Weird weird weird gig....

[DavidE]

My band had a really weird gig last night. We played this club with a different drummer and bassist over a year ago. The gig was horrible. The manager bugged our singer because he dated some girl this guy was trying to go out with years before and the girl chose our singer over this guy who is now a bar manager. Well we decide to give it another try last night and the manager sees our singer and the first thing he brings up is this girl. My singer hasn't seen her in 5 years and is now married. Apparently the manager is obsessed with this girl. Weird.

The place was dead again. I'd heard that they still don't have any regulars and that was right. Fortunately a bunch of our friends came out. Not a big crowd, but people were having fun.

First set was good, though not many people there.

Somehow we got on the kick of playing requests for songs we didn't know second set. A couple were ok, but most just sucked. We tried playing songs we knew and screwed up left and right. Still, people kept buying shots for the band. As everyone got more drunk, we got worse and worse and our friends were having more and more fun.

Third set was even more of the same. A decision was made to play Freebird for "that guy". We start faking our way through it and our singer had no clue what the words were. I got us into the fast part and searched my memory for the key parts of the solo and I think I repeated some of them in between random wankings. I can't stand that the small "crowd" ate it up. One guy bought me two shots because "you shouldn't be able to play like that this late in the night." Clearly he was drunk and not a guitar player. I drank only one of the shots and pawned the other off on my singer who started to stumble, a rare event.

I think it was the worst this band has ever played and everyone is telling me how much fun they had. Freaking weird. I wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or just decide not bother trying to figure it out. I told the guys that the entire gig just left me confused!

P.S. I don't think we'll be back. And my amp sounded really weird in there...

[Turdus]

Call up the bar, and see if you are invited back. If you thought you sucked, they probably thought you were great.

My band did an acoustic gig earlier this year. While strange for us, the audience appeared to enjoy it. They were our age. We played well, and for the most part, we were well received. We left the club thinking we were kings of the acoustic rocking world.

A month went by, and our guy never called the booking agent to reschedule. When he finally did, we were told that the bar thought we sucked, and we would never be back, lol. We are still convinced that they got us mixed up with another acoustic act. But, you never know.

[DavidE]

Trust me, we actually did suck. And even if the bar wanted us back, I don't think we want to go back. It's just one of those places that has not been able to develop a clientel that shows up for live music. We have better places to play.

I stopped at another club on the way home that was 1 minute from where we played. A friend's band was playing but they were done when we were done so I didn't get to hear them. Anyway, they played where we played before and they said the gig was weird and they didn't want to play there ever again.

Maybe it's not just us?

[edgar_allan_poe]

Trust me, we actually did suck.

Maybe so...but I have figured one thing out when it comes to these shows. If you were having a blast...then so was the crowd. They feed off the energy of the band. Trust me on this one...we suck a lot. LOL!!!!!!!

[Craig S]

Yep... I played in a band in the late 80's early 90's that make the conscience decision to not take it seriously and do songs we shouldn't...most successful band I've ever been in. We had all got tired of being in band that tried to do songs "like the record" and be serious. My current band has the attitude that energy is more important than flawless execution although we are very tight.

[cmatthes]

Call up the bar, and see if you are invited back. If you thought you sucked, they probably thought you were great.

My band did an acoustic gig earlier this year. While strange for us, the audience appeared to enjoy it. They were our age. We played well, and for the most part, we were well received. We left the club thinking we were kings of the acoustic rocking world.

A month went by, and our guy never called the booking agent to reschedule. When he finally did, we were told that the bar thought we sucked, and we would never be back, lol. We are still convinced that they got us mixed up with another acoustic act. But, you never know.

Damned Irish Bars and their Irish bartenders!!

[David B]

Crowd liked it = good gig.

[DavidE]

In this case, "crowd" is a relative term. LOL ;-)

Unfortunately our gig tonight was canceled due to poor weather. But the club booked us through next October. Lots of other places canceled other gigs as well. I think we all expected ice tonight but it didn't come!

Oh well.

[DavidE]

I spoke with my singer today. Apparently he had a great time and thought it was a good gig, despite playing like crap during sets 2 and 3.

Oh well, I guess different people see the same thing different ways.

[princeofdarkness56]

You think maybe large amount of alcohol had something to do with it ???

[Dumo]

Being good is overrated.

[DavidE]

You think maybe large amount of alcohol had something to do with it ???

That's exactly what I was thinking....

[princeofdarkness56]

Alcohol has made many bands great. My buddy was in a band and it was really just an excuse to get drunk while playing. He and the rest of the boys thought they were the nuts, going to be big on the local circuit, best band in town, until one night they decided to tape their show. Cringe. Reality sunk in a hurry. Three out of four realized they were much better players sober than drunk. The other still has to be loaded to be good, in his opinion. I read Alice Cooper's biography were he addresses his drinking problem. Many people tell him on how great some of those old albums sound during his drinking days and he just cringes to himself thinking how much better they could have been if sober.

[Dumo]

Alcohol has made many bands great. My buddy was in a band and it was really just an excuse to get drunk while playing. He and the rest of the boys thought they were the nuts, going to be big on the local circuit, best band in town, until one night they decided to tape their show. Cringe. Reality sunk in a hurry. Three out of four realized they were much better players sober than drunk. The other still has to be loaded to be good, in his opinion. I read Alice Cooper's biography were he addresses his drinking problem. Many people tell him on how great some of those old albums sound during his drinking days and he just cringes to himself thinking how much better they could have been if sober.

Except he wouldn't have most likely made those records if he was sober.

[DavidE]

Alcohol has made many bands great. My buddy was in a band and it was really just an excuse to get drunk while playing. He and the rest of the boys thought they were the nuts, going to be big on the local circuit, best band in town, until one night they decided to tape their show. Cringe. Reality sunk in a hurry. Three out of four realized they were much better players sober than drunk. The other still has to be loaded to be good, in his opinion. I read Alice Cooper's biography were he addresses his drinking problem. Many people tell him on how great some of those old albums sound during his drinking days and he just cringes to himself thinking how much better they could have been if sober.

At least everyone in the band knows we played like crap, but they had fun anyway! ;-)

[cloakerz]

I hate it when I play really crappy and people say after "dude that was awesome guitar playing!" Happens way too often........

[tgoss]

If you don't have bad ones you don't know what good is.

[bobsessed]

At age 17 or so (1974-ish) I found out that you really don't have to be a great player to be in a band and have people love what you're doing. You DO have to be fearless, and able to suck on your own without the ever-present help of drunk bandmates. I believe that audiences do feed off the energy of the band in a big way. The best gigs I ever played were the ones when the band was sober, playing well and showing the crowd that they were having fun. My most recent band was (is) made up of a rythm section that plays strictly for that little bit of money they get paid, only to waste that on booze. I've actually seen the bass player yawn while playing. I couldn't take it. I can't wait to find a band that gives a ****!