Whats the coldest gig you played outsid

[Eric Swaim]

Long story short, the drummer in one of the bands I play in books a Halloween Party. The gig was outside Saturday Oct. 29, 2017. I wore my sons Clone trooper helment that was in my car to keep my head warm. It was 41 degrees outside and the guitar players Tom Anderson guitar stayed "pitchy" in this condition. Everyone had a great time but froze our rear ends off.

Question to all, whats your coldest gig outside you played.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Every outdoor gig I played in South Carolina was waaaaayyyy on the other end of the spectrum. The pic on my avatar was a July 4 gig in centerfield of a baseball park 100 degrees plus. About an hour in I was sure I was gonna croak.

 

[bass12]

Below freezing, on more than one occasion. Not my favourite gigs at all.

 

[dreamadream99]

Our band got booked for a Bastille Day concert in Canada, in March, one year. It was 17 below freezing (Celsius). That's 1 degree Fahrenheit. It was so cold, only 4 people turned out in the audience. We had to wear and play in gloves. Sax guy's mouthpiece froze to his lip.

 

[Biggbass]

I try not to play in extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, because no one is paying me enough money to risk my health. That said, around 55 degrees is the coldest I've
played outdoors and 104 the hottest. After the 104 gig, five years ago, which was on an uncovered concrete amphitheater stage that had to be 120 degrees on stage, I put a quick halt to that sort of BS.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Columbus Day gig at a campground - low 40s. Audience had a nice bonfire. Not us.

 

[CaseyVancouver]

About -7 celsius which is around 20 farenheit. Had to stand around forever waiting for a parade to happen. I wore fingerless gloves while playing which helped.

Not a great idea to play outside this cold, made worse with the wind chill. I got a bit of temporary tendonitis from it, as did the guitarist.

Also, the twit band leader got the band pay check in front of us, and his dopey wife saw that, then marched over with her hand out. She wanted to go Christmas shopping...

So my check for this freezing gig bounces...! And the dopey twit bandleader drives over at Christmas eve with cash for me. Sheesh.

 

[DWBass]

Not outdoors but was in the middle of the winter. The venue didn't have the heat working and we were setup in an area which is normally open air during the warmer months. Had plastic curtains covering the area. Was freezing. Fingers felt like they were gonna break off. Cold and sore.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

We played just for ourselves in Thailand & it was only 30c
Open air bar, so same as outdoors, at least in temp..

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I played on a gig here in the Ottawa area a few year back for a winter festival called Winterlude and it was below freezing temperature. The stage was warmed up with gas heating devices, so it wasn't that bad at all. They look like fans but they disperse heat instead of just cold breeze.

 

[Mark Reccord]

Top of a ski hill in February. -10C-ish. They had a pair of Salamander heaters blowing hot air on stage. Fun gig.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Don't know if this was the coldest, but last year at a local Christmas parade, they had us set up outdoors next to the Courthouse. The bank sign next door said 27 deg. F. Ordinarily, as a matter of habit, I never let go of my basses, but kept my hands in my pockets a lot that day. Brr.

 

[DirtDog]

On a st Paddy's Day parade float. I was playing pedal steel so it wasn't too terrible. -1 Celsius.

I used to play in a military pipes and drums band; we would play at the National War Memorial every November 11th. It was pretty much guaranteed to be close to freezing AND raining. Your hands get a little stiff when standing motionless in formation for a hour. Instead of whining about it, I always told myself that I'm here while the ones we were honouring never made it home.

 

[The Nameless]

I'm living in SC now, and as another mentioned? Heat here is tough. I have done biker gigs in the middle of nowhere here, outside, for New Year's, and tho the temp may NOT read below freezing, the relative humidity at night makes it feel freezing. Still, the coldest outdoor gig happened when I went out west for awhile, doin gigs in Utah and surrounding states. Some in the winter. Some outside. A few very cold. We played Sat morning on a three day festival in Ogden, heaters ran out of fuel, of course. We saw the band ahead of us shaking their hands an all between tunes, Makin sure to let others around know it was cold. Heh. Our bandleader takes his shirt off to start the set. Ha! I grew up in Ohio, around the great lakes. Very cold there. But outdoor gigs at 20 degrees Fahrenheit are rough. There was sun at the edges of the stage. My instrument cable was long enuff to reach it. Our drummer was stuck. In shade. No heat. That must've been rough. But we did have fun. And played well. I love the cold!

 

[McFarlin]

No one wanted to be the guy who cancels. So I think we all reluctantly followed through.

It got down to 28F with high winds.
That's unusual weather for these parts.
As we set up, the event organizer asks us to play quietly to avoid noise complaints.

Then, this guy shows up!



Worth it

 

[joinercape]

1992, "First Night" (New Years Eve) outside in a park, 17F degrees, for two hours, then four hours in a hotel ballroom starting an hour later, over packed with people, it must have been 100 degrees on the band stand, in the same tux. That was one miserable night. Good thing it paid well, and I was twenty five years younger.

 

[CapnSev]

I've lived in colder climates all my life, so I've played some cold gigs. I used to play at the Park City (Utah) ski resort regularly for gigs, outside in the snow.

I bought one of those fleece tube thingys that you stuff with hand warmers; like the ones that quarterbacks use. I would shove my hands in there every chance I got, and it worked like a charm!

 

[Wandering Bass]

Coldest paying band gig was Reno Nv New Year's Eve back in the 80's. It was only about freezing, but we were kind of in a corner between two structures and wind gusts kept circling around. I was foolishly playing a Gibson 1960's EB-2, constantly slipping out of tune. My girlfriend brought me a pair of fingerless gloves...bright pink. I rocked the look.

Coldest gig was college drum corps. I don't remember why, but the performance was a must-do, though they did shorten it. Some official ceremony with military people. Veteran's day maybe? Frigid temps with wind blowing ice at us. It probably seemed important at the time. With age came the appreciation for climat controlled venues.

 

[filmtex]

Last February we did one of our (regular) outdoors gig at a restaurant in Fredericksburg, Tx. 22F degrees during the last set. Boy was I glad they brought out the giant propane heaters, warmed my hands up between songs. Last Saturday it was about 44 at the Halloween party.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Every outdoor gig I played in South Carolina was waaaaayyyy on the other end of the spectrum. The pic on my avatar was a July 4 gig in centerfield of a baseball park 100 degrees plus. About an hour in I was sure I was gonna croak.

Ha. I played an outdoor show at Wofford College in Spartanburg back in March of 2013. By midnight it was 33 degrees F. First time gigging where I could see my breath. The really hard bit was loading out--hands so numb it was hard to hold onto things. We were grateful that the guys from the fraternities helped with the heavy stuff. Never again.