How was your gig last night?

[Lozz196]

Just got in from my last Spacewasters gig as a full band member (I will be depping for them next year for one gig). Was at The Milton Arms, Southsea, Portsmouth, supporting The Witchdoktors (great band btw).

 

The Witchdoktors provided the backline which was very decent of them, we only had to provide cymbal stands, so made for an easy gig, our drummer drove so all good there.

 

We played well and went down well, though it wasn’t as large an audience as when we’d previously played there, even on pay day, maybe people holding onto cash for Xmas.

 

I played my JMJ Mustang through an Orange Crush (I think) combo, which sounded very nice. Footwear was DM Chelsea/Dealer boots.

 

And now back indoors, well I hurt all over, really reinforcing that my leaving is the right decision, a real shame but I’ve had 4 great years with the band, am so glad I joined them for those years.

[bassbiscuits]

Just got back in from depping on a gig as part of a big fundraising evening for a blood cancer charity in Leicester’s Winstanley House. Lovely venue, huge room. 
 

Pretty late gig, starting at 10pm, but people were still up for a dance and it was pretty lively. 

Got completely lost in the dark trying to get out (I’ve only lived in Leicester for 20 years….) and was gonna find a McDonald’s on way home but it was super late and I couldn’t be bothered. 
 

Gear was my old vintage P bass with its new Labella DTB flats, thru the usual Markbass traveller rig and pedal board. Flatwounds have been the sound in my head for a while for this sort of material and tho I took a BB bass with me I only used it for the final song. 
 

Footwear was by Clarks. Black jeans by M&S. 

 

Edited yesterday at 09:45 by bassbiscuits

[AndyTravis]

Edited yesterday at 07:41 by AndyTravis

[BigRedX]

Unfortunately we weren't able to play last night as our synth player had picked up some lurgy from his kids and was too ill to play. A pity not only because the gig was sold out, but because we'd spent the last few weeks learning how to play our "Christmas Song" as a band. The recorded version had been assembled in the studio, and I think that before we started practicing in order to play it live I'd never played the Bass VI part all the way through in one go.

 

Still the other four bands played and Social Youth Cult who headlined were enough of a draw to have sold most of the tickets, so I don't think we let too many people down. It appears from our social media comments over the last few weeks, that most of the people who wanted to come and see us play had left it too late to buy tickets anyway.

 

Unless something really good comes in at the last minute, we don't have any more gigs until 2026 now. December Snow will have to wait until this time next year.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 09:20 by BigRedX

[Len_derby]

8 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Just got in from my last Spacewasters gig as a full band member (I will be depping for them next year for one gig). Was at The Milton Arms, Southsea, Portsmouth, supporting The Witchdoktors (great band btw).

 

The Witchdoktors provided the backline which was very decent of them, we only had to provide cymbal stands, so made for an easy gig, our drummer drove so all good there.

 

We played well and went down well, though it wasn’t as large an audience as when we’d previously played there, even on pay day, maybe people holding onto cash for Xmas.

 

I played my JMJ Mustang through an Orange Crush (I think) combo, which sounded very nice. Footwear was DM Chelsea/Dealer boots.

 

And now back indoors, well I hurt all over, really reinforcing that my leaving is the right decision, a real shame but I’ve had 4 great years with the band, am so glad I joined them for those years.

 

Not the new Lionel, then Lozz?

[Lozz196]

1 minute ago, Len_derby said:

 

Not the new Lionel, then Lozz?

I should have but as I knew we’d have to go out to get grub was dubious about leaving it without my beady eye keeping an eye on it, even though we did grub run in shifts.

[AndyTravis]

Wouldn’t let me type before - no idea why.

 

Good gig last night helping some mates out.

 

they’d agreed to the gig then their bass player moved to a different country so I stepped in.

 

Learned 10 songs, played 7.

 

wasn’t my best performance; first time going ampless and I was a bit thrown by that.

 

sold out Gorilla in Manchester, the main band were half our age - it was like looking at a sea of my daughters mates 😆

 

Felt very old.

[Mickeyboro]

Friday lunchtime in a central Bournemouth church. We do it twice a year and share the retiring collection with the venue. 
 

Church has a regular audience for the music and we add to it - have had 100 folk before but 65 was just fine given the season.
 

The promoter got up to sing on Mojo Workin’ and we played two encores. One of which debuted Time Is Tight. Love a bit of Booker T…
 

Gear: Flea Jazz (currently in ‘for sale’ section), GK MB200 through Barefaced Two10. 

