Really bad gig experiences?

[JacksonConcept]

What are some of your worst experiences on stage?

At one of my gigs in a very small club in Texas, it started raining like hell and the roof above the stage started leaking bad! The stage became soaked very quickly and we were playing while standing in water. During a break, we moved our equipment and effects pedals onto the floor below the stage and a drunk guy stepped on my pedals and knocked a mic stand over. I pushed him and said a few choice words to him before the power went out [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Oh yeah, I saw a hot girl walk by the stage once and I suddenly forgot what the hell song I was playing [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Drsracing]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

I was playing at a small coffee house/club and I was drumming well I thought it would be cool to wear my overalls with a sleevless shirt under them to look cool, well I didn't relise that they were baggy as hell and as soon as I started playing my kick pedal would go under the cuff of my leg getting caught, so I ended up finishing the show in my boxers. I've lost countless sticks in the air too but I'm ready for that with a bag right at my right side.

[Newc]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Our drummer's snare stand fell apart during a song, and he spent the whole time holding it with one hand, and trying to keep the beat going. He tried to fix it before we started the next song, but it was toast, and there wasn't time for him to get another one from the lounge/warmup area, and we couldn't send anyone to get it.
So we played a couple more slow songs to finish the set, told a few jokes, etc etc, just to eat the time away so we wouldn't have to go into more songs. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Newc

[mariner99]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Arrived at the venue with just enough time for a quick sound check before the doors opened. During the sound check, my power amp laid down and died. No choice but to go from preamp to the PA, but we dialed in a pretty nice tone fairly quickly. Left the stage so that the opening band could do their sound check. Came back to do our set and fired up. Much to my chagrin, instead of my usual CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA, I heard cheesa cheesa cheesa coming out of my guitar! Finished the song in full panic mode while wildly gesturing to the guy running the PA at every opportunity. He knew something was terribly wrong and was frantically examining his settings. He finally realized that he had plugged me into a microphone input on the board, made the correction and my CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA was back.

[JacksonConcept]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

I could start a new topic on sound guys who have no clue! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[mariner99]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Do it! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[lerxstcat]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Playing at Keesler AFB Airmen's Club, our singer (ex-Airman and a smartass) says:

"Hey!! How y'all doin' tonight?"

RAAAAAAARRRRR!!! went the crowd

"How many of y'all have girlfriends back home?"

RAAAAAAARRRR!!!

"Well I wonder who they're with tonight?"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[JacksonConcept]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Originally posted by mariner99:
Do it! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've always played in 2 guitar bands in which I play mostly rhythm with a few solos and I don't know what it is about soundguys who think the lead guitar should be so loud all the time that the rhythm guitar is never heard! They don't get the concept of the dual guitar sound and how it thickens the music. I've had friends so many times walk up to me and say they can't hear me playing or I've walked out in front and sure enough, my guitar might as well be in its case cause it aint being heard!! Pisses me off!! [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img]
Sorry, had to vent! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Inearthed]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

First couple of gigs we played something bad happened at each one.

I played at some crappy high school talent showcase back when I was a senior in high school and for kicks we played Metallica's Four Horsemen since that was the only thing we all knew and thought it would be a bit fun to play it. Started off okay since we sounded good at the beginning (despite being really really nervous, since it was my very first gig and there were probably about 300-400 people there!). So we played it and it sounded pretty decent but at the first part where the two guitars are playing and everyone else stops (the 0 0000 0 0000 0 0000 0 part around 2:00 into the song) we decided to play it with just 1 guitar going and then everyone else would jump back in.. The other guitar player's amp cable (which was crappy and old cut out because he moved forward a bit). After about a second of silence people just started cheering so I just jumped in where he left off and continued playing that rhythm part and then he yanked on his cable (which also was a bit kinked up) and it started playing properly again. Whew, saved!

Then around the part with "FAMINE... blah blahb lah blah blah... PESTILANCE... etc" the singer's voice started to give out / crack / sound terrible. He got really depressed and stopped moving around and pretty much started just standing there and doing the vocals with a frown on his face (he was only a freshman, and this too was his first concert). He struggled pretty bad through the last vocal part in the song (between the first and second solo).

Well, bad stuff comes in 3's as they say, and it sure did here.. The end solo comes in and the other guitar player manages to get the first 10 or so notes in on the solo before his cable begins to cut in and out again... So he stops playing all together and the bass player just lays down on the open E trying to help him out by checking his cable and the entire end of the song was ruined because the drummer figured to keep on playing until the other guitar player got his stuff fixed and I decided to play the song as it sounded... Terrible ending to the song, and of course right as we finish, the other guitar player's cord kicks in properly and starts working again for him to hit an ending chord, what luck... [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

So after that we had another gig (we kicked the vocalist out of the band because he wasn't cutting it) and basically we ended up having to deal with stupid crap like the sound person turning of a surge protector that had only one chord plugged into it (and it was the amp of the other guitar player too... What luck). Ruining the end of one of our originals. Then the next song we played (another original) we'd get to the slow and heavy part of the song that we all really liked playing and a circuit is blown for the entire building. Five minutes later, the circuit is reset, we start playing the song again and at the same exact part (no kidding) it cuts out again. So we say forget it and play another song with lights going and everything and (amazingly enough) no more cut outs... That song was the "cursed" song for the first 3 gigs we played because something bad always happened.

