Bad gigs?

[uncivil war]

I've done a handful of gigs now, and have always come off feeling pumped and feeling like I wanted to jump back on stage and keep on going. But tonight, not so much.

It started with my singer arriving with laryngitis. We decided to push on anyway, soundcheck was good and I was feeling pumped.

The guy before us pretty much deflated the room, he wasn't bad, but just seemed to loose everybody's interest.

It's now our turn to go up, and my guitar sounds nothing like it did at soundcheck. In fact, I can barely hear it at all. All I can hear is the plunking of strings and what notes I CAN hear just sound wrong. I start to loose my concentration, and all the weeks of practice go out the window. I loose my timing, chord selection is wrong, I'm having a shocker.

Then, after the first song, my singers voice blows, so there we are, out of time, missing each other's cues as I fuck up the tune, and my singer breathlessly croaks her way through our 9 song set. Well, it was actually 10 songs, Sweet Child was meant to be our last song, but my singer literally had no voice left and we couldn't continue.

I know everyone has bad gigs, and it's all part of the learning process, but I was feeling pretty down about it.

Anyway, does anyone else here have any horror stories to tell?

[Towelie]

It par of the course. Don't be downcast, these bad experiences will help you improve immeasurably both as a band and as an individual performer.

[uncivil war]

It par of the course. Don't be downcast, these bad experiences will help you improve immeasurably both as a band and as an individual performer.

Thanks. Yeah, I know. But I put a lot of time into this one, so I guess I'm just frustrated and disappointed in myself. I'll get over it.

[Towelie]

I always think bad gigs are like a domino effect. It only takes one thing to go wrong and then it can set a horror story in motion where you reach a stage where you feel as if you might as well just pack up and go home. It happens to the best of em (as a GNR fan, I'm sure you're aware of the disasterous gigs they've had which have been immortalized on Youtube for the whole world to see). I guess all you can do is identify everything that went wrong and try to iron out those creases for future gigs.

TBH, it sounds like the gig was doomed from the get-go with your singers voice being shot. Perhaps you should've just done a half set, or even pulled out altogether. My motto is always, if you can't deliver 100% and fire on all cylinders then don't even try. You want to give the best you can possibly give and the audience deserves it. I know tech problems can't be helped, but when your singer turned up with laryngitis I would've taken that as a bad omen and pulled the plug there and then.

[Klay]

Don't worry, things don't go as planned everytime.

Sometimes gigs go greeat, other times you just wish that it ends as fast as possible.

I've been through that - soundchecking everything well and when it comes to the gig you can't even hear yourself because the soundboard technician changed everything and get's you pissed off, wanting real badly to play a tune and having your lead singer tell you to skip it because he's voice is gone or he's not feeling it or braking string by string along the gig... well, that's what happens when you're not in a professional band and have +180 roadies working for you like GN'R had on the UYI tour

But don't worry, on the times when it's great it makes it worth for all the other times where it wasn't as good!

Btw, any average singer who knows his voice will have a setlist that suits him - songs not to hard on the begining neither on the end; it's not wise to leave Sweet Child O'Mine for the end of the set if you're not Axl Rose...

[Towelie]

it's not wise to leave Sweet Child O'Mine for the end of the set if you're not Axl Rose...

It's not wise to leave SCOM for the end of the set if you ARE Axl Rose these days.

[uncivil war]

I've had a bit of time to reflect on things a bit, and yeah, we probably should have cancelled. There were a few other minor things that went wrong as well that I didn't mention, that just led to one clusterfuck of a gig. Definitely gonna learn from it.

I actually am more hungry to get up again and do it right. There is an open mic night at my local pub next week. I might focus on that and just have a bit of fun. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

[Gibbo]

I know the feeling mate My band did a gig the other week just out of the blue no practice or anything we hadn't played together since 2010 only done 10 songs to help this other band out I had only just put new strings on and they went out of tune straight away heres a bit of a video of it https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205942371264252&set=vb.1408760275&type=2&theater

Edited March 16, 2015 by Gibbo 27

[ChineseDemocracy2004]

I haven't played a gig in almost five years. My last one was my worst.

Back then our band would end with Paradise City but during the finale we were completely out of time with each other which was a shame because we knew the song like the back of our hands.

It didn't help that we only managed to find a singer the night before the gig but it wasn't her fault. She didn't know what she was getting into.

It's a shame really. Whenever I go to a real gig I feel like playing my guitar again but then I remember how bad it can get when you're on a stage.

