I was phoned by a "promoter" who was putting on a US country singer at a local venue. The venue is 500 a seater , some fairly big names play there , our band is a tongue in cheek country trio with a strong element of humour, the artist in question is a serious female singer songwriter but on balance we decide to go for it. All three of us have day jobs at the same place ten minutes away so not exactly a big deal logistically.
The promoter then goes quiet on us , the listings appear and no mention of support act. I send him a couple of texts and get no reply, I start to think this is pure fantasy or he's had second thoughts....time passes... he calls me out of the blue to explain that the original artist had to pull out but someone else equally huge is playing that night and we are still the support....time passes...with a week to go I text him to ask about set length, sound check etc.....nothing.....two days to go....
A phone call asking if we'd been sent any tickets to sell (we get a cut , I know it's a crap deal but it wasn't a tricky gig to do and it was good exposure) ...no we hadn't.
He blames xy and z for this and says the gig is still on....on the day of the gig we set off after work but on the way he calls me..."They don't want a support act but you can go on after, she will big you up"
I meet the others in the car park , basically after the main act finishes we get to set up and be just about ready to play to an empty room half an our after the punters leave. We say thanks but no thanks and go home.
He's offered us another gig in November that is shaping up in the same way....