How do you respond to a friendly audience after a train wreck?

[Jeff Leites]

I wish that I had stopped playing, fixed the situation that had distracted me, and started over. Others did that later in the show when they got off to a bad start, but I didn't think to do that.

 

So, I totally screwed the pooch in a guitar duet this morning that went bad right from the start, but still got "good job" kudos from members of the polite audience. I didn't want them to think, that I'm so tone deaf that I really thought that I did a good job, but I also didn't want to be rude by rejecting their flattery. What's an embarrassed performer to do?

[Ernest Buckley]

I wish that I had stopped playing, fixed the situation that had distracted me, and started over. Others did that later in the show when they got off to a bad start, but I didn't think to do that. So, I totally screwed the pooch in a guitar duet this morning that went bad right from the start, but still got "good job" kudos from members of the polite audience. I didn't want them to think, that I'm so tone deaf that I really thought that I did a good job, but I also didn't want to be rude by rejecting their flattery. What's an embarrassed performer to do?

Email all ten people that showed up , let them know you`re going to do one of the following: a performance under the proper conditions or send them a free tune.

 

Around 6 years ago I was scheduling to do a solo performance at a bar/club in downtown Manhattan at 6p on a Sunday night. I show up around 5p and the place is closed! I call the # I have, no one is picking up. My friends show up! The bar is still closed.

 

At this point, I have to do something! There are around 15 people waiting for me to perform. I tell everyone to chill out and I run around the block, find another bar, tell the bartender my situation. He says I can use their stage but I have to be done by 7:30p because their usual Sunday night performer starts then. No problem! I run around the corner, tell everyone and run back and set up. The second place that was open also served dinner so everyone got to eat while I performed.

 

I called the # of the first place I had on Monday, the guy completely forgot about me. Kind of sad but whatever... you move on and make the best of it.

[Anderton]

You say, "hey, I really appreciate the response, you're too kind...but I have to say I was kind of off today. If you give me your email, I'll send you a link where you can download what I played, and you can hear them the way I had hoped to play them today."

 

But you also didn't mention the kind of music. If it was a punk duo, a more appropriate response would be "hey, I really appreciate the response, but that just means you don't know crap about music. And if you didn't like it, you can kiss my a**."

[Tomm Williams]

We were at a gig a few weeks back when that happened to us. We were having probably our best gig ever when we started "Something" by The Beatles. Right off the bat it went south so we stopped apologized and started over-------it happened AGAIN. We started laughing about it and told the crowd we were going to skip that song since it wasn't working and they started yelling for us to play it anyway. We finally got through it on the 3rd try and went back to having an incredible night. The crowd was so into us they simply did not care.

[Bookumdano2]

What's an embarrassed performer to do?

 

Here's what I used to do when I played out last century... "hey crowd, some days, things just don't go right at my shows and I'd like to thank all my family members who are here today cheering me on despite the screwups. And for those who are seeing me for the first time and don't know who I am, I'd like to tell you again that my name is... Jeff Leites ". And then I'd grab my stuff and clear out and run as fast as I could.

 

By the way, thanks Jeff. Your name got me out of a lot of jams back then.

[Lee Knight]

Holy crap! I was barely holding on there. Thanks for taking the trip with me!

[blue2blue]

Like others, I think acknowledging that it was a bit rough and that their generosity was appreciated. You know, people like genuine... just be yourself and relax.

[Jeff Leites]

Thanks for the tips.

 

If anyone is interested here

[rasputin1963]

Aw, Jeff, you're cool... {censored} happens in live performances. It always does. Such moments can be embarrassing. It is often wise to remain calm and cool, becuase a LOT of glitches, the audience is just none-the-wiser about. It helps to look like "a good sport".... audiences appreciate that. What is problematic is becoming (visibly) petulant or angry onstage, or pulling an Ashley Simpson: just skipping offstage mid-song... not even stopping her fellow stage musicians!

 

And I say that, even though, in my 30-year career of playing live, I have indeed gotten petulant onstage. Once this drunken broad tried to grab my $1k mic off its stand--- yes! in the middle of my song! WTF?---- so she could give a shout-out to her peeps; I went ballistic. it wasn't pretty. Another time this dip{censored} spilled his beer on my electric piano. Room packed with hunders of people, and my keyboard just shorts and dies. How many pianists have a backup plan for {censored} like that? I think I did get fairly testy onstage. I call it one of my Frank Sinatra moments--- he being famous for angry outbursts. (-;

[UstadKhanAli]

Well, that's a bit different from a show not going well, though...I mean, if there's people spilling beer or grabbing your stuff. Somebody in Keyboard Corner had a problem with people constantly putting beer on his gear, and he made some sort of pyramid-shaped contraption to make that impossible.

 

I've only had one instance of someone doing that to me, where this guy put a beer on my P.A. head. I asked him to take it off. He said sorry. Then he did it again. So I drank it.

[Jeff da Weasel]

 

So I drank it.

 

 

Ew! Cooties!

[UstadKhanAli]

It was a fresh cold beer.

 

Great look on the guy's face when he turned around only to discover his beer was completely empty.

