My Gig Horror Stories
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- A great gig is something special, it leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy, like you could conquer the world. These gigs were the opposite of that.
My bands first gig • "It's Ok" - Shakey Gun...
Shakey Gunn EP • The Mid-Winter Dreamin...
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Guitarist/Songwriter/Samurai Born in the Manitoba prefecture of Canada, samuraiguitarist, Steve-san Onotera, honed his discipline under the study of the country's most powerful musical sensei. Bred on rock, raised on the blues, trained in jazz, samuraiguitarist creates incredibly innovative videos that showcase his talents on the guitar.
I played guitar in a metal band, we had a huge gig at a bar in Cincinnati, I had just had a wisdom tooth pulled and I was in massive amounts of pain, the guitarist for one of the other bands gave me a mystery pill, I didn't take pills and was completely unaware of taking a Xanax bar, I don't remember anything from 15 minutes after taking said pill, I woke up at like 10 am the next day in the drummers car, I was parked next to my car so I got up at drove home, when I met up with my bandmates I asked what happened, and I was told that we played and I didn't miss a note, at the time we filmed our performances and upon play back I watched a bone white version of myself sweating buckets playing a show I have no memory of.
Sounds crazy man
Xanax will do that! Don't drink on em!
That’s crazy dude!!!
Would love to watch that performance !
Music it called
I subbed at a fund raiser last minute, and mid-song I glanced at the guitarists' hand to get a reference, because he was playing a muddled chord- and he whips the neck away, and hisses at me "those are secret chords!"
HA! This might be one of my favorites! Hilarious
Did David please the lord?
Was his name David? Did it please the Lord?
I bet it went like this: The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift.
See what I did there?
@@MrSomerandomchap Dag nabit! I just posted that not noticing you did as well. I feel like a copycat now.
@@EricLefebvrePhotography haha that was a great journey
Oh boy, where do I begin? This is a long one, so buckle up.
I was hired to play for this alt-rock band after their guitarist was fired (three weeks after the LAST guitarist was fired, as well as the guitarist before him, a la revolving door style). We get to the venue, which was this coffeehouse/bar in the middle of nowhere, and found that the stage could barely fit two people WITHOUT instruments, much less the five that were fully kitted out. While we're setting up, the lead singer gets into a very heated argument with their manager (who happened to be her dad), that resulted in screaming and shoving. She shoved him, he shoved her, she went right into my amp (a Line 6 Bogner stack), royally fucking my settings beyond belief five minutes before downbeat. Her entire family was there, including her five year old niece, so they stopped the ruckus relatively quickly.
I'm not sure just how she killed all of my settings, but she utterly destroyed everything that I had saved. As the show was beginning, I had to do some serious tap dancing and quick finger magic to try and save my sound. My dirty was super quiet, and nothing near dirty, but my cleans were gorgeous...AND JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY LOUD. This is foreshadowing at its finest, folks.
To continue on with the greatness that was becoming a Benny Hill sketch of a gig, about halfway through I was slammed in the back of the head by the lead singer's headstock, whacked in the face by a broken drumstick, and had a high hat fall over on me. To top it off, the lead singer was suffering from a scratchy throat, in addition to a pissy attitude from the argument with managerdad.
At this point, I wanted alcohol.
With the onset of the last song, I was giving sighs of relief and thanking God for getting me through the nightmare. I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The last song was actually really beautiful, with a gorgeous clean guitar solo to finish out the set. I was definitely looking forward to it as the song went on. Like every vain and fragile guitarist, I looked to the crowd as I awaited the moment of guitar godliness, and saw the five year old niece hauling ass towards the stage. That's when it dawned on me: my cleans were unabashedly loud. Even turning the knob all the way down wasn't going to stop the overwhelming awesomeness that was this cacophony of beautiful clean tone, and I had zero time to turn around and dial it down on the amp.
As I saw this tiny human hauling ass up to the stage, my inner parent kicked in, and I had a two second compound moral crisis. Do I keep the amp gained out and save the small female hobbit from blown ear drums, or did I go for it, sacrificing the little one for the sake of the greater good (and that amazing clean tone solo that would guarantee me an evening of guitar godliness)?
