The other bands bail, now what??

[horns666]

Thanks guys!! You rock. Great ideas here. No, we don't know any covers..may learn a few LOL...
We actually have a few songs that we laugh about them turning into 20 min jams, if we didn't have someone to tell us when to stop...they may get their 20+ mins of fame LOL...
I've heard back from a few bands..they all have other plans, or are playing etc. Got an offer to play with one though LOL..sure why not.
Oh well, I'll take it as it comes..have fun with it. And take pics for you guys...(thought I would forget didn't ya??)

That's the 'tude..you go girl..we know ya can..

Bill

[hippietim]

I'd do some covers. Here are some of the simplest older metal tunes to pull off that everyone will dig:

Livin' After Midnight
You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Paranoid
The Trooper
Back In Black
Only (if your drummer has the guns)
Metalized version of Surrender
Straight Through The Heart
Them Bones

[hippietim]

Oh, and do the jam from Freebird or Green Grass and High Tides - that should cover 20-30 minutes

[jgcable]

This is a very easy fix. There are a ton of simple cover songs that go over bigtime and are LONG.
Warpigs... simple and you can make it REALLY long
Paranoid.... the extended tons of solo's version
Train Kept a Rollin...... you can get 20 minutes out of it
Almost anything from Kiss
How about a super heavy version of Fight for your Right by The Bestie Boys.
How about some really long shredding guitar solo's
How about Stranglehold??? Thats good for 30 minutes if your lucky!!
How about doing some of your really popular originals twice? Just mention that alot of late comers are requesting them. The crowd will never know.
You could always provoke a good bar fight. Thats good for at least an hour and you will be talked about for weeks.

[dg]

Ace of Spades. Easy & always a crowd-pleaser. Same goes for Breakin' the Law. However you guys decide to handle it, good luck & have fun!

[Soap]

Aside from learning some cover tunes asap and learning as many cover tunes asap you should start doing right away, cause it may come down to you doing the whole show.

While busting you butt learning some cover tunes, try your very best to get a band to fill the gap and take some of the load off. Honestly, that shouldn't be too hard. I didn't say the band had to be stellar. Just decent musicians that can hold their own "looking for an opportunity."

Somehow, if all possible and it will be hard to do, but rise to the occassion and.....do your best to keep it fun.
If not, it will feel like work and that sucks, big time.
Try while learning all the cover tunes to keep it light hearted and fun some how.

[toejam]

Cover Slayer's Reign In Blood album... it's only a half-hour long, so you'll have to play it like 4 times, though.

[Drsracing]

Tim stole my idea, but I'd recamend the 45 min version of freebird followed by Inna Godda divda

[Newc]

RE: Reign In Blood: Unless you play it at half-speed and call them originals

Kiss - God Of Thunder. Simple as pie. Even has a drum solo.
Kiss - I Love It Loud. 6 note guitar solo and a huge drum beat.

Covers are your friend. The power of Classic Rock compels you

Cat Scratch Fever. No one hates that song if they listen to anything rock.

It's simple, too.

How about a Metalized version of Cocaine?

There's tons of simple songs that everyone loves and only the most hardcore thrashing doofus would sneer at for not being "Metal Enough".

[Soap]

This is a very easy fix. There are a ton of simple cover songs that go over bigtime and are LONG.

Edited version:
Warpigs... simple and you can make it REALLY long
Almost anything from Kiss
How about Stranglehold??? Thats good for 30 minutes if your lucky!!

My added suggestions:
Where Eagles Dare....great Maiden tune thats some what long.
Revelations...another great Maiden tune.
Exciter...Great long Priest tune
Rock n roll all Nite....a simple but a must Kiss tune. Huge crowd pleaser.
Revelation Mother Earth....great long Ozzy tune, not hard to learn.
For Whom the Bell Tolls...easy kicking Metallica tune.
Fade To Black...it speaks for itself...simple and killer metallica tune.
Heaven And Hell...great Dio era Sabbath tune...long too and easy.
Boys Are Back In Town....easy and great Lizzy tune, very fun to play another crowd pleaser.

Don't think much about the cover tunes, as you can see they will easily come to ya. Go find a "filler" band to help do the gig.

[OnlineStageGear]

Wow, I see a LOT of suggestions that are NOT easy to learn for a whole band and make it presentable for an audience.

[m2pmd70]

May I request metal covers of Gimme Back My Bullet, and Who Can It Be Now? Ooh, and What I Like About You. I've always wanted to hear someone "metallize" those.

As for an opening band, just get some fuckups, that way you guys look all that much better when you rock the house.

Seriously tho, if you have to go it alone explain the situation to the audience once or twice. I know I would be sympathetic if I heard a story like that. But not bailing would show a lot of character in my book.

[khabibissell]

The Wizard from Black Sabbath and Wrathchild from Iron Maiden... two easy songs. I play them with my brother and his kids when we jam at parties and the crowd loves it!

[lerxstcat]

Yeah, easy covers would be stuff like "All Right Now" and "Can't Get Enough", some Stones stuff like Jumping Jack Flash and Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Man, etc.... Stuff that basically has few parts, no crazy breaks, you can still throw an extended solo into every song. I mean, c'mon, The Trooper? Not that it's THAT hard, but when you need to work up about 20 songs in 10 days, The Trooper is not the kind of songs you want to go for.
Why not just say Metropolis Part I?

I think it'd be easier to work up some easy covers than try to find a band at short notice. If you come across someone, cool, but don't count on it.
Hey, "Be My Lover" by Alice Cooper is super easy to play and sing, and people love it. So's "Eighteen" and "Under My Wheels". "Pretty Woman" VH-style, "Bad Moon Rising" metaled up a bit would be cool. "Born to be Wild" is a staple, seems you said you've played biker events and that song is always handy to know. Anyway, the idea is simple 3-to-5 chord songs that you can rock' em up and they still sound cool. You'd be surprised how quick and easy it can be to work up covers if you're not trying to cover Nevermore or Symphony X!

[5074charvel]

The other bands didn´t make it - try to take advantage of it. Tell the crowd and make it a happening.

Cover tunes might do it. Van Halen started as a cover band...

AC/DC tunes might help. Judas Priest - Breaking the Law. Or metalised versions of Pop-songs everyone knows.

Some audience participation if you have a frontman that can handle this with humor and good attitude. A Blues Jam ala Led Zepplin.

Don´t let the fun get taken away, Enjoy.