am i in the wrong???

[JTUK]

From just reading the OP, it seems like an ego thing to me...

Personally, I wouldn't be keen to do these things for people I don't know. Giving for charity is a good idea... but you should expect a fair crack at it..
If you played your time, then it is your fault for agreeing..but if they cut your time..and these things can always be chaotic, then I have sympathy...

Get these deals fully sorted, trust is earned...IME.

[Rich]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='642942' date='Nov 1 2009, 10:46 PM']Also, third party reports of these disputes have a habit of getting round. Whether or not the guy's a w***er, shouting at him doesn't help your band's rep. However stupid the organiser, it's their house and their rules. Unless they stiff you for payment, at which point all bets are off.[/quote]
+1. Stuff like that can get your band a bad reputation that will follow you around for ages.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

One ripoff gig I did was presented to us as a charity gig, but was actually just promotion for a pub that was changing its name and wanted wall to wall coverage in the local paper. It was pretty obvious that the charity angle was just tacked on to get people to donate their time for free, the mayor to turn up and the press coverage. It was a long way from home, we played a storming set and the promised pints & petrol money didn't materialise and neither did the promised paid gig bookings.

[munkonthehill]

[quote name='Hutton' post='643137' date='Nov 2 2009, 09:13 AM']I can perfectly understand why you are frustrated. Like a few comments here it seems to me that this was a badly organised gig. I have organised charity gigs where three bands played two sets each. It sounds as if the organisation for your gig wasn't up to much. Plus, was it a short night? Two bands with one only playing 4 songs doesn't sound like a very good night! I wouldn't haul my gear and my ass out for less then half an hour. I also note that you're down in Port Glasgow. If I'm organising anything in future I'll give you a shout - that is as long as you're not a Morton supporter! [/quote]

no morton supporters in the band hahaha

[jamesbass116]

exactly the same thing happened to me!
i was doing a charity gig with my local soul band and we were the act before the headliner.....the legendary......TONY..........black..burn..
everything had gone to pot thanks to the local emo/indie band that started the show.. they did about 5 encores? so everything was about half an hour out..

our soul band rocks up, we spend half an hour waiting, we politely asked from the organisers for some more time. we then set up at the speed of light,
played through 6 songs and we were cut off because we cut 5 minutes into HRH tony blackburn's set..as we packed up our stuff sharpish.
but little did we know mr blackburn was waiting by the stage to give us a lovely, congratulatory message, "thanks for cutting into my time you ungrateful, unprofessional jokes"

the whole band had a kneejerk reaction to this, and heckled that ghastly man throughout his set... i would've joined in if i hadn't lost my voice

however even though it's a different situation to you.....kinda... there's one thing in common. POOR orginisation!!

so you're not really in the wrong because you weren't given exact details, a kneejerk reaction is what can be expected when you've been mislead..

main message - you're gunna get screwed about, but you just have to live with it and move on (and thats from a mere 4 years gigging experience)


James

[thepurpleblob]

Golden rule..... if it all goes tits up, no matter how badly, smile and take a deep breath. Never be the other w****r!! Your next (proper) booking could be sitting in the audience thinking what a d*ck you are!!

Also be very wary of people who don't normally organise live music. On more than one occasion I've turned up to gigs to find another bands gear set up and the organiser giving it "oh, we just thought you would borrow their gear". Errr... did you discuss that with them? No, of course you didn't. Then of course it's *our* problem to fix the mess. Grrrr...... I know what you mean but got to keep smiling!!

[bassbloke]

You'll always encounter this kind of situation.

Actually, usually it'll be worse - you'll be on a 4 or 5 band bill because the promoter is a greedy little sh*t and thinks that by packing in as many different bands as possible they'll maximise their chances of making a few quid, as opposed to giving punters value for money by ensuring that the majority of the evening consists of live music rather than watching changeovers.

