Wackiest "stage" you ever played on.....

[saabfender]

In high school, we played a bunch of gigs around Park City, Utah. One was at some rich German’s soon-to-be-completed house’s warming party. The upstairs was done but the downstairs, where we performed, was all bare framing and plywood flooring. We set up in a corner “room” and played through the framing to the crowd. It was kind of like playing in a jail cell made of 2x4s.

After playing “A Hard Day’s Night”, he enthused that we “sounded just like the Beatles!” I estimated his age and accent and he just might have heard them in Hamburg. Anyway, it was a very sweet thing to say.

 

[JohnnyChatter]

When I was 15 I did a Midwest tour and ended up in South Dakota in a small town. The band who has asked us to come rented out a school gym and built a stage. Only problem was the stage was three tiers and were taller than they were wide so we all had to stand perfectly still in fear of the structure callapsing.

Later in life I played a motor scooter shop that had a built in skatepark and we got to play on the fun box in front of the half pipe while skaters did tricks around us.

 

[AztecViking]

Back in high school there was a certain policeman who made it his mission in life to break up every high school party possible. And he was dang good at somehow catching word of where these parties were going to be. Particularly if a live band was playing. So my band ( who was notorious at the time for randomly setting up and playing at any party we were requested for ) got summoned to play a "canyon party". Someone had secured a portable power generator and we went out into the local canyon areas and setup our equipment on raw dirt and weeds. Kegs were brought. Car lights lit the place. The whole usual high school party crowd was there in full glory and we were completely outside of the jurisdiction of "Captain Midnight". Our pet name for the abovely described law enforcement officer.

I did NOT really enjoy playing on dirt! The dance crowd kicked up loads of dust. All equipment got hit hard by it. But we partied and had a good time. And Captain Midnight never showed.

Here's two views of San Timoteo canyon where we played.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

This is a true story. In the early 70's there was a bar in Sitka called the Three and a Half club. It was a girlie club. Towards the end of the night they would start removing their skimpy clothes. The guitarist was underage (18) and I was a few years older. The girls would dance for 20 minutes, and we would play for 25 minutes. Sometimes when the night wore on and the dancers got ummm tipsy, if the spirit moved them, they would get up on stage and dance while we played. Needless to say it was distracting. But fun! We became good friends with them and we were much younger than they were. They, um, also schooled us in the finer things in life. It was a very eye opening experience for me.

I fell particularly hard for one of the dancers, she was so soft in her personality and feminine. I was shy and she was always trying to draw me out. I would have married her in a minute. Alas her tour of duty was up and she slipped out of town to some other dance club somewhere and I don't remember her name anymore.

Another strange gig for me was the week Mt. St. Helen blew. We were on our way to Montana to play. We had to stop a couple times because it looked like fog outside it was so thick, yellow sulphuric smelling smoke. It covered our vans with a fine dust. We got to Montana, and the air was foggy with volcanic ash. We played on a large flatbed and everything became covered with that powder. It was like playing in the fog. By the way, the stuff was impossible to get out of the crevacesses in the vinyl covering on the amps and PA speakers. Ahhh, the 80's. Fun times indeed.

 

[KeithPas]

I played a on a sewage treatment platform. It looked okay from where the audience was but the top of it was two by fours and we could see the bubbling miasma of human waste and chemicals inches from our feet. I couldn't believe the effectiveness of the system because I do not recall it smelling foul.

 

[GManfromOz]

I bet it was loud as crap in there. But that stage actually looks pretty cool.

Loud, no crowd, and we faced into the setting sun. A tough gig.

 

[Jokei]

+1 for boxing ring, bouncy.

 

[pklima]

Up in a tree.

 

[JGbassman]

I don’t have pictures of it, but s party boat on the lake of the ozarks. They would cram about 200 people, go out for two hours, come back, reload and go another 2 hrs.

If the lake was a little choppy or the people started jumping things got interesting pretty fast

 

[darkwasthenight]

I played a on a sewage treatment platform. It looked okay from where the audience was but the top of it was two by fours and we could see the bubbling miasma of human waste and chemicals inches from our feet. I couldn't believe the effectiveness of the system because I do not recall it smelling foul.

I think that takes the crown - why on earth were you playing there?

