Strangest gigs?

[SteveHeissner]

Not me, but the drummer in my band saw this a year or two ago: he played for a swinger's party. People started fu#$ing and blowing each other out in the open - there were private rooms designated for that purpose but some couldn't wait and started banging each other out in the open while the band played. Sounds like the ancient Roman Empire.

 

[Mr Grady]

Another singer insisted on singing "Strangers in the Night" using only the words "scooby dooby doo".

that just cracked me up!

 

[MatticusMania]

Not me, but the drummer in my band saw this a year or two ago: he played for a swinger's party. People started fu#$ing and blowing each other out in the open - there were private rooms designated for that purpose but some couldn't wait and started banging each other out in the open while the band played. Sounds like the ancient Roman Empire.

Thats usually how those kinds of parties go. Sure, there are designated rooms for people to play in, but theyre more of a suggestion than a requirement. The whole grounds is usually fair game.

 

[bassman1185]

10 years ago on the NYC Fetish Ball website a few people posted in a thread about the bass player who ruined their whole night by not playing along.

You regularly check out the NYC Fetish Ball website?

 

[MatticusMania]

You regularly check out the NYC Fetish Ball website?

I might. Used to. Ive since relocated to California.

 

[TheMightyWoot1]

Our band played for a roomful of lesbian nazi hookers who were abducted by aliens and forced into weight loss programs.

In Albuquerque?

 

[DvbcBass]

I was asked to play at a Halloween party years ago. The house was in pretty rough shape with garbage strewn everywhere and in the kitchen it looked like every utensil including carving knives and large roast forks were on the counter top

. The host of the party had made a creative costume using a pumpkin that was used as a mask or actually a helmet and he set it down next to all the utensils while the band set up on a lower level of the house. I sensed that this crowd didn’t have very much respect for the host as they were yelling while he sang and played. There was a lot of booze flowing early in the evening and I knew things would get worse. While we played in the lower level, some of the quests apparently thought it would be fun to stab the large pumpkin costume in the kitchen with the assortment of forks and sharp knives left so conveniently on the counter top. When our host took a break and discovered the defilement of his pumpkin head costume I could hear him scream while we tried to continue to keep the music going. I had to duck for cover when he came into the part of the house wearing his pumpkin on his head complete with about 50 forks and knives sticking out of it. He continued to pull them all out as he wore it on his head and threw them recklessly everywhere in all directions. I had to protect myself and my equipment. I didn’t know these people and this was way too much. As I planned my escape the Pumpkin host thought it would be funny to try to sing a song with his now utensil free pumpkin head costume. Unfortunately a few of the psycho guests thought it would also be funny if they reinserted the discarded forks and knives that were laying all over the floor, back into the pumpkin , while he wore it on his head. . They were stabbing the utensils right in there like crazy freaks in a movie. There was no way I was going to witness this kind of Halloween accident and grabbed my guitar and amp within 4 seconds and was out the back door.

 

[nutso42]

This thread needs to be a TV show...

 

[JoZac21]

I have a few bizarre ones:

- My first ever gig ended with the band I was playing in getting into a fist fight with the audience.
- A fundraiser show for a dude with cancer, in which we opened for Otto and George (a very off-color ventriloquist act).
- A gig I played with a fever of 104 degrees on a 104 degree day in a park in the South Bronx (the ghetto) playing an African music festival (only our lead singer was any bit African, but not by much).
- Played with an eleven piece avant garde noise band in a punk club...
- Once a band I was in booked two gigs an hour or so apart from each other in two different venues a few blocks from each other. We only advertised the second gig. My girlfriend was the only audience member for the first gig. The second gig had 100+ people.

I'm sure there's more... I just can't remember right now. I have a tendency to wind up in weird situations...

 

[JoZac21]

Oh yeah, I also played a gig under one of the retired SSTs... that was cool.

 

[Ric5]

Strangest gigs?

Back in the 80s I played a gig with a band and we played for a mental health facility. The people really liked us. But I had to tell the guys we needed to ax the song "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"

 

[MatticusMania]

- Once a band I was in booked two gigs an hour or so apart from each other in two different venues a few blocks from each other. We only advertised the second gig. My girlfriend was the only audience member for the first gig. The second gig had 100+ people.

Ive had this happen before. We played a place called the Joint, to pretty much only the other bands on the bill. Finished up and got invited to play at a party... over 100 people there. We had to use car headlights to light the band up.

 

[JoZac21]

Ive had this happen before. We played a place called the Joint, to pretty much only the other bands on the bill. Finished up and got invited to play at a party... over 100 people there. We had to use car headlights to light the band up.

Nice.

