Load ins from hell...

[Pseudonym]

My respect for gigging musicians was always high. After reading this thread, it's positively stratospheric. Some of these situations are beyond ridiculous.

[Krysbass]

For the last few years I’ve got into the habit of vetting prospective gig bookings from venues I’m unfamiliar with for ease of nearby parking using Google Street View.

If parking is too far away or non-existent, or the locality looks dodgy, I’ll reject the gig, as the stress and jumping through hoops involved invariably just isn’t worth it.

[KevB]

On 24/12/2019 at 21:10, taunton-hobbit said:

I used to work for a shop that cut Hammonds in half, for the likes of Georgie Fame & others.

😎

To be fair most of the time it's not the Hammond that's the problem but the bleedin Leslie cabinets. 

[mingsta]

On 23/12/2019 at 09:55, MacDaddy said:

so nothing to do with the gig itself, just the load in.

I'll start with the Prince of Wales, Wimbledon. No parking, and load in across 3 busy lanes of traffic on a blind corner.

The road is never this quiet at post rush hour gig load in times!

You have my sympathies. Its like an island amid a sea of one way traffic, that pub. Hope you had a good gig! 

[taunton-hobbit]

36 minutes ago, KevB said:

To be fair most of the time it's not the Hammond that's the problem but the bleedin Leslie cabinets. 

I seem to recall that we actually built a small Leslie type thing for Jeff Reed (Tony Knights Chessmen)

😎

 

[MacDaddy]

13 hours ago, mingsta said:

You have my sympathies. Its like an island amid a sea of one way traffic, that pub. Hope you had a good gig! 

It's always a great gig 😃

[Raymondo]

On 23/12/2019 at 10:00, Silvia Bluejay said:

You may also remember The Victoria Club in Aylesbury. No legal parking in front of the club, and the hall is up two flights of stairs, requiring a quick load into the entrance hall downstairs - while keeping an eye on parking wardens - followed by carrying everything up the stairs. Same in reverse at the end of the night.  *shivers*

We used to travel from Nottingham to play there regularly in the early Nineties.

I seem to remember the parking being a bit of a pain but we always managed to get somehere not too far away ( after unloading into the entrance as you say!). 

The stairs were the same as quite a few venues we played ( one above a large Co-op store in Mapperley Nottingham springs to mind) so didn't phase us.

We were always well received and best of all....the kebabs from the nearby take away were fabulous! 😁

[Silvia Bluejay]

I think the parking situation there may have changed for the worse since the 90s, though.

[lozkerr]

On 24/12/2019 at 12:32, Happy Jack said:

I do like it when the pub has a private, locked car park just for the band. Big shout-out to The Goat in Berkhamsted.

+1 for The Goat. It was our local when we were living in Berko, and they put some great bands on. Jules and Jules were lovely landlords, too. I miss that pub.

[steve-bbb]

Claridges - in through basement doors in side street but then through kitchen areas and narrow winding stairs

[casapete]

31 minutes ago, steve-bbb said:

Claridges - in through basement doors in side street but then through kitchen areas and narrow winding stairs

When my band used to do such gigs, I was always amazed how many top London hotels had poor access to their function suites & ballrooms. As well as Claridges I remember The Waldorf and The Savoy as being a bit 'challenging'. I remember doing a gig on Park Lane (think it was at The Dorchester) where timings for the get in and out were timed like a military operation and needed to be silent so as not to disturb the owner's (Sultan of Brunei) wife who lived in an adjoining apartment. And don't even mention the parking.....

[dave_bass5]

We did a gig at One Poultry a few years ago. It's a rooftop restaurant overlooking Mansion house junction. Lovely place to eat and have a party, horrible for a band. As has been said already, parking in central london is a nightmare. The worst part was the get in and out. Very small lift shared by guests and staff, as the kitchen is on the floor below the restaurant so in use most of the time. Get in wasn't too bad as it was a private party so was closed to the public, and we were early. Get out was very stressful. Owning to letting the guests out first we had to wait until they had all left. Then we had to fight (almost literally) with the rude staff who insisted in piling all the tables and chairs in our way, and every time the lift did arrive would fill it with the chairs and tables. They seemed to have a system to keep the band from getting any of our gear in the lift until they were finished. We noticed they would move plies of chairs in to out path, after we had moved them out of the way. 

Bunch of Richards working there, at least on the night we were there. 

[musicbassman]

If you're doing a West End gig then you really must have a dedicated driver with a ULEZ compliant van who can drop you off, disappear for the duration of the gig and then pick you up again at the end.

Trying to drive yourself to a West End gig, unload and then somehow park up somewhere is impossible these days and you'll likely end up being late for the gig AND get a parking ticket AND a suspected heart attack due to extreme stress....

[dave_bass5]

26 minutes ago, musicbassman said:

If you're doing a West End gig then you really must have a dedicated driver with a ULEZ compliant van who can drop you off, disappear for the duration of the gig and then pick you up again at the end.

Trying to drive yourself to a West End gig, unload and then somehow park up somewhere is impossible these days and you'll likely end up being late for the gig AND get a parking ticket AND a suspected heart attack due to extreme stress....

Unless you live close by and have the right parking permits 😉

My GF used to be able to park in a private loading bay in Wardour street when she worked for her old company. Very cool lol. 

[Kiwi]

On 28/12/2019 at 06:33, musicbassman said:

If you're doing a West End gig then you really must have a dedicated driver with a ULEZ compliant van who can drop you off, disappear for the duration of the gig and then pick you up again at the end.

Trying to drive yourself to a West End gig, unload and then somehow park up somewhere is impossible these days and you'll likely end up being late for the gig AND get a parking ticket AND a suspected heart attack due to extreme stress....

I had a gig at the Cafe de Paris one time and miraculously found a parking spot on Lisle Street close to the Hippodrome.  Came back after the gig and found my car had been broken into.  All the scrotes took was my GPS suction cup stand - they'd tried to jimmy out the radio but unsuccessfully.  I took the detachable head with me when locking up. The screwdriver scratches in the dash were permanent though.  The car was otherwise undamaged as they got access by popping the driver's side window out of the frame and when I filed the police report, I discovered the parking bay was in a CCTV blindspot, suggesting the thieves knew exactly what they were doing.