Would you walk out mid-gig?

[StayLow]

Professionalism ALWAYS matters. Someone else being unprofessional doesn’t give you license to be unprofessional. You conduct yourself in a professional manner for YOU, not for THEM.

Right, so don’t join a totally unprofessional band comprised totally of unprofessional musicians performing in venues that do not present professional entertainment and one will never have this unprofessional problem!

 

[mdogs]

Never walked out in the middle. Nearly quit before a gig after a blowup with the BL. A couple of gigs later with the same band, I had an intense feeling before a gig that I should be quitting right at that moment, but I didn't. The gig was a complete train wreck, BL kept calling songs which only he and the female singer had rehearsed, some of which I had barely heard and had unreadable chord charts. He disbanded the band after that gig, ok by me. But, he wanted to play out the gigs, that I had arranged, with just him and the female singer. Uhh, no. They were quickly cancelled.

 

[StayLow]

If your ideal gig is crappy venues with clueless drunks, do what you want - you can stay there and play those gigs as long as you want. If you want to play better gigs, I’d suggest adopting a professional approach wherever you play.

You move up if and when you’ve put in the time and effort, and are ready for the next challenge.

Catch-22. A “professional approach” means you’ll never be in that situation.

A “professional approach” means 99% of the “audition” threads in this forum wouldn’t exist because no professional would entertain such massive-red-flag unprofessional audition requests/situations in the first place, much less waste an hour’s practice time typing out a lengthy OP about it… or maybe it wasn’t potential practice time because it was done while committing time theft at “work” which is … unprofessional!

Virtually certain the band in question started out unprofessionally. Vast majority of posts on this forum have nothing to do with, and are usually antithetical to, acting professionally at music or perhaps something much more important. Very much including this post I’ll admit. It’s all a matter of degrees, and context.

 

[rtslinger]

I have never walked away during a gig.

 

[LBS-bass]

Catch-22. A “professional approach” means you’ll never be in that situation.

A “professional approach” means 99% of the “audition” threads in this forum wouldn’t exist because no professional would entertain such massive-red-flag unprofessional audition requests/situations in the first place, much less waste an hour’s practice time typing out a lengthy OP about it… or maybe it wasn’t potential practice time because it was done while committing time theft at “work” which is … unprofessional!

Virtually certain the band in question started out unprofessionally. Vast majority of posts on this forum have nothing to do with, and are usually antithetical to, acting professionally at music or perhaps something much more important. Very much including this post I’ll admit. It’s all a matter of degrees, and context.

Careful now, you're starting to show signs of being the kind of person that will get dragged through the mud here for daring to have standards and a desire to be better than average at what you do. That will get you in trouble around here.

For my own part, I've never walked off mid gig. I'm not sure if I would, but I would certainly re-evaluate why I am where I am and likely not come back for more torture next time.

 

[klejst]

I would not mid-gig however I'd be done after that gig. Pretty much pack my stuff and take off afterwards. Or wait to head back to the practice space to get anything of mine still there and then quit and take off.

 

[Swipter]

I did. I played with this guy who played keys. He played all the bass VERY LOUDLY. I talked to him about and he made a snide comment that he couldn't hear me, duh. Well after the second set I left since he obviously didn't need me.

 

[Eric Swaim]

I walked out mid gig about 30 years ago sitting in with a Country Band for about 4 months. A fight broke out between the female owner and her boyfriend and I said I am out of here. If you dont want to get shot, you better be following. My last gig sitting in with country bands. That could happen with any band at any venue. That night I had enough of the crap gig.

 

[micguy]

Catch-22. A “professional approach” means you’ll never be in that situation.

I agree - all the more reason to go that way.

 

[Altitude]

Only if I felt unsafe or if there was something illegal going on.

Volume level probably doesn't rise to that level - I'd finish the gig and the next day (not the night of) advise the bandleader that I can't take any more gigs unless the band can moderate volume.

 

[Pilgrim]

If something went wrong and the venue became dangerous, I'd leave.

But I'd never go there with a band that would play so loud my hearing was in danger, so I don't anticipate ever having a problem with that part of it.

 

[Isaac_James]

I've never walked out mid-gig, but I had a drummer do this once. We had a show at a bar in Portland, it wasn't an especially packed house but hardly deserted either. Our drummer had always been a little tightly wound, for lack of a better term, but we chalked it up to him having a stressful job that required long work weeks (he was a cargo pilot). In the months leading up to this incident, though, he seemed even more wound up than normal, and would blow up seemingly out of nowhere.

