How To Avoid Bad Gigs

[Lozz196]

3 hours ago, LewisK1975 said:

I think of the replies so far this is the one that resonates mostly with me.  The poorly organised / managed multi band bill.

I'll add equipment issues as something that can make a gig 'bad' for me.

Or an arsey in-house engineer.

Yes of course, the difficult in-house people, forgot that one but when they raise their heads above the parapet man, do they contribute big time to a bad gig.

[Paul S]

4 hours ago, Dr.Dave said:

Pound to a pinch of stinky poo they always fall on the same night that the motorway gets closed for repairs and you have to drive 30 miles through the sticks to get down to the next junction too.

I had something like this.  For those Essex folk who know the area, my ex-band Illegal Tender had a gig in Earls Colne.  Drummer and I lift share as we live in Pitsea and Benfleet.  On the way home we made our way down towards the A12 at Coggeshall but the slip entry onto the A12 south was shut.  So we had to turn along the A12 north to Colchester, then turn around and get diverted up towards the A120 at Braintree.  And when we got there it was shut westbound due to an accident.  Not being very familiar with the roads round there we just followed our noses and seemed to drive through tiny country lanes for about an hour until we found the A12 again.  What should have been under an hour took us 2.5hrs, and I didn't get home until after 3.

And all that after playing to one man and his dog.

[richardjmorgan]

6 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Bad gigs for me are where the promoter does nothing other than book the gig, where the headline band lose their heads in their own back-passages and won’t move their drums off stage but won’t allow the other band(s) to use it, multi band gigs in venues where there isn’t enough storage for all the gear, and where the promoters don’t get in a set backline to make changeovers/storage easier.

Also gigs where bands think of the gig more as a party and bring all their friends in the dressing room who then drink the whole rider and stay sat in the chairs that are there for the bands to relax in.  Said bands are often  the types that overrun on set times. Again the promoters should have a better handle on this and just stop both of these happening.

Lastly gigs where there is no parking - makes things just that little bit more frustrating.

Totally agree with all this. I think a lot of it boils down to "shite promoters" – in my experience, the ones who'v got their heads screwed on in terms of logistics/communication/organisation are usually the same ones who put the work in in terms of actually *promoting* the show properly, and are the ones coming to find *you* to pay you, rather than you having to chase after them.  If you're having trouble getting any decent communication from a promoter about anything beforehand, I reckon it's a pretty safe bet you're in for more hassle on the night too.

Edited October 24, 2019 by richardjmorgan

[Muzz]

We avoid multi-band bills unless it's the occasional charity festival-type thing, I've found people are much more relaxed about it all under those circumstances, so it usually goes OK.

Pubs are a mixed bag, but the bad stuff is very rare compared to the good stuff. The worst ratio of bad to good ones are agency gigs, culminating in an derrière-clencher of a NYE gig last year when we turned up as a guitar/bass/drums trio to be greeted (sic) by a landlord who said "I was promised a seven piece soul band". And he'd advertised it and sold tickets as such. It was never gonna be a good one after that... 

The thing about the bad drummer is absolutely the case across the board, though: if I had to pick a single worst factor, it's that...

[Stub Mandrel]

Very different responses to a thread I saw on TalkBass.

The definition there seemed to be "where one of you gets shot."

[EliasMooseblaster]

54 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Very different responses to a thread I saw on TalkBass.

The definition there seemed to be "where one of you gets shot."

It would rather take the shine off an otherwise enjoyable evening.

[richardjmorgan]

I've heard from a pal who's worked with a reasonably well-known band that, on one of their early US tours, they had their TM go and remonstrate with a promoter about having underpaid. Upon which, said promoter reached into his desk drawer and produced a handgun, which he then very pointedly placed on the desk. They decided to drive on to the next show that night rather than stopping over. So I guess there's bad promoters, and bad promoters.

Edited October 24, 2019 by richardjmorgan

[knirirr]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Very different responses to a thread I saw on TalkBass.

The definition there seemed to be "where one of you gets shot."

Well, it does seem to happen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Morgan#Death_and_legacy

[Stub Mandrel]

15 minutes ago, knirirr said:

Well, it does seem to happen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Morgan#Death_and_legacy

Here's one thread:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/a-guy-threatened-to-shoot-up-the-bar-i-was-gigging-at-last-night.1309708/page-3

Particularly worrying are the number of people who say they 'always carry'...

[Bluewine]

11 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

I could class a bad gig perhaps as one where we don’t play well, or something goes wrong with equipment / personnel / some other ‘out of our hands’ circumstance.

But really, a bad gig is one with no audience. We’re a pub band, and we social media the hell out of our upcoming gigs, as well as word of mouth, so locally we always get a good crowd. 
 

But further afield, you’re really at the mercy of the pub owner / landlord and how well they promote the gig. Our regulars won’t travel fifty miles on a Saturday night to see us so a lot of the time it’s pot luck whether or not the venue has bothered to promote the gig, but that’s another thread.

I like your response.

We're primarily a bar band outside of the summer when were playing larger festivals and fairs.

Bad gigs depends on the type of band your in and if your a fit for a specific venue or event.

A few examples of what my band should be thinking about.

While many gigs can be hit or miss., playing a bar gig and your in a room separate from the bar it's a lose lose proposition. Either don't take the gig or as we say, "take the money and run"

In general don't return to venues where you've had any issues with getting paid.

