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How was your gig last night?


bassninja

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[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1402744788' post='2476461']
Couple of funny incidents at our gig last night. At load-in the bass player with the first band asked me if he could borrow my amp, there was no prior arrangement about any gear share, so I asked if he had brought his amp:
"I wasn't sure if I needed to, so I didn't" which I thought was mind boggling and hilarious at the same time! After saying no just to see the look on his face, I let him as they were up first, and I had sold him a fretless a while ago.
The chap from the top band asked the same, but this time I politely declined, as 1) I'd never met him before and 2) I really wanted to go after I'd played. Fortunately, he had got his gear in the van, but he still seemed to have the hump about it...
[/quote]
I know there have been threads on this before, but why would you ever turn up without an amp unless you absolutely knew that one was provided?

It would be quite fun to have a pre-printed form where the potential gear-borrower fills in all their personal details, agrees to pay for any damage, and hands over a £100 cash deposit!

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Kudos to those that have bookings tonight and honour it even if they know they will probably play to a half empty pub or a full one watching the England match rather than the band. I guess the smart move is to just start early and get it all wrapped up by 11pm? We potentially had a wedding to do but thankfully it got called off so I'll be in front of TV with feet up and beer in hand... :D

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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1402746073' post='2476477']
Kudos to those that have bookings tonight and honour it even if they know they will probably play to a half empty pub or a full one watching the England match rather than the band. I guess the smart move is to just start early and get it all wrapped up by 11pm? We potentially had a wedding to do but thankfully it got called off so I'll be in front of TV with feet up and beer in hand... :D
[/quote]

The pub I was booked to play at last night phoned us during the week and rescheduled the gig to September

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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1402746073' post='2476477']
Kudos to those that have bookings tonight and honour it even if they know they will probably play to a half empty pub or a full one watching the England match rather than the band. I guess the smart move is to just start early and get it all wrapped up by 11pm? We potentially had a wedding to do but thankfully it got called off so I'll be in front of TV with feet up and beer in hand... :D
[/quote]

We started 7pm finished 9pm, home 10.30.
As if it wasn't enough the match being on, it was a very warm night, so whilst there were a lot of folk there waiting for the game, most of them were sat outside.
Very grateful to the 20 or so VERY noisy folk that stayed inside.

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Last night was Naked Bass at The Red Cross Inn at Reigate, didn't start brilliantly, but ended well. The pub originally wanted us on from 8 - 10:30 with a break, but the landlord had forgotten the Uruguay game before the England match, so the place was pretty empty at 8 and those there weren't up for a band. So we changed the plan to play from 9 -10:30 and play through without a break, we ended up starting at about 8:50 and playing to 10:45, so they got nearly two hours of continuous music from us. Crowd was pretty sparse to begin with, but picked up later on, and was rammed for the last half hour / forty five minutes.

We played really well and despite some feedback issues from the singer's moniter, put on a good show; people seemed really happy at the end, though of course, this was pre-match.

The venue had originally wanted us to pack up during the first half and then get the gear out during half-time, however we spotted a window we could get everything through, so got off earlier.

I was amazed by my moulded hearing protection as well, everything sounded great during the gig and just like sound check, only quieter; what really surprised me was after we'd finished and the football chants had started, I couldn't believe how loud it was in there.

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Had a great function last night at the Hurlingham Club, Putney. Started at 1030pm so yes, we were concerned over the England game.

The dance floor was packed by the 2nd song which is always very reassuring and by 11pm we started to lose a few but held onto a nice number right through to the end who were all very much up for it...

Really enjoyed it and what a fantastic venue. Bloody traffic getting there was a nightmare though!!!

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Had a strange one last night.
I decided I needed a change so I took my jazz (haven't used a jazz for a few years), with flats (not really keen on them, although it have used them before) and my old Ashdown MAG 300 1x15 combo (not used that for about 7 years), plus no Gramma pad (not gigged without it since getting it a good few years ago).
Sound check was not a good experience, it was a bit too muffled and lacked the punch I was used to.
Funny thing is though I enjoyed the experience much more than any recent gig. The tone seemed to be a lot closer to what I've been looking for all these years, and although I won't keep the flats on long even they sounded the best they ever have for me. Only issue I had was the neck felt very sticky, and I got major cramp in my fretting hand during Valerie. Luckily I could just play the open strings.

Back to the main rig for the next gig but it's given me something to think about.

Oh, and the gig. It was a social club, and they asked us to start early so we could finish before the football. This was fine for us but it was a bit off putting not seeing a lot of people dancing. The manager told us at the end that a lot of people wouldn't get up for fear of them loosing their chairs, as they were showing the match right after we finish.

