I get post gig depression but not all the time. Music is supposed to be a way out of life and a way of doing something fun but i always find myself depressed afterwards if someone does something to try and mess it up, usually if the Drummer isn't being a team player. Maybe there is a band issue that needs sorting and maybe its worth talking to the rest of the band about your problem and if there is are any problems too. This problem plus the come down from adrenaline might cause it.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Post-Gig Depression?
- Thread starter Bassic Playing
- Start date
Sometimes after a huge high of endorphin rush the body "crashes", eat some chocolate, hydrate, get some sleep.
Hi,
I don't feel depression after a gig. Sure, sometimes you don't want the gig to end but when I get home from a good gig it usually takes me a couple of hours to "come down" so that I can get to sleep. Even when I know I have to be at work the next morning, I just can't sleep. I will check email, Facebook, a few forums, then finally go to bed and read my Bible to calm myself and find some peace.
Today I'm at work on 5 hours sleep after an 18 hour day.
But it was a great gig!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I don't feel depression after a gig. Sure, sometimes you don't want the gig to end but when I get home from a good gig it usually takes me a couple of hours to "come down" so that I can get to sleep. Even when I know I have to be at work the next morning, I just can't sleep. I will check email, Facebook, a few forums, then finally go to bed and read my Bible to calm myself and find some peace.
Today I'm at work on 5 hours sleep after an 18 hour day.
But it was a great gig!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Anything that you plan and work for and get emotionally invested has the potential for a let down afterwards. I am a runner, and this is VERY common in the running community. People train for weeks or months and plan every little detail, so when it's over, they find they feel like something is missing. Marathoners especially are susceptible to post-race depression, which is ironic since exercise is supposed to stave off depression.
The best strategy is to set a new goal - a new song, a new skill, another gig, something to replace all those hours of planning, practicing, and dreaming. Take a beat, consider your options, then began to build again. After all the journey is as much fun as the destination.
The best strategy is to set a new goal - a new song, a new skill, another gig, something to replace all those hours of planning, practicing, and dreaming. Take a beat, consider your options, then began to build again. After all the journey is as much fun as the destination.
happens to me after tour.
spending 3 - 5 weeks with my guys packed into a van and spending every waking hour together, then after the last show, we drive home, unpack the van, go our separate ways, and then I can't sleep.
We tend to get a post-partum-post-tour-anxiety-disorder.
Like what do i do now? I don't have any shows lined up, no GPS coordinates to follow, nobody to argue about what station to listen to, no strings to change, etc. I get kinda weird.
But then I see my gf, and I realize she is great to come home to, and will alleviate me from my disorder and cook me a good meal to help ease me back into home life.
spending 3 - 5 weeks with my guys packed into a van and spending every waking hour together, then after the last show, we drive home, unpack the van, go our separate ways, and then I can't sleep.
We tend to get a post-partum-post-tour-anxiety-disorder.
Like what do i do now? I don't have any shows lined up, no GPS coordinates to follow, nobody to argue about what station to listen to, no strings to change, etc. I get kinda weird.
But then I see my gf, and I realize she is great to come home to, and will alleviate me from my disorder and cook me a good meal to help ease me back into home life.
I definitely need a good 15-20 minutes to "come down" right after getting off stage. Usually I'll make a beeline to the exit and just sit in the fresh air, but I've been in situations where that wasn't feasible and I get a little claustrophobic. At the end of the night, however, I'm too busy dealing with moving gear, giving people rides home, talking about next show/practice and whatnot to get depressed; I generally crash out right when I get home. Exception being if it was a notably poor show for whatever reason (turnout, my performance, bandmates' attitudes etc.) then I'll start tripping on whatever went wrong.
What I have been getting a lot lately is pre gig depression. Somewhere between load-in/soundcheck and getting back on stage I just feel this wave come over me. It's not even stage fright (which I do get) it's just a sense of purposelessness. I usually go backstage if there is one, or outside, or into a dark corner.
I feel you on the tour come down, too, Slough Feg. You wake up the next morning assuming you're already behind schedule and need to get moving, only to find you have no where to go. Bummer.
What I have been getting a lot lately is pre gig depression. Somewhere between load-in/soundcheck and getting back on stage I just feel this wave come over me. It's not even stage fright (which I do get) it's just a sense of purposelessness. I usually go backstage if there is one, or outside, or into a dark corner.
