How was your gig last night?

[OldGit]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='205466' date='May 24 2008, 11:42 AM']We did our Elvis gig last night - 'bout 300 people there from all walks of life - Hells Angels too. Storming night, severe hangover this morning coupled with the worry that the rest of the band want to do the Elvis thing semi-permanently. A little less constipation if you please....[/quote]

Elvis! Yes! Brilliant bass lines... Watching the Detectives is fab...

[bassninja]

Bit late, but... Wednesday, country pub near Goodwood racecourse.

The gig was with a trio that used to gig tons, but now get together about once a month. Used my ridiculously overpowered (for this type of gig) Trace 4x10 combo for the first time in about a year, to give it an outing before I finally get around to flogging it. I'm now used to a 15" speaker, so it took a little getting used to.

All OK, nice and loose, friendly crowd as ever. We played fine and enjoyed it but turnout suffered a bit because of the footie.

[chardbass]

Had a hell of a day yesterday- we were tech-ing a 2hr show which went up last night.
I was playing between 10.30am and 11.30pm- a total of 7hrs playing including the last set we did.
Got up to teach this morning and my shoulders are killing me and my right middle finger is aware of a severe workout.
Just the one 45min show tonight though.

[Jase]

Nightmare....my amp decided it was going to do its own thing, by crackling, phutting, farting and just as it would settle....... off it would go again So in Swansea The Office last night, there was a bass player doing a good impression of Norman Collier.

[silverfoxnik]

Just home from playing someone's 40th Birthday Party.

They had a marquee in their back garden which was fine until the rain started to come down! Punters loved it though, even after 2 and a half hours of listening to us..

Can't go wrong with a good crowd and a good buffet IMO

[bassninja]

Local boozer where we've played a number of times. Lots of banter about the Eurovulsion song contest and a fairly sedate gig. For once everyone happy with their sound, and some good playing.

Finally getting the hang of this Behringer Sansamp clone thingy...

Got thoroughly drenched on the load out, though.

[allighatt0r]

Our gig last night was a wedding gig two miles out into the sticks from Beccles, in the bride's families back garden, in Suffolk.

When we got there we had to set up in a fairly odd layout, we had the drummer in the front, and the singer all the way to the left, i was directly behind the drummer. He vowed never to be in front of the amps again.

As we were unloading the van into the marquee tent, the brides father approached us and asked who the bassist was, and then told us that he is/was a bassist, and he played in a band called The Half Dead Live Band, and that they had been on telly a couple of times.

He then asked me what bass I had, and I told him it was nothing special at all, and he told me i could use his pre-CBS 1965 Fender Jazz, that he had even been on telly with him. I jumped at the opportunity, and then felt more nervous than i ever have before a gig knowing he would be watching me, and i would be playing a very special bass.

When it materialised and i plugged it in, i nearly fainted when it wouldn't make a sound, only to find out it was a dodgy cable I tuned it up and it sounded great, even at low volumes. It was sunburst, had a tort pickguard, a tug bar, three control black knobs with the white lines, and had a signature that had been burnt(???) into the finish beside the controls. It was a dream to play, and really sounded great. I felt unworthy.

I played our whole hour and a half allocated time with my fingers, something i've never really done before at a gig (i felt it would be totally sacrilegious to play it with a pick) and really enjoyed the feeling of being more in touch with the bass, and consequently, the music, it gave me.

Everyone enjoyed us, and was either dancing or nodding their heads/tapping their feet, and i'm glad to say the father of the bride (i wish i had caught his name) was dancing to Saw Her Standing There, and Johnny B. Goode, etc. We played two encores, and had a lot of fun. I wonder when they're next going to have a wedding in that family, and if they'll invite us back.

I begrudgingly handed back the bass to it's rightful owner afterwards, and thanked him repeatedly. He asked my how it was and i couldn't think of strong enough adjectives to tell him. It really made my night.



Very possibly my best gig ever.

[tonybassplayer]

Wedding gig at Thorpe Park Hotel near Leeds last night with a very easy load in and set up. I videoed the gig and it sounds pretty damn good so will get some on the website, myspace and youtube later today.

Nice lively audience and really friendly DJ so it was a very enjoyable evening.

Chilling in the bar afterwards we were surrounded by a hen party who had given the bride many tasks, one of which was to get a man wearing brown shoes to buy her a drink. We have a self imposed "wear only black" policy for functions so no problems for me however our guitarist may stick to the policy more rigidly after the hen party spotted he was wearing brown shoes so he had to do the honourable thing and buy the "hen" a very expensive Tequilla Slammer from the hotel bar lol

A lovely and highly amusing end to the night for the rest of the band

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='allighatt0r' post='205883' date='May 25 2008, 11:22 AM']He then asked me what bass I had, and I told him it was nothing special at all, and he told me i could use his pre-CBS 1965 Fender Jazz, that he had even been on telly with him. I jumped at the opportunity, and then felt more nervous than i ever have before a gig knowing he would be watching me, and i would be playing a very special bass.

