World class musicians in a pub

[arthurhenry]

Imagine the familiar scenario of a pub which puts on live music, but whose clientele are largely uninterested. Now imagine either an established, internationally successful and well known band, who would likely be unrecognised by the general public, or a group of similarly qualified, but anonymous musicians, were to perform there, playing a standard covers set of Sex On Fire, Summer Of '69 etc. 

An example band might be Journey. Example musicians could be Pino on bass, Tom Scholz on guitar, Darrin Mooney on drums and Danny Vaughn on vocals.

Would the audience perceive something different to an average pub band? Would they react differently? Would they enjoy it? Would they carry on staring at their beer and wishing there was no band, so they could have a chat?

Interesting proposal for a reality tv show.

Edited January 27, 2019 by arthurhenry

[bassfan]

Genius idea for a tv show! 

Some may notice a difference in quality and performance... most would still be p155ed by the end of the evening demanding sweet Caroline or mr bright side 😂

[Chris2112]

Watch footage of Shawn Lane playing in Memphis bars in the 90's with the DDT band. One of the most talented musicians on the planet playing his heart out as people wander around drinking beer and playing pool, unaware they're in the presence of a genuine master.

[silverfoxnik]

I still think punters know and react accordingly when they're listening to something really, really good, even if they don't know why...

Would be very interesting to see this idea put to the test though. 😊

[Ricky 4000]

I'm sure I possibly walked past Jamiroquai busking in Cheltenham once.

They were really good! 

[Ricky 4000]

 

[mikel]

No they would not. Most average pub punters notice the feel and tempo of a familiar song, and as long as its not played far too slow or fast then they would not notice how exactly it was being played.

[Teebs]

4 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I'm sure I possibly walked past Jamiroquai busking in Cheltenham once.

They were really good! 

Naah! That'd be Earth, Wind & Fire, mate.

Always busking down the precinct of a weekend, they were.

Until PC Hackett chased them off with his pepper spray, that is.

Aah, good times!

 

[Japhet]

I've been to gigs with fantastic musicians and expensive tickets where all I can hear is people trapping off about their tiresome lives and other random garbage. People often aren't interested when they know who they've gone to see and have paid a fortune to be there.

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I'm sure I possibly walked past Jamiroquai busking in Cheltenham once.

It was them, but they wouldn't play Sex On Fire when I asked. Said  they didn't do requests. They were crap!!

[Skinnyman]

1 hour ago, Teebs said:

Naah! That'd be Earth, Wind & Fire, mate.

 

Aah, good times!

 

You're thinking of Chic

[TheGreek]

Paul Young has been known to play The Horn of Plenty in St Albans....in fact, there have been lots of "names" play there..

http://www.thehorn.co.uk/about/

[kevin_lindsay]

When Jamiroquai toured in Europe a few years back - on a "no gig" night, there was a wedding reception in the hotel the band were staying in. During the break in the wedding band's set, the backing band from jamiroquai did an impromptu few numbers. 

The audience had no idea who they were. Paul told me a few punters told them, "you guys are good. You should do that professionally"!! 

[obbm]

This idea reminds me of this:

[SH73]

 

[KevB]

You really notice vocalists who are a cut above but it's not so obvious with instrumentalists if they are not 'showy'. 

[stingrayPete1977]

I've played a few pubs with a separate bar and lounge, honestly if the actual beatles were back together with the use of a time machine the punters still wouldn't come in to the other room to watch! Very odd. 

 

Without naming any names there's a z list bass player that lives near me that has a function band made from other professional players and they are great there's no doubt about it but the lack of actual rehearsal time shows, a good busy weekend warrior function band would sound more 'profesional' to most people. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by stingrayPete1977

[stingrayPete1977]

Also the pretenders were on Jools Holland a while ago, I rarely blow my own trumpet but my band are better at pretenders covers than they are these days, lol. 

[steantval]

A few top guys used to rock up at live pub gigs around our way -

Colin Hodgkinson

Boz Burrell

Don Airey

[chris_b]

I used to see Boz regularly gigging local pubs.

Gary Moore used to sit in with Papa George on various pub gigs.

Many years ago Eric Clapton used to play occasional secret gigs at a Scratchers in Godalming, and at the Parrot Inn.

We had a jam night and the landlord let it be known the Paul Weller was coming down to sit in. When I got there the pub was so full I couldn't get my gear to the stage! Apparently PW took one look and drove home.

[darkandrew]

I remember seeing a video recording of a pub jam night (I think it was down in Folkstone) where Brian Nash of Frankie Goes To Hollywood got up and played The Power of Love - while not necessarily "World Class" it was actually surprisingly good.

Edit: Here it is (and it even features Steve Monti of Curve / Jesus and Mary Chain on drums).

 

Edited January 31, 2019 by darkandrew

[phil.c60]

7 hours ago, chris_b said:

I used to see Boz regularly gigging local pubs.

 

With Steve Simpson a friend of a friend and a great guitar player in Chuck Farley.

[Bilbo]

 

[richh]

There is some footage somewhere of Nile Rogers busking in London, and if I recall correctly, hardly anybody paid him any attention.  Same is true of some other famous names, but as they were doing instrumental / improv stuff, maybe this is understandable?  Musicians may be interested, but the general public are probably more interested in a vocal performance.

I regularly see musicians I would consider world class level at small local pub and club gigs.  But this is within a jazz context, where if you get a few punters and a stray dog in, that is seen as the norm!

[scalpy]

The exception to this might be folk nights. My wife walked into a hotel bar in Barmouth between Christmas and New Years a few while back. We were only after food but the owner pointed out we had prime seats- didn't have a clue what he was on about. An hour later, the place is rammed and the band were immense, jaw-droppingly good and the crowd loved it.