Venue canceled our gig last night

[farace]

My early-90s band was playing a gig at a club down the coast in New London, Connecticut one March. Weather was fine, we got there, did our sound check, and headed out to get some sandwiches at Subway. Then the unexpected freak blizzard moved in. By show time the snow had accumulated several inches and was still coming down hard. The only audience we had were our drummer's parents. Oh, and the snowplow operators, who were stopping in to warm up with flaming shots. The knowledge that the drivers of these multi-ton vehicles were drinking was not very reassuring. We didn't get paid, but at least we got what was essentially a rehearsal out of it.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

UGH, wintertime in the northeast USA is just the worst. We're up here in NY getting hammered with lake effect snow. My band was scheduled to perform 10pm-2am in Kane PA, and much of the town and surrounding area we were told has travel bans, so the venue canceled the gig. $800 we all coulda REALLY used, especially my guitarist who just shelled out for vehicle repairs and had child support due.

Dang. Sorry to hear the news. I played in Kane back on the mid 70s. It it was in the summer or spring from what I remember. My wife is from Union City and we were dating at the time. The venue was rather unique. The bouncers were stationed on a balcony and swung down to the action with ropes anchored from the ceiling.

I don’t think it remained open long as we heard there was a drug bust. I will say this, it was a great gig. The crowd was totally engaged. We were hoping to go back when we got the news it was closed.

 

[toddbooster]

I live in Canada, so I know what you're talking about. Funny thing is, I don't ever recall actually having a gig cancelled because of bad weather. Done a lot of butt pucker driving in my time.

 

[bassplayer9512]

UGH, wintertime in the northeast USA is just the worst. We're up here in NY getting hammered with lake effect snow. My band was scheduled to perform 10pm-2am in Kane PA, and much of the town and surrounding area we were told has travel bans, so the venue canceled the gig. $800 we all coulda REALLY used, especially my guitarist who just shelled out for vehicle repairs and had child support due.

Dude I live down the highway in Brookville, PA!

 

[Rip Van Dan]

$800 would have been nice, but even nicer would have been to drop it all in the jukebox afterwards... you may have gotten there 'okay', but what chance did you have of packing up and going home? At 3 a.m.?

Maybe, NY has better snow removal crews on call, 24/7?

When I was living in Vermont, we would shop in New York because the supermarket there was only about 3 miles away. Closest one in Vermont to us was ~22 miles out. Vermont was great at getting the roads in shape but New York was even better AND New York had a "bare pavement" policy. So they plowed and salted the roads like crazy. You always knew you'd crossed into New York when the road went from white to bare asphalt. If they still have that policy, odds are that if the OP could get back into New York, he could have gotten home OK.

 

[RhynoRock]

This is super cool catching up with some nearby folk! We're frequently in Warren & Bradford, not quite as much in Kane but it's sort of a home away from home for us. If you're interested, my band's name is We Speak Canadian. We're a pop music top 40 cover group.

And that amount of money was a bonus because the owner really loves us and we're good pals with him, otherwise we're usually about $650 for most gigs. We do work in contract territory depending on the venue, though. We just got in real good with the Casino in Salamanca this coming year for a series of performances for some solid loot.

And I'm sure I could have made the trip there and back with minimal trouble, but our guitarist (who pulls our trailer) likely would not have been in such good shape, simply because of the trailer. Western NY, which includes Buffalo and Niagra Falls, is among the snowier regions in the country, moreso than much of the state for sure with the exception of maybe Syracuse. Lake effect is a nightmare until the lake freezes over.

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

UGH, wintertime in the northeast USA is just the worst. We're up here in NY getting hammered with lake effect snow. My band was scheduled to perform 10pm-2am in Kane PA, and much of the town and surrounding area we were told has travel bans, so the venue canceled the gig. $800 we all coulda REALLY used, especially my guitarist who just shelled out for vehicle repairs and had child support due.

Why the h*** don't you have situations like this covered in the contract?

 

[RhynoRock]

Because it wasn't a contract gig. It was only better paying than usual.

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

Because it wasn't a contract gig. It was only better paying than usual.

Always have a contract. Always.

 

[RhynoRock]

Please read the rest of the thread.

 

[stonetone7]

Oh, I love a good blizzard gig.

Usually a sparse crowd. But something about that in-this-together vibe in the face of adversity really gets people going.

Best one ever was a Christmas office party at a hotel. Once the snow went over a foot deep it turned into a hotel party with an office also in attendance. We basically played until the taps went dry.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

My turn.
In 1976 I was on the "Holiday Inn" circuit. After a six hour drive we rolled in to a Holiday Inn in Greenville, NC for a week long gig. We went in to the lounge to check it out and plan load in. On stage was the gear belonging to The Ink Spots. At first we thought they had not loaded out yet. Then the manager arrived and told us he was sorry, but he had double booked. He made it good. We got paid and we go free rooms and meals for the week. Nice guy? Maybe, but it was a union contract so he had no choice.

