How was your gig last night?

[scrumpymike]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

We're quite lucky being a Glam covers band means we can get away with our singer mingling with the audience if not a high stage. He especially enjoys it doing Schools Out by Alice Cooper when he wears the silver long tailed jacket, top hat and silver cane and just plays with it a bit. Other things he'll do is chat with the audience and entice them to get involved. This normally happens when we are doing private parties where not everyone is into Glam and it just seems to help a bit.

Dave 

The female vocalist in a functions band I was in a while back had also been a pro dancer. She just used to drag people off their chairs and get them up dancing. Funniest time  was at a rugby club do when she did it to a six-foot-plus prop forward guy much to the hilarity of his mates. There's no way that guy was gonna move so she just wrestled him to the ground - at which point he had to stand up. Lorraine was 5' 5" and no more than 8 stone.

[Rayman]

8 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

I share highlights of our gigs, the good with the bad.

 

Sometimes things go wrong and you just can't put your finger on it. " The audience wasn't into it" It hurts it's certainly happened to us, and more than once.

 

Sounds like a good discussion.  "What Can You Do When The Crowd Ain't Into It ? I have a few thoughts on when and why it happens.

 

Daryl

Yeah, we’re pretty lucky most of the time, playing original heavy rock to audiences who often don’t know the songs, we go down pretty well a lot of the time. However sometimes it just doesn’t click, and on a wet Tuesday night the folks that came to see what was on just didn’t seem to be into us. Cest la vie! The band before us went down pretty well, playing kind of indie rock, and they were great, but our 80s style heavy rock just didn’t do it for them. All part of the fun, and I’ll take indifference over hostility every time! lol, because we’ve had both down the years! Thankfully the days of having stuff thrown are long gone! 😆

[dmccombe7]

22 hours ago, Rayman said:

Yeah, we’re pretty lucky most of the time, playing original heavy rock to audiences who often don’t know the songs, we go down pretty well a lot of the time. However sometimes it just doesn’t click, and on a wet Tuesday night the folks that came to see what was on just didn’t seem to be into us. Cest la vie! The band before us went down pretty well, playing kind of indie rock, and they were great, but our 80s style heavy rock just didn’t do it for them. All part of the fun, and I’ll take indifference over hostility every time! lol, because we’ve had both down the years! Thankfully the days of having stuff thrown are long gone! 😆

Its odd but whenever i used to see a band, no matter what style of music it was, i always applauded at the end of each song unless the band were absolutely diabolic and making lots of serious mistakes but i don't recall that ever happening.

I'm happy to see any band play especially if it looks like they are enjoying it themselves.

I'd be that one guy in the audience that's clapping. 

Dave

Edited Saturday at 10:34 by dmccombe7

[Lozz196]

47 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Yeah, we’re pretty lucky most of the time, playing original heavy rock to audiences who often don’t know the songs, we go down pretty well a lot of the time. However sometimes it just doesn’t click, and on a wet Tuesday night the folks that came to see what was on just didn’t seem to be into us. Cest la vie! The band before us went down pretty well, playing kind of indie rock, and they were great, but our 80s style heavy rock just didn’t do it for them. All part of the fun, and I’ll take indifference over hostility every time! lol, because we’ve had both down the years! Thankfully the days of having stuff thrown are long gone! 😆

Yep that’s what happens with originals. In our early days in Knock Off we got on some strange bills, and sometimes there was just stunned silence at our set. 

[Bluewine]

On 11/11/2025 at 02:41, dmccombe7 said:

I've noticed it before that you have a nice funky wrist action on the pick hand on some of your songs that i've never really heard used before Daryl.

Think the nearest i've heard to it was Bobby Vega.

Very nice light touch too.

Dave

I'm  definitely  Bobby Vega fan Dave.

 

Daryl

[Rayman]

3 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Yep that’s what happens with originals. In our early days in Knock Off we got on some strange bills, and sometimes there was just stunned silence at our set. 