The other gig we played that song just sounded like shit because for some really weird reason EVERYONE was playing something different at one point and it went to crap.

Forth gig we played though (with a new vocalist who had like 5 years of live performance experience) went wonderful and we nailed everything with very few flaws and it went great.

In another band where I play bass, we had our first gig at a bar in Seattle with about 40-50 people in attendance and everything before the performance was great... We'd been practicing and nailing the songs and everything. But then we get to the gig and the drummer doesn't have a monitor so because of the design of the stage (and the soundguy really made no effort to try to get a substitute for the drummer since we were the last band of the night) the drummer couldn't hear anything other than himself... Basically the entire performance was plagued with off time playing, the drummer losing count or playing drum beats too early or too late simply because he couldn't hear anything other than himself. Amazingly enough, no one noticed the tons of fuck ups that happened (which I've actually noticed... the average listener picks up on nothing as far as playing goes.. But when you listen to the recording you see how terribly you played!)

I have another gig this Monday, so, knock on wood, I hopefully won't have anything bad to post here after that gig.

[RacerX]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Originally posted by Gary Powell:
Oh yeah, I saw a hot girl walk by the stage once and I suddenly forgot what the hell song I was playing [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Maybe I'm just giddy from just playing the Metal Jam, but that is the funniest fucking thing I've read all week! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

"Yew iz a profeshunul!" [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[VitaminG]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

how'd the Jam go, Ron? Did you get "I Wanna Be Somebody" down before the gig?

[pagemalicious]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

My first gig was terrible. We brought in a new drummer and vocalist and we thought we would do fine for this gig. So we play the first two song fine, not a problem. But when we started the next song, our drummer forgets all of his beats. So we're all standing there like a bunch of idiots improvising most of the song. For the rest of the set the drummer comes in and out of time constantly and the vocalist sounds terrible. We finish the set and we walk off stage with about two people clapping. The next day we kick the drummer out and within a couple of weeks after we kick the vocalist out.

About a year after we finally have a new and improved lined with 9 decent songs and getting demo's out to venues in London. We finally get our first headlining gig in a smelly little underground pub. The stage was the smallest stage i have ever seen and each band that played that night had their equipment off the stage so there was room to move a bit.

We get on stage and play the first song fine, the only problem was that the bass was turned up a bit. As soon as we play our next soon, the bass all of a sudden just drowns everything out including the drums, we all go out of time and wonder what the fuck is going on. Our drummer stops playing, stands up and shouts at the sound engineer. He just sits there and fiddles with a few controls but, through out the set the bass was still drowning everything out but we managed to pull through. Old school metal heads head banging and had compliments from every one in the crowd.

[RacerX]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Originally posted by VitaminG:
how'd the Jam go, Ron? Did you get "I Wanna Be Somebody" down before the gig?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh it was a blast! [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] I didn't practice as long as I wanted (I was trying to line up transportation up til the last minute) but I think I did OK. See

http://www.jcfonline.com/cgi-bin/ult...=003517#000008

[micha]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

well, on my second small gig (was on a private party with about 200 people I guess) we've had such a nice girl who was about to sing with us.
we've had a couple of rehearsals, but she never brought her sheets with her, so about every rehearsal was clearly fucked up vocal-whise.

the big day came, and well, 20 mins before we were about to play she freaked out and started like "I don't know the lyrics, I can't do that"...

maybe the right way would have been to cheer her up, but I was simply sick of that hazzle and said "maybe you should have brought your lyrics to rehearsal? I printed them twice!!"
she started crying and disappeared. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

we've waited for another couple of minutes and looked for her everywhere in the hall, but she was not to be seen, so we decided to start playing without her.

I lost the orientation completely in one or two songs and well, they were simply fuckin boring as instrumentals, but anyway, we played until they cut our power off.

never played with her again.


a shame really, but we had a laugh about it right after and drank a couple more than planned.
I slept in my gigbag that night, since I wasn't about to drive anywhere anymore...


clear success!! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[RacerX]

Re: Really bad gig experiences?

Originally posted by micha:
20 mins before we were about to play she freaked out and started like "I don't know the lyrics, I can't do that"...

maybe the right way would have been to cheer her up, but I was simply sick of that hazzle and said "maybe you should have brought your lyrics to rehearsal? I printed them twice!!"
she started crying and disappeared. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ha ha, you meanie! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]