Mine are a bit pale after that, but there's definitely been a few odd ones. 14 piece latin orchestra on the back of a flat-bed wide enough for one abreast, which meant that as I was on the far left the other end of the band was probably thirty feet away from my position and the entire line was swaying drunkely as we tried to establish eye contact around each other.

Done lots of squat shows which are universally fun but an awful environment - generally no running water and the doors get locked overnight so you have to wazz out of the mailbox. Solids are verboten but there's usually enough chemicals floating around that you couldn't even if you tried...

Last halloween we rented a giant gothic-style deconsecrated church in a town near us for a 'Black Mass' all-nighter. We set up the hall with tunnels herris fencing covered in drop-cloths to create a bit of a maze with hang out spaces in it, and then the band playing directly underneath the tower at the other end, and then spent a few hours filling most of the church with fake smoke lit by portable workers spotlights as the only illumination. Looked incredible but amazingly cold and the reverb was longer than some of the songs. I got to rearrange some of our tunes for pipe organ accompaniment though.

 

[Wesley R]

Nothing truly glorious like some of the ones mentioned here. We did play at a lumber yard on a big stage, probably about 16ft X 32ft and 6ft high. It was four stacks of 2x12's, and a cold night we were under some hot lights and one of the gas heaters that was really long by the entrance. Guitars went out of tune constantly, even my Guild bass needed to be tuned after the second set.

 

[heatheroo1]

Used to play in a wedding/polka band. Every summer we played a church picnic for a catholic church. The picnic was behind the church and we setup on a 2nd floor porch attached to a convent.
A) the porch was pretty rickety. We kept wondering if this was the year it was going to let go
B) Every now and then one of the cloistered nuns would peek out the window at us while we played

 

[HolmeBass]

Played a bowling alley in Christiansburg VA when I was in college. They set up a stage about half way down the lanes. Bowling balls whizzing by us the whole time. The sound of the pins falling totally drowned out anything we were doing.
Getting off the “stage” I learned just how slick those lanes are, busted my butt for all of the Thursday night league bowlers to see. Of course the PBR and Old Milwaukee could have played a part as well.

I played that duck pin bowling alley that used to be south side in your home town! They had removed the center two lanes and put a permanent stage down at the pin end of the former lanes. Thankfully duck pins are smaller and quieter than full-sized.

 

[Bassbubble11]

I played a new year gig at some warehouse in nj years ago. The stage was raised pretty high of the ground but the drum riser was like 5 feet high. Really weird.

 

[pjbassist]

Just like @alaskaleftybass I played at a strip club in short 20 minute sets between two stages with poles...
Also played for the opening ceremony for the dorms at my hometown college campus. We set up on the basketball court with the drummer under the backboard.

 

[Chad Bennett]

I played that duck pin bowling alley that used to be south side in your home town! They had removed the center two lanes and put a permanent stage down at the pin end of the former lanes. Thankfully duck pins are smaller and quieter than full-sized.

I went to that place a few times when I first moved here. Had a great time, it was a bit odd, but they always seemed to have decent bands playing there. I think they closed down about 5 year ago.

 

[dbase]

Played on top floor of this boat... nice in the summer.

 

[jthisdell]

Played a gig at a local brewery and my sound was awful, all low muddy boomyness. I checked out the low stage to find it was a bunch of old pallets covered by scraps of plywood that were not even attached in any way with an old carpet laid on top. Maybe OK for a acoustic guy playing a guitar but not a bass amp. Next time we played I set my rig on the floor.

Another time we played a backyard party and before we set up we had to scoop the poop. Who would host a party in their backyard and not clean up beforehands? With kids running around and then walking though your house? Had to wipe off all our gear and covers, etc the next day.

 

[ONYX]

Nothing really whacked-out per se.......

I did an outdoor gig once where the stage was set up under a tent in a large parking lot--typical fare. But the stage had a severe lean forward and to the right. Everything had to be blocked or secured somehow to keep it from rolling into the crowd. The singer, guitarist, and myself had to cop weird poses to keep our balance--we looked like idiots, and my back hurt for a week afterwards.

Despite having to deal with that nonsense, it's still one of my most memorable gigs.

 

[mohrds]

Played on top floor of this boat... nice in the summer.
View attachment 2914681

Is it an optical illusion, or is the front of that boat under the water?