How was your gig last night?

[Lozz196]

Not half, I’d gig for a year for £25k

[tauzero]

Following on from Thursday night's open mic, Mein Host had asked me if I'd like to play bass for his duo at a local pub, the Market Vaults, on Friday (last night). I said yes, and a set list arrived on Friday lunchtime. A few of the songs I knew, most of them I'd at least heard a few times before, and one or two I wasn't at all familiar with, so spent a while copying chord sheets from Ultimate Guitar and having a quick play through some of the songs. Headed into town on the evening and all the car parks were rammed - managed to park a few minutes walk away. Fortunately I was only carrying the 6" cab, TC BAM200 amp, gigbag, and Sei headless fretless, so I coped.

 

The Market Vaults is a long thin pub, and we were at the back.

 

 

 

Immediately to the right of the stovepipe PA is the passageway to the toilets, so the photo shows the entire available performance area - I sit to play, so I was sitting on the bench on the left with my amp just by me and the monitor right behind me, and just enough space between tables to put my tablet stand in.

 

 

The gig itself went well. A couple of fluffs (not all by me) and I hadn't got the chords written down right for Crazy, plus for some reason I hadn't got the final draft of my chordsheets on the tablet so I had to remember a couple of the songs. And afterwards I was asked if I'd like to do more gigs with them (I said yes).

 

Edit: Using Sei Original 5 headless fretless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-70CDR+ -> TC BAM200 -> BC house jam micro cab. Footwear - the usual Caravelle memory foam trainers, which was a bit of a risk with snow forecast.

Edited yesterday at 18:37 by tauzero

[bassbiscuits]

Birthday party function gig with my brother’s band - his first gig since finishing chemotherapy last week. 

None of us were quite match fit, having not played together since before Christmas, and the first half of the gig started very early (7.45pm) to a modest audience. 

After a very long interval and buffet, the second half started around 10.30pm but the audience were much more up for it - dancefloor was full and it all went well. 
 

I’d taken my big rig - Markbass STD102HF cab and Traveller 2x10 stacked, my old precision bass and a Yamaha. I’d really wanted to use my brother’s old red Squier P Bass project bass that I’m slowly working on,  but there’s some earth buzz I didn’t have time to sort.

 

Footwear was some sort of Ben Sherman Chelsea boot I bought 10 years ago. Beer by Peroni 0.0%. 

An hour’s drive home with light snowfall swirling about on the motorway. 
 

Bed o’ clock now tho. 

[dmccombe7]

First gig of 2026 with the Glam band tonight. Another 60th birthday for a guy that's seen us quite a few times in same venue. We seem to do a lot of private parties in that particular club. Birthdays, Retirements and charity events.

 

Anyhow it was the usual birthday party audience. The birthday boy loved it and the audience who were mostly younger age group than we're used to just got pissed and then danced away most of the night. Don't think we filled the dance floor at all tonight but we had dancers up for most songs.

 2 x 1hr sets.

Had issues with PA sound tonight at one side of the stage. My side was relatively ok but we were getting a fair bit of feedback and then i realised the PA guy had put his bass bin and mid cab on the front of the stage and thereby causing a loud deep drone thru the first set. It was quite bad and enough to trigger feedback thru the mics. At the break i had to tell him to turn the bass bin on that side either off or down a fair bit to see if it helped. It worked a treat. Sound was excellent 2nd set with very little to zero feedback and no deep drone noise.

Overall it was a good gig and a good rehearsal for next weeks gig at The Ferry in Glasgow. We've been trying to get in there for a few yrs but they wanted us to do a support first for £100 plus food supplied. We've always knocked it back. This time it was a mates band that had to cancel and they put us forward for it. We originally said no because we were offered same fee as mates band but i had no idea they worked for that little a fee. Guy from the venue called me and asked if we could come down a bit nearer to what they would pay other well known Glam acts. I agreed on a fee to get a foot in the door.

Looking forward to that gig as its a good one to get on your gig list.

Loading up at the end the snow came on so that was a bit scary at times over the higher ground. Strong winds meant i had to unload the car via the garage back door as front door comes down if wind catches it.

No pics or vids as yet.