When it materialised and i plugged it in, i nearly fainted when it wouldn't make a sound, only to find out it was a dodgy cable I tuned it up and it sounded great, even at low volumes. It was sunburst, had a tort pickguard, a tug bar, three control black knobs with the white lines, and had a signature that had been burnt(???) into the finish beside the controls. It was a dream to play, and really sounded great. I felt unworthy.

Very possibly my best gig ever.[/quote]
Great story!!

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='205429' date='May 24 2008, 10:27 AM'][/quote]

WoT - That's a very sexy set-up!

[ahpook]

it was good...we played flappers, a venue in brimingham. we were seriosuly worried that we weren'y going to make soundcheck cos of the traffic on the m25 and m1, but we made it in the end.

the new intro/song we started with went a bit random, but as it's only really a drone-based jam we did ok...

after that it kicked off into a storming gig...and it took us 3 hours on the button to get back to london.

[Ou7shined]

2 gigs in the city this w/end.
[b]Friday :[/b] Blue Lamp. charity gig in aid of a local cancer wing. Shorter 1 hour set. The sound was done as a practical exercise for the music college, so was a bit up and down but by the time we came on they'd found the right settings. Hot Mangu (a band I've always admired) were on before us, sounded freaky as usual. They used my rig (had the full 8x10) which had me gushing.
[b]Saturday :[/b] Absolutely awesome gig in Drummond's. We had moshers and stage divers - 3 encores. It was our 2 hour set but we did it in 1h45m. The only problem was the heat and there were a couple of times where I thought I was going to pass out. My sub is really doing it's job - I had a couple of stage invasions to compliment me on my "abilities" also some French guy asked our lead guitarist for his pick as a memento.

[16Again]

Played first gig in 9 months in the moorings in Aberdeen with my punk covers band, good gig when we eventually got to bloody play!
First band on (4 bands in total) was some jazzy, hippyish rubbish and they took about an hour to set up (we got 5 mins), so everything was running behind schedule, so we had to cut our set to 30mins. got on stage at 12.20am.
Was a bit pissed off cause we wanted to go and watch Pearljammin just down the road at drummonds (see post above!) but couldnt get!

[Ou7shined]

Nightmare man! You think with all the rules and regs and line check only policy it would run like clockwork. Last time we were in there there was a late start too. There's a 12 o'clock cut off for live music coz of the neighbours (??? hoors and seagulls???) but we went on about 11.30 and were aloud to play until 00.20. Youz were lucky you got to play at all. I guess either Flash really wanted to see you guys himself or he just didn't want a riot on his hands. We had a few of your crowd in D/mond's when we were sound checking - pretty easy to spot like.

[Thunderthumbs]

Great gig, at a bar on a holiday camp in Yorkshire.

Makis Leisure Complex at Southcliff Holiday Park in Bridlington.

Full of kids with their parents, but everyone had a great night, so it was a good gig on that front. Managed to shave half an hour off the time coming home too through the lack of traffic at 2am!

[jakenewmanbass]

just returned from my fifth gig of the weekend it was outside (sort of... in a tent)
Need I say more, (for those outside the south it's lashed down all day) we had a great laugh though cos everbody at the event wanted to be in the tent with us.

[Stag]

strange gig last night in Oulton Broad in front of a load of pissed chavs who had been on the sauce all day. Won them over though, hard going to start with, and got to use my singer's '75 P-Bass which was nice!

[Deep Thought]

Well we achieved an ambition on Saturday night-the gig we formed the band to play! There's a little-known, word-of-mouth charity mini-festival deep in the woods which has been going on for over 20 years now. A mate got me and the drummer into it, the first time we went we were so impressed we said 'We've gotta form a band and play this!' A couple of years went by, we went again, and we said again 'we've GOT to form a band and play this!' Well we formed the band, did some gigs, but when we looked into this festival it was all booked up. A couple of weeks ago my mate the drummer rang up the organiser for tickets, got talking and mentioned the story of how we formed the band, and he offered us the gig! Much delight and frantic activity ensued, as our guitarist was working that night, so we had to pull a hell of a lot of strings to get him the night off, but we managed it.
This festival is in the middle of a 100-acre wood, and the only means of getting your gear down to where the stage is is on the back of a 1961 Mercedes Unimog, down a track which is a swamp most of the time. You can walk, but it's a long hike through the woods. The Unimog is the main way to and from the car park and camp site to the gig, it drives a circular route most of the night. It's not a gig for the faint hearted, or those a bit precious about their gear!
Anyway we played it, certainly not my best gig, as I was forced to sing stuff I don't normally sing (our female singer couldn't do it so it was our first as a 3-piece), some of which I struggled with to be honest, but the good stuff was good and the feedback afterwards was good too. One chap was most upset that we weren't doing a second set, as he said we were loads better than the headline band!
It was a bit of a struggle afterwards as it started to rain just as the night was ending, which turned the track into a mud bath, and it rained all night, plus we were woken up by inconsiderate arseholes shouting and playing music at 6AM. I had a mad rush to get my kit loaded and home in time to get to work for 1 o'clock, but I made it, and it was all worth it. We're hoping we get asked to do it again, but if not, we achieved our ambition! I was hoping for some decent pics of us onstage, but my photographer (the wife) got too pissed!