[Sixes]

I once played a gig and there was nobody in the place aside from the bartender. There weren't even any people sitting at the bar. But the show went on and we played our full set...plus an encore!

[OmarBradley]

I once played a gig and there was nobody in the place aside from the bartender. There weren't even any people sitting at the bar. But the show went on and we played our full set...plus an encore!

What do you play, the salamihorn?

[Sixes]

I once played a gig and there was nobody in the place aside from the bartender. There weren't even any people sitting at the bar. But the show went on and we played our full set...plus an encore!

What do you play, the salamihorn?

in retrospect, maybe that's why no one was there...salamihornists don't rope in the crowds

[sweetness]

If you play in a cover band, every show is bad. You make good money though so who the fuck cares.

[OmarBradley]

My guitar went way out of tune (I must have knocked into something) during the final song in our set once, this was a few bands ago, we were doing a Beatles medley of The End/Sgt. Pepper's Reprise, and the tuning issue happened during the reprise, apparently no one noticed except me.

Oh yeah, and another time I was performing at a charity fundraiser, and whoever was running the sound accidentally started blasting some song from a CD through the PA while we were playing!

In high school, I played a show that was supposed to be 30 minutes. About 5 bands were on the bill, we were 4th. The drummer in the band before us broke the drum head on the bass drum for the shared kit, so our drummer went back to his house to get his bass drum. Then, the organizer had the fucking nerve to cut us short because some seniors (we were sophomores) wanted to spontaneously do some acoustic songs. Our singer yelled at her through the PA, and while he maybe should have done it a bit more discreetly, we were all pretty pissed that our 30 minute set turned into a 12 minute set due to the drum/spontaneous act issue. What made it great though was that a band which was in attendance who wasn't scheduled to play, ran up on stage right after the last acoustic act ended, and started jamming on some really heavy stuff; the organizer went nuts, threw tennis balls and shoes at them, shut the PA off so they didn't have vocals.... but she couldn't turn their amps off or the drums, so they kept on playing.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting....

Edited March 21, 2015 by OmarBradley

[Beat Poet]

I've never had a complete shocker on my part due to any kind of practical problem, though my bandmates have. The best thing you can do is just to learn from yours and your bandmates' mistakes and practise so well that even if it all falls apart around you, you can still come away from the gig knowing you did what you could.

[moreblack]

Five Finger Death Punch almost broke up onstage because of technical difficulties recently. It happens at all levels of the game.

[TeeJay410]

Worst gig I ever had was we were killing it at a pretty big club, and for whatever reason, our other guitarist made some weird rape joke that wasn't funny, and the audience just turned on us immediately. Then word spread to other clubs that we were misogynistic and we got sort of blackballed. The other guitar player quit for unrelated reasons, and venues started booking us again once he was gone. But it was pretty bad. Everyone has to be careful with their banter.

[OmarBradley]

Worst gig I ever had was we were killing it at a pretty big club, and for whatever reason, our other guitarist made some weird rape joke that wasn't funny, and the audience just turned on us immediately. Then word spread to other clubs that we were misogynistic and we got sort of blackballed. The other guitar player quit for unrelated reasons, and venues started booking us again once he was gone. But it was pretty bad. Everyone has to be careful with their banter.

Wow, yeah that's pretty bad.

[OmarBradley]

Five Finger Death Punch almost broke up onstage because of technical difficulties recently. It happens at all levels of the game.

I saw Eddie Van Halen throw a speaker or something half way across the stage out of anger in 2007.

[AxlisOld]

Five Finger Death Punch almost broke up onstage because of technical difficulties recently. It happens at all levels of the game.

Lol which level are they at? God I'd love if they broke up and went away forever.

[Rovim]

Many times of many fuck ups. I usually just do the song again if I sense there is interest to hear it, or I just jump to a different song after I've worked out the sound issues or tuning problems or some bitch in the back not making full eye contact for the duration of the performance.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Rovim

[ZoSoRose]

In high school I was asked to play We Will Rock You/ We Are The Champions with the choir, band, and orchestra. I was an idiot and barely practiced. My guitar sounded like shit, I dropped my pick and my hand slipped and made a terrible noise on the strings, etc. It was horrible.