Folks, to this day, I still don't know if I made the right decision. As I saw the poor, innocent, sacrifice running down the aisle, I made my choice and pressed my foot down on that channel button. I never really believed it to be true, but if you didn't know it, sound waves really CAN move a human being. As soon as I began the solo, that poor little half pint was hit with a wall of the most beautiful clean tone, with the perfect amount of delay, and just a touch of angelic reverb. She was hit so hard that her poor child self was knocked over like a bowling pin. This child was hauling ass, and the sound had leveled her to her back in a mere instant. Tears fell upon her face, while tears of both sadness and euphoria fell upon mine. I made my sacrifice to the musical gods, and they rewarded me.
After the set was up, I leapt from the stage to pick the poor, barely living, child up from the floor. Wiping the tears from her eye, she smiled and gave me the horns. All was well.
...until loadout, where the singer and managerdad informed me that my services were no longer needed. I took my $20 cut and hauled my happy ass home, laughing all the way.
Underated comment
That is awesome and horrible but mostly fuckin slayer🤘
Laughed out loud several times. Thank you for posting. You made the right choice haha. Welcome to rock kid
this is such a beautiful story
punished because of kid’s own stupidity? (and the singer too)
must a be a christian band or some shit, ran by two karens.
male and female.
regardless, that band will go nowhere.
especially being so fire-happy.
are they trying to be a sorry-ass megadeth clone?
firing guitarists left and right.
Took the plastic guard of the back of my Strat and got my hair stuck in the springs when I tried to Jimi behind my head.
I laughed so hard
Hahaha!!!..
Miles Newton-Fisher that’s what happens when you try to play behind your head at a gig
Our bass player broke my nose on stage once, we were both headbanding and we crashed each other heads
ByoKip haha lol thats fucking brutal
That's the most Metal thing ever, I hope you kept playing right after
Ok. That's cool
That's bloody brewtal , and so cewl !!!!
Everyone else has said it so.... BRUTAL!!!
I once showed up to a gig and the bass player didn't show up ....
No one else could or wanted to play it so I stepped up and said I'd play bass that night
10 min later the frontman called and said he couldn't make it, by then we had about 60/70 at the venue all eager to listen to some live music... we thought about cancelling but once again I stepped up...
I ended up playing Bass and doing vocals for 3 hours in a gig I'll never forget, was left with huge blisters on my fingers .... and some funny memories, I messed up here and there but overall managed to pull it off
Unforgettable
From that day on, you kept your mouth shut on occasions like these, right?
You are a fucking pro.
That sounds fun
bless you ... i have had to fill in and ... well
i got a filler job playing bass in a country band ... 2 weeks notice ..80 numbers ...country numbers are mostly 2-3 mins ... mostly cgd or fbflat c or whatever ...turns out is all 1 4 5 or inversions as most country players dont have enough brain cells to make a minor chord ( no offence to actual country musicians ...these guys were broom jockeys who wound the wool too tight)
I helped a friend's band playing bass at a crowded place,at the same day I'd touched a bass for the first time. It didn't sound bad, and when we were hanging out after the event, an old person told me that he liked the way I played. I don't know how I'd accepted it, probably my friend had strong arguments, but for shure I'm glad I did. Unforgettable.
Yesterday, I sung Blitzkrieg Bop to a crowded tavern and everyone cheered by the end of it, and that was my first gig.
J.L.H. Productions I used to be in a Mariachi band like, 4 months ago and my first “gig” was in church playing for one of their virgins. After that, my teacher never let me sing and the band broke up.
I sneezed into my Bari sax during a band camp concert, and made the section leader laugh while he was playing. For the remainder of the piece our entire section was off by about a bar and a half.
That's a great fuckin story lmfaoo
Lol wish I was there to see that
god I wanna hear it
One time I played a show where everyone had to plug into an outlet in a bar sign, which was powered by a lamp cord. Anytime anyone touched a mic, you’d get shocked. We told the show promoter we were going to quit, so he made some changes, told us he fixed it and grabbed two mics to show us... but then just fell on the floor convulsing from electric shock.
wow//// once I deejayed at the pool party. wet cords, wet floor, wet we....