Dave

[tubbybloke68]

Fantastic evening at the pasadero lounge in Redhill last night. Funk/soul covers, but we do have a 3 piece brass section that really adds some power! Not done many gigs together yet so there are certain bits that need tightening up a bit, but hey! the audience loved it and were up from the word go . Used my smithy 5 through my trusty puma 900 and a single LFsys Monza and it ate it! Very confidence inspiring little rig. Bar manager seemed well happy and wants us back . Job done! X😊

Also included, a nice picture of our drummers crouch ! 🤣

Edited 10 hours ago by tubbybloke68

[EJWW]

17 hours ago, tauzero said:

Following on from Thursday night's open mic, Mein Host had asked me if I'd like to play bass for his duo at a local pub, the Market Vaults, on Friday (last night). I said yes, and a set list arrived on Friday lunchtime. A few of the songs I knew, most of them I'd at least heard a few times before, and one or two I wasn't at all familiar with, so spent a while copying chord sheets from Ultimate Guitar and having a quick play through some of the songs. Headed into town on the evening and all the car parks were rammed - managed to park a few minutes walk away. Fortunately I was only carrying the 6" cab, TC BAM200 amp, gigbag, and Sei headless fretless, so I coped.

 

The Market Vaults is a long thin pub, and we were at the back.

 

 

 

Immediately to the right of the stovepipe PA is the passageway to the toilets, so the photo shows the entire available performance area - I sit to play, so I was sitting on the bench on the left with my amp just by me and the monitor right behind me, and just enough space between tables to put my tablet stand in.

 

 

The gig itself went well. A couple of fluffs (not all by me) and I hadn't got the chords written down right for Crazy, plus for some reason I hadn't got the final draft of my chordsheets on the tablet so I had to remember a couple of the songs. And afterwards I was asked if I'd like to do more gigs with them (I said yes).

 

Edit: Using Sei Original 5 headless fretless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-70CDR+ -> TC BAM200 -> BC house jam micro cab. Footwear - the usual Caravelle memory foam trainers, which was a bit of a risk with snow forecast.

Cor! Market Vaults is real ale heaven😍

[EJWW]

New experience for me last night. Depped for a Showaddywaddy tribute act, performing at one of those big retirement complex places. Not quite fully booked but a very decent crowd and we got them on the dance floor.

 

I've always gravitate towards rock/pop/soul/funk so Showaddywaddy was a bit of a tangent. I enjoyed the challenge of learning 34 songs in a couple of weeks and the lads did a good show. Pleased they had a spare Teddy boy frock coat for me to wear so I looked the part 😎.

 

Deceptively difficult, those Showaddywaddy tunes with all the stop-starts, stabs, false endings etc.

 

I used my 2003 Japanese Fender Jazz, markbass LM4 head and energy 2x12 cab.

 

No food or drink provided for the band other than water and coffee 😞

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm actually nervous about today's gig!

 

Had a freaky lucid dream last night... woke up and remembered it in detail:

 

Parked up in a shabby demolished building type car park off an unusual street I hadn't seen before. Walked to nearby venue.

 

Wandered into my brother's gig (today) as they were settng up. Big empty bar, try were out on  the floor instead of in a 'stage area'.

 

Chris (bassist) was playing noodly guitar so I joined in on bass. Worked out they were playing Grapevine,  but in C#. Oddly I remember in detail that I was fingering Eb... but I was convinced the key was C#.

 

Then looked at my watch. The face was scrolling images and web pages about tanks - my internet history? Suddenly I remembered I should be at my own gig for 3pm (actually 4) for 6pm start and it was 5pm. Rushed to front bar. Found the bag I keep my swimming stuff in(?) Took a while to find my jacket, hidden under another coat on a hatstand (like my metal one, but wooden) positioned on or through the bench seat in the bay window.

 

Got phone from my jacket pocket. Discovered the stuff on my watch was actually loads of phone notifications. Discovered continuous flow of messages from the band taking the piss out of me being late after telling them to be early.

 

Headed out, rang band said 5pm I will be tere in twenty minutes and set up in ten...

 

In street passed a traffic warden in hi-vis taking notes. In car park (I hadn't bought a ticket) noticed all signs were so old and faded there was no way thry were valid and nowhere to buy a ticket.

 

Panicked and ran back to car, found only very old house keys in my hand (a memory of finding some in a drawer a few days ago?)

 

Got  in car but couldn't start it... handcrwaching in passenger window offering me keys. Turned out to be evil woman trying to steal car or the old keys or even kill me. Couldn't understand what she was on about. Fought her off by biting her finger then repeatedly pressing the up button for the electric window to trap her arm. Started reversing backwards, dragging her along as I tried to escape.

 

Traumatised, I woke up and focused on committing everything to memory.

 

 

 

I hope the actual gig is not quite as eventful. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Stub Mandrel

[dmccombe7]

16 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm actually nervous about today's gig!

