Neither. But you did the right thing. There's always gonna be someone who knows better. And in my view, we have no obligation to listen to their great insights. If they know it all so well, why aren't they the ones gigging?
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Weird post gig interactions
- Thread starter Verb the Noun
- Start date
God knows we have all probably been given unsolicited advice after gigs. I know I have. His timing, approach, and motivation were weird, so...... yea. Don't blame you at all for the chilly shoulder you gave him.
Ive actually gotten some good advice over the years, but most of the time the drunken buffoon approach has me more focused on extracting myself from the convo than weighing the merit of what they are rambling on about.
Exactly, if you have all that valuable advice bursting to get out than go get your own band and share it with them.
I actually had one buffoon tell me he "was going to sit in the next set" and show me some stuff. Not asking, but telling me he was gonna sit in. I just told him I'd rather cut my bass strings than let him play it. He of course moved on to the next logical step of threatening to kick my ass. Whether he could have or not I don't know since he proceeded to pass out face down on a table not long after that, to be carried out by his friends. Whatever.
Two come to mind;
First in the 90's - I was in a pretty successful original band. Got paid well enough that we could pay roadies. At a lot of the shows there would be some guy giving me the finger standing there behind his date who is enjoying the show dancing her butt off. They were probably pissed that their girl was paying more attention to me/the band than them. One night my 6'5" roadie was standing next to my side of the stage. I nodded at him to come over and I told him some a**hole was giving me crap. He eagerly starts into the crowd. At every guy he would mouth "is this him?" I'd shake my head no. After about three attempts with three different guys, the middle finger guy sees that I'm sending my guy after him and he tries to retreat. I lock eyes with him, mouth "that's him!" to my roadie. My roadie sees him, rushes to grab him and drags him out of the club. The kicker - his girl didn't stop dancing and didn't even notice her guy was gone! lol
Second was last month. 80s tribute band, playing in a place with no stage. I hate places with no stages. There's no barrier between you and the drunken fools. If I want to interact, I'll come down to you. Now I am a pretty easy going guy unless someone keeps doing something even after I ask them not to several times.
I have a teleprompter box that I made, looks like a monitor. Has a solid screen around it like a sun screen on a tv camera. Anyway, this drunk guy is dancing in front of me and he starts putting his foot on top of my teleprompter sun screen. I get his attention, shake my head no, while telling him - no, do not put your foot on that. He takes it down. A minute later, does it again, tell him no again, takes it down. Third time he steps hard on the screen and pushes his foot through it breaking it. Then he purposely puts his foot on the monitor and then the singer's teleprompter. That was enough for me and I rushed him with my shoulder (still playing) and yelled that he better get out of there or I was going to rip his head off. His friends and some bystanders pulled him away and I didn't see him the rest of the gig.
Oh bonus story. Punk band, early 90s. Playing at a place with a high stage (Yay). Big crowd, I was standing in my best punk pose at the edge of the stage. This guy keeps grabbing my leg and pulling me of balance. Tell him to knock it off. I pull back. Stand at the edge of the stage again and he does it again, and then 2 more times. After the 4th time telling him to knock it off, I grabbed the neck of my bass, unslung it and cracked him on the head, down he goes. Bouncers came, picked him off the floor and threw him out. This they noticed, where were they when he was bugging me before? I still have the chip in my bass from his head. (disclaimer: I would not do this today (probably) I was much younger and angrier - lol) To be fair, I do give a lot of warnings.
First in the 90's - I was in a pretty successful original band. Got paid well enough that we could pay roadies. At a lot of the shows there would be some guy giving me the finger standing there behind his date who is enjoying the show dancing her butt off. They were probably pissed that their girl was paying more attention to me/the band than them. One night my 6'5" roadie was standing next to my side of the stage. I nodded at him to come over and I told him some a**hole was giving me crap. He eagerly starts into the crowd. At every guy he would mouth "is this him?" I'd shake my head no. After about three attempts with three different guys, the middle finger guy sees that I'm sending my guy after him and he tries to retreat. I lock eyes with him, mouth "that's him!" to my roadie. My roadie sees him, rushes to grab him and drags him out of the club. The kicker - his girl didn't stop dancing and didn't even notice her guy was gone! lol
Second was last month. 80s tribute band, playing in a place with no stage. I hate places with no stages. There's no barrier between you and the drunken fools. If I want to interact, I'll come down to you. Now I am a pretty easy going guy unless someone keeps doing something even after I ask them not to several times.
I have a teleprompter box that I made, looks like a monitor. Has a solid screen around it like a sun screen on a tv camera. Anyway, this drunk guy is dancing in front of me and he starts putting his foot on top of my teleprompter sun screen. I get his attention, shake my head no, while telling him - no, do not put your foot on that. He takes it down. A minute later, does it again, tell him no again, takes it down. Third time he steps hard on the screen and pushes his foot through it breaking it. Then he purposely puts his foot on the monitor and then the singer's teleprompter. That was enough for me and I rushed him with my shoulder (still playing) and yelled that he better get out of there or I was going to rip his head off. His friends and some bystanders pulled him away and I didn't see him the rest of the gig.
Oh bonus story. Punk band, early 90s. Playing at a place with a high stage (Yay). Big crowd, I was standing in my best punk pose at the edge of the stage. This guy keeps grabbing my leg and pulling me of balance. Tell him to knock it off. I pull back. Stand at the edge of the stage again and he does it again, and then 2 more times. After the 4th time telling him to knock it off, I grabbed the neck of my bass, unslung it and cracked him on the head, down he goes. Bouncers came, picked him off the floor and threw him out. This they noticed, where were they when he was bugging me before? I still have the chip in my bass from his head. (disclaimer: I would not do this today (probably) I was much younger and angrier - lol) To be fair, I do give a lot of warnings.
Punk AF!!!! I have had daydreams of doing just that.
I once, indirectly, caused a near riot when fronting my old punk band. Tiny little dive bar venue told us a mosh pit was green light, and had a pair of huge biker dudes guarding the stage and PA towers. Our songs were so short we used to play blocks of four to avoid having more time between songs than playing them. We finish the first block and I do some crowd interaction. Bouncer on left side takes this opportunity to go take a leak. First song of second block was a decently long musical intro, so I jumped down into crowd to get more than the handful of people who were in the pit fired up. OMG did I ever!!! Chaos erupted, and it took serious effort to even get back onto the stage. Band had to repeat intro a couple times, but I finally get back up. First block maybe 5-10 were bumping shoulders, when I picked up the mic and turned around it looked like the entire bar was a full blown mosh pit. Left side tower gets knocked over moments later, PA stops working and set stops. Promoter's first take is "Thats it, show over!!!" and the already fired up crowd starts getting ugly. He changed his mind quickly and we finished set with just one tower once they got PA working again.
At first the promoter wanted to bill us for the PA damage, but blame was eventually placed on the shoulders of the left side bouncer for bailing his position. That venue never allowed a mosh pit again, though we did play there several more times.
