What was your worst gig?

[redclaymusic]

I'll start by telling you mine.

 

We had our main PA our monitors, our drummer and his kit, our son was a baby at the time and we had to bring a nanny to hold the baby in the gig. A friend of ours offered to let us use their short bus. Half way there we realized the plates on the bus expired and it also didn't take us long to realize the gasline had a leak:mad: so we had to stop every 45 mins or so for gas:(

 

We also ran into construction on the way. What should have been a 5 hour trip was about 7.5 hours. We had enough time to set up and play and that (needless to say) was not our best gig as our baby was tired and SCREAMED through the whole thing.

 

AAAAAHHH I'm glad that one is over.

 

MelK of Red Clay:D

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/437/red_clay.html

[Mike_Hawk]

One of my old bands.....

 

We practiced before the show - we had just added a song....singer killed his voice.....

 

show starts, the opening band goes on....we couldn't find our singer....right before we start he shows up - completely trashed....

 

I was so pissed....he voice sucked when it wasn't "killed", and when he wasn't drunk...but with those two going for him...I don't think he hit a single note at all.

 

But - the rest of us played great - and everybody loved us due to the fact I dropped my pick but kept playing my bashing my hand on the strings, smacked the bridge once two many times and split my hand open bleeding all over the place. It was great!!!

 

Blood everywhere!!!

 

I got it on tape, and watch it for inpiration.

[BryanMichael]

When I was younger (about 27) my original band enterd a "battle of the bands- We had finished a CD and were looking to bring in a little cash to offset the 7500.00 we had spent on the recording, producer, and duplication. We had just won a local radio station sponsored contest and had our songs featured on the air for a week. Our prizes were a new guitar amp (which we promptly sold!), a bunch of strings, cables, picks, t-shirts etc. and we were feeling pretty good about the quality of the material. Hoping to put on a good show, we asked about PA, drums, bringing gear/sharing gear (some of these BOTB things are wierd...) and they assured us that they had a PA system. The bar was called "The Happy Tavern" and was located in a not-so-nice neighborhood here in Columbus. Upon arrival, we were surprised to find that the "PA system" was an old Peavey bass amp with a Radio Shack microphone plugged into it! Not to mention that all the other bands (three more) were 16 year old kids that had brought their families out to this {censored}ty little bar. We patiently waited for our turn, and played 5 songs off of the album-I was looking to also join a well-established cover band at this point to start bringing in some extra cash, and the two guys making the hiring descision decided to come out and check out the original band-We played as best we could, our drummer providing great controlled dynamics and me singing harmonies into the shared Radio Shack microphone with the lead singer-I laughed through the whole gig-The singer was angry at the whole situation....Anyway, the judging was done by "crowd response" and the kids with the most family present won the 100.00 prize. The bar owner apologized several times for the situation to us, and the regular bar customers told us (as did the owner) that we were CLEARLY the most polished, professional, and skilled band of the group-which we knew anyway (nothing against 16 year old kids and their skills-I was there once!, but we were really way beyond them.....) The bar asked us if we would consider playing a real gig there (which we declined-since it was really a nasty little place) In the parking lot after the show we watched a guy get beaten by another guy with a bottle....

after that, the lead singer/songwriter quit the band-it was too much for him, he wanted to just record-and not perform anymore.

The two guys that came to see the original act were quite impressed however and not only hired me as the new bass player, but also recruited the second guitar player as...well, a second guitar player! We went on to four years of making lots of money and playing ALOT of cool clubs.

Was this my WORST gig ever? No-

maybe in 1989 when I was new on the scene and (then local, but now well-known even in Europe!) punk band "The New Bomb Turks" stood in fromt of me shouting "you suck" over and over as I tried to make it through a set at an OSU campus {censored}hole bar. That really was hard to handle at my inexperienced level.

 

The moral?

Well, play your best in any situation and you never know what may come of it (the cover band thing was a positive out of the negative)

 

Peace,

Bryan

[Scheming Demon]

I don't remember the exact year, sometime around '86/'87. We had just come off winning a battle of the bands and we're going to play another one at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ.

 

When it was our turn to play the bass player couldn't get his amp working. 10-15 minutes after we were supposed to start the soundman just plugs him into one of the monitors. Because of that we got no soundcheck.

 

We started and right away the bass was so loud on the stage that we could barely hear anything except bass. The soundman also put an extremely loud infinite repeat delay on the guitar so it impossible to tell in what time the guitar was playing, the real note or a repeat.

 

We didn't have the experience to stop immediately and correct that and we just trudged on. Needless to say we were horrible to the point of embarrassment. A lesson learned nonetheless.

[ozraves]

worst gig:

 

i was a junior in hs.

 

it was on a boat.

 

i was singing and got my lips electrocuted b/c you're never grounded on a boat. at least, i wasn't grounded on the boat i was one.

