Gigs with band member missing?

[Leonard Smalls]

We've been offered a festival gig in August - small festival of about 3-4000, last year's headline was Stereo MCs - playing on the Saturday night, main stage at 7pm. Which is nice.
Trouble is, our 2nd guitarist can't make it - his other band is playing a goth fest in Germany!
We do have a laptop when we play live which has a few sequences on, but do we turn down the gig or play without him and programme some extra stuff into the laptop?
Punters won't know the difference either way as, despite having been formed more than 30 years ago, we've played maybe 5 gigs in the last 5 years, all but 1 (at Sheffield tramlines) were at parties... (paid? wassat?)

[allighatt0r]

Go for it!

[Mykesbass]

Surely any band that has been together for 30 years is allowed a little flexibility in the line-up! Do the gig.

I worked on an album with US gospel act The Sound of Blackness. They ran as anything from a full 60 piece choir and band, down to four lead vocalists (two who also played keys)!

[Graham]

Not until August, plenty of time to get a dep

[bassbiscuits]

Dep if you can get it, but otherwise just do it missing one member.

My band has a core line up but all sorts of combinations of deps have played with us, depending on who's available to cover, ranging from a five piece to a trio.

As long as you can still make music which the audience will enjoy/expect, no one will care about the exact line up.

Go for it!

[Cameronj279]

I've saw quite a few bands do the same thing. To me the only members you couldn't get away with it would be the drums and vocals.

[FinnDave]

We've played several gigs with one member missing, though both of those member were later asked to leave as we realised it was more fun and sounded better without them. The band's most recent gigs required a dep bassist as I was unable to play after breaking my wrist (and foot) in a bike accident. I am hoping they won't decide to get rid of me as well now!

[chris_b]

Who needs a second guitarist in the first place?

If your 1st guitarist is good enough to play the set on his own, do it.

Embrace the difference in the sound, the dynamics and especially the spaces. Don't fill in any of the spaces.

[BrunoBass]

We practised last night without one of our two guitarists as we have our first gig of the year on Thursday and he's got the lurgy...
We missed him, or course, but having all that space to fill with bass was a rare and beautiful treat!

[RockfordStone]

we have gigged without members before.
you have the time so id get a dep in, he will understand.

[Skybone]

Play the gig.

[sunburstjazz1967]

Ub40 don't even have Ali Campbell any more do they? Peter greens Fleetwood Mac, Status quo without the two main people are still going aren't they I'm sure you'll be fine!

[Toasted]

Did it once. Hated it. Never again.

[Bilbo]

If Yes can do tour with a dep for Chris Squire at 72 hours notice, I guess you probably can!! I have heard of guys learning sets in vans on the way to gigs

[BigRedX]

I think it depends on the band and their audience's expectations.

Covers bands unless the missing musician is a well-know name can easily get away with a suitable dep.

Originals bands need to think a bit more carefully, especially if they have an image that needs to be maintained. IME deps can be a bit funny about being told how they need to look even it's something fairly straight-forward like "wear black, no visible brand or band logos and no trainers".

However, if the band is already using programmed backing then it shouldn't be too difficult to add the missing guitarist's parts to it. I'd probably go this route rather than get a dep. Besides you've got plenty of time between now and the gig to try it out and make sure that the rest of the band are happy with the solution.

[xgsjx]

I also depends very much on what style of music you play.
A previous band I was in did gigs with varying band members. Sometimes there was Singer guitarist, 2nd guitarist, Mandolin, drummer, violinist & me on bass & other times it would be just me & the singer.
Played the same songs & just adapted to suit the musicians available.
That was probably the best band I've ever played in. Just so flexible & fun.

[Dapper Bandit]

Having been the member who couldn't make a gig and the band played on I don't see a problem with this either with or without the additional programming.

Even if the programming doesn't work out right you can take the opportunity to play the songs with a new, one-off twist. Who wouldn't enjoy the bragging rights of being at [i]that[/i] gig?

[Leonard Smalls]

Dep? That's unlikely, but doesn't necessarily mean we won't use another guitarist, or flute player,or theraminist; their instructions would normally be something along the lines of "this one's funky, in Eb (as the singer plays an Eb sax) apart from the bits that are in F#, we'll try and remember to give you a nod, but just keep it that bit crazed, and you can wear this codpiece and platform boots". But they'd only be a 1-2 song guest.
Last gig we were all clergy, the guitarist who'll be missing is the foreground bishop in the cowboy hat...



And there's no covers, so the audience won't know what's coming next! Only problem with doing more programming is that it restricts us; at present we've got 3 songs with backing. In the past we'd jam a song for 30-40 minutes if the crowd were enjoying it. 4-5 hour gigs were the norm back in the 80s!

[lurksalot]

I reckon your style will carry it dude , no problem.

If its a touchy feely thing with the guitar , then talking to him would soon get the answer you need , I'm guessing he would be cool with it

our next few gig are without our rhythm guitarist , well he has broken his wrist quite badly , so his input will be down to BV's and dancing around like a fat Bezz , he's cool with that as well

[TrevorR]

Just do the gig and fill the space between you.

As you say, the audience won't know!

[Dad3353]

I think you'll maybe have some difficulty finding a bishop free at such short notice; even more so one with such a pronounced stoop. May I suggest the cunning ploy of using a full-sized cardboard photo of the Right Reverend, mounted on mattress springs so that it sways back and forth..? No-one will know; you'll probably forget his absence, too, and may even prefer the photo's playing..! Tough call, but that's just one of the drawbacks of gigging with clergy.

[discreet]

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1455024503' post='2975112']
We've played several gigs with one member missing, though both of those members were later asked to leave as we realised it was more fun and sounded better without them.
[/quote]

This is why I never turn down a gig and am always available. We have a gig at the weekend that a guitarist will be unable to attend, but as there's another guitarist and a pedal steel too, I think we might get away with it. No doubt we'll be sacking the guitarist the day after...

[discreet]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1455059098' post='2975622']
I think you'll maybe have some difficulty finding a bishop free at such short notice; even more so one with such a pronounced stoop.
[/quote]

Pronounced '[color=#000000]/[/color][color=#000000]stuːp[/color][color=#000000]/[/color]'.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1455059327' post='2975627']
Pronounced '[color=#000000]/[/color][color=#000000]stuːp[/color][color=#000000]/[/color]'.
[/quote]

Indeed, thus rhyming with 'soup', 'troop' or 'Guadeloupe'. Thank you for that precision.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Dad3353

[blue]

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1455029351' post='2975180']
Ub40 don't even have Ali Campbell any more do they? Peter greens Fleetwood Mac, Status quo without the two main people are still going aren't they I'm sure you'll be fine![/quote]

Who took Ali's place?


Blue