Members etcetra Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 I had a gig today which ended in a disaster, and I thought I did what I was the best thing to do, but I'd like to get feedback. It was an outdoor gig and basically the tent started to break down in the middle of the gig, and a huge puddle of water landed on my keyboard. We had to stop playing for an hour. After they got everything fixed they asked us to stay longer and play 30 min more even though we are supposed to be done at that point. I told them I would not do it, knowing the potential risk of being electrocuted playing in such conditions. They told me that the fixed the tent and the keyboard, but I insisted that was not the point. It was still raining heavily, and they couldn't guarantee that the same thing would happen to me again. What Pi$$sed me off was the horn player who hired me decided to take their side and insisted I play, but I refused, even if it mean losing my pay. I'll be honest I don't know much about electronic and whether there was actually a high risk of getting electrocuted, but I was not going to take that kind of risk for a gig. After all, if something did happen to me, it's not their problem. My question is how dangerous is it to play electric keyboard in situation like that, and how did you guys deals with situations like that personally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhat Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 I had a gig today which ended in a disaster, and I thought I did what I was the best thing to do, but I'd like to get feedback. It was an outdoor gig and basically the tent started to break down in the middle of the gig, and a huge puddle of water landed on my keyboard. We had to stop playing for an hour.After they got everything fixed they asked us to stay longer and play 30 min more even though we are supposed to be done at that point. I told them I would not do it, knowing the potential risk of being electrocuted playing in such conditions. They told me that the fixed the tent and the keyboard, but I insisted that was not the point. It was still raining heavily, and they couldn't guarantee that the same thing would happen to me again. What Pi$$sed me off was the horn player who hired me decided to take their side and insisted I play, but I refused, even if it mean losing my pay.I'll be honest I don't know much about electronic and whether there was actually a high risk of getting electrocuted, but I was not going to take that kind of risk for a gig. After all, if something did happen to me, it's not their problem. My question is how dangerous is it to play electric keyboard in situation like that, and how did you guys deals with situations like that personally? Not sure about the danger , but the issue i would worry about is that even though the board was back to life,,,, continueing to play it could cause it to go into the dead duck mode. Like you momma told you ,, when you hurt yourself ,, dont pick at it. I might have just said ,, this instrument is working now, If it goes tits up if i play it before it drys out fully , are you gonna pay the bill to get it fixed? Typically that will shut a guy up thats pushing you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 I don't know if electrocuting yourself would be much of a risk unless it's a keyboard with a metal cover. But you certainly would risk serious damage to the keyboard. No way I would play it until the insides had a chance to completely dry out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members etcetra Posted August 28, 2010 Author Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 Thank god it wasn't my keyboard!! The horn player who called me for the gig brought his keyboard for the gig. I don't know what he was thinking, because his keyboard is worth way more than the money he was getting for the gig. I did play the keyboard at the end when it stopped raining andbecause the guy insisted. I wouldn't be surprised if the insides were still not completely dry..oh well it's not my problem if something happens to keys I guess.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 As long as it continued to work than it will probably be fine. I had a situation a couple of weeks ago where we got caught out in the rain and while we got everything covered up, I did have a midi footswitch controller that got soaked. When I plugged it in it lit up for a second and then just completely shut down. I let it sit for a week and it was fine. Only a $100 unit, so I wasn't that freaked or anything. But had it been one of keyboards that I feared actually got water inside the unit, I would have shut it down immediately and not played it until I was able to open it up and make sure everything inside was completely dry. As far as electrocution goes, as long as your touching plastic parts, I don't see how you'd get electrocuted. The keyboard would smoke and fry first. I've seen guitar players get electrocuted before, but never a keyboardist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VanHalen Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 You should have manned-up and played. Good luck finding a new gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Austincowbell Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 Another vote for "no way you would get electrocuted" BUT, running electricity through any device that's been soaked is a great way to wreck that device. I wouldn't turn it back on because you would fry it, not due to electrocution risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 You did the right thing IMO. My question is why the band was playing in the first place under an apparently unsafe tent when it was "raining heavily"... BTW Where was the audience... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members etcetra Posted August 28, 2010 Author Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 Van Halen Yea man up and risk wrecking a $1,200 equipment for a $250 gig.. that makes sense. I hope you are being sarcastic. New Trail, well the audience...left after it starting raining hard. The tent was literally falling apart as we played.. they did some work to patch it up but it didn't look very safe. The stage was soaking wet,and upright bass player was pi$$ed because his case was soaked in water, which made it really hard to carry his instrument back to his car. We are supposed to end at 6:30pm and by the time they finished patching things up it was a little after 6:30. They asked us to play for another 30min but I didn't. I thought it was really unprofessional, because the other bands ended up having to play behind schedule as a result. With the extra 30min set, taking things up, and setting up, they were like 1 hour behind schedule. I am glad we weren't the last band, because they got the raw end of that deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 If I were in that situation, I would have done exactly the same thing. I'd rather be cautious and safe than try to risk physical harm, either to me or to the equipment. I played a gig outside many years ago. When we started, the weather was nice, but somewhere in the middle, the clouds darkened, then it began to rain. I was the keyboardist in that group and I told the bandleader that I wasn't going to risk playing anymore, since the rain was coming into the stage area. He suggested we wrap my keyboard in a sleeping bag and keep going. I agreed, begrudgingly. This turned out to be a bad idea. I was playing it and at one point, the slickness of the material made the keyboard fall off the stand on the left side (I used an Ultimate Support Deltex stand). I caught it just as it banged off the floorboards and put it right back onto the stand right away, without missing a beat. Thankfully, my keyboard is the version that had a metal frame (the Ensoniq ESQ-1 was available in two formats, a plastic case and a more expensive metal case), so it was fine. If it had been plastic, it probably would have cracked. I've never been a big fan of outdoor gigs for that very reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 You should have manned-up and played. Good luck finding a new gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khem1cal Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 Don't wanna be playing in the rain and ending up pulling one of these numbers... [YOUTUBE]TQELoPvdLeQ[/YOUTUBE] The only saftey issues I can see for myself are things I bring unto myself(pyros, climbing on speakers & trusses, etc) I wouldn't think twice to walk right out of the venue if they ever expected me to play in a dilapidated facility. Ain't got time to die due to {censored}ty craftsmanship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 3shiftgtr Posted August 28, 2010 Members Share Posted August 28, 2010 Van HalenYea man up and risk wrecking a $1,200 equipment for a $250 gig.. that makes sense. I hope you are being sarcastic. But wait a minute. You said this earlier: Thank god it wasn't my keyboard!! The horn player who called me for the gig brought his keyboard for the gig. So if it was the horn guy's gear, it was his call gear wise. The safety issue is 50/50. I've seen some REALLY scary things happen on some big stages, and usually the players play on. Most guitarists who sing have been zapped in the lips with 110 if they have been doing it long enough. They usually find a way to carry on.... If the stage wasn't a safe area, that can be for real. I once saw sparks fly and a 20 light rig fall during performance a foot from a huge mega star country artist during a rainstorm performance, and she freaked out and left the stage...scared sh*tless...the band continued to play the song and cut it short when she did not come back out. While roadies scrambled, the road manager came out and announced that they would fix the technical problems. Much discussion back stage. She came out and sang her 3 big hits and left. A headline act for a 70 minute show, turned into 20 minutes, a long break and another 10. Word swirled that she did what she had to to get paid. Mouths ta feed, ya know.....there were some lawsuits too, as I remember. Lek-tisity and water don't mix. Crap stage rigging and high winds don't either. Kinda one of those "had to be there" decisions. Every body else played on, tho'.....but I do see your point...you didn't feel safe....and that can be for real. Unless you were just being over cautious. Don't know, wasn't there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members etcetra Posted August 29, 2010 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2010 3shiftgtr, It wasn't my gear, but its still hard for to let a good keyboard go bad for a gig that didn't pay very well. I only agreed to do the last tune with them because it stopped raining and he asked me to join them on stage. (he kind of put me on the spot in front of the audience). It wasn't just the keyboard.. the tent was literally falling apart as we were playing,water was pouring in through the cracks everywhere, and power cables/adapters were sitting in a puddle of water the The way they handled the situation made me feel like they didn't know what they were doing. I asked the band leader and the person at the venue whether they can guarantee safety in this situation,and they couldn't, and I made my final decision based on that. btw than so much for all your responses. This is the first gig where I actually had to deal with safety issues like this, and it helps to get perspective from other experienced musicians Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tubefox Posted August 29, 2010 Members Share Posted August 29, 2010 It's unlikely for you to get electrocuted like that. On the other hand, if the entire stage was soaked, one bare wire could do something pretty unpleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cortfan Posted August 29, 2010 Members Share Posted August 29, 2010 If the keyboard got wet, he will probably have issues with it soon. Probably won't get electrocuted with keys, but definitely could with a tube amp and a P.A. with a different polarity. We were playing a pool party a few years ago and some dumb ass woman decided to spray the guests down with a water hose. It was really hot out. As soon as I felt the spray, I turned off my 100 watt Bassman amp with a towel, and put my bass in the case. After I explained to her what she could have done, I think she got the message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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