One band will always be late and miss their alloted soundcheck time, but there will be no one stage managing the affair, so rathern than do the correct thingt, which is move on to the next band and tell the tardy band that they've forfeited their soundcheck, you'll stand around waiting and feeling extra p*ssed off that you've had to use your annual leave or start work early or sneak out or whatever to make soundcheck.

Said band will invariably be rubbish, play for too long and ruin the running order, take ages to pack up and then proced to disrupt your set by taking theor gear back out to their cars via the centre of the venue.

Sound familiar?

[munkonthehill]

yeah I think I may have over reacted, but I have seen reply after reply that this kinda thing happens quite alot when 'organisers' get involved.

looks like its best just to organise your own gigs like we are doing the morra

[maxrossell]

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='697784' date='Jan 1 2010, 11:18 AM']yeah I think I may have over reacted, but I have seen reply after reply that this kinda thing happens quite alot when 'organisers' get involved.

looks like its best just to organise your own gigs like we are doing the morra [/quote]

I don't think it's an overreaction. Cutting a band off after four songs then putting on an iPod for a half-hour is a direct insult. The guy sounds like a massive tool and I'd have called him worse than you did.

There's guys like this at every level of live music. We supported Breed 77 a few years back, and literally halfway through our allotted time their road manager was standing next to the stage waving his arms and tapping his watch (even the crowd could see him doing this). Fortunately all the guys at the venue were our friends so weren't about to let this d*ck get in the way of our playing (we later found out that the road manager had been acting like a massive douchebag since the band arrived), so we finished our set as normal. When we finished we started to load our gear off the stage, whereupon this guy starts yelling at us and telling us to f*ck off and let a real band on stage, so we started dawdling. It took us about ten minutes longer than it normally would have to get our stuff off the stage, and by the end of it the guy had almost had a haemorrhage.

To their credit, the band apologised for his behaviour after the show.

[munkonthehill]

[quote name='maxrossell' post='697797' date='Jan 1 2010, 11:36 AM']I don't think it's an overreaction. Cutting a band off after four songs then putting on an iPod for a half-hour is a direct insult. The guy sounds like a massive tool and I'd have called him worse than you did.

There's guys like this at every level of live music. We supported Breed 77 a few years back, and literally halfway through our allotted time their road manager was standing next to the stage waving his arms and tapping his watch (even the crowd could see him doing this). Fortunately all the guys at the venue were our friends so weren't about to let this d*ck get in the way of our playing (we later found out that the road manager had been acting like a massive douchebag since the band arrived), so we finished our set as normal. When we finished we started to load our gear off the stage, whereupon this guy starts yelling at us and telling us to f*ck off and let a real band on stage, so we started dawdling. It took us about ten minutes longer than it normally would have to get our stuff off the stage, and by the end of it the guy had almost had a haemorrhage.

To their credit, the band apologised for his behaviour after the show.[/quote]

cheers max, i feel better noo haha

[WalMan]

Fair enough the guy was acting like a tosser and apparently cutting your time, but [quote name='maxrossell' post='697797' date='Jan 1 2010, 11:36 AM']Fortunately all the guys at the venue were our friends so weren't about to let this d*ck get in the way of our playing (we later found out that the road manager had been acting like a massive douchebag since the band arrived), so we finished our set as normal.[/quote] - so what your friends were there. You were the support band not headlining. By all means let your mates do the slagging from the crowd but why sink to his level yourself.

And [quote name='maxrossell' post='697797' date='Jan 1 2010, 11:36 AM']When we finished we started to load our gear off the stage, whereupon this guy starts yelling at us and telling us to f*ck off and let a real band on stage, so we started dawdling. It took us about ten minutes longer than it normally would have to get our stuff off the stage, and by the end of it the guy had almost had a haemorrhage.[/quote] - if I had been them I might have apologised if the guy was acting the tit, but aggravating the situation by dawdling surely just sets you in a bad light.