 

a very attractive woman i wanted to know came up and spilled her vodka all over her guitar trying to flirt with me. i would have loved to love her normally but you don't spill your vodka on my guitar.

 

the drummer overdosed on speed, got paranoid, and so we only ended up playing a few songs. it was a very bad night.

[redclaymusic]

Electrocuted!!! I think you win ozraves

 

 

MelK:D

[BlueStrat]

Well, let's see...While on the road, I got booked into a country bar in Shelby, Montana. The police were on strike so one county sheriff's department deputy had to handle the whole town. I got shot with a fire extinguisher by some drunk redneck while we were playing. We promptly quit and packed up, barely getting out with our lives.

 

Oh, yeah, we got attacked with nunchucks in Bozeman, MT; ripped off in Kalispell, MT.; had our drummer collapse onstage with a 105 degree temperature in Bend, OR.; had our PA fry on the first song at a showcase club we had been trying to get into for over a year; and just this summer I was doing a festival in Portland, OR in front of about 8-10 thousand people and being simulcast on the radio and on the web. I went two minutes over (they started us two minutes late and my show was worked out virtually to the second) and the stage manager came out on the stage and began screaming at us in front of everyone and was swearing and calling me a "f-ing rookie" as soon as we were finished with all these people standing in front of the stage and sitting at VIP tables right behind us. I wanted to beat on his ears until they met in the middle, but I didn't do anything, I just shrugged my shoulders and left. But it ruined the whole day, as I had waited for four years to get into that one, only to have that happen. Ah, the price of glory! )

[SomeGuyNamedRob]

Band shows up for load in to find the place surrounded by police. Seems there was a fistfight outside the club - a guy felt he was being ripped off by a dealer, wanted his money back, and someone got the snot beaten out of them.

 

Police finally let us in after confirming we were scheduled to play. We set up and soundcheck. Again, the police are hanging around - taking statements and talking to witnesses. Which of course means we're constantly interrupted while trying to set levels.

 

We finally get to showtime, and in spite of having our pre-gig turn into an episode of NYPD Blue, we manage to get our focus back and pump ourselves up for the gig. Our first set sounds horrible. The lack of soundcheck didn't give the soundguy enough time to get our levels or EQ set right for the main PA, and our monitor mix is pure nails on chalkboard. Fortunately, by the end of the set the soundguy seems to have the sound problems worked out, and things start to sound almost halfway decent.

 

I have a quick chat with the sound guy during our break and let him know what we're needing on stage to help us hear ourselves better. Rattled by everything that's gone on so far, we pick up a bit once the sound guy comes on to announce to the audience that all the problems have been worked out, and re-introduces us to the crowd, which puts the crowd on our side again.

 

We begin the second set with something to prove. We're blasting through a 4th straight track without stopping when though a quiet part of the song I hear the soundguy tell me to cut the set short after this song, end it quickly, and get off stage.

 

I found out later why we were cut down in mid set and ordered off stage. Turns out the club got a bomb threat called in. One of the two guys fighting earlier were somehow affiliated with a gang and someone from the gang threatened to blow the place up if people talked to the cops.

 

Needless to say, we declined the invite back to play the next weekend.

[redclaymusic]

At another gig at that same venue I listed on top... as we were setting up the police came to the window with guns pulled. They thought we were breaking in -- it turns out the woman who opened the door didn't turn off the security system and triggered the silent alarm.

 

I forgot about that til I read bobs!

 

 

MelK:D

[ATOMICDOG1]

Last year I had to do sound for a few performances of a Feminist one woman show called " The Vagina Monologues"

...'nuff said!!

[JMS 2]

2-3 years ago we had a gig in a small bar.

We came wayyy too early for setup and sound check, and since there was NOTHING else to do, we had a few drinks. Add to this that the barkeeper

let us start at 11:00 PM instead of 9:00 PM ...

Turned out we were completely drunk, the singer fell on his face during the first song ...

I believe NONE of us hit a correct note that night.

I still wonder how we managed to get paid ...

 

There's another one.

After a gig, a guy asked if we could play in his bar the week after. Agreed ! When we showed up, it turned out the bar was ridiculously small, held maybe 20 people at max... and we proudly came with our 2 new Marshall stacks that we got a couple of days before...

Useless to say it went pretty bad, way too loud and {censored}ty acoustic anyway.

If I remember well there were 6 people at the beginning, 2 at the end ...

Yeah we got $18 that night, that's $3 for each of us ...

[Funkee1]

Iwas in a band known for its soaring harmonies, and its accurate covers of Styx. foreigner, hourney, all that. We got a gig in Santa Fe, Nm, during a blizzard, and we all got Laryngitis. It is hard to be a great vocal band when none of you can talk, much less sing.