So we're playing a set, it's going fine as far as I can tell. Guitarist and I lead into a song and notice the drummer hasn't started, we look back and he's packing his stuff up. Won't say anything to us besides "I'm done". It's very embarrassing for the guitarist and I, but we apologize to the crowd and say we have to cancel due to an emergency.

A few days pass, drummer won't take our calls except to say he doesn't want to be in the band anymore. He was our guitarist's childhood friend so this is very weird and out of character, even for him.

A few months later we learn that he's got a brain tumor the size of a golf ball, which probably explains the weird behavior. He starts treatment for it, and then a few more months after this he finally reaches out to us, says he feels awful about how things ended and wants to know if we'd like to play again. We tell him yes, and the guitarist goes over to check in on him. Turns out he's actually very ill, in no shape to play, and dies not long after that. We never got to play again, but I'm glad we had a chance to mend fences a bit before he died.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Unless my personal safety was threatened, or some other emergency, I would finish the gig. If volume was that much of an issue, I would stop playing, because that is, to me, a health issue.

 

[sotua]

I could see myself quitting a band at the end of the night.

I have done this, but finished the gig first.

 

[mrcbass]

I'm sure anything is possible, but it's hard to imagine. It would take some pretty extreme events to risk my reputation, even if it is the smart thing to do (not all of the story always gets out). And I try to be calculating about things and try to avoid knee jerk reactions.

Regarding volume wars, that's probably no different than at at rehearsals, so I'd have dealt with it before the gig.

 

[portpc]

I walked out on a band about 10 years ago after waiting for a table to clear in a brewery/restaurant for over an hour. We were waiting to setup and the venue kept seating folks in our performance area.
Normally I would have stuck it out as such things happen but I had just driven over an hour to get there directly from a weekend work seminar. I was also not seeing eye to eye on several topics with a couple of the bandmembers and a split was imminent.
I told the drummer " I am finished with this" and walked out the door.

 

[DrayMiles]

Yes. I've quit during the first song. All it took was a disrespectful comment uttered into a microphone. The band I was in didn't soundcheck, because I was driving from London to Liverpool. The singer/guitarist (23) said something into the mic being a smart*** and I took off my bass and left. I wasn't being paid for the gig, and I had had enough of the self entitled/spoiled shenanigans... I missed a soundcheck for a last minute gig for no money... Yeah, I quit and felt no shame...

 

[Blazer]

I did a one off gig in 2013 for a band called "Mystery act" where members of several bands would perform three songs, they were "Kickstart my heart", "Born to be wild" and "You gave love a bad name"

During rehearsals it became quite apparent that I was the only one who took it seriously, as the others. (The two singers in particular) had no chance in hell to sing those songs in the right key, let alone ON key. But I figured, for a one off, that wouldn't be an issue, give it your all and **** it.

But as we hit the stage, the intermission music was still playing through the stage monitors. I looked at the people at the sound desk and made movements to cut the music off but it kept going while we were already playing.

So after that first song I grabbed a live mic and said "Guys turn the music in the stage monitors off!" I got blank faces in reply, then somebody reached from behind them and switched the music off. But the ordeal wasn't done yet.

Because in its place came uncontrollable feedback and I had to take a few steps away from the monitors, which made my background vocals useless, I went "Guys, adjust the feedback on the stage monitors!" and got blank facial expressions in reply.

I later learned that the sound crew were just friends of the organizers of the event and they knew poop from Shinola about how to adjust sound for a band.

Yeah that was the worst gig I ever did but I didn't walk off.

 

[Carl Hillman]

This question is related to another thread.
Gig Report. My ears are destroyed.

There were comments from some people about quitting on the spot, mid-gig.

Would you ever quit or leave abandon a band mid-gig? I think in my case, it would need to be something really bad, like personal danger to me to even think about that. Otherwise, I think I could/would stick out a gig instead of getting the band, the crowd, the venue mad at me and possibly ruining my reputation as a trusted, professional musician.

What do you all think?

Kleenex, or toilet paper, in the ears, and I finish the gig.

I've never walked out of a gig because of band drama. I have walked out because the client/management refused to honor our agreed-upon terms.

 

[BluesWalker]

I would never quit mid-gig. I recently quit a band at the end of a gig. I got tired of the BL and second guitarist getting wasted, playing wrong songs, wrong key, forgetting verses, etc