Gig Quality: how wide is your spectrum?

[Magpel]

I think of a band's quality dynamics as the difference between their best shows and their worst.

 

By worst, I don't mean flagrant flubs so much as lack of energy and cohesion.

By best, well, you know, even the oldest songs feel new in the moment--that teeth rattling feeling of "making music together."

 

I've been in some bands where the quality range was so extreme that the band could never have been confused for professional, because professional implies a baseline competence--a "no worse than this" line.

 

And I also wonder: Do Justin Timberlake's and Janet Jackson's bands ever have a bad night? Is it possible? Is it allowed?

 

I've played in a 24-piece jazz band so I know that big bands are every bit as susceptible to be "off" or "on" as smaller ensembles playing with more improvisational latitude.

 

What about your bands?

[blue2blue]

I only play once or twice a year these days. Second to last time I had pretty much went Nina Simone...

 

OK, no tears... but I literally left the stage (fortunately it was a songwriter's round robin) so that I could try to get my guitar in tune. A guitar I can normally tune in a few seconds without a tuner or even usually taking my left hand off the tuners. But I had to sit in a back room, with a tuner, trying frantically to get the silly thing to sound like it was in tune.

 

I'm told that I was fine when I came back but, for someone who used to be just about utterly fearless -- and usually very comfortable in front of an audience -- it was kinda on the humiliating side.

[Lee Knight]

I remember opening for The Tubes at the height of their "Talk To Ya Later" success. Probably 6000+people. I sang 1/3 of the tunes. It clicked and I felt like it was the easiest thing in the world.

 

I remember opening for Tina Turner (our manager was her manager at the time). She hadn't "come back" yet and her crowd was made up of 40 something affluent African Americans. We were young white new wave pop rockers. Our confidence was nil at this venue and we sucked beyond belief. SUCKED.

 

I've been embarrassed at how bad we were playing to 5 people at an original music showcase and then felt like I was walking on water playing in front of thousands...

[blue2blue]

 

I remember opening for The Tubes at the height of their "Talk To Ya Later" success. Probably 6000+people. I sang 1/3 of the tunes. It clicked and I felt like it was the easiest thing in the world. I remember opening for Tina Turner (our manager was her manager at the time). She hadn't "come back" yet and her crowd was made up of 40 something affluent African Americans. We were young white new wave pop rockers. Our confidence was nil at this venue and we sucked beyond belief. SUCKED. I've been embarrassed at how bad we were playing to 5 people at an original music showcase and then felt like I was walking on water playing in front of thousands...

 

 

I don't think a band really knew what fear was until they'd opened up for the late Irish blues rocker, Rory Gallagher.

 

Gallagher seemed to be an easy going, affable guy -- but his audience was a whole different thing.

 

The absolute only opening act I ever saw that didn't get booed mercilessly after about the third song was a gospel group comprised of grandfatherly black gentlemen... but there was a lot of fidgeting.

[Lee Flier]

I'd say my band is pretty consistent, in a good way. We consistently have a high level of energy as a baseline, although there can be those gigs where everything's totally clicking and the energy is off the scale. And we practically never screw up songs or have a trainwreck of a gig, no matter how bad the circumstances. We've been together too long and have worked too hard getting familiar with each song, to really crash and burn. We know what to play without thinking about it. Though there've been a few times things got messed up due to technical issues... unfortunately the last time that happened was at our last CD release show.

 

In general though, we always get comments like "really tight" and "high energy" regardless how badly WE think we suck on any given night.

 

Now this has probably jinxed us and our next gig will be a total trainwreck.

[Magpel]

Wel, and that's a key point, Lee. Just because a band's reach goes low doesn't mean it goes high, and vice versa. I could see What The...? being a pretty reliable live band.

[jackcheez]

My perception of gig quality is tied closely to how good we sound/play.

 

That can be a wide spectrum.