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How was your gig last night?


bassninja

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Not long back from playing an afternoon gig in a field near Cirencester. Very well organised and very much a celebration of all things Grateful Dead on the 50th anniversary of their live in Europe album. My current band Franklins Tower were the opening act, two hours on a good spacious stage and a very decent PA run by professionals made it a real pleasure. Good crowd who were up and dancing as only Deadheads can from the first note.

Very good Americana duo on after us (guitar & banjo/bass drum) with classy vocal harmonies. Seemed a strange choice at first, but in fact were perfect as a palate cleaner between us and the Grateful Dudes (top UK GD band).

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Spent the last 2 days frantically learning the set for last night's dep gig at a holiday camp in Portcawl... drove 1.5 hours to find Suzy (the frontperson and band leader) there tearing her hair out. They've played there several times before, it's a big place with house PA and lights... only they've got rid of the house PA. Well why didn't you tell us, says Suzy. Oh we tried to call and I sent emails, says the ents manager. Bullplop says Suzy, my phone is on 24/7 and all my work calls & emails get through ok. Shrug, goes the ents manager. 

Drive 1.5 hours home again. Suzy is fecking livid and says she will screw some petrol money out of them, and has paid me out of her own pocket. Says the next dep gigs are mine if I want them, I've gladly accepted. But we won't be going there :lol:

Edited by Rich
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Mine was decidedly under par. My local needed a last minute act, so I grabbed my acoustic and headed off. Very quiet, even by the usual quiet Friday standards. Which makes my set very awkward as it’s all proper sing along, foot stompy stuff. Making me feel a right idiot when I’m just playing to six folks having a chat at the bar! Luckily all friends and it’s a place I work as house engineer and former open mic host. So very friendly. 

I had to cut my second half short, as we only remembered in the break about the new early finish time due to the increasingly common recent complaint about the noise from a music venue from people that moved next to music venue! 

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Edited by gafbass02
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Played a festival Bury way yesterday, couple of thousand people there, we were on just before the headliners. Took bass(es) and Helix, to get there and find there was no backline. No problem, straight into the PA, the monitors were good, onstage engineer about three feet to my right. A 45 minute set with a dep drummer (tho he's the drummer from our old originals band, the guitarist/singer and I have been playing with him for decades, on and off), went down well, but it was a bit chilly onstage (the wind was blowing right into the stage) and my hands were cold and slow for much of it. All good, tho, and the easiest of load-in/outs and setup.

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5 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Played a festival Bury way yesterday, couple of thousand people there, we were on just before the headliners. Took bass(es) and Helix, to get there and find there was no backline. No problem, straight into the PA, the monitors were good, onstage engineer about three feet to my right. A 45 minute set with a dep drummer (tho he's the drummer from our old originals band, the guitarist/singer and I have been playing with him for decades, on and off), went down well, but it was a bit chilly onstage (the wind was blowing right into the stage) and my hands were cold and slow for much of it. All good, tho, and the easiest of load-in/outs and setup.

Always keep a pair of fingerless gloves in your kit bag if you're in the habit of doing outside gigs ............... just in case.

I keep a pair of very thin gloves in my bag but its more for protecting a nerve ending on my left hand index finger that occasionally plays up. For some odd reason a thin glove seems to help. Its like someone stabbing your finger with a needle.

 

Dave

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27 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Always keep a pair of fingerless gloves in your kit bag if you're in the habit of doing outside gigs ............... just in case.

I keep a pair of very thin gloves in my bag but its more for protecting a nerve ending on my left hand index finger that occasionally plays up. For some odd reason a thin glove seems to help. Its like someone stabbing your finger with a needle.

 

Dave

I keep a couple of the reusable handwarmer pouches in my kit for those situations. 
 

Back on topic, we had our first gig with the new drummer. Guido, originally from Sicily. It all went well, a few hiccups but no one but the band appeared to notice.

Guido is considerably younger and better looking than most of us in the band, which is another bonus. 

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Played a pub in Horsham on Saturday that we did last year as part of a charity day. As a result we were booked for a paying gig on the day of the landlords birthday. Did the full two and half hour set. A few minor hiccups along the way but nobody but us seemed to notice and the landlord is keen to have us back. Sometimes it is worth doing the freebies with an eye to a paying gig. Less happily there is Covid in our house and I feel it is only a matter of time. 

