Unexpected gigs

[jimk]

Wow! I know I can't top that one. Sheesh.

I remember once my band was hired to play at the opening and dedication ceremony of a new park. All the local pols, big wigs, and shakers and movers were there each with their entourage, and the accompanying local newsies. So we start playing, and the crowd slowly gathers. We're thinking that this is going to be great. When suddenly something happens, some VIP gets up and decides to leave or something, and like a flock of geese, the whole crowd got up and moved as one to another location. We were playing to empty chairs. Unbelievable.

JimK

[qwezirider]

Nothing too out of the ordinary for me and shows. Negatives of things not going quite right?

Drummer left a snare at home only to discover that problem at gig out in the middle of nowhere near home.

Drummer left kick pedal at home only to discover that problem at gig out in the middle of nowhere near home (we actually mic-ed the stage next to his kick foot to pick up something of value...thank goodness it was Johnny Cash music).

Drummer left entire kick from Roland V-drums at home only to discover that problem at gig out in the middle of nowhere near home (and rigged a new kick with another pad and lots of duct tape).

Three different drummers. Why do I detect a pattern here?

[jdogric12]

Next, perhaps: Left drummer at gig in middle of nowhere...

[qwezirider]

They always manage to find their way home, though.

[phlemmy]

The very first gig I ever played when I was 17 (1987). I was on drums and did backup vocals. We opened with Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills and right before the vocals were to kick in, our singer ran off stage and didn't return. the guitarist and I had to split duty on the vocals for our whole set.

Afterwards, we found Joe in the back chatting up a few ladies trying to be a rock star. He promptly got the **** beat out of him. I've no regrets about doing it either.

[phlemmy]

Playing drums in a progressive rock band in the early 90s, my stomach was upset...bad pizza before the show or something. Halfway during the first set, I felt the stomach churning, turned my head to the left and threw up all over my left arm and the floor...never missed a beat. After the first set, the bar owner, a friend as well, hosed me off out back and gave me another t-shirt to wear. Finished the rest of the show with no problem.

[captsandwich]

Backstage (well, under stage actually, the band room was in the basement) after soundcheck, having a bite to eat and just goofing around. Waiting for the opening band to show up. The singer whacks her head off a low hanging pipe, starts to bleed a little, panics. Bass player (her boyfriend) whisks her off to the hospital. We're sitting around, not knowing what the hell is going on. Finally, right about the time when the bands were supposed to start playing, the opening band shows up "Sorry we're late, the weather is terrible and we had a nightmare getting back from an afternoon gig outside the city". They rush on stage & start to play. After a while they say "We've got one more for you folks, then the headliners are coming up". I'm just off stage left yelling at their bass player to play more songs. No sign of our band mates. Our bass player finally shows up with no singer, she had been told by the doctor that she didn't need stitches but she should get some rest, so she went home. Furious discussion backstage about what to do; tell people what happened & send'em home, play without the singer, what do we do. I walk out on stage and explain the situation and give people the option of leaving or sticking around while we play some songs with me doing lead vocals. All names will be taken for free admittance to a future show. We ended up playing for almost an hour. When I would forget lines, people in the audience would shout out cues for me, sing along, etc. The set list was scrapped, people would just call out song names & we would decide if I knew enough verses to do it. We probably sounded like ****, and I am not much of a singer, but I (and other members of the band) had a total blast on stage that night, and members of the audience told me how much fun it was afterwards.

[deaconblues]

Probably not as cool or bizarre as some of these but...

I used to be in an 80s-style rock band, in my young and irresponsible high school days . (I used my 330!) My friend had a big birthday party at his house and asked if we would like to play. Halfway through one of the songs, our guitarist (who's really anal about music sometimes) stopped playing so he could turn around and scream at the drummer for being off-time...this started a big altercation with them yelling at each other, while the rest of us stood around awkwardly...

Yeah, that was our last show...in retrospect it probably improved the performance.

[atomic_punk]

Man, I had a great story to tell.....but I just can't find a way to make it PG.

[lennon211]

Sorry to bring this one back up, but I just had an unexpected gig fall into my lap.

Some friends of mine are in the faculty band where I did my student teaching and they've had me sit in at practices when someone wasn't able to be there, particularly on bass. Well, they've called me up to sit in again, this time at a gig on lead guitar. Needless to say, I'm more than a little shaken up. Now this week I have to learn about 15 songs well enough to get through on co-rhythm and then the accompanying solos. They have at least given me some caveat with the set list to determine what I can learn on short notice.

Now I just need to figure out what guitars to take for the primary and backup and then what amp.

Guitars being considered are: Ric 330, Ric 1997, Fender '62 Tele RI, Gibson Firebird, and Gretsch Duo-Jet.

What do you all think: AC-30 HW or Fender '59 Bassman RI?

[JakeK]

AC-30 HW, hands down. After all, wasn't it you who said "it can nail the tone of anything you want"? What kind of music/audience will you be playing to?

[1965]

If it was me, I'd take the Tele as the primary and the Firebird as backup with the Vox.

[lennon211]

AC-30 HW, hands down. After all, wasn't it you who said "it can nail the tone of anything you want"? What kind of music/audience will you be playing to?

It's a gig before a football game. Lots of alums and students with parents. Covers are the word of the day, with some Beatles, Creedence, Cheap Trick, and other hodge-podge from the 70's and 80's.

[kiramdear]

Man, every gig was unexpected in the coffee houses of North Beach in the seventies. One time after the gig the bass player went out front to find a homeless guy sleeping in his van. He pulled out a gas can, soaked the poor wretch and had his Zippo cocked before his bandmates could pull him off. Another time we got tipped a bindle of some "recreational" powder and three people almost died of poisoning. Musicians need the hardest-working guardian angels in the business.

[paologregorio]

(1) First gig ever: club loses its live music license the day before we're supposed to play. Sucks.

(2) Lunchtime gig before the crowded lunch area at UC Irvine when I was a student there; I'd invited my whole fraternity, as well as everyone I knew on campus. What heappens? Our other guitar player flakes out on us: "sorry guys, I can't make it after all via the telephone", and I have to figure out how to play two guitar parts on one guitar...in the space of the few minutes between when I find out he's not showing up and the time we are scheduled to go on. I managed, helped along by bumping up the volume a notch or two and adding a bit more overdrive. It was kind of weird, but it definitely made me a stronger guitar player. The band ended up being a trio for a couple of years, and after a bit I didn't miss the other guitar at all.

(3) This past March, my fellow guitarist Jayme's amp starts going south on him mid set, and dies completely two songs before the end of the set. Diagnosis? Broken connection inside the amp, and the 6L6 power tubes were done (8 years old). I think it cost him all of $100 or less, including tubes and labor. I love our local amp tech!

(4) Afew weeks later, Jayme accidentally hits the "sharp" button on his Boss pedal tuner as he's tuning his guitar before our set; he tunes his guitar sharp and doesn't know it until we start playing. It sounds really awful. As Jayme retunes with my tuner, the drummer says to him, "can't you just not play". Jayme sees red but maintains his cool. The drummer was already in a bad mood at the time, and refused to play about half the songs in the set, stormed off after the gig, and quit on us. Bonus for us, we find another drummer, Jesse, who we actually get along with, who is not an unstable nut job prone to violence, and hey, he rides an old Triumph motorcycle, so we all have something else in common.