[John Bartus]

It can get quite annoying when clueless/rude audience members detract from one's musical experience. I use a tambourine on stage for live percussion loops, and there's almost always someone who seems to think that they have the right to pick it up and go nuts as if it were their own. (I have a post about one particular such night over in the Live Gig Epic Fail forum.)

 

The other night, right off the bat during the first song, my looper pedal started giving me problems. Its power supply started going bad, and the output cable was plugged into the wrong jack, causing some nasty feedback and distortion. Luckily, I had a very understanding audience, and I was able to make a joke out of it and get on with the rest of the show.

 

It's kind of funny -- I have all the understanding in the world for people who make mistakes, but next to absolute-zero tolerance for technical failures. Nothing frosts me as much as a piece of gear that fails at a gig.

:arg:

[MikeRivers]

Carol plays the opening notes, and I realize that her volume is way down. My chords are drowning her out. I tried playing softer, and lowering my volume on my guitar, but I was still much louder. I was trying to think of what I could do, and I missed the first chord progression change, but I didn

[UstadKhanAli]

Yeah, I think you just joke about it and start over (or keep moving).

 

I can tell you that Jeff knows how to play really good surf guitar, in either case.

[ggm1960]

In most the bands I've been in I've switched between guitar and keys. Many years ago the band I was in was playing at what could be considered their home base. We were having a pretty good night with some folks on the dance floor. Desperado was next on the set list so I put down the guitar and went to the keyboard and............nothing. I just went blank! I'd played that song more times than I can count but I'm there at the keyboard with people standing on the dance floor and I have no idea where to put my fingers.

 

So there's the band waiting for me to start and people in front staring at me and it just seemed to make it worse. I utter that I can't remember how to play it, the bass player says, "come on, you can do it". It's kind of a weird tenseness for a moment but then I notice people are chuckling, the mood lightens up, I have a laugh and then the song comes back to me.

[pbognar]

I'm in a band now that's been together for over a year, and we've only played out 7 times.

 

On of the problems is that there are just too many people in the band 3-4 vocalists, rhythm section, 1-2 horns. There have been some personnel changes, but most importantly, we have a backup drummer in case our busy primary drummer can't make a gig.

 

So when we have an upcoming gig, we rehearse with the drummer who is going to be doing the gig, and it seems that endings and transitions are always in flux.

 

As the guitarist, I carefully monitor the singers to see where they are headed and I try to give overt cues the drummer and the rest of the band that the end is coming, or that a section is being repeated, or whatever.

 

So on jobs, we have a few, what I like to call soft landings (not total crashes), but sometimes someone doesn't get the message, and there is a lone cowbell, bass note, drum beat or whatever at the end of a tune. Not a huge thing and most audience members don't notice.

 

The funniest endings are when there is a lone player who just continues to play - we try to make it sound like a breakdown or false ending and try to turn it into a soft landing. We all have a good laugh, and our smallish audiences don't seem to mind.

 

We're starting to build a following now though, and we're going to have to get more serious about avoiding these types of things.

 

Anyway - some rules of thumb:

 

1) If something happens, don't have band members visibly or vocally acknowledge it, unless it is major - then a funny comment is in order.

 

2) FOLLOW THE SINGERS - you don't want to make them look bad. Nothing is worse than band members who stick by their assertion that "this is how the song is supposed to go, and I'm just going to play it that way". It's really important to have visual communication going on, although over my many years, I've noticed that many male musicians don't like to be visually in touch with the other members of the band.

 

3) If someone starts the wrong song - go with it - don't make them look like a turd either.

 

4) If something goes wrong, there is no shame in asking the audience if the want a "do over". I've seen Chick Corea and Peter Gabriel do this live.

 

5) When someone goes blank, stay cool. Move on to a different tune. Although, on a couple occasions, I've had to quietly "sing" the main riff to the drummer. It instantly dislodged the blockage.

[RevRomansky]

"Thank you, thank you very much", then start the next song with a smirk.

[Lukenskywalker]

It was a fresh cold beer.

 

yeah right!

 

Only one way outta catching 'Cooties'; run up to the nearest person, slap him/her on the back soundly and Shout out , 'You got Ken's Cooties...quit-sees!'

You will then be offically cured.

Please refer to Wiki; 'Second Grade Games and their Respective Rules.' for clarification.

 

please see Jeff da Weezers post #11.

 

And yes, Jeff Leites plays fantastic Surf Music...it's his niche.

[Lukenskywalker]

ustad's beer story reminded me of a gig we were playing in the early 80s. we were the bar house band...Our third set was mostly hard rockin' tunes and the crowd was always drunk and jazzed up.

We just finished 'Fire down Below' by Bob Seger and the crowd was going nuts clapping stomping their feet, I grabbed my long necked beer bottle from the floor and said 'thank you, thank you very much...in my best Elvis voice and then took a long pull on the beer bottle...

Instead of a nice cold beer taste I got a mouthful of cigarette filters, tobacco, and paper in a warm disgusting mush.

I had grabbed the drummers beer by mistake he had drank about two thirds of it and was using the last third or so as an ashtray...dropping his butts in the liquid.

 

I started to cough, spit, gag, and choke bent over on the stage, and the crowd went really crazy...still clapping, yelling, whistling, and pounding their hands on the bar.....

Never forgot that night and everytime I hear 'Fire Down Below' it all comes back to me.