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Did our second acoustic gig at Chaos Acoustic night in Brum last night. They have four bands/artists on each time. Last time we were second on, but this time we were on third - so we are working our way up the bill B)

Mostly, it was a happy experience. Lots of friendly faces in there. I think I played reasonably OK although did make a couple of howlers. Just ploughed on regardless though. Was a bit happier with my singing this time.

As it was acoustic, we were playing as a threesome (just vocals, guitar and bass) I don't really like playing without a drummer though, it's so stressful trying to keep time. Last night I felt the singer was racing ahead in a couple of songs and I was trying to catch up with her. Glanced at guitarist - he was thinking the same, but it's so tricky to get back on track when you start to lose the rhythm. So much easier with a drummer taking on the responsibilty of keeping us all together. Drummers, we love you!

Great to see [b]KevB [/b]in the audience - so good of him to come all that way to support us :) He's becoming my unofficial Basschat mentor! :D

Also, the band onafter us were [b]really[/b] good. I'm so enjoying getting out there playing and meeting other bands. We've been so lucky so far - made a lot of friends and good contacts and haven't (yet) encountered any pretentious tossers who sneer at you.

Next stop is an actual proper actual gig with full band and an hour long set on 12 July. I shall share more about that later.. :)

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(on drums again) Middlewitch folk and boat festival on Saturday night. It was ace! Again more bands turning up without kit so they used my kit for the whole night. I was slightly miffed at being asked but didn't want to say no as they would have been very stuck. Anyway, I got to see The Moulettes who were just amazing. Listened to some recorded stuff since and it's nothing compared to their live show. It sounds to me as though they've fallen in to the same trap as many others in that they went into the studio with some ideas, created something which is impossible to play without backing tracks, then used awesome musicians to re-create it live in some very interesting ways. I just wish they'd re-record the album with the line up they had at the gig! At one point the drummer was making beat-box style noises down a mic, playing kick and hi-hat with his feet, and acoustic guitar with his hands!

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More ment[i]al[/i] than ment[i]or[/i] I think ;) Think its good we try to support each other at gigs where possible, I'm off to see Chris Sharman's band at a pub in the middle of nowhere next month! All good stuff again, might have been the fleetingest of unexpected note choice in the last song but I barely noticed. The songs didn't sound rushed so wouldn't give singist a hard time. It took me a couple of songs just to get over what the two lads before had done to Gordon Lightfoot's 'If You Could Read My Mind'.... :o

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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1402921672' post='2477869']
...might have been the fleetingest of unexpected note choice in the last song but I barely noticed. The songs didn't sound rushed so wouldn't give singist a hard time. It took me a couple of songs just to get over what the two lads before had done to Gordon Lightfoot's 'If You Could Read My Mind'.... :o
[/quote]

Ah, my unexpected jazz improvisation in the middle of Rebel Yell :blush: !

Those two lads were 'different' weren't they? Bongos, beards and avant-garde backing track. Brummies will know what I mean if I say 'typical Moseley'. Lovely lads though, bless 'em. :)

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Played my first hours set with an new band after 3 rehearsals. Went well all concidered but not as tight as I am used to.

Need to sort out my setup though and get everything all in one gig bag to get the setup and shutdown really quick.

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Just played a gig at The Harvest Home, Houghton Regis, Beds, with Henry Cluneys XSLF. Was great, and a real privelege for me to share the stage, and meet Henry & Jim, who were part of the original SLF that I`ve loved since they were going first time round. It`s sometimes said don`t meet those whose work you admire as the people themselves can sometimes be a let-down, not at all in this case. Both Henry and Jim, plus their bassist Avi (who wasn`t in the band when SLF were first going) were all really great guys, a real laugh.

Oh, and we played quite well too. One guy in the audience, who`s seen us a few times remarked that we played like we meant it this eve. And both Henry & Avi commented on how good my 78 Precision sounded. All in all, very pleased with tonight.

