Riaan-Combrink
karoo wrote:
Ha, in my school days me and my older sister played at local pubs/clubs here in Potch. We only played acoustic stuff. While we were in the middle of one song, really can't recall what song, a bar fight broke out. Was a couple of older okes having a go at each other and the owner of the place climbing in as well. We (me and my sis) just looked at each other, and kept playing. Was one very awkward moment....but as the saying goes...the show must go on
Over many years on the local pub circuit I've learnt one golden rule - folllowed by most musos and venues alike. Fighting starts; music stops. Mid-song. Period.
Its the only way to let management, bouncer, etc immediately see there's a problem that needs resolving. More importantly, I have seen more than one of those fights head in the direction of the stage and risk damage to your equipment. So I know its a lighthearted thread, but on a more practical note I firmly believe the right response is to stop, protect your gear and start again once guys are thrown out.
eric-vaxxine
ZZTop, Wembly Arena, November 2009.
Billy Gibbons comes onstage and is very drunk.
Dusty's body language said it all....unimpressed.
Billy slurred through the first 3 songs before sobering
up enough to play in time and the right notes.
Chabenda
I reckon our New Year's gig qualifies as a 'worst gig' moment. We played at a lodge at Lake Malawi, a beautiful place owned by some really lovely people. We're not into making money out of playing but got free accommodation and food for five nights. I came down with one of the worst attacks of malaria that I have ever had, courtesy of some wandering around the northern half of Moz on business the previous week. My mate had had an allergic reaction to some chemicals that he works with and all of the skin on his right hand finger tips had peeled off, causing him to have to cut the fingers off rubber gloves and tape them on to his fingers for protection (personally, as he is an old bachelor, I thought that he was practicing safe sex :roflmao?. Anyway, the show must go on and we managed. I cannot recommend entertaining people whilst under the full on influence of malaria!
tiller
When strings blow out in live performance - it's just nightmare :-\. But how you end the song or go out of the situation, this is what every guitarist needs to learn. Going out of any issue in the performance is more important than playing without mistakes ?
eric-vaxxine
Last night, our regular central London pub gig was full of
Millwall football fans. They'd just lost an FA semi-final
to Wigan at Wembley Stadium!!!!
Millwall has fans that will fight amongst themselves if
no-one else will.
We kept them happy.....they asked that we play
'Rockin' All Over The World'.....their song.......and we did.
No fight ensued.
domhatch
haven't really had many gigs, so not many horrible gig stories to tell. but i reckon the worst is this one.
one night, heading out to the doors, stopped at a place in rocky street, essentially to warm up for the doors. there was a band playing, really good, too, and they took a break. big mistake on their part; they asked if there were any musos in the crowd who wanted to come up and play using their instruments.
so a couple of us - who had never met before - got up. maaaaaaaan. some of us were playing the hendrix version, some the u2 version, and the guy who grabbed the mic was attempting some dark metal version of the way dylan sang it - met ander woorde, there was a lot of howling and growling, and no-one could really understand what he was on about.
needless to say, there was dead silence in the place when we climbed off the stage.
then there was the time i hectically practiced three numbers with my dad, one of which was anji (we made it into a two guitar duet), and we pulled it off okay, but another was norwegian wood. half way through the first verse i forgot the lyric.
oh, the shame.
dh|
eric-vaxxine
It's 1985 and my funk band Flex-Able are playing in
an Uxbridge pub full of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet fans.
after 5 tunes, the pub landlord comes up to us and says...
"If you don't stop playing, you won't get paid"!
Keira-WitherKay
The worst gig moment for me .... Is finding secure parking in jozi....
Psean
Keira WitherKay wrote:
The worst gig moment for me .... Is finding secure parking in jozi....
:roflmao: :roflmao:
Too true unfortunately.
Conrad
I am mid song and a man leans close to my face to tell me "Ek kan nie meer na hierdie Spaanse K## luister nie" Haha. It was so extreme that it was funny.
TomCat
A few years ago we did the sound at Berties Big Easy at the Randburg Waterfront....some of you might remember those gigs with a band called "Legends Alive"....
It was a great gig with people like Irit Noble and Andy Innes in the band.....Generally the evening was great entertainment with Irit doing a great impersonation of Cher....
One evening near the end of the second set, the crowd was at the stage and the band was playing a Rolling Stones song (can't remember which one..... :-[ :-[)
John, the vocalist was doing his Mic Jagger thing with a round base mics stand, strutting up and down the stage and well....being Mic Jagger..
I then notice that one of the patrons....a drunk one, is trying to unplug the microphone cables out of the access panel at the front of the stage but is being somewhat unsuccessful as he has not realized that the plugs, being XLR's require the release of the catch to pull the plug out. He then decides that vigorous pulling of the cables themselves might yield a better result.... ? ?
Before I can move from Front-of-House to the stage, John waltzes down the stage with his mic stand and without so much as batting an eyelid of breaking his stride he flicks the base of the stand out with his foot, catching the guy across the top lip, just under his nose.
The impact jerks this guys head back like a whiplash and virtually knocks him out, along with blood and snot being sprayed over his fellow patrons.....he then crumpled to the floor in front of the stage where he got taken off for first aid......