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I took the train up to London to play the Lexington, in what was a UK debut show for my main 3 piece. Network Rail prices have shot up and the journey was the usual hard effort. The onstage sound was not great and we struggled as a band to hit our stride. The footage I have seen was much more forgiving and a few people came up and commented which made the whole experience better. Our drummer and his girlfriend offered to take us back to Paddington but the drummer had been drinking so he dropped us 0.7 miles from our destination. We got the train with seconds to spare, purely because it was delayed. Up mega early for a First Aid at work course and definitely feeling like I had a late one. 

 

Outside the venue.

 

1161070492_SSatOKLex.jpg.454ab85628c2e8afd651db5764ef9f24.jpg

 

Onstage

 

1108789008_SSatOKLexLive.jpg.aff3f4c6b06db96ceafa4c1409713a3b.jpg

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3 hours ago, Cat Burrito said:

I took the train up to London to play the Lexington, in what was a UK debut show for my main 3 piece. Network Rail prices have shot up and the journey was the usual hard effort. The onstage sound was not great and we struggled as a band to hit our stride. The footage I have seen was much more forgiving and a few people came up and commented which made the whole experience better. Our drummer and his girlfriend offered to take us back to Paddington but the drummer had been drinking so he dropped us 0.7 miles from our destination. We got the train with seconds to spare, purely because it was delayed. Up mega early for a First Aid at work course and definitely feeling like I had a late one. 

 

Outside the venue.

 

1161070492_SSatOKLex.jpg.454ab85628c2e8afd651db5764ef9f24.jpg

 

Onstage

 

1108789008_SSatOKLexLive.jpg.aff3f4c6b06db96ceafa4c1409713a3b.jpg

Really liking your Ric there Cat.

Dave

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On 27/06/2022 at 11:09, Muzz said:

Weddings, usually...especially when you give the DJ your setlist and ask him not to overlap...and then the last three songs he plays before you go on are in your first set...pfffffttt...

"our set list? - yes mate - its in the car... i'll get it in a minute" then avoid him all evening.
DJs always nick your set.

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Played a party at the weekend and was introduced to one of the guests. “She’s Jack Bruce’s daughter” the host tells me..thankfully after we finished or it would have been a very nervous performance indeed!

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Depped for a disco band at a wedding reception that was taking place in a mid sized music venue.

 

Pros:

Monitor engineer

Biggest mirrorball anywhere

 

Cons:

Using PA and monitors designed for an 800 cap venue for a reception with around 70 guests (half of whom are outside chatting/smoking) is overkill and horribly loud. 

 

We were on a 4ft stage but with no barriers. 2 or 3 songs in a kid gets up on stage and starts dancing and before I know it parents are lifting their toddlers onto the stage and the laughing and filming while they run around the stage and mess around with the keyboards and drums. 

At the break I lost my stinky poo and informed the venue the no insurance will cover any accidents so they should inform guests to keep their kids under control or we won't be playing. 

 

Some weddings are nice. Some.

 

 

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15 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Really liking your Ric there Cat.

Dave

Thanks Dave. It's been my main bass since late 2016. it's on a few albums now and went from being my main bass in one band to my default in most bands. Rics can be hard work but I find this one (my second time of Ric ownership) to be a good fit. It's the s model so no binding and dots rather than inlays on the fretboard. I added the black pickguard and TRC. Plus the strings are neon red, which is lost in a world of moody black and white photos! The photographer took a better shot of it from the weekend here. 

 

104853971_LexMe.jpg.cc2ecca3422789ed15e634d0c44066a4.jpg

Edited by Cat Burrito
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1 hour ago, chaypup said:

2 or 3 songs in a kid gets up on stage and starts dancing and before I know it parents are lifting their toddlers onto the stage and the laughing and filming while they run around the stage and mess around with the keyboards and drums. 

Never mind at the break - nip that nonsense in the bud immediately...a Basil Fawlty surreptitious cuff on the back of the head isn't the way to go these days (sadly), but an immediate announcement from the singer that injured toddlers aren't your responsibility, and Band Only On The Stage is the rule...

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8 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Never mind at the break - nip that nonsense in the bud immediately...a Basil Fawlty surreptitious cuff on the back of the head isn't the way to go these days (sadly), but an immediate announcement from the singer that injured toddlers aren't your responsibility, and Band Only On The Stage is the rule...

 

Or you could provide, for the kids to play with, a box of nails, hammers, scissors and set of throwing knives, and announce that over the microphone.

 

Maybe.

 

:D

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6 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

Or you could provide, for the kids to play with, a box of nails, hammers, scissors and set of throwing knives, and announce that over the microphone.

 

Maybe.

 

:D

 

I was tempted to hold an interactive stage diving workshop

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