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Drummist has been requested many times not to book more than one gig per weekend, max 3 gigs per month. So, 6 gigs in June and this weekend Fri night and Sat night.
God I'm wrecked.
Both pretty good, really loving the Carvin BX 700 and the Mex FSR P/J passive. One guy on Fri night said it was almost as though the bass was an extension of my body. Yes, it has grown into me as I'm now dead, or it bloody well feels it :lol:
The heat didn't help. Very distracting with young things who appear to be unable to afford full clothing :o

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Thursday night we was here - actually managed to get a sizeable chunk of the crowd away from the bar and on the dancefloor! :o :D

[url="http://www.astro.co.uk/comms-business-awards-2014/"][/url]
[size=3](pic gratuitously stolen from Astro Communications)[/size]


Saturday night was a nice relaxed private birthday party gig in a lovely garden overlooking a very nice area of the north downs :)

Edited by steve-bbb
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The Granary in Long Sutton (where's that??! Where? That's miles....). Took forever to get there and the definite feeling that although the phone book might be quite big, there's only going to be a couple of surnames in it.....

But, a brilliant gig. Mixed crowd, including Nana celebrating her 70th. Dance floor full, loads of banter and crammed to the rafters. I tried out the new (to me) Bass Collection with it's upgraded EQ for the first time live and loved it. Both guitarists and the singer commented on the sound I was getting and my back commented on how little weight it was having to carry. My Fender USA Jazz sat on its stand all night, relegated to backup bass.

Of course, I still played like I was wearing boxing gloves, but at least it sounded nice when I got the right notes now and then.

I am loving that little bass....

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Last night was the second of two excellent weddings we have done on consecutive Saturdays. At both weddings we knew the bride and groom, more so last night. So cue great audience participation, fed and watered and of course a reasonable amount of dollar too! Personally I usually hate weddings and just treat them as a "get the job done and walk away with a few quid" but for these two it was balls out, head down and have a cracking time! Most of last nights crowd are from a local pub that we do regularly so it ended up as a request night, err yeah and we jammed our way through Bat Out of Hell too!!! It's looking like that will be rehearsed properly and thrown in at some time, our girly singer does it in her solo set and absolutely nails it!! Nice chilled out Sunday now!!!

http://youtu.be/6WWrbo6tHyg

Edited by barneyg42
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[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1403442273' post='2482686']
Last night was the second of two excellent weddings we have done on consecutive Saturdays. At both weddings we knew the bride and groom more so last night. So cue great audience participation, fed and watered and of course a reasonable amount of dollar too! Personally I usually hate weddings and just treat them as a "get the job done and walk away with a few quid" but for these two it was balls out, head down and have a cracking time! Most of last nights crowd are from a local pub that we do regularly so it ended up as a request night, err yeah and we jammed our way through Bat Out of Hell too!!! It's looking like that will be rehearsed properly and thrown in at some time, our girly singer does it in her solo set and absolutely nails it!! Nice chilled out Sunday now!!!

http://youtu.be/6WWrbo6tHyg
[/quote]

Just to add, why do my pix always come out sideways??

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Sound engineer/technician yesterday for the Fête de la Musique, an important national date in the calendar here in France. My buddy JCB has an events company and needed a spare set of hands, as all his crews were out somewhere. Glad to oblige, as the fête selected for us is local (5 kms away...), held in the court of a derelict castle. A family affair; almost more of a garden party.
Set up 14h00, with a modest Martin stack each side of the low stage. Only one monitor circuit, so I placed 'em as sidefill. No idea as to the artists to receive, so improvisation was the order of the day. Very varied, it turned out, with an excellent brass ensemble (no PA needed..!), Latin percussion in the intervals between sets, and everything from a 'covers' pop/rock group with 2 drummers, a solo guitarist with loopers and an English girl singing with ukulele. We even had a very young kid with his accordion, who played very well indeed. It was over at midnight (for us; there was a karaoke/DJ elsewhere in the castle...). Packed up and home for 01h30; a welcome change. Thanks to our youngest, Tom, Steph, our singer and even Nico for their contribution in the heavy humping. All the stuff is now in the van, to be taken back to JCB-Land later on this evening. A pleasant change, and a very agreeable afternoon/evening.
Now for the siesta... :)

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our gig last night was the hottest gig ever! venue is in a basement, with no aircon! go figure there was sweat on the walls and all over the floor! but the show was sick!

played with a london band called "one for Sorrow" and a cornwall based band called "bad horsie" awesome night and a decent turn out!

andy

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Quite splendid.

Cherry White returned to the Spice of Life, the pub at whose weekly blues jam we all first met. After a bit of a quiet start, the evening picked up and the audience swelled. Vera Lynch (http://veralynch.bandcamp.com/), who were on before us, turned in a great set with enough charisma that we were a little apprehensive about following them on! But fortunately the crowd enjoyed the contrast between VL's psychobilly cow punk and CW's bluesy classic rock.

The new song seems to have gone down a storm as well. Think we'll be keeping that in the set for Togfest later today.

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