 

Had a freaky lucid dream last night... woke up and remembered it in detail:

 

Parked up in a shabby demolished building type car park off an unusual street I hadn't seen before. Walked to nearby venue.

 

Wandered into my brother's gig (today) as they were settng up. Big empty bar, try were out on  the floor instead of in a 'stage area'.

 

Chris (bassist) was playing noodly guitar so I joined in on bass. Worked out they were playing Grapevine,  but in C#. Oddly I remember in detail that I was fingering Eb... but I was convinced the key was C#.

 

Then looked at my watch. The face was scrolling images and web pages about tanks - my internet history? Suddenly I remembered I should be at my own gig for 3pm (actually 4) for 6pm start and it was 5pm. Rushed to front bar. Found the bag I keep my swimming stuff in(?) Took a while to find my jacket, hidden under another coat on a hatstand (like my metal one, but wooden) positioned on or through the bench seat in the bay window.

 

Got phone from my jacket pocket. Discovered the stuff on my watch was actually loads of phone notifications. Discovered continuous flow of messages from the band taking the piss out of me being late after telling them to be early.

 

Headed out, rang band said 5pm I will be tere in twenty minutes and set up in ten...

 

In street passed a traffic warden in hi-vis taking notes. In car park (I hadn't bought a ticket) noticed all signs were so old and faded there was no way thry were valid and nowhere to buy a ticket.

 

Panicked and ran back to car, found only very old house keys in my hand (a memory of finding some in a drawer a few days ago?)

 

Got  in car but couldn't start it... handcrwaching in passenger window offering me keys. Turned out to be evil woman trying to steal car or the old keys or even kill me. Couldn't understand what she was on about. Fought her off by biting her finger then repeatedly pressing the up button for the electric window to trap her arm. Started reversing backwards, dragging her along as I tried to escape.

 

Traumatised, I woke up and focused on committing everything to memory.

 

 

 

I hope the actual gig is not quite as eventful. 

Did you forget to take your meds again Neil. ? 😂

Dave

[The fasting showman]

We supported the band Space last night at The Station in Cannock. The sound engineer was a great kid, didn't roll his eyes at volume levels or anything, he just worked around everything; the footage I heard sounded a good mix.

 

Space are a nice bunch of people, not sure how many are from the '90s lineup as it's not my forte, good players though and people with music taste that was broad. They went down very well, their audience were pretty receptive to our set also.

 

Still enjoying the 8x10 fridge and LaBella flats. Freezing cold load out last night!

No gigs for a few months now. I may try and make a case for click track syncing up the samples and whatnot from seeing Space last night. Our drummer would be fine I'm sure. Will see what the others think.

[Paddy777]

35 minutes ago, The fasting showman said:

We supported the band Space last night at The Station in Cannock. The sound engineer was a great kid, didn't roll his eyes at volume levels or anything, he just worked around everything; the footage I heard sounded a good mix.

 

Space are a nice bunch of people, not sure how many are from the '90s lineup as it's not my forte, good players though and people with music taste that was broad. They went down very well, their audience were pretty receptive to our set also.

 

Still enjoying the 8x10 fridge and LaBella flats. Freezing cold load out last night!

No gigs for a few months now. I may try and make a case for click track syncing up the samples and whatnot from seeing Space last night. Our drummer would be fine I'm sure. Will see what the others think.

Space?! Wow that takes me back! 😁 

[Lozz196]

Yeah, quirky band to say the least, they had some really decent songs.

[martthebass]

Gig in a small East Yorkshire village at a smallish pub. A bit of a change for us as we’ve grown accustomed to larger venues, still it was a nice change. It was a nightmare on set up, plug points in the worst places and the unforgiving tiled floor….fortunately we displayed the Yorkshire ‘it’ll be reet’ philosophy. All went well apart from them turning the lights right down and we hadn’t put all our lights up. Cue a fair few fretting errors from me as the monitoring was pish and I was using the Sandberg Lionel that doesn’t have front dots….

Edited 46 minutes ago by martthebass

[dmccombe7]

52 minutes ago, martthebass said:

Gig in a small East Yorkshire village at a smallish pub. A bit of a change for us as we’ve grown accustomed to larger venues, still it was a nice change. It was a nightmare on set up, plug points in the worst places and the unforgiving tiled floor….fortunately we displayed the Yorkshire ‘it’ll be reet’ philosophy. All went well apart from them turning the lights right down and we handing put all our lights up. Cue a fair few fretting errors from me as the monitoring was pish and I was using the Sandberg Lionel that doesn’t have front dots….

Curious where you get changed into stage gear in a smallish pub venue. ?

Dave