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How was your gig last night?


bassninja

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New venue for us, nice place and nice room with a bar. However this was a big place with another room with a bigger bar and a restaurant. Always a challenge when you competing with another room with a bar.

We held our own and managed a smaller yet respectable crowd.

 

Musically we got off to a slow start , however by the 2nd set things started to improve.

Blue

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Played with my three peice experimental/jazz/rock/not really sure make it up as we go along band last night, first set was a lot of fun and people were enjoying it. 

The second set after midnight started without me (even though we decided to wait until the band downstairs (big pub) were finished), with a couple of other people playing my gear, open mic style, without anyone asking me....

So that's the end of that ! New side project for 2018 it is.

Edited by MarshallBTB
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Last of a run of 4 gigs in 8 days for us last night ,circus  carnival ball complete with large model animals amongst other things. 

Contracted for 2 x 45 minutes sets to be finished by 11.30 as they also had a DJ entertainer complete with dancers who would take the night through till 1.30pm. Arrived as agreed at 4pm to be told they had messed up the timings to be told they had issues with another room in the hotel and had moved those guests who had booked for a quiet singer only meal/ evening into the party.

This would result in everything would overrun and we would only be going on at 1045 and would still finish at 1145 so only required to do 1 hour , not an issue but meant a bit of set rearrangement , About an hour before going on Manager came to us and said some people were complaining about background music being too loud and could we try and tone it down,

Evening was beginning to have all the makings of a night mare at 10.20 the DJ went and did a 15 minute 70s spot complete with dancers at which point they were still serving food fair play to him he got crowd going for us straight on and did 80 minutes virtually without taking a breath to cram as much as possible in, turned out to be a blast our singer is a proper extrovert which helped and had dance floor full and bouncing all night so what looked like being hard work turned out to be a good night.

had to wait till everything finished to pack down plus with an hour drive home didn't get in till 3.30 but all in all good night and extremely well paid so can't complain.

month off now after a really busy 2017 40'gigs in already for next year so going to be another busy one 

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Typical social club - not loads of people, most of whom congregated at the bar, a few people danced for a few songs but that was about it, so felt like hard work, especially for NYE.

Then at the end "everyone loved it, will you play New Years next year?" Errr......okay then......

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Great gig last night - we were a bit worried as the venue had bands Friday and Saturday night too. Not as busy as last year, but busy enough with lots of familiar faces from the local music scene both folks from other bands and regular audience members from around and about plus band friends and family. Got told I was "gorgeous" by one woman which is always a treat(!) and also by lots of people that the band was great and that we all played well which is even better.  I thought we all played well too, the odd slightly tricky bit as we had some songs  just for NYE which we would never  normally play and had only rehearsed once.  We played three sets from 9 until just after 12, supposed to be about 45-50 mins each with a 10 minute break between but the guitarist and harmonica player kept going off on one so in fact the breaks were only about 5 minutes which kept the vibe going nicely. Everyone enjoyed it, lots of well oiled but nicely behaved people, the band had a great time.  And booked again for next NYE which will be four years in a row at the same place. Home by about 1.15, sat up until 2.30 with my wife and one of her friends (who came to the gig) eating Stilton and drinking port. Happy New Year!

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Did two gigs last night - wasn't planned that way but due to the vagaries of TV sport scheduling that's how it turned out. My band were booked as part of the after match entertainment at Sandy Park, home of the Exeter Chiefs on December 30th but BT Sport wanted to televise it on NYE. We were already booked for NYE at one of our regular pub venues a few miles away so what to do?  After a lot of working out logistics we did ninety minutes at Sandy Park finishing at 7pm, packed down and off to the pub gig (who knew the situation) and did another two and a half hours finishing around 1am.

How did it go? Great to play in front of several hundred people and get a good response but just as much fun in a smaller venue with everyone in fancy dress and intent on having a good time. Only real problem for me was, as a finger style player, starting to get cramp in my right hand near the end of the second gig. A quick change to playing with a pick sorted that out. Home by 3am to a mug of tea and toast - rock 'n' roll or what? 

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Great laugh last night, played a social club  in Coulsdon, 3 1/2 hour set with two breaks. 5 songs in the lead vocalist/guitarists voice packs up entirely due to his cold. We manage to make it through another half hour with me singing some of the songs I do. Then in the fifteen minute break I transposed the entire rest of the set into my best guess keys for me (thanks on song!) and I sang and played the rest by sight - pretty nerve wracking especially as I'm so used to doing harmonies on auto pilot in almost of them.

Then to add insult to injury about 45 minutes before the end I have my first string break in 30 years so I had to play the rest on just the E string. Went down really well though- everyone loved it, everyone on their feet dancing and they paid us a bonus as they liked it so much. Bit pleased with myself today :)

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50 minutes ago, sonsman said:

Did two gigs last night - wasn't planned that way but due to the vagaries of TV sport scheduling that's how it turned out. My band were booked as part of the after match entertainment at Sandy Park, home of the Exeter Chiefs on December 30th but BT Sport wanted to televise it on NYE. We were already booked for NYE at one of our regular pub venues a few miles away so what to do?  After a lot of working out logistics we did ninety minutes at Sandy Park finishing at 7pm, packed down and off to the pub gig (who knew the situation) and did another two and a half hours finishing around 1am.

How did it go? Great to play in front of several hundred people and get a good response but just as much fun in a smaller venue with everyone in fancy dress and intent on having a good time. Only real problem for me was, as a finger style player, starting to get cramp in my right hand near the end of the second gig. A quick change to playing with a pick sorted that out. Home by 3am to a mug of tea and toast - rock 'n' roll or what? 

Watched the game on BT Sport having a gentle afternoon before my NYE gig - a great game and Exeter were fantastic in the second half. Lucky you.

