First gig played, where and when.

[SH73]

December 1989 somewhere in Europe. Age 16.

[Oopsdabassist]

Sept 2003  at the Pitz In Milton Keynes, I'd been playing Bass for about 5 months at this point so only knew about half the set, the lead singer played the other half instead of his 12 string acoustic.  I just cowered next to my amp for the whole gig looking terrified lol!

[fretmeister]

1987 school swing band, on sax. 

 

[Strawbs664]

May (?) 1988. Gosport Labour Club. We payed a two hour originals set and I was blown away that people actually applauded at the end of the first song!

[mikel]

1967 at the West Allotment CIU club. I was 15 and had been playing guitar for 3 months. I knew 6 chords, sometimes. We were a Blues Band. What the miners and their wives thought of 4 spotty teenagers playing "The Blues" is not on record, but I recall they were more enthusiastic when the Bingo was announced.

[police squad]

16 hours ago, gjones said:

My first gig was on the 8th of December 1980, aged 17.

It was at my school 'Rock Nite'.

My band was called Peach Melba (named after a flavour of yoghurt) and we chose the lead singer, because he was the best looking guy in the school. Unfortunately he was also the worst singer in the school.

We got booed off.

 

This is my second gig, at the sister of the guitarist's 21st birthday party. That bass cost me £50 (We were a bit better at this one, we'd been practising).

Oh and we'd got a decent singer by then. Yoshi was Japanese and she had a Led Zep obsession.

 

Washburn Stage guitar!!

 

[Lozz196]

17 hours ago, Norris said:

Kay SG copy bass - absolute rubbish!

My first bass was one of those - action about 4 miles away from the neck.

[Lozz196]

5 hours ago, Oopsdabassist said:

Sept 2003  at the Pitz In Milton Keynes, I'd been playing Bass for about 5 months at this point so only knew about half the set, the lead singer played the other half instead of his 12 string acoustic.  I just cowered next to my amp for the whole gig looking terrified lol!

Not a bad first gig though, Russ, decent venue that.

[HengistPod]

September 1992 at Platform 9, Aberdeen (closed down decades ago).

I'd been playing for 12 years, but never made it out into the public eye.

We were supporting a band that featured one of my girlfriend's mates on guitar, so played just under 45 minutes of covers - Screaming Jets, Joe Satriani, Ozzy, Tom Petty, Thin Lizzy, UFO, The Cult.

Non-sensibly, our drummer was up the back about 10 feet behind the backline, so couldn't hear a thing we were playing. I have a sound-desk tape, though, and it sounds surprisingly decent. We were absolutely rehearsed to death, which was just as well.

The bass was an "Arbiter" copy, and very good. Wish I'd never sold it now.

 

 

[upside downer]

1991.

25th Sept - passed driving test.

26th Sept - moved in with girlfriend.

27th Sept - first gig playing at The Oakley Arms, Rushden with The Fly Agarics supporting Derik's Experiment. Played for around half an hour, mostly our own tunes. I knew root notes and not much else. Didn't matter, loved it.

 

I now hate driving on our clogged-up roads and the girlfriend and I parted about ten years after.

Still love playing bass.

[grumpyguts]

I think it was 1986, pub near Kingston - If I remember correctly... called The Jolly Boatman. Can't have been that bad cos we did another at the same venue a few months later.

[rogerstodge]

First for me was a place called Skunx in London somewhere supporting the Angelic Upstarts, must’ve been 1980, I was 18, played a Columbus P copy .

[arthurhenry]

5th Feb 1988 at school. You could ask about my 19th, 273rd, 409th or 1001st gig and I could tell you the date, where it was, which band, which bass I played and whether there is any associated ephemera, photos or recordings. I have a record of every gig I've done.

Edited January 11, 2019 by arthurhenry

[skankdelvar]

A hired room just off the Hull Uni Students Union Bar in 1978. 

[Muzz]

St Michael's Youth Club in North Manchester, Nov 1980...with a 4001. Six months later we were playing clubs like the Cypress Tavern in Manchester, and Manchester Poly. I recently received a copy of a recording done that night in the CT...we weren't half bad, but more importantly, I remember being "Yeah, OK, what next?"   The confidence of youth (we were all 16) 😁

[peteb]

11 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

A hired room just off the Hull Uni Students Union Bar in 1978. 

Always assumed that you would be an Oxbridge, or possibly a Durham, man...

