How was your gig last night?

[MacDaddy]

I’ve been following this thread since New Year’s Eve, mainly looking for reassurance. January gigs can feel like a leap of faith at the best of times, pubs are usually quieter, the first week (and first full week) can be especially thin, and then there’s Dry January doing its best impression of a killjoy.

 

So it’s been genuinely heartening to see reports of decent audiences turning out. That gave me a bit of optimism going into my own gig last night, of which I will post about later 😁

[Mickeyboro]

My gig on Thursday at a local social club saw Otis Jay Blues Band play to an audience of just 15! Storm Goretti didn’t really disrupt Bournemouth, but the combination of strong publicity and gusty wind kept people at home. 
 

Never mind, we have been rebooked for April. And we got some good practice… some photo ops too. So an ill wind didn’t spoil everything.

Edited 6 hours ago by Mickeyboro

[NoRhino]

33 minutes ago, borntohang said:

I'm going to take a blind guess at "somebody got the wrong song order on their setlist". I used to love that gag - keeps the singer on their toes! Well done on the recovery though.

We use a single source of printing for the set and we're each handed a copy on the night.   

The BL described it as Fawlty Towers The Musical.     

[bassbiscuits]

Just back from playing at the (mostly) annual Let’s Play Bowie tribute gig at Leicester’s International Arts Centre. 
 

My first gig of the new year, this time as part of a multi-band afternoon gig, playing bass on a six-song Bowie set (Ziggy Stardust, Starman, Moonage Daydream, Boys Keep Swinging, Andy Warhol and Queen Bitch). 
 

The gig was a sell-out and nicely full by the time we played just before 5pm. Lovely to play a gig where someone else is sorting out the sound (very good it was too) and I just turn up with a bass and a cable. 
 

Took my red/tort Squier Bitsa P bass project strung with GHS Precision flats. Provided bass rig was a Markbass LM2 into an Ampeg 2x12 (I think). 
I got to catch up with other local singers and musicians, one who had brought his genuine 1971 P bass for the gig, which was splendid. 
 

UPDATED with the last two pics of my actual band. What a brilliant afternoon out and a lovely thing to be part of.  

 

Edited 5 minutes ago by bassbiscuits
Updated with a couple more pics

[Mickeyboro]

8 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said:

I got to catch up with other local singers and musicians, one who had brought his genuine 1971 P bass for the gig, which was splendid. 

What a coincidence! I was playing my 71 P in the picture above. It doesn’t get  out much these days, but as I have parted with my Flea it’s moved up the pecking order. 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, borntohang said:

I'm going to take a blind guess at "somebody got the wrong song order on their setlist". I used to love that gag - keeps the singer on their toes! Well done on the recovery though.

 

On Friday the second song on the setlist was 'Walk in my Shadow'. Alex called 'Walk in My Shadow'.
 

Not long after, having played a bar of Walk in My Shadow in Gm, I seamlessly transition to The Hunter in Am which is what Alex and Paul are playing...

[Stub Mandrel]

59 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

So an ill wind didn’t spoil everything.

 

It blew the felt off of a third of my workshop roof 😞

[bassbiscuits]

11 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

What a coincidence! I was playing my 71 P in the picture above. It doesn’t get  out much these days, but as I have parted with my Flea it’s moved up the pecking order. 

And I opted to leave my 1970 P at home this time - but it’s almost identical to the one that chap brought to the gig. 

Edited 5 hours ago by bassbiscuits

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, NoRhino said:

On Friday our Blues band opened for an excellent Eagles trib at The Ferry in Glasgow.  Ultra busy so what could go wrong?    I've been with them since 2015 and it's a really tight well rehearsed band. Anyway, I stepped up to sing the 2nd last song which I've sung dozens of times.      Carnage!  1234 drums and instruments totally out of time as in different song out of time.

Stop smile and start again.  Same result.   Eek.   Third time I kept singing through the cacophany until we reached verse one and it finally gelled.  

No doubt we'll reset the song at our next rehearsal.  

Such disasters seldom happen but wow. If C@rlsb3rg did onstage disasters.   

 

 

Its live music, sometimes things go wrong. Think we've all experienced this at some stage.

Was it Hotel Caledonia that was on. I know the bass player thru FB.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, borntohang said:

I'm going to take a blind guess at "somebody got the wrong song order on their setlist". I used to love that gag - keeps the singer on their toes! Well done on the recovery though.

And that's the reason i always post or print off the set list for our gigs when we make any changes depending on venue or add any new songs. We've had occasion where we started off in different songs only to find someone was using an older set list. Doesn't happen now tho. 

I do like your sense of humour with your band but i'm not sure our guys would appreciate that kind of joke. Think i would be looking for a new job. 😂

Dave

[dmccombe7]

43 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said:

Just back from playing at the (mostly) annual Let’s Play Bowie tribute gig at Leicester’s International Arts Centre. 
 