In our case it was sort of intentional. Often with this band we would have a rehearsal before a big gig to make sure we warmed up and knew everything. There happened to be an open slot at a dive bar a few blocks from the venue we were playing at like two hours before we were supposed to go on... so our bandleader figured, "hey, lets play this place... then we won't have to pay for a rehearsal spot".

It actually worked out really well. We even got paid in free beer!

 

[BrotherEarl]

Played a gig at the club/bar where Blue Man Group empties out into. When patrons left they could hang out and have a cocktail before they left and listen to us play. Somewhere in the archives my wife has a picture of me nose-to-nose with one of the Blue Men who found me oddly curious mid-song.

Played a venue where there were two stages - on on either side of the venue. We would play for thirty minutes and then another band would play for thirty minutes. I found out later it was their "solution" to double booking the night. They did pay us both though, so major props to them.

I was playing in this really terrible band that just couldn't get their acts together. Drummer was a perfectionist and his piano playing wife was just terrible. They rented a hotel function room for her 50th birthday and we played that. Forty-five of their closest friends for the occasion politely sitting and being tortured by this terrible, terrible band. Everyone was too polite to say how awful it was.

 

[Biggbass]

I think our strangest gig was about 3 years ago when we were hired to play for a high society event. It was held in a large hotel ballroom, staging and sound & lights brought in, lots of decorations...a real festive occasion by all looks. But the high brow attendees were just too rich and powerful to be seen having a good time in public so they all just stood around schmoozing and boozing. They should have just played CDs over the ceiling speakers. Near the end of the night, when we had a couple of songs to go before being done, one gal who had finally had enough booze to not care anymore finally got on the dance floor and convinced a couple of her gal pals to join in. Then they started requesting that we play disco music.

 

[rtslinger]

Strangest played for people and their pets weird to see people dancing around with their cat or dog

 

[mixtapelove]

When I was a drummer and lived in Australia, I played a gig at a lawn bowling club. The majority of patronage was 60+ and not really into our brand.... the best part was when they invited us to actually bowl. These four bums in our 20s are standing on a green with all these geriatrics wearing white shirts and slacks.

I managed to do okay since I am a fairly accomplished golfer and could kind of get the feel down, but it was a very strange experience.

 

[xk49w]

A few years back I did a New Years Eve gig at a restaurant with a jazz quartet. We got there about 6pm. The first bunch blew their whistles, sang Auld Lang Syne and left by 8:30. Rinse and repeat with the next batch by 10:30. That was strange but I wish they were all like that. Paid well too.

 

[Bard2dbone]

I don't think I have that many really wierd stories.

After reading your whole post, this is the only part I call BS on.

If you knew some of the people I was comparing myself to, you'd understand.

Since it's not my story, I'll fictionalize slightly. A friend I'll call Bob for now was in a mostly punk-ish kind of band in the mid to late '80's. They got hired for a party that was happening out in a pasture. The crowd were mostly bikers, and not the harmless weekend variety. Just about when the crowd was really happening, a whole bunch of people with 'Special Agent' in front of their names came running from all directions and tried to arrest, well...everybody. It turns out that much of the crowd had experience with getting away from people called 'Special Agent ______', but the band members did not. Now 'Bob' is one of those naturally guilty looking people. And the agents love nothing better than finding the most nervous guy in the crowd to sweat in front of their friends. Except the only friends 'Bob' had there were the rest of the band. And after they were hearing how he was going to go to Leavenworth if he didn't talk, they weren't so sure they wanted to admit they knew him, either.

Another friend played a goth club and the drummer's grandparents showed up to listen to the show, in appropriate costume. You don't generally see many eighty-something year old goths. So you had to give them points for trying.

We have an outdoor festival in the park in Ft Worth called Mayfest. A LOT of bands end up doing their first real show there. My ex-keyboard players little sister was playing keys in her first gig at Mayfest some years back. We went to see her play. But the crowd was all gathered around watching an EMS crew take away a guy who'd collapsed at their show. He died. So we would tease her long after that band had gone away: "Hey, Amy. I heard y'all KILLED at your first show."


See why I don't think my stories are THAT weird?

 

[Corbeau]

Once, Japanese improvisation conductor Otomo Yoshihide came to my city and there was a call-out for musicians to come along to a rehearsal and concert. Not having an acoustic bass, I went along with my acoustic guitar because there were no facilities for electric instruments. About 60 people turned up.

"Rehearsal" involved learning some simple hand movements [fast, slow, quiet, loud] and getting into the mood of improvisation. There were all sorts of instruments - violins, guitar, drums, ukeleles, a few banjos, some singers, horns, xylophones, etc.

After "rehearsal", we went to a nearby performance area and we played for half an hour doing pure improvisation. It was a very interesting experience!