[skankdelvar]

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

 

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

 

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

 

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

 

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

5 hours ago, peteb said:

Durham

 

Edited January 12, 2019 by skankdelvar

[simes]

Mid 90's pub called The Lime Kiln middle of nowhere north of Carlisle long gone now, Rick Kemp and Maddie Prior watching as it was their local. I was bricking it but go through it. Never get nervous at all now luckily.

[Rich]

Venue: The Red Lion, Brentford (RIP)
It was October 1986. Mullet, stupid clothes, LOTS of slap.
The set was all original material, 80s rock-pop. Bloody good songs too. We were young, slim, hirsute and firm buttocked and we KNEW we were going to be megastars.
I used my Wal Pro 2E, plus a Roland SH-09 for synth parts, through the Laney PB150 4x10 combo my wonderful parents bought me for my 21st birthday earlier that year.
This was the band's first gig and was a Saturday night support slot for Philip Jap's then band 'Secret Society'. (I think he missed a trick by not calling them 'Jap's Eye'.) A year later we were headlining and selling-out our own Saturday night gigs at the Lion, while Secret Society were relegated to Fridays. Nick Beggs was in the audience for one of our early gigs with them. No pressure there, then.

[musicbassman]

Year: 1970

Place: large youth club in the wrong part of Exeter.

Job: Dodgy local band with a stand in lead guitarist as we'd had a massive row the previous day and regular guitarist had flounced off, taking his homemade Les Paul copy with him.

It became clear soon after we shakily started the first number that we were really there just to provide some background music whilst there was a massive brawl between two rival gangs of skinheads which soon took up the entire dance floor. It was serious stuff and we were close to trouser soiling in case the rival gangs decided to vent their frustrations on the band instead. We stopped after four numbers as the police arrived. I've never been so glad to have a reason to stop playing. It was the bands first and last gig.

[Baxlin]

1962-ish, aged 15.  Eastwood (Notts) Church youth club.  Vince Pinkerton and the Lawmen. Two guitars and a 3-drum kit.  One shared amp, no bassist.

Very professional outfit, as you can tell.

 

Edited January 12, 2019 by Baxlin

[BreadBin]

My first proper gig was Defiants at Peewees Real Ale Bar in Trowbridge, sometime around 1988/9. 

[tauzero]

First gig - playing guitar (a Vox Stroller) for a Glenn Miller tribute band at school, about 1972. The old music school building that we performed in has since been replaced by the Paul Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, presumably due to Sir Paul feeling a bit guilty over the £100M he made betting that Northern Rock would turn to ashes (IIRC).

First bass gig - playing my Hayman 40/40 that I put together from parts bought from the Fender Soundhouse, in the bar at International Hall, in That London. Assorted originals and covers. This was a shakedown gig, we played a second one for which we actually got paid in the same bar, and a Turkish belly dancer also appeared.

[josie]

Completely unlike pretty much all of the above:

07/04/2015. Age 60. GMR Bassforce 5. Solo bass/vocal at my local om - "Feelin' Good" - as someone said, "a damn nerve!" but I was utterly terrified anyway, so go for it. Visibly and audibly utterly terrified, but met with a huge wave of support - the regulars had been trying to talk me into it for months. Still a defining moment in my life. 

20/03/18 - first band gig, a little family and friends thing in the Band on the Wall café at the end of a blues workshop. That has grown into

31/01/19 - first paid gig for the Plastic Mojo Blues Band 🙂 

[Raymondo]

On ‎11‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 12:32, HengistPod said:

September 1992 at Platform 9, Aberdeen (closed down decades ago).

I'd been playing for 12 years, but never made it out into the public eye.

We were supporting a band that featured one of my girlfriend's mates on guitar, so played just under 45 minutes of covers - Screaming Jets, Joe Satriani, Ozzy, Tom Petty, Thin Lizzy, UFO, The Cult.

Non-sensibly, our drummer was up the back about 10 feet behind the backline, so couldn't hear a thing we were playing. I have a sound-desk tape, though, and it sounds surprisingly decent. We were absolutely rehearsed to death, which was just as well.

The bass was an "Arbiter" copy, and very good. Wish I'd never sold it now.

 

 

My first "decent bass" was an Arbiter ...same colour ...but mine had a cover over the bridge pick up that kind of "floated" ..my playing style meant that I kept leaning on it and it collapsed on to the strings....I had it sliver riveted in the "up" position and never had a problem afterwards...loved that guitar, like you I wish I had not sold it!