How old were you when you did your first gig?

[odysseus]

Just out of idle curiosity.

 

How old were you when you did your first gig? I mean a public venue or suchlike, not just in front of mum, dad, Uncle Dave and the cat.

 

19

 

At The Pirate in Falmouth with a cover band called Cut Loose.

 

 

[bigthumb]

Excluding anything done in school I think I was 17. Foresters Arms Broseley Shropshire. A gig I'm still trying to forget, even after all these years! 

[Doctor J]

15 with the school band in a national competition, 16 with my own band

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Doctor J

[Paul S]

Bit of a late starter - 50.  Marconi social club in Chelmsford with a 'blues' band called 'Still The Thrill'.

[Chezz55]

First real gig was in 1969 and I was 16 years old. (I'm 70 now, still playing bass and still gigging).

 

St Christopher's Church Hall, Jaywick Sands, Essex. 

 

3-piece band called Power House.

[Oopsdabassist]

For my 43rd birthday I bought myself a bass starter kit as the 'mid life crisis' alternative was a motorbike which would have killed me. 3 months later I did my 1st gig at 'The Pitz' a music venue in MK to about 200 people....I was terrified!!

[Staggering on]

I was 16 when my folk trio played for all 1700 students at an assembly at our school followed soon after with a paying gig for a church youth group, I was playing acoustic guitar then.

Tonight, 61 years later (I can't believe it!), I am playing a gig with my seven piece jazz band at a brewery and I hope to continue as long as possible. Several more gigs coming with that band, a small string ensemble concert and a couple of bluegrass festivals this summer all on DB, I  just love playing that big beast.😊

Edited April 29, 2023 by Staggering on

[KingBollock]

13, in 1988, at the Christadelphinan hall in Nuneaton. It was a thing for pensioners. The school choir was playing, but I was playing in a small band (bass, drums, piano and two singers. The entirety of my music class). We were only supposed to do three songs, but they enjoyed us so much that they wanted us to carry on. So we played the same three songs, again.

 

Proper band gig would have been 14. It was in the youth club building on the George Eliot school grounds, but had nothing to do with the school (I was the only band member still of school age).

Edited April 29, 2023 by KingBollock

[Waddo Soqable]

About 17 with a crappy woolworths short scale bass, at the same sort of time I was also playing the saxophone and did some with that too (purchased for 30 quid from a lecturer bloke at college) 

[snorkie635]

I was 17 and the first number was Black Magic Woman, with me singing lead and playing bass. Sooooo long ago. ☹️
 

47 years ago. I need to lie down.

Edited April 29, 2023 by snorkie635

[Happy Jack]

Thursday 29th May 2008 in Kilburn with a scratch band put together by the Weekend Warriors program. I was 51, having picked up a bass for the first time on my 49th birthday.

 

In the 15 years since then, I've played just short of 500 gigs. Why do you think I'm Happy Jack?

 

[Len_derby]

I was 15, in 1973. Playing a borrowed German Hofner violin bass. As I remember it, our first song was a thrashed-up version of ‘Some Enchanted Evening’. 

[PaulHornBass]

Aged 15, at the secondary school 'Valentine's Ball'. Played a set of covers including Nirvana, Hole, and Sex Pistols to an audience of our nonplussed peers. I played a low slung Maya fretless that belonged to my dad. Nowadays I'd be at least a bit nervous about doing a gig on fretless, but not then - definitely in the 'unconscious incompetence' phase! 😅

[snorkie635]

15 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

I was 15, in 1973. Playing a borrowed German Hofner violin bass. As I remember it, our first song was a thrashed-up version of ‘Some Enchanted Evening’. 

Did you see a stranger? 😆

[Len_derby]

Just now, snorkie635 said:

Did you see a stranger? 😆

Yes - but sadly, it was not across a crowded room 🤣.

[Old Horse Murphy]

Excluding school gigs my first public gig was at 15. I got roped in by some bigger boys in a band called The Sea who gave me a tape and said "learn the bass lines by next Saturday as we have a gig and need a bass player". They'd been gigging regularly for quite a few years and had quite a good following. The guitarist ran a guitar shop that was at the bottom of my school playing fields and I got to know him pretty well over lunchtimes when I escaped school. My Dad came with me to chaperone me as my Mum didn't like the idea of me going to play in a pub (even though I'd surreptitiously been frequenting such establishments for a while). 
 

It was, surprisingly, original stuff rather than covers although it was heavily influenced by U2 and I ended up with them until I went to university. 

[AndyTravis]

13 at the (now awaiting demolition) monument to brutalist architecture Lancastrian Hall…

 

Playing songs from a school production.

 

my Yamaha BB300 (which weighed the same as a small house)

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by AndyTravis

[neepheid]

32. Mrs. Neepheid basically dragged me into a one-off ska/2 tone covers band for a birthday party after putting up with me buggering about with basses at home for a few years and doing more modding than playing. Joined my first originals band the following year and never looked back!

[Lozz196]

My first performance was at 16 playing bass for the school orchestra on the annual Xmas play. Only played on a few numbers tho as had only been playing for a year and had only learned Sex Pistols songs so wasn’t that proficient at orchestra type music.

[meterman]

First gig was aged 7 or 8 in the school band at the local town hall. First proper gig was in a grim local boozer and I was 15. I only looked about 12 so I was amazed to be allowed in and have a pint of lager 🍺 

[Rayman]

First gig was 14, as the frontman of a rock covers band….. 6 songs, the usual suspects, Hendrix, Deep Purple etc…. 
 

That was 44 yrs ago 😞

 

I didn’t pick up the bass until a year later.

[BlueMoon]

If I recall correctly, the Moot Hall, Maldon in 1973.

 

Here is a pic of a rehearsal around that time. I was playing a 1964 Burns Jazz!

 

 

[Leonard Smalls]

First sort of gig was at 14 turning the pages for a pianist doing somethingorother at Chester town hall...

First actually playing was me on keys with @lurksalot 's little brother on bass doing Dylan and Barclay James Harvest covers at a school anti nuclear do (!) I was praps 18?

And first time on bass was in the Tartan Bar at Leeds Uni early 80s, with Dredd and the Badass Weeds.

[tony_m]

First public performance (with a couple of mates at an open-mic) = 54

 

First proper gig with a band = 61

 

12th gig coming up this evening!

Edited April 29, 2023 by tony_m
kan't do sumz!

[lurksalot]

I played various assemblies at school and played in a knock up type folk rock outfit in a similar scenario to @Leonard Smalls I think that would be about 17 , I then upgraded my bass and gave my old one to my little Bro.

I do remember playing ‘mouldy old dough’ on keys during an interval when my uncles band were played at a Romford working men’s club around 1974   So I’d have been 12 ish on that one 😂