How was your gig last night?

[lurksalot]

7 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Shame y'all couldn't come...

Next 2 are 11th May at Paradiddles in Worcester and 19th May all-dayer Royal Bedding benefit at The Grapes in Hereford - both a bit of a hike from you!

Trying to get a gig at Telford's Warehouse or the Live Rooms if they'll have us - unless you know any more likely Chester venues?

They are the best for original stuff , people go to see what they will see , most of the pub venues want either a genre, rock covers mainly ( saddle, foxes etc) or a party mix of classics (kings head, church etc ) though thinking on , I think the golden eagle occasionally puts on some new stuff , might be worth a punt . 

[BrunoBass]

The rain spoiled it for us last night. We played at The Swan in Banbury which is usually a great gig, and one of our favourite places to play. Good Friday, pay day, it should’ve been rammed. The landlady said it had been unusually quiet all day, probably due to the weather. Then with about three songs left a big gang of people came in who’d been at a wedding and were up for a good time, just as we were finishing... Oh well, just one of those totally forgettable gigs that happen now and again.

Next stop for us is The Punch Bowl in Warwick next week - good venue, third or fourth time we’ve played there.

[steantval]

Just got home from our gig, nice easy one, finished playing at 11.30.

The landlady paid us £50 more than our usual fee of £200, she said we were selling ourselves too cheap, maybe we need to look at putting our fees up.

[Woodinblack]

A weekend of two gigs. The first night, a normally fairly busy pub was very busy and everyone having a great time, but it is always good.

The one tonight, weren't expecting good things. It is a members club and it has traditionally been very flat, and not only that but they have a license for sport and there was some people hitting each other on telly - so we had to play the first half until the hitting started, then continue after it finished, but he hasn't got that late a license.

I don't know if it is the hitting on telly but the place was really busy and also quite a few people danced, so probably the best night i have had down there in two bands times.

The fight started late and didn't end before his music license, so turned out that we got £300 for 1hr and 20 (we rarely play less than 2 hours), and everyone was happy!

[lurksalot]

We had a good one tonight in a new venue for us in Mold , a reasonable crowd, diminished a touch by the boxing, but boy were they up for it.

We had some excellent feedback from some punters and the staff , so with repeat bookings for some saturdays in the diary , they now want some Fridays as well.

looking good for us in that venue 

[lojo]

Sorry I'm a little late on reporting but played Burrfest 2018 the other week which is a charity event run by and for Maiden Fans. Really lovely crowd so glad I did this 

Edited April 1, 2018 by lojo

[dontregartha]

We did a gig in a town centre pub with the boxing on at the same time. It didn't seem to bother anyone - we had a good crowd dancing.

One of our singers was hit from behind by another car on the way to the gig and the guitar player went to sort things out for her.

So we started without a soundcheck, so we had to make a couple of adjustments during the first number, though it settled down quickly.

The power though was the usual pub setup - two sockets off the same ring circuit - oh why, why , why do venues do this? They'll have multipoint network ports for the EPOS system and endlessly complicated switching for the lighting, but two sockets (if you're lucky) on the stage. They'd make a fuss about your PAT testing and provide no power distribution. 

Now our lighting rig is LED based, but our PA is 4k and we have floor monitors and backline. We don't run it at anywhere near full power, but it still slurps the juice. We had a couple of occasions when the desk tripped out and the guitar player's backline (off the same socket) cut out. We had to quickly DI him for the last few numbers.

The punters hardly knew what was going on - but on stage - some panic!

[FinnDave]

Last night's gig was one I will never forget, and for all the right reasons. My first time out with The Grateful Dudes, and established Grateful Dead covers band I joined in January. Longest drive to a gig (yet) at just over 200 miles each way, best venue I've played in (Hebden Bridge Trades Club) and by far the most accomplished bunch of musicians I've ever played with. Decent sized crowd, lots of people dancing, sold quite a few band T shirts, people queueing up to shake for hands and/or hug us, very positive feelings all round.

Drove home in pouring rain with periods of sleet, lot of standing water on the motorways, and the end of our road here flooded, so had to drive with great care for the last hundred yards. 

I was away for 18 hours, covered about 420 miles and I'd do again next week if we had a gig lined up. Next one's not until July at the moment, though.

Somehow, it added up to so much more than just another gig.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

...I was away for 18 hours, covered about 420 miles and I'd do again next week...

