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Tea Totaller Gigs..

#62
ZenG said:
Excluding Praise & Worship settings, have you ever played a ' no alcohol served' gig?

If so, did it differ from, say, a bar gig where half the people are inebriated?

If yes:- How did it differ?
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I've played a bunch of no alcohol gigs. Coffee shops, art galleries, city park civic events, private parties where the host was in recovery, all ages clubs, live radio shows on dry college campuses, etc.

They aren't any different for me, but my current guitar player has stage fright without a beer to take the edge off.
 
#63
1954bassman said:
So quite a few of the responders here feel not only do they play better when drinking alcohol, but when their listeners are drinking alcohol they like their band better. Interesting concept.
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sure, I don't see why this is any kind of particularly interesting/unexpected concept.

A few drinks will not usually mess with the skills necessary to play most music that goes down in clubs, bars, parties, functions etc etc ..
fine old tradition of musicians taking an edge off that can, in fact, loosen up (in a good way) performance skills. I'm not talking about getting blasted, just putting on a happy glow. The list of famous, and amazingly skilled musicians who are known to take a drink before performing is very large.

As for listeners/audiences, a little taste of barlyecorn has been a tradition associated with popular music since Greek and Roman days.

Personally, I do have a drink or two while I play, unless it's forbidden by agreement or contract - and then I don't have any issue with that at all.

all of this, of course, is IMO/IME
 
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#65
dtripoli said:
Teetotaler gigs?
Lots. Never gave it much thought. Festivals, carnivals, coffee house regularly.
Now that is not to say the audience were all teetotalers but that the venues did not serve alcohol.
Many years ago we did do a 12-step group picnic/BBQ at a local park.
Our drummer, who secured the gig, neglected to inform us the nature of the party.
We did our normal sets which referenced drugs, alcohol and general depravity and we were damn near got run out of town on a rail with the villagers chasing us with pitchforks and torches.
Live and learn.

View attachment 1037902 View attachment 1037904
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Thank you for spelling Invalid Link Removed correctly. Yes, in fact, I am--secretly, of course--a Grammar Nazi. :D
 
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#67
There's a place in Takoma Park outside of DC called the Electric Maid. It's semi-famous in this area. A weird little art space where bands play but no bar or anything. They have a small fridge which they sell water and soda out of. You can bring your own but most people don't bother. If the crowd is "your" crowd it can be a fun place.
 
#68
I've played lots of all ages shows where no alcohol was served, a couple of sober clubs when they were popular back in the 90s, and a handful of AA/NA festivals. I've also played some psychiatric hospitals when I was doing shows for HAI (Hospital Audiences Inc.). To be honest, I don't notice much difference in any of the audiences. Some audiences are great, some suck - doesn't really have a whole lot to do with the alcohol. A lot of times the sober audiences had more life.

The black and white clips in this video are from an all ages sober club. The color ones people were drinking. You tell me which was better.



:) OK... just watched the whole thing myself for the first time in a while and realized there are no audience shots in the color sections. But I guess that kinda proves the point I was trying to make.
 
#72
I played at a party that was thrown by a local AA group. No alcohol but it was over 100 deg. that day. I played outdoors too. It was humid, hot, and plenty of Coke and Pepsi to go around. I had to play with my eyes closed to keep the sweat from pouring into my eyes, and I had a hat on but it didn't help. Probably the worst gig to this day for me.
 
#75
Joe Nerve said:
I've also played some psychiatric hospitals when I was doing shows for HAI (Hospital Audiences Inc.).
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I used play Musician's Union trust fund jobs at a local mental hospital where I was living at the time. No alcohol there. Interesting gig though. Often times the only way to tell staff from patient was by the color of the badges they were all wearing. Although there were many who didn't need a badge. One of those was my indoctrination of the affects of strobe lights on some people. That was a mess...
 

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