Gig report: Blew it

So we were playing a youth rally sort of thing today, supposed to raise money for the building of a youth center and generally raise awareness on local issues etc. From the get-go things were kind of wacky, but I guess things came together... sort of.

The original plan was to have music start at 4:00. There were a number of rap groups and then bands were to start playing at 7:30. Some rappers cancelled and some others showed up... didn't start till 5:30 maybe. Rappers did their thing and went over time by about 10 minutes, which set the first band back. Each band had about 20 minutes, including setup time, to play. For my rock band, that meant four songs. Okay, it was a fun, quick little set. I play bass in this band.

The blues band I play in played next, and things went terribly wrong. For the first song I was struggling with my kick because my drummer for the other band's pepsi spilled all over the pedal when my singer started jumping (stage bounces like crazy). I grabbed some newspaper that was near and wiped it off. I could NOT hear the bass player at all, so during the next song I got lost a bit and then we fell out of sync for a bit. Got it together but half-limped through that tune. My bad.

Next song was going good until the guitar solo... guitar amp cuts out. It cut out during other songs but came back on. This time, amp cuts out and won't come back (Marshall plexi reissue), so my guitarist kicks it and the stack flips over... rock star! Me, bassist, and rhythm guitarist kept going hoping the amp would start working again but once the amp did a backflip we cut our set short and got our crap off the stage.

{censored}ty.

The cool part though was I got to hear my kit through a half-decent PA since some other bands were using my drums... sounded GREAT! I busted a lug on my backup snare, which I always use on outdoor gigs, so I had to use my brass snare and it sounded decent but not great. Kick and toms were MASSIVE and were just plain amazing. Love this kit again!

Bah, {censored} happens.

{censored} does happen. i was playing (drums) the tune superstitious at the winter concert for my high school, and the bassist who was younger and not very experienced went into the turnaround halfway through the verse and didnt realize it, he was completely out in space, no clue what was even going on. when the turnaround actually hit, he just stopped playing. he caught on and started playing again. i hate it when stuff happens during a gig that you as a drummer realize but can really do anything about. its not like i could carry my drums over and tell him like a guitarist could. song turned out good in the end tho. minor crisis avoided.

Does not really sound like Y'all or you Blew the gig. Sounds like Murphy was in attendence and...well- the rest is now history. Unless those in charge or matter made comments as to the performances...I'd just chalk it up as an experience you will get too tell for times too come!

better luck next time though.... have fun and let the good times roll...

1 down...couple of hundred more to go. I know these situations well...keep your chin up, chalk it up to experience and move on....and have fun doing it...

Yeah, {censored} happens. Sounds like a good learning experience. Sounds like your sister was into it anyway. I'd say to get used to the deal of not being able to hear certain instruments. Happens alot. You just gotta listen for what you can and watch the ones you can't hear and try to imagine what they're playing.

Most mistakes the crowd doesn't catch. Play on like you meant to do it. 99 44/100 % of the people will never know the difference. My mother told me that when I first started playing and she was right.

learn from your mistakes and the next gig will be better , eventually if you keep this up , you'll still kick ass on your worst days.

Something else to think about:

99.99% of the time, when these kinds of things happen, there isn't anyone in the audience holding a clipboard and pen, writing each and every mistake in a log.

As long as you can remember that everyone is only human, and humans make mistakes, it will be easier to just relax on the gig, and consequently make fewer mistakes! Funny how that works, but it does!

$0.02

It's all part of the fun. My favorite is the bass drum that slides across the stage because of a slippery floor.

I like it when the singer or guitarist counts off the song, and is WAAAAAAAAY off. Too fast, or too slow, either way it is somehow always the drummer's fault.

We BUTCHERED... I'm talkiing absolute train wreck on a Grateful Dead song called Row Jimmy. Funky song to begin with, keyboard/singer dude counts it off at close to double-time. I was still a little "green" as far as live performances go, and I just stuck it out. They yelled, "SLOW DOWN". I yelled back "WHAT???... SLOWER??? TOO LATE!!!"

We cleared the remaining 6 people (maybe even 7) out of the bar.

Good times!

Bad songs/gig happen. If we didn't have bad gigs we wouldn't appreciate the really good shows.

What's with guitarists/keyboardist who have no sense of time? One of our guitarists always starts Brown Sugar at the speed of light.

Speeding up after starting too slow is easy. Trying to slow down after starting too fast is all but impossible.

like so many wise drummers have said... {censored} happens. the biggest thing ive taken from gig mishaps (cymbal stand falling off of drum platform, IC double kick pedal not connector unhinging from the left pedal, forgetting to ask for vocals and guitar in my monitor... etc...) is to make a mental checklist as i set up to make sure all bases are covered, and then just go with it, try not to worry about it if anything should go wrong. even the greats make mistakes. its all about having fun and doing your best and learning. sounds like things werent too bad for you though, 20 minutes blows donkey balls for a set time, especially when set-up is included!!!