Edited May 26, 2008 by Deep Thought

[Adrenochrome]

just a quick one, I'm going camping for a couple of days in a few minutes. Yesterday we played a big charity bash in Barnsley "Sheik Rattle 'n' Roll", organised by our singer Vikki and the Rock Of The North website. It was a WONDERFUL day and it was great to see TONY SOUL 7 in person for the first time. pics and reports will be available on [url="http://www.rockofthenorth.f2s.com"]Rock Of The North[/url] very soon I'm sure.

[tonybassplayer]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='207098' date='May 27 2008, 10:27 AM']just a quick one, I'm going camping for a couple of days in a few minutes. Yesterday we played a big charity bash in Barnsley "Sheik Rattle 'n' Roll", organised by our singer Vikki and the Rock Of The North website. It was a WONDERFUL day and it was great to see TONY SOUL 7 in person for the first time. pics and reports will be available on [url="http://www.rockofthenorth.f2s.com"]Rock Of The North[/url] very soon I'm sure. [/quote]


Yes, it was a cracking evening of brilliant music and I got to meet Jon ( above ) and lots of other guys that play in bands that I had not met before.

Tony

[lowdown]

Last night.....
Dorchester Hotel Ballroom..
Depping on the Motown 'Dancing in the Streets' Corporate show.
2 x 45 spots of pure Fun....

Used my old Precision [Flat wounds of course]
Through a hired SWR rig...even made me smile....

Garry

[tonybassplayer]

No gigs for me for a few weeks due to holidays with both bands but thought I would post this to bring it to the front page to remind the ones who have gigs to post the mini reviews.

I look forward to reading them every weekend.

Tony

[ahpook]

gig went well, but to be honest i left the night rather pissed off with the headline band.

mid-way through their set the bass player's amp goes on the blink - cutting out it seemed, so the call goes out from the stage asking if i can get my head back on...

the bass player is so battered he can't even sort out the mess of cables and pedals he's been fiddling with to see if that what was causing the cut-outs. so i help him with that and set up the head for him and ir works fine.

then at the end of the set i go up on stage to start packing up, and what do i find ? the bass player's put a bottle of beer on top of my head which, suprise suprise, has spilt all over the rack case.

thankfully there was no damage, but i mean...borrow somebody's gear and then use it as a beer table.

out of order.

AND as i was breaking my stuff down i noticed that they whole stage was pretty much covered in puddles of beer ansd there's empty bottles and broken plastic glasses [i]everywhere[/i]...

/shrug/

i dunno...it's just not the way i'd conduct myself.

[onehappybunny]

Feel-good freebie gig for local home for folks with epilepsy and learning difficulties - [url="http://www.meath.org.uk/"]Meath home[/url]. Started fantastically with first 7 songs as best as we've ever played them, including a cracking Taxman Kind of went downhill from then, but they are a very forgiving audience and seem to enjoy it. It's a good deal all round as they get free 'entertainment' (in the broadest sense of the word, as we're not very good!) and we get a free rehearsal space every now and again

Stu

[bassninja]

Good laugh at one of our regular acoustic gigs last night. Good vibe; more like a big living room than a pub. Lots of (appropriate) requests and enthusiastic (!) singing from the regulars with a regular supply of beer to the band. Woke up late this morning...

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='ahpook' post='210065' date='May 31 2008, 12:11 PM']....then at the end of the set i go up on stage to start packing up, and what do i find ? the bass player's put a bottle of beer on top of my head which, suprise suprise, has spilt all over the rack case.

thankfully there was no damage, but i mean...borrow somebody's gear and then use it as a beer table.

out of order.

AND as i was breaking my stuff down i noticed that they whole stage was pretty much covered in puddles of beer ansd there's empty bottles and broken plastic glasses [i]everywhere[/i]...

/shrug/

i dunno...it's just not the way i'd conduct myself.[/quote]
I've noticed a crazy amount of folk putting beers etc. on top of amps at gigs lately. Like our guitarist who got a brand new Orange rig - first thing he does put a bottle on top. You just don't do that!