Beware of bars and pubs where you know the crowd has no interest or a dislike of live music.

Beware of bars that don't have adequate space to set up your band properly.

If your band is a bunch of guys in their 60s, think twice about playing to 20 somethings and milenials.

Just a few examples there are others.

 

Blue

[Bluewine]

4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Very different responses to a thread I saw on TalkBass.

The definition there seemed to be "where one of you gets shot."

Which brings to mind some of us that play bars with established questionable clientele. Over half the crowd were recently released from prison and wearing GPS ankle bracelets.

True story for us.

Blue

[Stub Mandrel]

8 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Which brings to mind some of us that play bars with established questionable clientele. Over half the crowd were recently released from prison and wearing GPS ankle bracelets.

True story for us.

Blue

I've certainly seen a few gigs in pubs where you would be very stupid to start a fight.

[CamdenRob]

No matter how many times I see this thread title I keep reading it as “How To Avoid Gig Bags” 😕

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, Muzz said:

 

The thing about the bad drummer is absolutely the case across the board, though: if I had to pick a single worst factor, it's that...

Wouldn't that be "How To Avoid Bad Drumners" 

Blue

[Newfoundfreedom]

A bad gig for me is one where I have to leave the house. 

[Mykesbass]

A bad gig I had a couple of times is where someone who loved us from our pub gigs booked us for a party. Our mix of Dylan, Creedance and Neil Young never went down very well at multi-generation family get togethers!

[Mudpup]

I haven't experienced very many 'bad' gigs but there are 2 that immediately come to mind. 

One was a new one in a bar in Hertford - the gig was fine but as soon as we finished at midnight it seemed like 300 kids came in and completely blocked any way out. We just physically couldn't get our gear out, the staff were absolutely useless and didn't help in any way. If they had just cleared a small route out we could have been done in 30 minutes. Finally got away at 2am after fighting through rugby scrums with the gear. They were trying to rebook us on the night but we declined their kind offers! 

The other one was a local to me pub. There were a couple of drunk and aggressive  blokes in there when we arrived and they just got worse as the night went on. They were crashing around everywhere knocking punters over and spent plenty of time staring me out too. There was also a drunk girl who kept jumping up onstage and groping the guitarist while he was trying to play. I could feel my temper rising but kept it under wraps until about half an hour from the end. (the landlord just kept filling them up with more drink - he had no interest in sorting the issues out). I just stopped playing mid song, everything ground to a halt and I took the mic and announced nothing more was going to happen until the landlord had kicked the idiots out. Took about 10 more minutes to sort them out but we got there in the end. We cancelled the 4 future gigs there on the way out...... 

Edited October 25, 2019 by Mudpup

[Muzz]

14 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Wouldn't that be "How To Avoid Bad Drumners" 

Blue

Fair point Blue, but when you work with deps (or as a dep), you get what/who you get on the night, and if it's the wrong guy, there's your gig in the bin...

[TimR]

The only 2 really bad gigs I’ve done have been venues with tiled floors. 
The first was a dinner and dance in a golf club. The singers mum was in attendance and had drunk plenty of wine and all I got all night was abuse from her that she couldn’t hear her daughter. The room acoustics were appalling everything was mush and there was nothing we could do.

Then a couple of years later we opened a Porsche garage one evening and played in the sales area. Hard tiled floor. Awful.  
 

Other than that a gig is a gig. 

 

[Woodinblack]

22 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Very different responses to a thread I saw on TalkBass.

The definition there seemed to be "where one of you gets shot."

Well, I guess it really depends who!

 

[Woodinblack]

5 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

A bad gig I had a couple of times is where someone who loved us from our pub gigs booked us for a party. Our mix of Dylan, Creedance and Neil Young never went down very well at multi-generation family get togethers!

Always worry about that, when someone books us for a wedding or a party having seen us in a pub, but so far, they have all gone down really well. I suspect its because our stuff is so varied, if you hate one thing, something else is going to come along completely different in a minute.

[TimR]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Always worry about that, when someone books us for a wedding or a party having seen us in a pub, but so far, they have all gone down really well. I suspect its because our stuff is so varied, if you hate one thing, something else is going to come along completely different in a minute.

One band I was in was booked having been seen in a pub. 
The bride’s family all sat on one side of the room, the groom’s the other side. The only activity on the dance floor were kids running up and skidding along the polished wooden floor on their knees. 
 

Afterwards the groom came up and thanked us for an awesome night. No one from either family ever danced and we had been booked because we put on such an entertaining show that they could sit and watch. 

 

Edited October 25, 2019 by TimR

[Muzz]

Yep, had something similar recently: 40-something chap sees us in an Irish bar while he was with his mates and full of Guinness, books us for the following month. Gig is 25 people in a posh suite in a posh hotel for his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. He was the youngest person in the room. Was still a good gig, though, as we just turned right down and played an appropriate set of songs. They enjoyed us, but it was a bit like playing for your Gran and her friends... 😕🙂

[odysseus]

Stick to venues where people actually want to listen to and see a live band.... and in my case original material. 

[chris_b]

If you have a "bad gig" because you find you are a square peg in a round hole, be flexible, adapt and turn it into a "good gig".

We did our usual blues/funk/soul set at a wedding and the band leader was very annoyed that the "audience" was ignoring us. After I spent 10 mins trying to explain that they were wedding guests not an audience, we played top 40 songs for the second set and went down a storm.