We all have bad moments lol

[sweetness]

About a month ago we played this show where the promoter was all hyped about having us, we had a headlining slot and a guarantee, it was pretty sweet. During our set some drunk ass guy took my mic that I use for backup vocals and was screaming into it, adding his own vocals... which is pretty fucking obnoxious. I readjusted the mic stand back towards me and told him I needed it, which I thought was pretty tolerant. Halfway through the next song he's doing it again, this time I made my way back to the front of the stage and shoved him away from the mic stand with my foot, then jumped off the stage into the crowd to shove him further into the mosh pit with my shoulder, hoping he'd get caught up in there and fuck off finally. When I get back on stage I turn around and there he is, on stage right in front of me. I have no idea what this guy is gonna do now, so my initial reaction is to throw his ass off stage, and my other guitar player apparently had the same reaction. I leaned into him again while my other guitarist simultaneously punched him, he flew off the stage head first and hit the floor like a ton of bricks, where he laid motionless. At this point the song was super fucked up, but we recovered and were able to finish it while the door guy and some other people dragged his limp unconscious body away.

At the end of the set the door guy came over and apologized to us, I thought the venue would be pissed but they were very gracious, I asked him "who was that asshole anyway?" to which he replied "That was the promoter"

[Jabberwocky]

I didn't have a bad gig per se but I went over too long (2 AM) and the bar pulled the plug on my set. It was at this bar called The Wizard Lounge in Hickory, NC back in 2005.

[Eric Cantona]

BUMP!

Oh man, I got a fair share of these. A few years ago our band got booked to our biggest gig yet, a festival where we shared the stage with Weezer, Franz Ferdinand and so forth. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked to be on that bill. Some days before the show we had a disastrous warm-up gig at another festival, but we figured that we got the shittiness out of our systems for the big gig. The big day comes, we've done soundcheck, soaked the sights of the backstage in our minds and psyched to go play. 

We start the show, and about 40 seconds into the first song we realize that the lead singer's mic isn't working. An engineer comes onto the stage and replaces the mic, and just as our guy starts singing, the drummer immediatly counts into the next song. Cue confusion and disorientation from everybody else in the band. ''Of all the bands in the world, this is definitely one of them''. At some point we had played about 4-5 songs, and I'd been hopping around on stage like a mad man, without realizing that the guitar cable has been wrapped around some mic stands and my leg. I made a hilariously sad attempt at a high jump, only to suddenly fall on my ass, knocking down some microphones and other equipments in the process. It made for good entertainment, but the sound people's wrath post gig left me severely traumatized...

About a year later we got booked to a small gig way out in nowhere-land, with good pay. We figured it'd be a cozy sweaty little afternoon with some drunken village idiots, so we packed our gear and brought some merchandise along. After a long drive we make it to the venue, which practically could house the whole village several times. We come to realize that this is no ordinary sweaty bar gig, no, we're playing in a tiny gym court filled with a bunch of 9-year olds. BIt of a surprise, but we figured that we could give the kids a proper show. Just before soundcheck it's brought to our attention that the venue had forgot to supply half of their backline, which was in a city about 65 miles out. Stress ensues, but we managed to scrape together some junk that sounded presentable. 

During this time there were severe personal tensions within the band, and there was a general bad feeling about this show. 15 minutes before showtime I got a call telling me that our family dog was just put down, which really downed me. We go on stage and start playing. Keep in mind this is a TINY gym court, with the most horrible echo imaginable, so unsurprisingly there were a few kids that ran out covering their ears. No dancing in the hallways. It was such a miserable affair for everyone involved that I couldn't help myself from laughing hysterically. At least we were paid to be there!! Next up is a song about necrophilia. Our singer, a guy with a manic disorder and whom I presume was going through some shit during that time, proceeds to explain the concept of necrophilia in an Axl Rose-esque rant to these children. Crickets.

In the middle of the set he ran out and located this glass jar, which he attempted to smash way too many times without luck. It didn't matter if he hit his head with it, stomped on it or threw it against the wall, it just wouldn't break. Somewhat fitting, all things considered. We near the end of our set, and are about to jump into this really cool high tempo song, which we usually start playing immediatly after a spoken introduction. But our drummer just couldn't for the life of him remember the song. I had had enough and started howling at this poor dude. We exchanged horrible threats to each other during the song. Not long after that we finished our set, and the tension between everyone was horrible, not to mention the fact that we had to share ONE room with bunk beds. In hindsight I can see this show being somewhat of an absurd bonding moment between us, I guess you've never truly loved someone without ever have had the desire to kick their teeth in.