[rockonforever9]

last year our band were supporting an up and coming signed band at a really great venue. we had geared right up for it and practiced our asses of. on soundcheck my amp blew up (marshall small box plexi by the way!) and i wanted to cry right there on the stage (ive since had it repaired and love it dearly) so i ended up having to use the other support bands amp which was a {censored}ty little tranny combo which sounded like a beesnest and to our drummer also had a massive row with his girlfriend right before we went on and was 10 mins late on stage which cut our show right down. to top this of our singer had a throat infection. hes a good singer but he couldnt hit a note with all that flem and crap in his throat. at the end of the gig i kicked my guitar across the stage and almost broke my foot. the most frustrating thing is that we havent been asked back to that venue yet and weve sold out shows in our home town. but the people who went to that gig will think thats our best. and its not. we have a new drummer now.

[MusicSatan]

Originally posted by ATOMICDOG1 Last year I had to do sound for a few performances of a Feminist one woman show called " The Vagina Monologues" ...'nuff said!!

 

 

the 'vagina monologues?'

 

yeah, finding a reverb setting to fit that would be tough

[ATOMICDOG1]

Originally posted by MusicSatan the 'vagina monologues?' yeah, finding a reverb setting to fit that would be tough

 

LOL, I think it was the "tunnel" preset...

[Treves]

We used to get gigs playing in the university dining halls. The pay was incredible, but it was definitely at the price of our dignity. It’s hard to be a rock star when you’re playing “Music to Accompany Mashed Potatoes.” We should have just played some nice jazz standards, but not everybody in the band was flexible enough to do that…

 

Then there was that one gig out in the sticks. We were doing a weekend road-trip “tour”, and the night started with a crazed deer crashing through the plate glass window of a neighboring drug store and smashing the place to bits in a crazed frenzy as it tried to make its way back out. We should have taken that as an omen.

 

We go into the bar, get on the stage, and say, “Gee, it’s pretty dark up here…”

We ask the owner how to turn on the lights, and she says “Oh, there are no lights.”

We say, “Oh, they’re broken?”

She says, “No, there just aren’t any lights. Well, there are lights, but no bulbs. Didn’t you guys bring any bulbs?”

“Huh?”

 

Right before the band we were touring with went onstage, we go back in their van and somehow end up promising to start a record company with them (??) They never approached us about it again, but apparently they thought we lied to them, so that night was the start of them hating us for a few months (we eventually made up) (but not before they might have trashed us on various message boards…though we could never prove that).

 

The bassist for the band we were doing this tour with got into a fight with the bouncer about something, so he got kicked out! On top of that, my guitarist and the drummer almost got into a fistfight in the middle of a song (someone started too fast and the other guy stopped the song to start it over – the first guy was then outraged at this unprofessional behavior - though we were only playing to the bartenders and the members of the opening band that hadn’t been kicked out).

 

The guitarist and drummer agreed to finish the gig and we had the best jams ever. Not that we were recording it or that anyone was there to see it…We never played so well as when we were furious at each other…

 

Also on that “tour” (all this nonsense happened on one day, of course) I ordered a bowl of “Puddin’” from the local diner. I thought Puddin’ was just pudding without a g, but in fact it was some brown, steaming thing. I asked the waitress what it was, but she wouldn’t tell me. All she said was “It’s pig.” I asked her if it was like scrapple (ground-up pig parts that have been deep fried, which happens to be delicious), and she said, “Well, no, it’s not quite scrapple.”

 

Not quite scrapple? That means whatever “Puddin” is, it’s a step below scrapple, and scrapple is a pretty nasty concept.

 

I think I might have sampled pig foi de gras.

[THE UNHOLY ONE]

my worst gig was at a town celebratoin of some sort (i had no idea what the occasion was) it was in a park in the center of town. we were initialy seting up on the grass but i started raining.

there just happend to be a fairly large gazebo there so we rushed our equipment in it. as me and our singer were carrying one of the bass amps(it was a brand new fender bassman 400 watt) he trips, and drops the amp on my foot. i had to sit since i couldn't walk so i plugged the pedals in and hooked up amps.

we finaly get ready to play our first song went well. then in the middle of our second song two of our three half stacks get fried.

we later discovered a factory default and sent the company a nasty little letter. need less to say we wre not happy and got fuuly reimbersed for the amps. other rthan that it was ok.

[Roaf]

We played a gig at a local college last year. We are a metal band and play originals so you can imagine how we went over. Wait, it gets worse. I have acid reflux and for some reason before this show i got sick for a full hour... couldn't even hold down water. I was going to sit this one out, but the show must go on. Predictiably they hated us so everyone else in the band got drunk and moshed with their friends. Being the sick one I was pretty immobile and therefore an easy target. I got hit with a ketchup soaked onion ring and popcorn. Worst of all I got hit in the hand with a little plastic cup of bbq sauce. Not only was I nauseaus but I now had sauce on my strings. We had to cut the last song out of the set. Surprisingly I held it all down.