Members modulusman Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 I use to love outdoor gigs. Great acoustics, usually large crowds. In the first 30 years of my playing career I probably played outside around 150 times and was rained on maybe 10 times. In the last five years over half our outside gigs have had rain. Today we had a wedding where we were set up outside on a flatbed. The day already sucked for me since I only had 4 hours sleep and then it proceeded to get worse. First my $1500.00 Lakland bass was blown over and fell off the back of the flatbed and gouged the {censored} out of the finish in 2 places and roughed up the end of the headstock. Meanwhile dark clouds were gathering and followed by lightning. We started tarping the gear when the wind picked up and then it started pouring rain. Wound up not playing a note and getting soaked tearing down. A bunch of the Gear got wet and have to let it dry to see if it stills works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 Telling you to take the good with the bad is pretty cliche,but that sucks about your bass.Sounds like an all around fail.Did you get paid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 I use to love outdoor gigs. Great acoustics, usually large crowds. In the first 30 years of my playing career I probably played outside around 150 times and was rained on maybe 10 times. In the last five years over half our outside gigs have had rain. Today we had a wedding where we were set up outside on a flatbed. The day already sucked for me since I only had 4 hours sleep and then it proceeded to get worse. First my $1500.00 Lakland bass was blown over and fell off the back of the flatbed and gouged the {censored} out of the finish in 2 places and roughed up the end of the headstock. Meanwhile dark clouds were gathering and followed by lightning. We started tarping the gear when the wind picked up and then it started pouring rain. Wound up not playing a note and getting soaked tearing down. A bunch of the Gear got wet and have to let it dry to see if it stills works. Ouch... terrible. I hate to ask but was cover part of your contract. We will not accept any outdoor gig unless adequate cover for equipment is provided (tent or otherwise) or we'll upcharge to provide protection. Still it sucks to get rained on... especially for a formal event where you are not pulling the strings on running the reception. I hope all the gear works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 Ouch... terrible. I hate to ask but was cover part of your contract. We will not accept any outdoor gig unless adequate cover for equipment is provided (tent or otherwise) or we'll upcharge to provide protection. We do the same. I actually love outdoor gigs. My trio is doing a bunch this summer at restaurants that have decks. Its a nice change and we are done no later than 11pm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 Even tents can be pretty weak at fending off thunder showers. sorry about your bass. I hate guitar stands for that reason Its not rocket science to know if its gonna rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members delaware dave Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 For all the reasons you mention plus about a dozen more, I no longer enjoy playing outdoors at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 I still love playing outdoors. I have no idea why anyone would want to sit indoors and play, eat or drink when the weather is nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 I dont mind playing outdoors , but I wont just sit there and watch a thunderstorm roll in and soak the gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 J Paul we have the deposit for half. The bandleader use to be related to the bride by marriage and the FOB was real sorry. I think he wants to pay us the full amount but we feel bad to so we might just settle for half. It is the bandleaders call. As far as the bass it could have been worse. I use one of the Hercules double guitar stands. I had both my Modulus Q5 and the Lakland hanging on it. I picked up the Modulus to make sure my amp was working and the wind was blowing just right to unbalance the stand. If it had been my Q5 I would have killed myself.:lol:After we packed up and started heading home we drove about 5 miles and it was dry as a bone. We need the rain because of fires in the state just not when we are playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 As much as Last night sucked Friday night we had a great gig outside. We played the after party at http://www.headwaterscountryjam.com/ The wind was blowing earlier and it was dusty but it died down at sunset. We played 2.5 hours with no break for a bunch of people ready to party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sillypeoples Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 Maybe it's Karma for turning up the vocals on bands that are too loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 Maybe it's Karma for turning up the vocals on bands that are too loud. That must be it. Of course you never have to worry since you only play in your backyard. If you get wet you can always change into a dry bathrobe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 We do the same. I actually love outdoor gigs. My trio is doing a bunch this summer at restaurants that have decks. Its a nice change and we are done no later than 11pm! I much prefer starting late and playing late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 We got severely hammered a couple years ago. Last set and the lightning appeared to be a ways away yet. About a minute into LIGHTNING CRASHES (bad song choice I guess!) It just let loose. And there was enough wind so that the the tarp wouldn't stay on the gear. We finally stood underneath the tarp and tried to hold it in place. Had to take nearly everything to the drummer's body shop for a couple weeks and put fans on everything. Fortunately we had enough spare PA gear to get by without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted July 3, 2012 Members Share Posted July 3, 2012 I'll take 9 outdoor gigs to the smokey holes we have to play on a regular basis. They are killing me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 3, 2012 Members Share Posted July 3, 2012 I'll take 9 outdoor gigs to the smokey holes we have to play on a regular basis. They are killing me!I am SOOOO glad the local states went no smoking a couple years ago. I can't believe how much it helps vocally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 3, 2012 Members Share Posted July 3, 2012 Wow, sorry to hear about damaging the bass. I like playing outdoors --- until I get a bad gig. We've done a lot of outdoor gigs this year for some reason, and we've been lucky so far in that they've all gone well weather-wise. But all it will take is one gig that is too cold, too windy, too hot, etc and I'll be wishing I was indoors for sure. We did three gigs this weekend and two of them were outdoors. The weather was great for both, and it was nice to be able to back the trailer right up to the stage. And one being in the afternoon meant we didn't have to bother with lights. So outdoors often has advantages like those. The one we did Saturday night, however, was on two flatbed trucks and the stage was rather "bouncy". My keyboards were swaying around the entire night. At the end when we brought up a bunch of people to sing "Don't Stop Believin'" with us, they were bouncing so much (I think the end of one flatbed was literally coming off the ground) that I actually played wrong chords because I couldn't keep my fingers on the keys. THAT was crazy. And power situations are often sketchier outdoors. That same show were were doing (a private event at a private residence) was going fine on the two circuits provided until the 3rd set when we started tripping a circuit that was plugged into a GFI box. It worked out OK because we just kept playing and turned it into "crowd singalong" moments until the soundguy could flip the box back on. I think the audience thought it was all planned. He eventually ran that line to a generator they had provided for us for a 3rd circuit we didn't think we'd need. Guess we was wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted July 3, 2012 Members Share Posted July 3, 2012 I much prefer starting late and playing late. I like the early shows.. However outside starting later is better ,, its cooler and the skeeters are usually done by 9pm. Most of what we do is 8 to 11pm stuff. The night owls on the island are all the people who work there. Most of them get off by 11 and then go out on the town. Its nice to be able to go out after the gig and unwind, or just go home and crash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarPlayerFL Posted July 3, 2012 Members Share Posted July 3, 2012 I am SOOOO glad the local states went no smoking a couple years ago. I can't believe how much it helps vocally. That's 'cause you live in a progressive state. (I was there last week....loved it!) Down here, people have this idea that smoking indoors is actually a right handed down by G-Sus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted July 3, 2012 Members Share Posted July 3, 2012 I'll take 9 outdoor gigs to the smokey holes we have to play on a regular basis. They are killing me! spi went no smoking last year ,, ,its great since we have a regular inside gig that used to be smoking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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