[wateroftyne]

Eagles tribute gigs for the last couple of nights. First, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. It's a gorgeous hall with a lot of history. House PA, extremely good engineer, great lights

 

Best of all, though: 800 people in... on a Thursday night! Hats off to the promoter.

 

Last night was a lovely theatre outside of Whitehaven. A little more cramped, but another very enjoyable night.

 

I used my new (but not new) 1996 MIA Jazz RI, and it's a Bobby Dazzler. Love it.

 

The only downside was the van breaking down as we left Whitehaven. I finally got home just before 5am 😅 💤

 

 

 

 

 

[dmccombe7]

7 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

sold out Gorilla in Manchester, the main band were half our age - it was like looking at a sea of my daughters mates 😆

 

Felt very old.

That's why i play in a Glam covers band Andy. The audience are the same age as us. 🤩

Dave

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

Eagles tribute gigs for the last couple of nights. First, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. It's a gorgeous hall with a lot of history. House PA, extremely good engineer, great lights

 

Best of all, though: 800 people in... on a Thursday night! Hats off to the promoter.

 

Last night was a lovely theatre outside of Whitehaven. A little more cramped, but another very enjoyable night.

 

I used my new (but not new) 1996 MIA Jazz RI, and it's a Bobby Dazzler. Love it.

 

The only downside was the van breaking down as we left Whitehaven. I finally got home just before 5am 😅 💤

 

 

 

 

 

Nice basses Michael. The one with the neck binding is especially nice but i'd take either.

I do love a Jazz bass.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

This afternoons gig with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band was a charity event in Boness that was sold out.

We've played this venue many times for charity events, retirements, birthdays and are back again Feb 2026 for a 60th. The guy was at the gig today.

Start time was 2pm and we literally had dancers on the floor for the first song and that lasted all the way thru the afternoon.

Couldn't have asked for a better audience. When you get a lot of women out for a Saturday afternoon Xmas party they just wanna have fun and they did.

The few males that were present also up dancing with everyone on the floor for the last few songs.

The new Xmas songs went down a treat and we played well.

Had a few hiccups with the PA where it cut out on occasion. Looked like he was running the powered cabs too hard. He decided to leave the subs in the van and just go with his JBL full range cabs. In future we'll always use the subs with them. He notched down the bass and kick drum volumes and i boosted my amp volume to compensate. Still sounded great tho but that solved the issue for the 2nd set.

Decided to use my Sandberg MarloweDK for this one as the event was billed as a Xmas event so we went with the tinsel and a more Xmas look.

Marlowe sounded excellent thru the Handbox WB-100 and BF212 cab. First time i've used this combination in the Glam band and i was very pleased. Sound guy also commented that it sounded superb out front.

Some older ladies wanted to book us for 2027 for a triple birthday party but its a bit too far away to be taking bookings so we asked that they get in touch middle 2026.

All in all a good day and home for 7:30pm via the Indian takeaway.

Few pics of the stage etc appeared so that's all i have for time being.

Dave 

 

[Norris]

Our first time playing at the Gate in Hugglescote. It looks like they have entertainment fairly regularly, but not with bands with a drum kit. It was a bit tight, so much so that the drummer sat on the bench instead of his stool and had no room for a floor tom. That made for a few chuckles on the occasions he forgot and hit on thin air 😂

 

I never find it fun having to move every piece of kit six times while setting up, like a sliding tile puzzle.

 

A bit unusually for a Saturday night pub gig they wanted us to start at 7pm. As we expected it was a little thin on the ground when we started but soon got busier.

 

The Rumble had to go on the bench. I don't normally have it up high like that, so it made for a different experience and I tried not to be too self-conscious being able to hear every little thing.

 

A good night was had. Some dancing. A lot of compliments, and it turns out there were quite a few musos there too. Most importantly my black DMs looked great, having polished them this morning 😂

 

[martthebass]

Well the run of excellent gigs came to an end last night. A club gig that doubled as a members event. The audience was our age demographic but dancers were few and far between. Maybe they were saving themselves for the upcoming festivities.

However onwards and upwards to next week when we’re back in pub land for a new venue on the outskirts of Chesterfield.

[cdog]

I played out at a local pub called the primrose in Leeds last night. It's a night where they put on five bands and so we got a 35 minute set and feels like a Leeds rite of passage . 

There was an old Peavey bass amp provided but I took along my rumble 500 and I was glad because the sound from the peavey was pretty mushy and muffled.