I feel you on the tour come down, too, Slough Feg. You wake up the next morning assuming you're already behind schedule and need to get moving, only to find you have no where to go. Bummer.
It's pretty common to be depressed after a gig. I actually looked it up awhile back because I would be really down and tired after a gig, no matter how good or bad it was. Most of my gigs are solo classical guitar in the afternoon or early evening, high stress but not physically demanding as such. I would be depressed even if I played really well and had a good crowd reaction. After reading about it some, I found coming off of adrenaline was the culprit. I couldn't figure it out at first, but now that I know, I found that if I go for a walk afterwards, the effects are less noticeable.
Yes, I suppose I noticed it prominantly after last nights particular gig becase it was both wracked with issues regarding hardware and sounf, and also a really explosive, fun gig, so the come down was intensified
Well, of course no matter how happy one is at home, the feeling from playing is going to be more than that many times.
I've come home from *work* before and then been bummed because it sometimes sucks to go from somewhere that I'm indispensable and needed to somewhere that everyone runs off after they get fed.
Home is comfortable, playing is a drug.
^^(the sound of a nail being hit on the head)^^
After a gig where I play well, I feel great and usually feel great even the next day.
After a gig where I didn't play well (or the whole group stunk) I usually feel pretty lousy...and sometimes that even carries to the next day too.
That's an interesting attitude. I'm guessing you must be self-employed.
I once worked at a place that had a sign on the wall
"So you want to quit and you wonder how much you'll be missed when you're gone?
Put your hand in a 5 gallon bucket of water and pull it back out.
As long as there's a hole in the water, that's how long you'll be missed."
I always thought that was a great sign and more places should post it for employees to see, IMO.
No I'm not. But after 23 years in radio, at the same station, when I've learned to do almost any job there and usually will step up and take care of whatever needs to be done with a smile (or at least minimal grumbling) when we had to lay off people to make it through the recession (we're owned by *people* not a corporation) I was one of the people who got to stay, and yeah right now i probably do 3 peoples jobs for one persons pay, but I'm still there, and if a client calls and wants to cut a new ad and get it right on i can tell them to come on in, leave the front desk, cut it, go back to my desk, produce it, go send it into the system and have it on before the sales exec returns from lunch to do the paperwork for it.
Have had things go both ways. Doesn't always have to be a letdown, especially if you can look forward to some post-gig reverie with bandmates, family, friends, etc. Most recently, I played at an open jam in northern NJ Monday night and had a long drive home to Long Island afterwards--got around the downer by chatting it up with the other musicians while loading out (some of whom I hadn't seen in over 20 years!), then put on some good music for the ride home while dwelling on the good stuff that transpired during the entire day. On the other hand, have played P&W music at Easter and Christmas Masses at my church over the past year that required a lot of preparation and top-notch musicianship, and things came off very well, but I felt very let down afterwards, mostly because most of the singers and instrumentalists left right away, so I didn't get to enjoy much camaraderie with them afterward.
svtb15
Inactive
- Mar 22, 2004
- 13,004
- 4,741
- Disclosures
- I play it all. Whatever works for the gig. Q+
I never get post gig depression.. Im glad to be home. I might get a post TOUR depression.. hahaha 
Post Tour depression because i then have to go find steady work again... The Four Seasons Hotels exceeds my home bathroom and room service, i have to carry my own gear again, i have to pay my own tips, and wash my own clothes again.. So i only get post tour depression... But never post gig.. since my home is waaaaaay nicer than any gig place that i play
Post Tour depression because i then have to go find steady work again... The Four Seasons Hotels exceeds my home bathroom and room service, i have to carry my own gear again, i have to pay my own tips, and wash my own clothes again.. So i only get post tour depression... But never post gig.. since my home is waaaaaay nicer than any gig place that i play
The last time I got PGD was when I accidentally pulled out my bass cable with my foot from too much movement on a big stage. It took me about four measures to figure out why I was getting no sound. Nobody in the crowd noticed it, but the band did and I sure did. 
I actually thought about that one single moment for a few hours the next day. This was despite the fact that the gig was a big success.
I actually thought about that one single moment for a few hours the next day. This was despite the fact that the gig was a big success.
It kicks in about the same time the 5 hour energy expires.... hopefully I'm in the driveway by that time unloading.