...nobody got hurt, but is wat a bit alarming to work
under constant shock out of mixer, tonearms, omg headphones (ouch)
(idk. felt like 30V, more than car battery charger, but less than ringin phone 110))
fck, we should play electro
I feel bad for laughing.
great video idea haha. My gig horror story was being told there was a cab i can use at the venue, but there wasn't.
"yo bro can i use your amp?"
Oh rip
Please notice me
helloo rudy please notice @Logan Keilty
Bro..
why does your picture look like Will Smith’s?
I played a solo acoustic gig at a tavern so nasty, there were these box-elder bugs crawling all over my microphone and amp. I was singing in anger and staring at these bugs all night.
I sang for 4 hours. I got paid $50. Worst paid gig. I had to pass my tip jar around to make gas money to get the hell out of that town.
So many other nightmare gigs...
bugs were your biggest fans, eh?
I was once hired to play bass for an orchestra. It was kinda last minute, two weeks before the tour. The previous bass player apparently wasn’t cutting it and threw a fit. I was told we’d at least have 4 rehearsals before we headed out, so I wasn’t stressed. But all of a sudden the conductor comes down with hypothermia and all the rehearsals were cancelled. :/
If you’ve never played with an orchestra, let me tell you, it’s a different experience than playing with a band or solo. Despite what you practice on score, conductors usually (always) make changes: Cues, Tempo, Dynamics, Arrangements, etc.
I had to collect all the notes from all the sections to see how this guy arranged all the scores. The day before tour, we have one dress rehearsal. The conductor returns. Halfway through the second run-through, he passes out on the stand. :/
For most of the tour, this guy was bed-ridden and heavily medicated. For the first couple of shows, he would drift off tempo and miss his own cues. Definitely a trooper though, made it through the whole tour without dying. Lol
samurai this may be the weirdest thing you've heard in a while but i saw you on tv at the jets' game.
Far from the weirdest thing! And yes I was in attendance yesterday. Left with a broken heart but such is sports
samuraiguitarist don’t sweat it, the jets will be back. Potential is off of the damn charts with the mix young bucks and grizzled vets. Can’t be worse than being a flyers fan like me lol
FLYERS! LET'S FUCKING GO! .... next year.....:-(
Still gonna watch every game like we have a chance.
@Justin Last wrong jets bro....Winnipeg Jets not NY Jets
This happened 3 years ago at a grad party. I wasn't anywhere proficient to where I am now with guitar but my ego at the time thought I was good. My friend said his dad was going to play at his grad party and asked if I wanted to play too, I said no at first and then he told me that he thought I was good enough just to follow along. These were the times where I escaped my blues roots and all I wanted to play was Metallica.
I left and came back to the party with my solid state fender, my Schecter Hellraiser with EMG's and a Boss metal zone and his dad only had an acoustic guitar. I had no clue that all my gear was garbage but I plugged in and waited, and he starts playing johnny cash and country and I know none of the songs besides Folsom prison blues but he played it with a capo in A.
He starts playing his set and I have no clue what to play or how the songs go and halfway he just yells out solo and I butchered this horrible blues scale with out of tune bends and afterwards I just sat there embarrassed to all hell, turned down the volume on my guitar and just pretended to play.
Needless to say, it was a dent in the ego but it made want to learn music theory and get better so I guess it was a lose-win situation in the long run.