I took my sire V7 because I find that it gives me a nice crisp tone without being quite as in your face as a stingray. The music in our band is funk rock so I need something that this going to sound nice when slapped.

I also just got a boss me 90 b on Thursday and so I had set up a load of patches because on one of the songs I switch between a clean sound and an octave pedal and then distortion and then octave and distortion. I had foolishly added a bit of envelope filter to the clean octave sound and when I played it at gig volume it was definitely a bit too much top end. Oops, I'll join the me90b discussion later on the appropriate thread... 

The first band on were a very tight rock band with a female singer, bassist playing a p with flats very nicely. 

Our set went pretty well with the usual issues with speeding up when we get excited and the guitarist struggled a bit with his guitar dropping out of tune all the time I think next time we need to get the guitar out of the case in advance so it can get used to the temperature in the room. The PA was a bit muffled though which doesn't really work for the hip hoppy lyrical delivery and my partner said that when I spoke through the microphone she couldn't make out what I was saying so definitely the PA was just not quite right. Shame because we have been practicing three part harmonies for a while and I think they probably got lost in the mush. I also tried a Bluetooth wireless set up my dad lent me and it worked great.

The band after us were a four-piece metal act called 6 foot under with a fantastic front man and really talented musicians, in particular the guitarist who had that trait of sounding amazing but looking like he was barely moving his hands. I'm not really into metal at all anymore but I appreciated their musicianship and the show. They even gave out Yorkshire tea bags with their qr code on it! 

All in all a fun night out, just a shame there weren't that many people out to listen..

I wore my altra lone peak trainers as always. 

 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

Well the run of excellent gigs came to an end last night. A club gig that doubled as a members event. The audience was our age demographic but dancers were few and far between. Maybe they were saving themselves for the upcoming festivities.

However onwards and upwards to next week when we’re back in pub land for a new venue on the outskirts of Chesterfield.

That's unusual for you guys @martthebass.

Sometimes it happens and like you said, just move on to the next one and enjoy the festive gigs cause Glam is always a fun Xmas party night.

Dave

[martthebass]

3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's unusual for you guys @martthebass.

Sometimes it happens and like you said, just move on to the next one and enjoy the festive gigs cause Glam is always a fun Xmas party night.

Dave

Cheers Dave, you’re right, sometimes people are not up for it. We’re having a bit of a cull on venues for next year and looking at some new ones which keeps it interesting.

[dmccombe7]

10 minutes ago, martthebass said:

Cheers Dave, you’re right, sometimes people are not up for it. We’re having a bit of a cull on venues for next year and looking at some new ones which keeps it interesting.

We're in the same spot. Having to look out new venues for 2026. Clubs especially are finding it difficult selling tickets and turning a profit.

What we don't want is playing the same venues too often as people get fed up seeing the same bands too often.

We're also considering venues South of the border which are relatively easy reach for me. I'm 1 hr from Carlisle on M74. Newcastle also an option we're looking at. 

We had a few venues contact us last year from as far down as Brighton but the distances just weren't justified for one gig unless we charged silly money to include accomodation.

Dave

[neepheid]

A double report, because I was lazy last weekend.

 

Last Saturday, played with Nine Lives at the Grampian Bar in Torry, Aberdeen.  First time playing there.  It wasn't very busy - maybe 15 folk in at any one time.  Thankfully there was a table of folk who stayed for most of the gig and were well into it, plus my best mate came down for the first half and Mrs. Neepheid joined us later on after an earlier social engagement.  Still, it was one of those when you wonder if the pub made any money at all.

 

Gear for that one was Yamaha night - the SB500S (even in its unfinished state having only a bridge pickup) followed by the BB1200 (which I forgot to photograph, oops).  Amplification by Mark Bass as per usual.

 

Fast forward to last night, Nine Lives again and back to a favourite haunt, the Balaclava in Fraserburgh.  Gig didn't get off to the best of starts - while the drummer and I were loading our gear into the pub he suddenly realised that he'd left the mixing desk at home - he had changed cars in order to service the brakes on his usual motor and left it in there by mistake.  Thankfully he only lives half an hour away from the venue, and we were mercifully early, so he bombed it home while we set up everything around the missing mixing desk so it would just be plug in and go, debagged his drums to save a bit of time there etc.  Despite all that hoohah, we still somehow managed to be ready 10 mins before kick off.

 

And it was a cracking night!  Maybe because it was a pay weekend, the pub was busy and we had plenty of dancers and singers enjoying the tunes.  Much better night than last weekend, that's for sure.  Played well, some bloops but easily recovered and acknowledged with winks, smiles and funny faces.