Edited by phil.c60
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On 25/12/2017 at 02:17, Dad3353 said:

Thanks for that; I've learned something today, at least. B| I was guessing more 'Persian Gulf'; I wuz wrong. :$

T`es bete, ou quoi?  Mind you I do like their carpets.....  :D

 

I didnt leave the house at all last night but the night before I had an interesting one. Radio personality Nick Barraclough is an old mate from way back & should have been playing a smallish pub in Cambridge with his band The Pillars of Creation.  Mindful of his recent escapades with throat cancer, when he got a cough/cold/man flu I got volunteered to cover for him.

It was interesting mostly because two of the band had never ever played any of my stuff and I had never played any of theirs. Scary sort of public rehearsal, but we all had fun until a rather over-lubricated lady in the audience fell over backwards into my mic stand.  Fortunately no teeth were hurt in the playing of that particular song.  :D

 

 

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53 minutes ago, phil.c60 said:

Watched the game on BT Sport having a gentle afternoon before my NYE gig - a great game and Exeter were fantastic in the second half. Lucky you.

Unfortunately you don't get chance to see the game as you can only get access to get gear in/set up/ soundcheck once the game has started (H+S rules and all that) so just watched the highlights on TV.

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A bit of a late update to this thread - I played my last Think Lizzy gig on 16th December - but it wasn't without incident!

The previous week I spoke to the band leader regarding me finishing and he agreed that I didn't have to play the gig on the 16th, that they would get everything up to speed so imagine my suprise when at 6:30 on 16th I read a text message regarding the gig, the PA being in house, load in and sound-check times etc.  A quick call and several expletives later as I had no gear, nothing, not even a guitar pick with me and I was 60 miles from the venue with 60 mins to go before sound check!  I glanced into the corner of the g/f's lounge and spotted her LTD Viper bass and quickly hatched a plan!

One phone call back confirmed that the venue had a serviceable if not spectacular Behringer 2x10 combo.  One quick cross country rally-stage-esqeue trip in the Mini Cooper S later and I arrived at the venue, borrowed a strap, lead and guitar picks to go with the borrowed bass.

Band leader admitted he had crossed his wires and thought I was talking about the gig on 16th January, not December!!!  Still, all was good with everyone, I got to thank everyone in the band publicly for the last 3 years and my last gig with Think Lizzy was done and dusted.

Edited by DaytonaRik
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Played a wedding with the soul band on NYE. Arrived early, as get in was supposed to be at 5.15 - The guests were seated in the room for the wedding breakfast and didn't clear the room until 6.30 - just about got all the kit rigged (backdrop, lights, PA etc...) at 7.15 without warning, - the guests flood back in and the DJ starts ' the first dance' - we hadn't even powered up - so no sound check in a room that has the accoustics of a toilet and a nasty set of feedback notes. We did the first couple of numbers without monitors on the vocals as the sends hadn't been switched through, we gave up on the kit mikes as there was no way we could set them up - eventually it settled down and we got through 3 x 40 minutes - crowd and father of bride happy - and we got paid!

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Ha Ha! The Working Stiff's happy ending to a gig: We. Got. Paid.

 

But isnt it scary that even on MYE there is that spectre hanging over all of us that, for some reason, the pearls we have ben casting all night might not result in The Readies at the end of the evening.

Maybe I should start a thread if there hasn't already been one.

:D

 

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Did a cool gig on Saturday night - local music pub did its annual Let's Play Bowie tribute night. I did some 70s-era songs as part of a power trio - Moonage Daydream, Let Me Sleep Beside You and The Man Who Sold The World.

I'm not a massive Bowie fan, and confess I'd never heard of the first two until I sat down to learn them a week or so ago and realised they have some excellent bass parts.

Brilliant night - place was rammed to capacity, people singing along, and over half a dozen really good bands/singers giving it their best interpretations of Bowie over the years. If you can't swagger around the stage with a big gold Jack Casady bass on a Bowie tribute night well when can you? Should have gone the whole hog with the eyeliner too if i'd thought it through...

Job well done.

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What a difference a couple of weeks makes! First gig since NYE last night  - busy pub restaurant - the Whitehills in Northampton.

Dep drummer - was spot on. PA nicely set up - playing at a good level, but not to loud - so could hear everything. Packed house - great crowd.

Listening back to the recording ( I record everything on my zoom!!) - we were very good value :D

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3 hours ago, sonsman said:

Nice one Don. Had my first gig since NYE on Friday, expected it to be a quiet night but turned out to be pretty busy. Had a regular dep in for one of our guitarists and went well. 

Great stuff!... we had a real struggle getting the dep drummer... everyone we knew was busy (or having a lie down in a dark room!)

Next gig on the 26th at the Wig and Pen in Northampton

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Mad gig this Saturday. Ted, a  guitarist friend, was supposed to supply the music for  his friend's birthday party & discovered that all the singers and all the drummers he uses were away.  Hence I got recruited as singer/guitarist, a young lad Ted knew came in on drums and he had his usual bassist, who is also a friend of mine. They didnt know any of my stuff & I didnt know theirs but we DID get "bang on my drum all day " organised as a nice party tune with an actual bass solo!  So - an interesting evening of them learning by doing all evening - party boy provided a pizza & drinks for the band were free all night, plus it turns out he has a radio show called "Rock of Ages" on the local radio station and wants to interview me on his show. 

(grin) since I am part of a dying breed, I suppose...

A great evening with many laughs, much boozing and dancing (from the audience) and I finally got home about 2.am - three hours after we finished  for a gig 13 miles from my front door!

I discovered I had been banished to the spare bedroom, since My Lovely Wife was of course firmly entrenched in the land of Nod about midnight.:biggrin:

 

 

Edited by ivansc
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