Yeah it takes these experiences to help form our musical selves 😂
-“Solo!!! 👉”
-“(You fucking asshole)”
Schecter Hellraisers are not bad guitars they are nowhere near garbage
I played a "house show" once that involved going to a house party and drinking being completely unsure of when and where we were supposed to play. As the party went on, I figured weren't going to play after all, as no one seemed interested and the drummer had become extremely drunk. Instead, the other guitarist/ frontman insisted we set up with a cheap little electronic kit in the living room. The drummer was so drunk that he kept slamming his little kit forward and having to grab it back in place. And none of us was exactly sober. I was mortified and between every song the bassist and I were like, "I don't think this is working. Let's put the party music back on." Finally the cousin of the person who the party was for came over and so very diplomatically said, "hey, you guys are really good, but I don't think everybody is into this. Can we put the music back on?" It was a godsend. Soon after the party was broken up because someone stole the birthday girl's laptop. Since she didn't know most of the band, she accused us, but luckily none of us had been anywhere near her room. The party was over and we were bailing, when this super wasted guy begged me for a ride. I didn't want him to be stranded or drive drunk, so I said sure. I grabbed some coffee while the guy threw up in the parking lot. He gave me a direction to go in and promptly passed out in my car. Every so often he'd wake up and tell me to turn down a street, his eyes seemingly closed tight. Finally he was out cold and I was lost. I started shaking him, not wanting to stop the car in that area. Somehow, finally, he opened his eyes, said "right here is fine, down that alley." I turned in, waiting to get jumped. Instead he said thanks, stumbled out of the car, and I sped off. It took me three hours out of my way. I didn't get home until dawn.
Wow this is pretty much the same thing that happened to me a few years ago...but both my cousin's father and I were on acoustics which I guess makes it even more embarrassing. I just didn't know any of the songs
In the 80's I was in a hard rock/metal cover band. When our drummer got married we played a few sets at his reception which took place at a Country Club. Apparently there were a few kids whose parents were members of this Country Club and they liked us enough to convince their parents to hire us to play their Winter Formal Dance.
So we show up and jump into our set which featured Van Halen, Judas Priest, Rush, etc...
We were hired to play 4 sets but at the end of the first set we were asked if we had any "danceable" songs. We said, " not really, we're a hard rock band". We were then told that hiring us was a mistake and our services were no longer needed and that they would just play music on a boom box so the kids could dance. We said fine, pay us our fee and we'll pack up and leave. They said, "we're not paying you, you didn't play all four sets". So we said, "okay, we'll keep playing, then". So we played the loudest, most obnoxious song in our set, after which we were presented with a check for the full amount and THEN we packed up and left.
I started a band with a former friend called defectinyou. After many lineup changes and genre changes, I decided to quit the band to start a thrash metal band called Pieces of Hate with another 3 friends. Nearly a year passes and Pieces of Hate is ready to do full sets and we get an offer from Defectinyou to open up for them at a CD release for them since everyone in both bands we're actually good friends and I helped them write a portion of the songs. We show up to the show, start our set up, and during our set up the guitarist from Defectinyou gathers all the fans and he starts booing us, during setup. Understandably we're both confused and pissed at this guy now. We end up doing our first two songs, the crowd is obviously not into it, but we're told to play 5 songs, 30 mins max. Then in the middle of our set, the vocalist of Defectinyou tells my vocalist to shut it down. I was so pissed I threw my guitar on the ground. I later found out a few years ago that the band was actually pissed at me for quitting and intentionally planned this as an act of petty revenge. Needless to say, the industry is very cut throat and I'm not longer on friendly terms with anyone in that band.
Holy shit that's fucked up
ouch.
@@KillinSmallz the industry is FARRRR more cutthroat than anyone thinks.
EX: Pink Floyd's whole official story about Syd Barret having a meltdown was a COVER for the ugly truth: the suits didn't like Syd's mischief (like taking LSD before a tv gig!) and warned the band that Syd would sink the band. THIS is why the band overcompensates (GUILT) and talks about how they miss syd so much!
EX: it finally came out that RUSH didn't lose original drummer John Rutsey due to health issues. But they couldn't be honest and say "BYE BYE John, even thouh you're our best friend, b/c we need a BETTER drummer than you, if we want to be successful!"
It's the RULE,not the exception!
You should've went on and made it big, and do some big revenge. Idk, mess their gig, or maybe kill a band member before he arrives and uhh, idk maybe use the corpse as props for your band.
@@dumpygoodness4086 is that true
A friend of a friend wanted to sing Mr. Jones & Me at one of our cover gigs. It wasn't in our normal repertoire, but it's easy enough to learn. This guy didn't show up to any rehearsals, but assured us he knew the song and had sang it many times. At the gig he was piss drunk, could barely stand up, and didn't know any of the words.
