Having started in the 70s, I actually thought I played a lot more than I did. Before starting this thread, I sat down and wrote out the year numbers estimating how many shows I played each year. There were years where I did do lots of touring, as well as playing in several bands. I averaged 4 gigs a week for a few years. And then there were years (like 2010 -15) where I maybe played 20 gigs all year. Some where I played none. Used to say I played well over 2000, but when I put it on paper, it didn't add up.

My point - I somewhat agree with your post, but I can cut some people slack cuz its tough being accurate.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll buy this. Especially for us folks who have been at it 30 years or more. A lot of the years blend into each other and it can be difficult to remember exactly what you did in some of those years.

I've been thinking about it for a few days and I do think that between playing and mixing sound, I'm well over 2000. Playing alone, probably in the 500-750 range, maybe a bit over 750 but I can't be sure. I played my first show in 1986 (grade 8) and from 1991 to 2005-ish I gigged at least twice a week, either mixing or playing. Lots of weeks more than that and not very many weeks less. After '05 I slowed a bit but was still definitely doing 50 or more nights a year until the end of 2011. Since then, I haven't been doing much playing or sound. My second kid was born in 2012 and I just didn't have the time or energy to be doing a lot of late night stuff after that between work and family commitments. There was a period from 1995 to 2000 where I was essentially on tour 90% of the time and I logged 300 or more shows in each of those years, so those touring years really add to my total. I think I'm safely over 2000 total.
 
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#202
^ here's the young guy.


I've never been payed to play a gig. Kind of a shame. I know some guys who are thinking of getting a band together, so maybe that'll change.


My most covered song in a group is Folsom Prison Blues for some reason. I mostly play churches and other religious events, so there isn't much room for requests.


The younger generation has very little respect given to it when it comes to musical talent. We're mostly treated as whippersnappers by our elders and oddities by our peers. Hopefully that will change eventually.
 
#203
First public performance: as part of a guitar duo at high school talent show.
First public performance as a bass player: at a VFW hall playing with a 60's cover band.
First performance in bar/venue: with an original band at The Underground, the legendary Boston punk club, in 1979. Man, am I old...
 
#205
When I first read this, I thought "how many musicals, how many TV shows, how many other shows?" Then I realized the reference was to public performances, both paid and unpaid.

My first was in 1965 with my first band which was patterned after Herb Alpert's TJB. Since that time, I have played in rock bands, big bands, small groups, concert bands, symphony orchestras, brass bands, and Dixieland bands on Trumpet.

From 1972 and continuing today, I have played upwards of 500 gigs with big bands, concert bands, and symphony orchestras as a conductor.

In 1983, I started playing bass in a band I was responsible for at sporting events, and continued until 2002.

Today, I play bass for my personal enjoyment in closed as well as public settings on a donation basis but continue to play Trumpet and conduct for pay.
 
#209
1967 at a local Jr. High teen club; I was 14. Later I played full time in club/show/top 40 bands for 10 years doing 5 or 6 nights a week so, doing the math, at least 3000 shows for that time. Plus all the weekend stuff before and after probably brings the number closer to 3500 or 4000. I'm retired now and playing in 3 bands so the number is still going up!
 
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#210
Joe Nerve said:
And/or where was your first gig?

Responses to my last thread on what covers have you played most got me thinking. Some people put down some incredibly obscure songs, and then it occurred to me - maybe they're much younger and have only played a small handful of gigs in their life?

Anyhow, I did a little rough math. My first gig was in a battle of the bands in 1976. Guitar was my instrument. First "real" club gig was CBGB in 1978. And I kinda quit music from 84 to the early 90s. That's when I picked up bass and fell head over heels in love.

All that being said, my best guess is I've played throughout my life just a little short of 2000 shows.

What's your best guess as to how many shows you've done?
Click to expand...
My first performance was a Battle of the Bands at the Santa Maria Theater in Santa Maria, CA in 1966. I had recently purchased a brand new 1966 Fender Bassman amp (blackface), had a piece of :poop: "made in Japan" bass, and belonged to a high school group called "The Warlocks". If I recall correctly we played 4 songs. Didn't win the Battle of the Bands but got a free pass for two for a year at the movie theater. So guess where my girlfriend and I went each weekend.

Shortly after that joined an already established band, "The St. James Infirmary", and played parties and high school dances.