Yeah we had stunned silence a couple of times in the past. I remember playing the Nottingham Palais to a couple of thousand people, and literally at the end of the songs it was silent 😆, very odd situation. I’ve been spat at, had ashtrays thrown at me…. Etc etc, all many years ago now thankfully.

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, Rayman said:

Yeah, we’re pretty lucky most of the time, playing original heavy rock to audiences who often don’t know the songs, we go down pretty well a lot of the time. However sometimes it just doesn’t click, and on a wet Tuesday night the folks that came to see what was on just didn’t seem to be into us. Cest la vie! The band before us went down pretty well, playing kind of indie rock, and they were great, but our 80s style heavy rock just didn’t do it for them. All part of the fun, and I’ll take indifference over hostility every time! lol, because we’ve had both down the years! Thankfully the days of having stuff thrown are long gone! 😆

 

When it happens to us it's usually a booking error. Somehow we booked a gig at the wrong venue. For example the crowd is expecting  " Don't Stop Believing " and they get " Red House " lol

 

Daryl 

[dmccombe7]

4 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I'm  definitely  Bobby Vega fan Dave.

 

Daryl

I knew it Daryl. You're his son 😂

Dave

[Norris]

After 24 hours of continuous rain we were not surprised that turnout was a little low at the Bricklayers in Sharnford last night. Especially given that the pub is next to the river. In fact as we left the landlord came out to fix the last few sections of the flood barrier in place!

 

 

As usual it was a tight squeeze in the corner. It was great to play at a lower volume though as we could hear everything and had no sacrifice of tone. The guitarist took his Mesa Boogie but had a tiny little Vox amp plugged into the speakers rather than using the Mesa amp - much easier to get a decent tone without volume. Well it sounded good to all of us anyway.

 

As I said, a selective audience but some of them had travelled quite a distance, which was appreciated by us. We even got some up dancing (ok, it was the WAGS 😂)

 

I don't often do vids but this one isn't too bad, even if it is me singing!

 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:45 by Norris
Added video

[12stringbassist]

We had a good night last night.
 

 

[Franticsmurf]

Last night we had our first stadium gig. 80,00 screaming fans, helicopter in and out, 50kw PA, individual dressing rooms. 

 

Then I woke up from my pre-gig nap. It's true we were in a stadium - the Swansea.com stadium - but sadly all the rest of it was fanciful daydreaming. Last night the Hull band played in support of the annual 'Big Sleep Out' event, raising money for the local homeless charity drop in centre, Matthews House. We've been raising money for them for years and we regularly play with their choir so they asked up to do a short set at the event, in which folks get sponsored to spend a night sleeping out in the open. We were due to play in the stand overlooking the pitch (the pitch itself was strictly off limits to all) but Storm Claudia put paid to any open air performance, and instead we played in the main concourse under one of the stands. The audience was limited to the people who were volunteering to sleep out, the choirs and the staff and volunteers who were helping out on the night - about 200 in total. Swansea City football club were sponsoring the whole event, hence the venue. 

 

We were due to play for about 30 minutes; the choir kicked off the entertainment and we joined them for three songs before carrying on. We ended up playing on longer than expected as the audience kept asking for one more song. Well, you can't say no to the punters. Eventually, the stadium's own noise curfew brought us to a stop. Great atmosphere, dancing, singing along etc and more than £42,000 raised by the time we'd finished playing. And no, that wasn't money paid to get us to stop. 

 

We used the stadium's events PA but our own desk as we are a 13 piece and we brought our own sound engineer. My kit for the night was my Squier PJ into a Behringer pedal tuner (I just can't get on with clip-on tuners) which also acts as a mute and my Ampeg SCR DI. Straight into the desk as usual. Outfit was geared towards remaining warm and black boots completed the look. Highlights for me included dedicating and playing the song 'Heroes' (already a favourite) to the folks staying out overnight and dancing with the choir leader at the back for our encore of 'Hey Jude'. 

 

The Matthews House choir

 

The stadium.

 

Ready to soundcheck

 

Mid gig

[MacDaddy]

Royal Blues (originals Americana), at The West Hampstead Arts Club. It was either a bus ride for 3 stops from Kilburn, or a 10 minute walk. What Google maps didn't say is that the walk was uphill 😖 (and it started raining).