 

I played my Epiphone Mike Dirnt signature G-3 the whole night - sorry, backup bass, but I was just having too much fun with my new toy.  It's a bloody terrific bass, a joy to play and sounded immense - cut through the mix like a knife in all pickup settings.  Had a whale of a time playing it.  Usual amplification.

 

[MacDaddy]

Electric Soup, 90s and 00s indie classics, hence the yellow bucket hat you can see poking out at the back.

No car-crashes, good fun gig. Punters were sat at tables due to where we had to set up in the pub, but we had people dancing at times at the back. 

The BH800 worked well with the tone prints meaning I didn't have to take 2 extra FX pedals.

 

Shuker 3 -> Getaria wireless -> TC Electronics BH800 -> Orange 4x10 isobaric cab (+ DI from amp into PA for FOH volume control).

 

Footwear, maroon creepers.

 

[The fasting showman]

Hometown gig in a converted church that I've played before, nicer onstage sound than previous times. A few mistakes but a well received generally enjoyable gig. 

 

I've used a Peavey vb2 810 fridge for my last 3 gigs, this one and the 2 previous tour supports we did. The fridge was purchased for the usual blue book £100 for a non Ampeg 810: it's the 3rd 8x10 I've owned and I maintain that despite science going in the opposite direction they can be a good, cheap viable solution for certain situations. Obviously it wouldn't have worked when I was doing pub / club covers and probably not ideal for everyone. 

 

When I found out the bookings we had this year I either had to get an additional 2x12 neo GK cab or go on a different tangent. I flogged the GK and bought the fridge for half of what I got for it...I can rethink things in the future if needed.

 

Fair to say that the 810 with the GK head is like a 3.5 litre v8 ticking over and never gets shouty; the volume is at the volume of the drumkit ( I'm enjoying playing with a more energetic drummer after playing with a sedate one for a few years) and one guitarist plays big chords while the other plays a bass 6. So I need to really ground the music, giving an illusion of being an octave below the bass 6.

 

The tilt and roll drill with the fridge is pretty workable too, I struggle more with 4x10s tbh.

 

My first gig with LaBella flats. Not wild about them on their own but great in the band mix, really full and consistent. The higher tension seems to work well too, nice to play.

[martthebass]

5 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

We're in the same spot. Having to look out new venues for 2026. Clubs especially are finding it difficult selling tickets and turning a profit.

What we don't want is playing the same venues too often as people get fed up seeing the same bands too often.

We're also considering venues South of the border which are relatively easy reach for me. I'm 1 hr from Carlisle on M74. Newcastle also an option we're looking at. 

We had a few venues contact us last year from as far down as Brighton but the distances just weren't justified for one gig unless we charged silly money to include accomodation.

Dave

We’re in a similar position, we get a lot of requests for long distance gigs but the finances don’t compute. Ironically we’ve gone shorter distance for 80% of the gigs and charged accordingly.

As you know in our genre there’s a limited number of songs and we’ve found if you go a bit ‘left field’ it can fall flat…..the punters seem to want the same standards. So we try and limit it to one gig/yr or 2 max if pestered.

[mep]

We were back at the Queens Arms in Brixham last night, which is one our favourite pubs to play and we are the landlords favourite band. We set up quick and it sounded good, but later we were told the guitar was too quiet when it was fine at first. A combination of up on his amp and bit more in the PA along with a subtle equaliser tweak sorted it. We were playing quiet well and having a good gig, but there were some moments. A few caused by our singer with one particular strange one. At the end of the second chorus in Go Your Own Way he carried on and then me and the guitarist both went into the ending so we completely missed the middle section. Lots of looking at each other wondering what went on, but we laughed about it as we alesys seem to play our way our of problems. A good size appreciative crowd, and some people I haven't seen for a while. Next gig is NYE at a different pub. Usual rig, which I've photographed close up.

[peteb]

5 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

We're in the same spot. Having to look out new venues for 2026. Clubs especially are finding it difficult selling tickets and turning a profit.

 

 

We're finding this big time on the tribute circuit. There are certain parts of the country where we can pull 250 plus and make pretty decent money, but there are other towns where we struggle to get 50 punters through the doors and are playing for not that much more than pub rock gig money. It's not just us by any means, I've got mates who run venues and they are struggling to make putting on live music cover the bills. 

 

Edited 8 minutes ago by peteb