 

[murph7489]

Yeah, the good ol' Southern Tier! Played down that way many times back in the day, and always a crap shoot any time between November and April.

Ive lived here a lot of my life..lol. Snow..so what. Like Buffalo, its not a lot of snow until its like 3 ft deep..then its only a day or so and life returns to normal. Its routine and one of the things that make us tougher than people from other regions of the country..To them its a travesty, store shelves empty and everything shuts down etc however to us its nothing. We shovel out and keep it moving..Someone told me oh I hate the winter and all the snow and cold..I replied, yeah..but we're from NY it's what we do...Route 17 or now I-86 west going toward PA..that is a trip driving in snow..bad bad bad...lol

Oddly I find that the snowstorms here tend to bring a crowd to the bars..Once I went to the bar and it was snowing, a big storm was starting..by the time the bar closed at 1 am there was about 3 feet of snow on the ground bar was packed still..most everyone walked 2 blocks away to a friend of mine's house where we had an after hours party til 4-5 am..lol..its what we do..

 

[Richland123]

Around these here parts of west central Pennsylvania in the Allegheny Mountain Range, it is very common every year to have gigs cancelled due to bad weather. It stinks; but, we have to deal with it. My philosophy is to book the dates and I worry about the weather that day. Just today, I drove 20 miles on black ice to get to my office, which I can't close. At least it was not a gig day because venues will cancel even if there is a chance of bad weather in the forecast.

 

[RhynoRock]

Ive lived here a lot of my life..lol. Snow..so what. Like Buffalo, its not a lot of snow until its like 3 ft deep..then its only a day or so and life returns to normal. Its routine and one of the things that make us tougher than people from other regions of the country..To them its a travesty, store shelves empty and everything shuts down etc however to us its nothing. We shovel out and keep it moving..Someone told me oh I hate the winter and all the snow and cold..I replied, yeah..but we're from NY it's what we do...Route 17 or now I-86 west going toward PA..that is a trip driving in snow..bad bad bad...lol

Oddly I find that the snowstorms here tend to bring a crowd to the bars..Once I went to the bar and it was snowing, a big storm was starting..by the time the bar closed at 1 am there was about 3 feet of snow on the ground bar was packed still..most everyone walked 2 blocks away to a friend of mine's house where we had an after hours party til 4-5 am..lol..its what we do..

Oh yeah that's absolutely true. Us Western NY/southern tier folk are pretty fearless when it comes to poor weather driving. But when the snow is coming down so heavy and wet that municipalities are issuing travel bans and causing businesses to close, that's good for NOBODY. Honestly the ONLY downside to the gig getting canceled is a loss of $100 to each person. We can deal with that. A band member/friend getting killed, we cannot.

 

[Beej]

Why the h*** don't you have situations like this covered in the contract?

Cuz live venues avoid contracts unless you're a well known popular draw?

 

[jeffbrown]

Yup, snow happens. I've lived in NH nearly my whole life. (Not dead yet! ) We deal. What's amusing - to me, anyway - is the people "from away" who panic and, as another poster alluded to, empty store shelves of TP, milk, etc., when the town and state plows have the roads clear usually the next day.... Do they not have this stuff on hand to last a day or two? IMWTK.

The thing to be wary of is when the power goes out. The roads will be cleared soon enough, but a power outage can last for days upon occasion. Even if its out for a day, frozen pipes become an issue if you have no heat! Generators will power your furnace/heat source/refrigerator and all is well. AND it will power your amp for some snowbound practice!

Just an anecdote for preparedness: the longest time I've been w/o power was five days after a freak wind and rain event (NOT in the winter). It brought trees down over power lines over a wide part of the state. I ran my genny for all five days and with my neighbors and our chainsaws, cleared our 3/4 mile street in a day.

Never had a gig canceled due to weather, but we once decided to not go to a local open mic due to a blizzard, so that will have to be close enough. The venue didn't close, but we heard attendance was down. Be careful out there!

 

[sharkbait130]

If you do this long enough , you're going to have some gigs cancel on you. It's just part of the game. I've had a couple cancel due to weather and a couple cancel due to double booking. It happens. I've only had one cancel after we got there due to double booking and at least we ended up getting three more dates out of it. I also remember one very well that I wish would have canceled. February gig and they were calling for snow and ice that night. It started freezing up about the time I left my house. Called the venue........ we're still on. Got to the venue and the roads were starting to ice up pretty good. Asked if we were still on for the night......Yup. Loaded in over an icy parking lot....yeah , that was fun. By the time we started , the roads were an ice palace. Place was pretty much empty , the regular manager for the place was iced in at his house , and the sub manager didn't know how to work the heating system. 53 degrees when we started (fortunately , someone figured how to turn on the heat before the second set) roads were a disaster , and the biggest audience we had all night totaled eight people including two band wives. Played the gig , got paid and everyone in the band slipped on the parking lot ice at least once during load out. My twenty minute ride home took almost an hour and a half. Sometimes a cancellation can be a good thing.