In 1971 when I was working in LA, I got a call from the rhythm guitar player from that high school band asking me if I wanted to come to Nevada to play bass and get paid for it. I had a couple weeks vacation so I packed up and drove about 500-miles north to check it out. Played with the group that very night and toured with them for the next 3 years. We typically played 5-nights a week, 50-weeks a year, for 3 years. So that put up about 750 performances right there.

After that, just played on weekends and currently am playing almost every weekend. Even when I was without a bass for 10-years, I still performed as a solo act with guitar at weddings and parties. So, I'm one of those "over 2000" guys.
 
#211
My best estimate is around 700 or so. I lost count many years ago!

The first band I was in did a few parties before our paid debut to get our feet wet, mainly collage frat parties. First paid gig was at a club called Magnolia's in Santa Rosa, CA (closed long ago) in the summer of 1993. I was playing a '72 Rickenbacker 4001 through a Hartke 3500 and a pair of miss-matched cabinets. Fun times.
 
#212
First gig (it was paid) was in 1972. A local musician bought the recently closed local movie theater which also had a stage and turned it into an all age music venue. At the ripe old age of 14 I was his in house sound tech and when I asked him about gig opportunities he told me that he would run sound for my band if I wanted to play. We got $100 ($25 each) for the band just like every other band did and did pretty well for 14 - 16 year olds just getting started.
 
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#213
I honestly couldn't begin to say. I do remember my first gig. It was at a cookout on Memorial Day weekend in 1990 or 91. Got paid in beer and, probably, weed. But we didnt play for free! My second gig was at a keg party at a friends house later that summer where I met my wife. Got paid in beer and weed then too.

My career as a musician kind of runs together with the years I worked concert production. I did way more shows working them than playing them. One of the guys kept a calendar one year when we worked for the production company. I didnt work this many shows, but he had a total of around 300 days of working a show (setting up, actual mixing FOH/monitors, tearing down or loading the trucks). That didn't count driving to and from the gig. Waaaay too much work for me!

BnB
 
#214
first gig: April of 1972. played ever since in over 100 different bands. still playing. rough guess, well over 10,000 gigs. for 6 years back in the 80s I played 6 nights a week while keeping a full time day job. I was a zombie for that period but never missed a gig (or work for that matter). most of the time now it's 8 to 10 times a month with short bursts of more. starting to slow down a bit but still get at least 6 times a month these days. I guess I'll die on stage with my trusty 62p bass in my hands and they'll have to bury me with it because no one will be able to pry it out.
 
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#215
Joe Nerve said:
And/or where was your first gig?

Responses to my last thread on what covers have you played most got me thinking. Some people put down some incredibly obscure songs, and then it occurred to me - maybe they're much younger and have only played a small handful of gigs in their life?

Anyhow, I did a little rough math. My first gig was in a battle of the bands in 1976. Guitar was my instrument. First "real" club gig was CBGB in 1978. And I kinda quit music from 84 to the early 90s. That's when I picked up bass and fell head over heels in love.

All that being said, my best guess is I've played throughout my life just a little short of 2000 shows.

What's your best guess as to how many shows you've done?
Click to expand...
First gig - 1972 The Railway Hotel Perth Western Australia, with the West Coast (Trad) Jazzmen. As a semi-professional player, I'd guess I've also played more than a two thousand gigs since.
 
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#217
My first gig was subbing as a drummer in my older brother's band when I was sixteen years old, forty-four years ago. It was a bar gig. I have spent almost all of the years since as an active gigging musician, often in multiple bands. For many years through the eighties I gigged four to six nights a week. In the nineties I was still gigging three to four nights a week. This year, at age sixty I will play likely around one hundred gigs when you add up performances as a drummer, bassist or hand percussionist. About eight years ago someone asked me this question and the best that I could figure, I had played close to three thousand gigs. I'm more stunned that I've schlepped gear that many times. ;) (The gigs are the easy part.)
 
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#218
All but two of my performances were on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

We played once in Moncton, New Brunswick during the EMCA awards weekend.

I would not perform live again until August 2018 on Bowen Island, BC during Bowfest, which felt awesome!

I really want to perform again, but the guys I had been jamming with have gone separate ways. I'm looking for a new musical project now. I also want to record music, which is another thing I haven't done since I was on the East Coast.
 

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