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What's the SMALLEST "crowd" you ever played to?

#61
25. I am primarily a worship musician, and attended a tiny little Baptist church for a year. But since I am trying form an irish trad group, and also try to play with some of the local blues bands, I might just see a room full of crickets in the future.
 
#62
Oh yeah? I still remember a gig: The only guy that would listen to us was 80 years old and he was there asking us for directions. Then he begged us to stop playing an left. It was a 12 piece band, and were supposed to be playing on a tree. Infact, we were to do the gig in an ashtray that was stuck on a tree. A very high tree, my back still hurt from lifting my 300 lbs rig with one hand while climbing with the other. And we had no power on the tree, in case you're wondering: we had to run in a power generating hamster wheel to play.
 
#63
Bocete said:
Oh yeah? I still remember a gig: The only guy that would listen to us was 80 years old and he was there asking us for directions. Then he begged us to stop playing an left. It was a 12 piece band, and were supposed to be playing on a tree. Infact, we were to do the gig in an ashtray that was stuck on a tree. A very high tree, my back still hurt from lifting my 300 lbs rig with one hand while climbing with the other. And we had no power on the tree, in case you're wondering: we had to run in a power generating hamster wheel to play.
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Don't own an acoustic bass yet, eh? :smug:
 
#65
I have a warning:
If you're going to play a show, go all out. Do half-ass it because you think no one is watching.
My band and I half-assed a show that we weren't really into a few weeks ago.
Then someone posted some clips of us playing that gig on Youtube.
You never know who's watching.
 
#66
At the open blues jam session I attended last Thursday, there were only the other musicians signed up to play in the "gig room", but after each songs, you could hear clapping and cheering from the bar side of the building. They could hear everything, they just didn't want to watch us while we played.
 
#67
Love playing Saturday Worship service at our church. Sometimes we start playing and we're playing to maybe 1 or 2 people. By the time we're done playing the first song maybe 20 there, by the end of the 3 song worship set, normally about 60 plus.

Sunday morning first service can be just as bad.
 
#68
BZadlo said:
I have a warning:
If you're going to play a show, go all out. Do half-ass it because you think no one is watching.
My band and I half-assed a show that we weren't really into a few weeks ago.
Then someone posted some clips of us playing that gig on Youtube.
You never know who's watching.
Click to expand...

+1000!

If one person showed up to see you play, they deserve everything you have to give. I used to have a guitar player that would complain on mic about how many people showed up. Don't chastise the people that came out to support you, especially about the people who didn't! Be thankful they are there, and make them want to come back with friends the next night!!
 
#70
Repeat after me:

"You people rock! What a great crown tonight. I want to thank all of you for coming and giving us a chance to entertain you. We hope you enjoy the show as much as we enjoy playing the music for you!"
 
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#71
txbasschik said:
Three illegal Mexican construction workers and their foreman. It was cold at this outdoor venue, so they were wayyyyyyyy in the back at the fire pit. Next to the food and the beer.

We got 35 cents.

Cherie
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LOL:D Great story! I read it all about the cracked out owner leaving and all but i have to ask. Where did you get the 35 cents from? :)
 
#72
Passinwind said:
How about getting paid to stop playing? It's happened to a certain friend of mine more than once, I believe. :atoz:
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The last gig I did with the indie pop band, we had the plug pulled on us as we were tuning up to play. We got paid (crowd was low, but not empty), and the new owner wanted people to dance. After his manager told us we could tear down, they put Metallica on the jukebox. Go figure.
 
#73
BZadlo said:
I have a warning:
If you're going to play a show, go all out. Do half-ass it because you think no one is watching.
My band and I half-assed a show that we weren't really into a few weeks ago.
Then someone posted some clips of us playing that gig on Youtube.
You never know who's watching.
Click to expand...

You've got that right. We got fired from a nice weekly gig right at showtime because attendance was waning. We had the option to play that last night, or not. The leader was really distraught, didn't want to play. The place was pretty much dead empty at this point -- maybe 5-6 patrons.

The other guy and I gave him a pep talk and we decided to go down in flames. We played our butts off, the place mysteriously filled up, and after the second set the owner tried to re-hire us after checking the sales receipts. We went for less gigs but more money, which is perfect in my world.
 
#74
Played the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base the night before the invasion of Grenada. We were held up at the gate for a while, we were allowed on to play and told not to deviate from the road to the club (which went by the airstrip which was quite busy), and played to the bartender and a single officer. Didn't find out what was going on until the next day.
 
#78
Couple of years back a friend of mine invited several people for a party he was throwing (not a huge crowd anyway). He asked me to bring an acoustic guitar so we both could strum along and please the crowd. Instead I brought my Godin A4 with me. Noone turned up (it was some sort of football league night; not a soccer fan myself, really). ANyway we started playing songs just the two of us from 10pm till 4am NON-STOP!!!! I took ALL the leads and fills, cause my friend is STRICTLY a rhythm player. We had SO much fun that we wanted to go out and have a drink at 4 in the morning!!!! So the smallest crowd was ZERO people but it's a night we still remember!!! Their loss!!!
 
#80
I guess, technically, it was 5 people, but that went on 6 nights a week for three weeks ......

In 1974 I was on the road with a fairly well known (at the time) NYC area singer/trumpeter. The next to last stop on a 5 month road tour was at a place called The Red Lion in Metarie, LA (just outside New Orleans). In the three months prior to us playing there, every act was major league entertainment for that time (Liza Minelli, Johnny Mathis, etc), so when we got there NO ONE had any idea who we were ...

Three straight weeks, 6 nights a week, three shows a night and only three (3) people total showed up. Plus, the entertainment (us) were not allowed to communicate with the club help .... no talking to the waitresses (usually 5) or bartenders (usually 3) at all, and each night until the very end they kept bringing in 8 people to staff the place ... :rolleyes:

Worst gig, ever ..... :atoz:
 

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