That kind of mileage is pretty well standard for most French bands, but the weather here tends to be slightly more clement in general. Well done, lad; you're now a real trooper, if you weren't before..! 

[NHM]

Played at the Little Albion, Broadstairs yesterday early evening. My first time there. Lovely pub, v welcoming, great audience, good beer, and a repeat booking to boot. What's not to like!

Also, still light (just) driving home on the A299. The summer's acomin' in.

[Guest adi77]

One of the best gigs of my life, bluefrog bangalore on the 31st  

Energy was on 11

[casapete]

.Great gig at the weekend with my acoustic duo. Played in an amazing house, barn conversion with massive grounds.

( Due to the crap weather we played inside though.)

Was a Mexican themed evening, which entailed (hopefully not too stereotypical / rascist) obligatory ponchos /moustaches

and sombreros for audience and band. They'd arranged a streetfood Cantina to provide authentic burritos, followed by churros with

chocolate sauce - yum

Started off with Mexican instrumentals, then gradually worked through some more obvious stuff ( La Bamba etc).

By this time the Corona / Sol / Margueritas had truly kicked in and then we just played anything they wanted to hear.

All in all a great gig for some lovely people - if only all gigs etc....

[cheddatom]

I played a tiny little pub, local to me in rural staffordshire. It's was pretty full, but the area they put us in was tiny. I was on lead guitar backing an amazing singer doing her original songs with a few covers thrown in. I'm mainly jamming this as I can't seem to remember the songs. All in all I thought it was going to be rubbish - a set of originals to a tiny pub that could hardly see us around the corner. It turned out to be a LOT of fun. The singer ventured out from our tiny area quite a few times to entertain the packed pub, and I only played a couple of bum notes. I love making weird noises and on this gig I get to use my Digitech SpaceStation which always makes me grin.

If anyone's interested here's a video of us at a slightly bigger venue - Some of you might recognise Paul who's a monster on bass

 

 

[petebassist]

Saturday night at the Old Bookshop, Bedminster, Bristol - lovely venue and very cool crowd.

Edited April 3, 2018 by petebassist

[FinnDave]

Just back from a Wirebirds gig in Melksham. Good gig, we were recommended to the venue by someone who had seen us a couple of times in another pub in the town. Decent sized crowd there, with a surprisingly large proportion of Poles, mainly women, who were up and dancing from the first note until the last - they had a great time and as a result, so did we. Paid on the spot, we'd already been booked in for another, all in all a good night. Got home about 2 AM.

Played my new MiM Jazz with Chromes and a pick, Sansamp, Rootmaster head and Super Compact. Very solid sound. I had taken my usual Precision as a back up but it  stayed in the case.

Next up is another Wirebirds gig, next Saturday, closer to home, in Abingdon.

 

 

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

Just back from a Wirebirds gig in Melksham. Good gig, we were recommended to the venue by someone who had seen us a couple of times in another pub in the town. Decent sized crowd there, with a surprisingly large proportion of Poles, mainly women, who were up and dancing from the first note until the last - they had a great time and as a result, so did we. Paid on the spot, we'd already been booked in for another, all in all a good night. Got home about 2 AM.

Played my new MiM Jazz with Chromes and a pick, Sansamp, Rootmaster head and Super Compact. Very solid sound. I had taken my usual Precision as a back up but it  stayed in the case.

Next up is another Wirebirds gig, next Saturday, closer to home, in Abingdon.

 

 

NICE!

Blue

[Graham]

Had two this weekend, Friday was a wedding in Dorking, nice crowd apart from the obligatory drunk member of the wedding party who demanded we play "just one more song" whilst we're packing up. There's always one. The venue was very attractive, but wasn't brilliant for bass frequencies, had worse though.

Saturday was a yacht club in Chichester, it was an older, well-off crowd who danced all night, we adjusted the set-list to suit, kept the volume down and they loved it. I was really happy with my playing too, absolutely nailed the solos and fills.

Overall a succesful, if tiring, weekend.

[Callumjord]

Played with my function band Diamond Skies last night at a pub called "The Pub in The Square" (aka PITS) in a town called Buckie in North East of Scotland. Was tight for space so was packed in tight. Crowd was up for it and we had a busy dance floor from mid set 1 all the way through to the end. Decided to step out my comfort zone and use my new Sire V7 instead of my 5 string P bass. Was weird playing a 4 string for the whole night and there was a couple of missed notes but overall I felt I did a good performance. We had a lot of interest from other people asking about weddings and birthdays as well. Overall a good night and I can't wait to be back in a couple of months. 

