Edenburgh Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Tonight I'd like to thank Aberdeen City Council for their traffic policies which afforded me the opportunity to carry this lot from the gig venue back to my hotel room in the pissing rain - in two trips. Unable to use my (electric, zero emissions I might add) vehicle because there's no freaking way to get a car anywhere that doesn't involve a bus gate, closed road, one way street or a pedestrian zone. Got back to the hotel just in time for the bar to shut. Absolutely perfect. Gig was good though. Edited March 3 by Edenburgh 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 What's with the cab that can wobble most venues on their foundations? I'd be travelling lighter and using a collapsing hand cart. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acebassmusic Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Ah yes.....you seem to have experienced the joys of Aberdeen traffic planning department who seem to be permanently on drugs! 😠 The assignment of bus gates and LEZ change monthly now I think just to confuse people and allow them to hand out fines for the poor council coffers. Where was your gig? (Glad it was a good one) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Some real irony to Aberdeen being a Low Emission Zone... 5 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edenburgh Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 6 hours ago, Downunderwonder said: What's with the cab that can wobble most venues on their foundations? I'd be travelling lighter and using a collapsing hand cart. BTII cab is actually pretty easy to kick back and wheel around 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edenburgh Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 5 hours ago, Acebassmusic said: Ah yes.....you seem to have experienced the joys of Aberdeen traffic planning department who seem to be permanently on drugs! 😠 The assignment of bus gates and LEZ change monthly now I think just to confuse people and allow them to hand out fines for the poor council coffers. Where was your gig? (Glad it was a good one) Gig was in Drummonds on Belmont Street. We reckon 2 of the band members will be getting traffic violation fines after trying to deal with the impossible restrictions. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Bristol is similarly challenging for this. I once had to carry my aluminium double bass half a mile to a gig. 3 hours later I was still knackered! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odysseus Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said: What's with the cab that can wobble most venues on their foundations? I'd be travelling lighter and using a collapsing hand cart. Very light and has wheels on the back. Mine was a godsend with 4 flights of stairs to my flat. As for the Trace cab I had before.... nightmare! 😦 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Given my back issues (and that our singer only has one leg) if we play a venue with these types of load ins we only do them once. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, Burns-bass said: Bristol is similarly challenging for this. I once had to carry my aluminium double bass half a mile to a gig. 3 hours later I was still knackered! Two words. Golf. Trolley. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 My absolute worst load-in is O’Neill’s in Winchester. You have to stop on or next to a junction controlled by traffic lights and carry all the kit through to the back of the venue. Then park your car in a multi-storey and walk 1/4 mile back. The load-out is worse because by then the venue is rammed, and you have to drive all the way round the one-way system to get your car back to the venue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Ah the joys of gigging. I went to the bar last night. Had a couple of beers. Got home. Watched a bit of telly. Only thing I had to carry was my wallet. You've got to absolutely love the gigging thing to put up with it. I never did. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 My least favourite was the Royal Horseguards Hotel in Whitehall Place. We played at a private party there once on the second floor. Stunning views of the Millenium Wheel. But load-in was down a flight of steps in the street, through a couple of passage ways, through the kitchen (currently engaged in providing dinner service for about 200 guests), round some more passages, into a crappy goods lift, and then another set of passages on the 2nd floor. Loading out was much easier, down two flights of stairs in the adjoining Liberal Club (talk about seedy opulence) and out the main entrance. Parking was less of a challenge than you might expect - the drummer ran a parking business and had the keys to a nearby underground carpark. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Browning Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, Newfoundfreedom said: Ah the joys of gigging. I went to the bar last night. Had a couple of beers. Got home. Watched a bit of telly. Only thing I had to carry was my wallet. You've got to absolutely love the gigging thing to put up with it. I never did. Surely those chips are pretty heavy? 