Very different situation by way of example from an event I was involved in this summer. One of the bands, who had done sweet FA to help with setting up or running the event (which was basically put together by a co-op of local musicians) go on for their alloted set all having been running smoothly so far on the day switching between the two stages and running pretty much to time. They were a good band and had reasonable friend support in front of their stage. Gets to the end of their time and they are given the 'one more' signal. Other band get ready to go on the other stage. First band gets to the end of their one more and launch into another, finish that and try to do another at which point the plug is pulled.

Now they were a good band but the great 'I AM' attitude severely p155ed off many others involved on the day many of whom are unlikely, or indeed actively expressed the view that they would never want to work with said band again.

My view of these things, which I realise in the case you quoted would not have worked, is - If you have an alloted set length, work out a set that fits or is slightly under, get on, do it, s0d off. Try to act as professionally as possible at all times and let others show themselves up to be t055ers if they so desire

Edited January 1, 2010 by WalMan

[maxrossell]

[quote name='WalMan' post='697871' date='Jan 1 2010, 12:37 PM']Fair enough the guy was acting like a tosser and apparently cutting your time, but - so what your friends were there. You were the support band not headlining. By all means let your mates do the slagging from the crowd but why sink to his level yourself.[/quote]

We didn't. As I said, we finished the show as normal. Maybe we should have incorporated his retarded antics into the set.

[quote]And - if I had been them I might have apologised if the guy was acting the tit, but aggravating the situation by dawdling surely just sets you in a bad light.[/quote]

I don't do this for a living. My music career doesn't hinge on how quickly I can vacate a stage. I'm certainly in a position to take my sweet time clearing my gear when someone who has literally no business whatsoever telling me what to do starts bawling at me to f*ck off. Being professional is one thing, allowing yourself to be bullied is another. If I had confronted the guy it would have ended in a brawl, ignoring him wasn't an option, and we certainly weren't about to do what he said.

[Maverick]

As a rule, no matter how much of a cunning stunt an organiser/other band member is being, I try not to slag 'em off to their face but go get a pint and bitch about them with the rest of my band, unless something really does neeed saying. It's good for teambuilding .

I can totally understand your frustration though mate, badly organised gigs are a nightmare.

Edited January 1, 2010 by Maverick

[Al Heeley]

we got involved in a couple of charity gigs this last summer, one of which was pulled entirely at the last minute cos the main organiser spat his dummy out. I can safely say the entire approach to attempting to run a professional event by the organisers was excruciatingly poor, people on the committee have other agendas, they are not getting paid for their efforts and they have little experience in the various issues that we are more familiar with. I steer away from these events which is a pity as the whole charity thing is basically sound - giving time to help raise money but you have to ask about how much of the money eventually actually arrives in the pockets of those who it is supposed to be aimed at helping.

[spinynorman]

We've had some good charity experiences, but they've either been events run by pubs where we also get paid gigs, or a joint effort with other bands we know and trust. I'm very wary now of approaches by people we don't know well and ask a lot of questions and run a mile if I don't get the right answers.

A while ago I agreed to be in an impromptu jam band at a benefit for a local musician who was dying of cancer. You'd think the idiots could leave their egos at the door for that one, but no. With things already running late, due to slow change overs and over-running, one band stood waiting on stage for 5 minutes while their singer showed his wife how to use a video camera. We cut our set to 2 songs to try and help things back on track. At least we hadn't rehearsed.

[munkonthehill]

Just to let everyone know, my very first ever gig (think it was July 2009) was a charity gig with no payment.

The local jam band who I went up with a few times earlier on in the year had organised this night for a young girl who was very ill.

By the time this charity night was setup I had been in my current band ( my guitarist and drummer are well known in the local music scene as they are monsters,,,yes I am a lucky bass-steward).

We were ASKED what time slot we fancied. Low and behold we were on at that exact time. This was a jam band who organised ths night (they nicely added us as a headline band in the local newspaper).

Goes to show the difference in very poor organisation and amazing organisation.


Just to let you all know that 6 months on I have now had a few gigs but I will never forget how important jam sessions in your locals are and how well they will treat you as long as you show them the same respect. Plus its a god send not having to lug a bass amp to a gig hahahahaha.