My first gig of the new year, this time as part of a multi-band afternoon gig, playing bass on a six-song Bowie set (Ziggy Stardust, Starman, Moonage Daydream, Boys Keep Swinging, Andy Warhol and Queen Bitch). 
 

The gig was a sell-out and nicely full by the time we played just before 5pm. Lovely to play a gig where someone else is sorting out the sound (very good it was too) and I just turn up with a bass and a cable. 
 

Took my Squier Bitsa P bass project strung with GHS Precision flats. Provided bass rig was a Markbass LM2 into an Ampeg 2x12 (I think). 
I got to catch up with other local singers and musicians, one who had brought his genuine 1971 P bass for the gig, which was splendid. 
 

No photos of my band yet but these give you the rough idea. What a brilliant afternoon out and a lovely thing to be part of.  

 

Moonage Daydream would be a great song to play.

Dave

[bassbiscuits]

30 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Moonage Daydream would be a great song to play.

Dave

I absolutely love playing it - something closer to the “Bowie at the Beeb” version. Epic tune 

[12stringbassist]

Our first gig of the new year. We played with a dep drummer on New Year's Eve, as our own drummer had a long standing arrangement for a family party in Wales.  I turned up a bit frazzled after having forgotten a couple of things and having to go back home for them. The parking was difficult. We had people shutting the rear door of the venue as we were loading in which didn't help and a couple of people were getting in our way. We were a bit loose in the first half. The second half was a lot better.

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by 12stringbassist

[martthebass]

Great first gig of the year for me last night. New venue for us, The lion at Cas Vegas (Castleford), a well known music venue in these parts. Known as a bit of a rockers venue so booking a glam band was a bit of a punt, however it was banging with a full house and happy smiling punters. Booked back in October and already looking forward to it.

[thumperbob 2002]

First Gig of the year for our six piece, centre of Hull. we have a residency there- once a month ( residencies have changed over the years ! )

 

Our Dep drummer did great and was a great change having a drummer that actually speaks.

 

My thoughts were that it was going to be a quiet night but seems most of the punters in the Town centre noticed we were on and a full house was experienced by the band. We all played great and after a good soundcheck sounded spot on. Some good comments on my Bass tone- first gig with my Origin Bassrig 15. Sounded epic with my fender Jazz Ultra 5 string.

 

Should be a good gig this one, easy to load in and park, which after doing this for 40 plus years is a real positive!

[cheddatom]

We played Bootleg Social Club in Blackpool on Saturday. It's a very cool venue. No other drummers so I could leave everything set up, which is always a big bonus for me. The two acoustic acts were ace! I was a bit worried 'cos I've not been playing at all. I am not gig fit! I warmed up for hours before but still ended up with cramp towards the end of the 20 song set! It was great to be back out gigging anyway. I'll do my best to take photos and keep up to date on here

[NoRhino]

12 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Its live music, sometimes things go wrong. Think we've all experienced this at some stage.

Was it Hotel Caledonia that was on. I know the bass player thru FB.

Dave

It was indeed.  Eddie the bass player is a good guy as were the whole band.  

[jezzaboy]

13 hours ago, NoRhino said:

We use a single source of printing for the set and we're each handed a copy on the night.   

The BL described it as Fawlty Towers The Musical.     

I do the set list and print them out for each member so that way we are all doing the same set. Until one night I decided not to wear glasses as I was trying to be cool, mis read the list and started one song whilst the rest of the band started the correct one. Glasses back on 

Edited 3 hours ago by jezzaboy

[BigRedX]

Because we use computer-driven backing for drums and our second synth parts, our set order is decided at the rehearsal before a gig and I put the songs in the correct order on the computer so I can cue up and control the start of each one using a footswitch. Although I'm always given a printed set list for each gig I tend not to look at it because cuing up the next song also selects the correct starting patch on my Helix Floor which uses the song name as Its title and therefore the Helix display acts as much easier to see set list for me. At one fairly high-profile gig our singer who usually produces the printed set lists printed out a different set order to the one I had programmed. Luckily I noticed that he was not introducing the song I had cued up ready, and was able to manually select the correct one on the computer before I started a different song to the one the rest of the band were expecting.

[Jack]

12 hours ago, 12stringbassist said:

Our first gig of the new year. We played with a dep drummer on New Year's Eve, as our own drummer had a long standing arrangement for a family party in Wales.  I turned up a bit frazzled after having forgotten a couple of things and having to go back home for them. The parking was difficult. We had people shutting the rear door of the venue as we were loading in which didn't help and a couple of people were getting in our way. We were a bit loose in the first half. The second half was a lot better.

 

 

That is some high quality rock tone going on there my friend. 

[dmccombe7]

3 hours ago, NoRhino said:

It was indeed.  Eddie the bass player is a good guy as were the whole band.  

Yep he is a nice guy and an avid whisky connoisseur. He's been playing a long time too plus he's played in some really well known local bands.

I've never actually managed to see him play with the Eagles tribute. 

Dave