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Glasgow is the same and now the council in their wisdom have decided to extend the parking meters form 6 pm till 10 pm and it costs a bloomin fortune to park on the street. The now closed Hard Rock cafe on Buchanan st was the same. no access to the front after 10 am and you couldn`t get access to the front until after 7 pm. Still that`s no longer a problem as the feckers let the staff know on Tuesday that the venue wouldn`t be opening and if punters wanted to try their overprice fair there was one in Edinburgh! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyb625 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 The only time we've played in Aberdeen, we had an onsite car park and crew to help with the load in/out. However, no one was there to see us and if we played again, we'd be lucky to fill the cafe at Torry Battery! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddster Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Not parking related, but did a pub gig last night. Car parked outside 20ft from the front door. Easy. Except for the punters/smokers who insisted on standing in the doorway blocking it. Ffs, a whole car park to stand in and you all crowd into a 10ft square space. 🤦🏼 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edenburgh Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, jezzaboy said: Glasgow is the same and now the council in their wisdom have decided to extend the parking meters form 6 pm till 10 pm and it costs a bloomin fortune to park on the street. The now closed Hard Rock cafe on Buchanan st was the same. no access to the front after 10 am and you couldn`t get access to the front until after 7 pm. Still that`s no longer a problem as the feckers let the staff know on Tuesday that the venue wouldn`t be opening and if punters wanted to try their overprice fair there was one in Edinburgh! I've played the Glasgow HRC a few times (and we had 2 bookings for this year which now seems to be off as per your comment about it closing suddenly this week). I've had to wheel my amp from Bath street in the rain. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, jezzaboy said: Glasgow is the same and now the council in their wisdom have decided to extend the parking meters form 6 pm till 10 pm and it costs a bloomin fortune to park on the street. The now closed Hard Rock cafe on Buchanan st was the same. no access to the front after 10 am and you couldn`t get access to the front until after 7 pm. Still that`s no longer a problem as the feckers let the staff know on Tuesday that the venue wouldn`t be opening and if punters wanted to try their overprice fair there was one in Edinburgh! I'll be playing The Howling Wolf at the end of this month. I'll have to pay the £60 Ulez fee of course but luckily the extended parking fees don't start until April 1st. My band won't be playing there again unless things change. My advice to them is to install a PA and backline so that bands can get the bus to the venue rather than have to spend their gig fee on Ulez fines and parking tickets. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodyratm Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Yeahhh Aberdeens a nightmare. Everytime I go out I find a different road closed. “Thankfully” we only seem to gig Krakatoa (aka the moorings) so I just park in the NCP 2 mins away. 15 quid for an average gig is a bit of a stinger like. How was the gig? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 We have a gig booking conditions that states parking on site and access to venue. Plus minimum set up space If a venue cannot offer that then don’t gig there !! Much less hassle that way and health & safely matters apply to us too as musicians! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I wonder how long it will take for venues like this to close, once they can no longer offer bands as the entertainment. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Many years ago I did a great gig on a boat in the Thames. Easy parking, easy load in. Load out was an issue, though. The tide had gone out and I had to carry a 90lb cab up the gang plank at an angle that was close to being a ladder. I hurt for days after that. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 O'Neills in Birmingham - managed to park to load in just outside, then had to find a parking space. Then at the end of the evening had to drive the quarter of a mile or so from the parking space to outside the place (half an hour or so), load out through hordes of Brummie morons, and finally get out of the city centre - so desperate to get away that I finished up with a speeding ticket for 40 in a 30 on the ring road. Vocalist got a parking ticket. And now it's in the CAZ, and I'm not sure that any of us in the current band has a compliant vehicle - not that I'd ever want to play there again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 16 hours ago, Edenburgh said: Tonight I'd like to thank Aberdeen City Council for their traffic policies which afforded me the opportunity to carry this lot from the gig venue back to my hotel room in the pissing rain - in two trips. Unable to use my (electric, zero emissions I might add) vehicle because there's no freaking way to get a car anywhere that doesn't involve a bus gate, closed road, one way street or a pedestrian zone. Got back to the hotel just in time for the bar to shut. Absolutely perfect. Gig was good though. Did you not get to use the car park at Drummonds? Admittedly it's not ideal because it's several floors below the bar itself, but at least it's nearby. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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