About 1/3 of the way through the song, he tripped over his mic-stand, did a 180 and fell forehead first into the steel rim on the side of the bass drum. Dude was out cold, on his face, and bleeding everywhere. I stopped playing (bass) and started walking over to him, thinking "Oh shit..." and then one of our guitar players yells at me, "Hey! Fuck that guy, just keep playing!" And so we did. About a minute later, a bouncer walked onstage, turned him on his back, and dragged him off the stage beneath his arms--to much applause.
No fucking way that’s almost hilarious I hate to say considering this dude donked himself unconscious but that’s kinda funny.
For years and years I've have always been terrified of breaking a string in front of a large group of people. Fast forward years later, got a gig in Detroit, standing in front of a LOT of people. First song of the set, 20 seconds in, I break my low E and my floyd rose sinks and my entire guitar goes out of tune. Also, I only have one guitar. I was so embarrassed.
I also threw up 3 times before the show. I felt so stupid that night.
Just wanted to say thank you for playing at a hospital, even if they didnt say anything Im sure it meant very much. When my son Ian passed away (08/13/19), a harp player played in the room, it meant everything to me.
My first show was a couple weeks ago. In Norway were I live we have something called the Thanks Jimi Festival were we play Jimi Hendrix and other classic rock songs, and I got to have a two minute long guitar solo. Mind you I started this Christmas and I did much better than I expected I would. Even though I was shaking in my boots.
Way to go my man!
By the way. The guitar I used was a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with a bigsby.
Awesome! Can't go wrong starting off on Jimi.
Had one show. We were told, we had 15 minutes, so we jammed our set to the brim with songs. Then half way through the set the guy putting it on gestures to me and he whispers to me "your getting 10 minutes not 15...". So we thought we had 8 minutes left. Now it's 3 minutes... So we played our last song at like half speed to spite them. What pissed me off is one of the bands that hated us for some reason then played a full 15 minute set then an impromptu encore followed by them literally begging the guy putting on the show, in front of the audience to do one more song, and started getting the audience to boo him when he originally said no... But what do you expect from a band that claimed we ripped them off because our hard rock song has a triplet on the ride... Literally a thing they got pissed at us for... A triplet...
Darren D. MacDonald dang that sucks 🙁🙁
THAT WAS YOU ?!?!? You triplet ride stealers!
They invented triplets, tho. Before them, the number "3" was just a myth.
@Nick rock musicians are some of the dumbest humans alive, sadly.
@@dumpygoodness4086 >t. salty jazz musician
My first gig was back in February. It was a Beatles tribute band with a guy I met at comic con who loves Paul McCartney and some mutual friends. For a righty who had just learned to play bass left handed a few months prior, his playing was very impressive. Our Ringo had been playing for years, so he was incredible as well. I’d been playing guitar since I was about 15 so there was no trouble there, not to mention I already look and sound a quite bit like George. But our John Lennon, despite looking just like his respective Beatle, was just awful. His rhythm was off because he refused to play with a pick and he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. That was when our leader (Paul, since we called each other by our respective Beatle names) learned a valuable lesson, worry about the sound before the look. We did a 45 minute set that kept getting interrupted by drunken idiots requesting Stairway and Free Bird, but like I said, the main worry was how terrible our Lennon was. Luckily we’ve moved past this and are doing just fine.
I once joined a band whose guitar player had just quit. There wasn't time for a rehearsal as the band was booked in Lafayette, LA that weekend. I rode down with the band leader who played me tapes of the band with the old guitar player - who turned out to be Shawn Lane. I survived the gig, barely. Good stuff as usual, S.G. Be Cool.
Fortunately, you seem to be still alive. 😁
My first really horrible experience was playing with a group of friends. One of them had brought someone i didn't know, and like I usually did, I bragged about being a guitar god.
The new lad asked if he could burrow my guitar after I'd strummed G-D-C-F for an hour straight, and played a, note for note, cover of Joe Passes take on All the things you are.