We were a support band, second out of three. Soundcheck at 6, so of course we were soundchecking at 6:45 (Showtime 8:15, actually onstage nearer to 8:45).

It's a small venue, 30 punters make the place look full, which was fortunate...

The sound person was great, onstage balance was good, and FOH sounded good according to punters.

The 2 new songs debuted at the previous gig were included and went down well. 

Ibanez UB804 -> Getaria wireless -> DI.

 

Footwear - maroon creepers.

 

 

This was the back of the stage. In front of the drummer and myself was the guitarist, lead vocalist, and 2 backing singers.

[Bluewine]

9 hours ago, Norris said:

After 24 hours of continuous rain we were not surprised that turnout was a little low at the Bricklayers in Sharnford last night. Especially given that the pub is next to the river. In fact as we left the landlord came out to fix the last few sections of the flood barrier in place!

 

 

As usual it was a tight squeeze in the corner. It was great to play at a lower volume though as we could hear everything and had no sacrifice of tone. The guitarist took his Mesa Boogie but had a tiny little Vox amp plugged into the speakers rather than using the Mesa amp - much easier to get a decent tone without volume. Well it sounded good to all of us anyway.

 

As I said, a selective audience but some of them had travelled quite a distance, which was appreciated by us. We even got some up dancing (ok, it was the WAGS 😂)

 

I don't often do vids but this one isn't too bad, even if it is me singing!

 

 

 

Wow! Very nice performance.  Clean, tight groove and excellent vocals.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 14/11/2025 at 14:46, dmccombe7 said:

I knew it Daryl. You're his son 😂

Dave

 

 

Dave,

 

I did a little research on Bobby. I'm 7 years older then him. I was born in 1954. Bobby was born in 1961. Dang, I'm older than guys I thought were " old guys". lol He passed in 2021. I think he did a lot for very little credit.

 

Daryl

[peteb]

7 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I did a little research on Bobby. I'm 7 years older then him. I was born in 1954. Bobby was born in 1961. Dang, I'm older than guys I thought were " old guys". lol He passed in 2021. I think he did a lot for very little credit.

 

 

I'm pretty sure that Bobby is still with us! 

 

[Norris]

27 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

Wow! Very nice performance.  Clean, tight groove and excellent vocals.

 

Daryl

Thanks. I'm still the third best singer in a trio though 😂

[Bluewine]

12 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

I'm pretty sure that Bobby is still with us! 

 

You might be right Pete. Wiki has been wrong in the past.

 

Daryl

Edited Saturday at 21:20 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

On 14/11/2025 at 10:16, Rayman said:

Yeah we had stunned silence a couple of times in the past. I remember playing the Nottingham Palais to a couple of thousand people, and literally at the end of the songs it was silent 😆, very odd situation. I’ve been spat at, had ashtrays thrown at me…. Etc etc, all many years ago now thankfully.

 

I don't think I can top being spat on. I remember playing a club where they put us in a separate room with no bar. The clientle were in their early 20s. They would walk into the room we were playing in and immediately take an

" about face" and walk out. Lol

 

Daryl

[dmccombe7]

11 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

Dave,

 

I did a little research on Bobby. I'm 7 years older then him. I was born in 1954. Bobby was born in 1961. Dang, I'm older than guys I thought were " old guys". lol He passed in 2021. I think he did a lot for very little credit.

 

Daryl

I hadn't really heard of him until Mesa used him to sell the Subway cabs when they were released. I then had to see who he was but he appears to be one of those players that was well sought after and has played with a lot of people / bands.

Very interesting style.