DonovanB
Earlier this month we played at Frankies in PMB. The gig was awesome. Afterwards I was passing through the bar and a young lass comes up to me. "You guys are so awesome!" she screams as I get a hug.
"well, this is cool. " thinks I as I thank her and move on.
Two steps later some dude screams, "You guys are so awesome!" and proceeds to give me a hug.
Coolness flew away that night.
Chabenda
I had one this week playing at a company opening do. We agreed to leave the gear set up and play the following day for 45 minutes for the employees whilst they had their company lunch. I pitched up with a John Deere Gator off my showroom floor as it was only a couple of hundred meters away and my bakkie was out. The GM then told me that the lunch was cancelled due to the theft of beer and food at the official do the night before (hmmm....????? Dodgy IMO) and then went to inform the employees. Luckily I had the little Gator and was able to drive in, load the gear very quickly and get the hell out of Dodge before the bricks started flying!
Greg
My two worst ones were due to dodgy cables made by someone at Marshall Music CT.
1) Playing at the Waterfront for a competition (we had no idea it was a competition) my brand-new 8m Mogami/Amphenol lead (1 day old) broke. It took my 3-4 songs to find out it was the cable and I had to entirely bypass my pedal board.
2) Playing on a TV film set for a one-shot recording of our set for a Kyknet TV show. 4 songs in and my 3m Mogami/Amphenol cable made by the same guy breaks and again, I have to bypass my pedal board.
As a result, I now own two (lesser quality) seriously durable woven DiMarzio 6m cables. Will get some better quality, solid cables when I get more cash flow. Will repair the Mogami's myself when I get time.
One thing that's happened often is power/PA's cutting out, but since 4/5ths of my one band (Nomadic Orchestra) are acoustic anyways, we're quite comfortable with power going out. In fact, it probably adds to our show.
Last time it happened, I told all the brass players to jump on the bass bins and play an extended intro to one of our songs (which starts with an already long horn intro). We did the first bit of the song acoustic and the horns continued through the first few sections, drums and guitar waiting for the power to come on. Once it came on we waited for a break so we could come in full-force again in a musical way. Worked great!
Wizard
Greg wrote:
1) Playing at the Waterfront for a competition (we had no idea it was a competition) my brand-new 8m Mogami/Amphenol lead (1 day old) broke. It took my 3-4 songs to find out it was the cable and I had to entirely bypass my pedal board.
2) Playing on a TV film set for a one-shot recording of our set for a Kyknet TV show. 4 songs in and my 3m Mogami/Amphenol cable made by the same guy breaks and again, I have to bypass my pedal board.
Get Matt Allison to build you some cables.
AlanRatcliffe
Greg wrote:
Will repair the Mogami's myself when I get time.
Do yourself a favour and get some Neutriks. The Amphenols are nice: slim and lightweight, but the strain relief doesn't come close to the Neutriks, which can take all kinds of abuse for years without issue.
One thing that's happened often is power/PA's cutting out
Overheating? A sure sign your PA is underpowered.
Chabenda
Ha ha!!! Luckily for most of us, this particular topic is not open to our audiences!! ?
warrenpridgeon
mmm...I am not even an old salt like a lot of the guys here... but mine range from
1. Playing the intro riff to the wrong song
2. DSL 401 Bridge rectifier giving it's last few kicks causing me to have to turn and whack it to get it to make a sound again... later took my amp to JP... fixed now 8)
3. Neatening up my cables after rehearsal only to have no sound coming through as the drummer counted in the first song... with me the only electric there... tic tic tic tic... silence from the electric... look down... what now?!? pull the plug on the pedalboard and go straight into the amp... sound... let's go...
4. When we just started using inears I forgot to plug mine in... played until the last song when I saw someone in the first row pointing at something... noticed I have a "tail" hanging down... oh it's my inears cable... click... well lookeeee here, inears working...
5. Dropping my guitar... 'nuff said.
6. We had just installed new lighting and projectors, the electrician was literally busy doing the final touches as our conference started... something went whacko and there was a power surge, frying my GT8's power supply and the other electrics Line 6 power supply.
7. Power tripped once just before a set, causing the click track to go bossies... the drummer is not confident enough to "wing it" without the click track... so we played an upbeat song a LOT slower than it should have been.
Manfred-Klose
but the strain relief doesn't come close to the Neutriks
i have used the same 2 cables for the last 4 years with neutrik connectors that i made up myself, and it has survived some serious gigs.
Manfred-Klose
......ok so maby not worst gig moments, but more like funny stuff that happened ?
1. while playing some intense guitar on a small stage, a girl came up and pretty much french kissed me :-[
2. new years eve in a small town, the designated driver passed out, there were only 4 people including staff, and the manager thought it would be funny to spray the fire extinguisher, all the gear had this white powder on it the next day we pitched up to collect.
3. i went to play for a church one sunday, Keyboard of all instruments, and while the pastor was praying, i accidentally hit a few of the keys, playing some diminished chord, i must say that was pretty embarrassing.
4. my amp died on the first chord i strummed, sound check it was fine.
5. started getting a nose bleed, as i got on stage at a casino.
6. "accidentally" touched the lighting desk mixer, screwing up everything at a high profile gig.
7. a bassist tripped over my pedal board during a solo, pulling out the cable.
there is alot more.....