[BrunoBass]

We played at The Punch Bowl in Warwick last night, our third time there and probably our best. It’s a lovely place to play, nice crowd and the staff are lovely, friendly and welcoming. We played well; got a great tone from my Jazz and Genz Benz rig, lots of compliments afterwards which was great. Eleven o’clock cut off for music too so I was back home before midnight. Perfect. 

Next stop for us is The Bell in Bicester, we play there two or three times a year and it’s always a good one.

[Woodinblack]

8 hours ago, FinnDave said:

Just back from a Wirebirds gig in Melksham. Good gig, we were recommended to the venue by someone who had seen us a couple of times in another pub in the town. Decent sized crowd there, with a surprisingly large proportion of Poles, mainly women, who were up and dancing from the first note until the last - they had a great time and as a result, so did we.

Although it sounds like a stereotype, I have noticed that the Polish people around here, and specifically women, seem to like live music more, and seem to dance to it easier, ie first ones up without needing to be drunk. But maybe it is an area..

[FinnDave]

23 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Although it sounds like a stereotype, I have noticed that the Polish people around here, and specifically women, seem to like live music more, and seem to dance to it easier, ie first ones up without needing to be drunk. But maybe it is an area..

Certainly seemed that way last night, and they were enjoying themselves, not checking to see who was watching them. They were great fun to play for, hope they'll be there next time too!

[lurksalot]

30 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Although it sounds like a stereotype, I have noticed that the Polish people around here, and specifically women, seem to like live music more, and seem to dance to it easier, ie first ones up without needing to be drunk. But maybe it is an area..

How odd , I'd never have picked up on that myself , but now you've mentioned it , I can recall a few occasions where I reckon that to be a thing 

[NHM]

Had our first outdoor gig of the year last night in balmy Canterbury! The landlord insisted as he had set up an outdoor bbq. We froze our nuts off and I'm not referring to string slots! Fortunately, it was 'rain stopped play' three-quarters of the way through the second set and an early escape.

[peteb]

Two gigs depping for the R&B band over the weekend. The first one on Friday was a pub on the main drag in Wakefield (first pic below). Very quiet night, although everyone there was nice enough. I used my newly acquired 91 Stingray for the first set, which sounded great but it feels like it needs a bit more work on the set up, so went back to the precision for the second set. 

Last night was a tiny pub in Cleckheaton, squashed into a little alcove (see second pic below). We played a lot better than the night before, but the pub was pretty quiet and not the most appreciative audience I’ve ever played to. We did a couple of slow blues in the first set (rather nicely I thought) to the sound of tumbleweed drifting through the bar! First set mainly notable for some blonde coming onto the “stage” in the middle of a song to ask me if I was married!

The second set picked up a bit and we had a group of 40 something women up dancing to the last three or four tunes, including a girl called ‘Kaff’ (I had to ask if her name was spelt with one or two ‘f’s).

All in all, the weekend was not the highlight of my musical career. But we got paid and had a laugh and we’ll do it all again next weekend (but with a different band for me and hopefully different audiences).

Edited April 8, 2018 by peteb

[mcnach]

I had a gig last night at a venue out of town (Aberdeen) where they have decent equipment, so this time I did not bring my own in order to make transport easy (we're an 8-piece). I had played there once before, and I used my own gear that time, as it was a weekend of gigs for which I already had my stuff.

They had a Hiwatt 200 tube head and matching 810 cab onstage.

I like 810s. I like how with relatively low volumes you still 'feel' the air moving. But I struggled to get a sound I liked out of that thing. I had to turn down the bass a lot and boost treble and mids... so I suspect this is much like the Orange Terror heads where flat is mids&treble all the way up and bass all the way down. But even then... it felt far too woofy. I guess if we were a dub band I might have liked it better... 

I missed the sound of my Mesa D800+ and the two Barefaced Two10 stacked vertically. That's what I used last time, and I could still feel the air moving but it sounded great, powerful, defined... well, at least when the trombone player allowed me. He likes my setup a lot and often just stands in front of the mini stack, smiling, playing his trombone while humping an invisible bear