Dave

[mep]

We played a new venue last night, the Palace Place social club in Paignton. They have a PA, but the monitors were elsewhere so we took our desk and monitors and plugged into their amp. The room was quite tall and we needed to dial back on the higher frequencies to control the sound. My bass rig was filling the room nicely and didn't need much FOH, but the guitar did. A decent FOH and stage sound sorted and we blasted through our 2 sets. This club is near an old favourite pub which has changed landlord and direction, so we are not playing there anymore. We will secure more gigs here so that keeps us busy enough. They were pleased to have us and suggested coming down when it is quieter and setting up with their system and digital desk and monitors so we can just plug and play for the next gig. We didn't have a lot of time last night for that. Quite a few people who used to see us in Paignton came last night now we are back in town. My usual rig of StingRay, RM500 evo II & BF 210. Shoes were my new Skechers slip on' which are super comfy.

[Cat Burrito]

We played the Wheatsheaf in Calne last night with the drummer from our first band, 35yrs back. We’ve reunited a handful of times in recent years and it’s both nice to have a real drum beat & good to have 60% of my Sixth Form band back together. We’re just so comfortable in each other’s skin.

 

 

I thought we played well. I was on my mandocello for 90% of the show and there were flashes of us all being really on it at times. The two bands who were on after us both came up after and said “how are we supposed to follow that?”, which was typical of the ego free and friendly nature of this multi band gig, raising money for Bristol Children’s Hospital. For the record, music has never been about competition and both bands did their thing well. I was particularly impressed with some of the earlier bands who were so young. I was talking to some 17yr old bassist who really impressed me and it’s so good to see that generation getting out there and doing it. A great day. 

[neepheid]

Back at it after a weekend off, with Nine Lives at The Railway Club in Keith.  A weird one - I wasn't feeling 100%, had been fighting a lurgy for the past few days but had got myself to the "you'd be well enough to go to work" type state so I decided to go for it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't very busy - probably an effect of the Greece vs. Scotland game being live on the Beeb.  Things got a bit better in the second half, we had people sporadically come through from the bar area to see us for a few songs then bog off back to the bar.  Yet we were still treated to some chair dancing and acrobatics/tumbling.  How odd!

 

It was more interesting from the gear point of view, as this was the first time I had taken my Jack Casady out to a gig since I finally got a replacement coil and fitted it.  Happy to report that it is back to its normal self - capable of generating feedback, but in a controlled way (instead of reacting simply to being in the same room as a not very loud amp, as was when the dodgy coil was in there).  There was a sustained note for 4 bars during one song during which the JC did a lovely slow feedback buildup - became noticeable around bar 2 and built up gracefully (and quite musically) but never to annoying levels.  Chopped it dead at the next bar.  Loved it.  My JC is back doing its JC thing.

 

Gear was the Epiphone gang (Jack Casady then Thunderbird) into the cubist wasps.

 

[dmccombe7]

Weekend off for me this weekend but starting next week its every weekend until some time mid January if i remember right.

All Sat nights except for the Fri and Sat before Xmas. Good thing is PA is supplied on both those gigs so its an easy load in and out for me.

Got a rehearsal this Thu night to run thru the Xmas songs ready for some party night Glam fun.

Dave

[wateroftyne]

A weekend of Eagles tribute shows.

Halifax Playhouse on Friday - a beautiful old hall, formerly a methodist church. A lovely, friendly crowd. A bit of a nervy trip back to Tyneside which involved negotiating a couple of floods.

 

Next day, another Playhouse - this time at Alnwick, a little closer to home. Another lovely crowd. The front row of seats is int he same level as the band, and one particular highlight was when a chap in the front row spilled his drink, sending ice all over the stage. He got on his hands and knees, and crawled around under our feet trying to pick it ip, which he couldn't quite manage as ice is rather slippy. It all went on for a comically long time. This is the stuff you really remember in years to come.

 

Next stop - Edinburgh & Whitehaven.

Pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Norris]

We don't play at The Thornton (club) very often but it's always a nice friendly place.

 

 

We managed to pull a few in, so it made for a good time. Lots of dancing. Lots of compliments. Although we were totally upstaged by one of the guitarist's young grandchildren who stood on stage dancing while we played the last set.

 

The heat combined with a very busy weekend meant that I was pretty tuckered out by the end of it. I have next weekend off so hopefully can crack on with a bit of spannering on my old VW camper.