I wanted to strangle myself with a bass string at that moment
Mayorman Sheeps lmfao
Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer
“He hung himself with a guitar string”
My first time I played guitar live was playing Dream On at my school's talent show my junior year. I wasn't too bad at guitar, but the girl who asked me to play told me I would be playing the second guitar parts, that I didn't need to worry about it, and I could pretty much show up to the first rehearsal I went to (a few days before the show) without practicing. After I got there I found out there was no vocalist, the "lead" guitar player was actually a bass player they put on guitar because the other friend they wanted in the band thought bass would be quicker to learn, and the drummer didn't play kit, he was a percussionist from band who specialized in mallet instruments. I ended up getting put on the intro solo, a few little fill solos and then the super exposed arpeggio section, which I could flub my way through convincingly by the end of our last rehearsal. The experienced musicians here know, however, that when playing live you almost never rise to the occasion, but typically fall to your level of practice. This being my first show and only having practiced about 3 days (with school, marching band, and homework), I can assure you it did not go well. Also the tech kids forgot to mic the piano that was playing the vocal melody, so all you could really hear was my guitar, the drums, and then the "bass player" and other guitar player trying to keep up.
Later that year there was a gig I was much more prepared for, but as I was counting off the first song the other guitar player looks up with terror in his eyes, so I stopped counting. Apparently between the rehearsal a half hour before and the show, the input jack of his guitar had broken and we had our friend run around asking if people had a guitar we could borrow. In the meantime we told jokes and did our best to entertain the people there, and eventually got a round of applause once we got a working guitar. Actually sort of a fun memory.
At my first paid gig I was playing with a little band my older sister's friend put together to support his church's youth choir. We practiced twice and all the other members were music majors, so we sounded pretty damn good (very little thanks to me). We learned all the songs from the recordings the choir director sent us, and things were going well. That is, until halfway through the third or fourth song when there was a fun modulation we practiced in rehearsals. The children's choir did not rehearse this apparently, something the director happened to leave out. Transposing that whole section back to the original key on the fly was fun. On that same gig, my guitar was buzzing a lot so I borrowed the bass player's Dad's stratocaster that was shielded. My goodness that thing reeked of stale cigarettes, which was a fun first impression of me (a 17 year old at the time) for all of the church goers.
Also my senior year at the annual talent show a year later I played Little Wing, but actually practiced and had a band together, and it went well! For anyone out there afraid of playing live; it gets easier! The more you're on stage the more comfortable you get just vibing like you do in rehearsals, instead of overanalyzing everything. Also, usually no one at the show is there to see you play poorly. The audience is on your side. If things don't go perfectly, keep going and maybe joke about it or find a way to make light of the situation. Every musician who has played live can tell you at least one story of things going poorly, but you'll never get better at it if you're too afraid to just do it!
My second gig ever: My friend breaks an A string 2 minutes in. He restrings. We restart the song. I break an A string 2 minutes in LOL no joke. We couldn't stop again, I just had to tough it out. My guitar instantly went out of tune, and I was playing without an A string. The song we were playing was in A minor., hahhaaha. Terrible. I'll never forget the look on some of the faces in the audience. I don't recommend this experience to anyone.
Funny enough, my second gig ever had a similar story. During the second song, the bassist breaks a string. We finish the song and ask if someone could lend us a bass (he didn’t have any spare strings) as there were other bands playing that night. Of course, silence. The show goes on with the bass player switching between the 3 stringed bass and an acoustic guitar (which was played by the singer on a couple of songs). By the final guitar solo of the final song, I break my high E string. Faced the drummer and stayed near him as I fumbled through the high frets of the 2nd and 3rd strings...
All in all, it was pretty fun. Great audience.
@SNZODIAC If you are replying to Dictator Rich, his guitar went out of tune, because he broke a string, it was in Tune before.
@@dshaprin RULE #1 FOR MUSICIANS: ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN. (EX: someone who will tell jokes to the crowd, if you have to stop to restring. Of course, ANY pro band will be able to keep going even if one dude or most fall out. ONE musician should be able to entertain a crowd, obviously.) ONE of my solutions was to write like ten a Capella songs that are funny, so I can entertain any crowd no matter what goes wrong.
Plus, USE problems to make lemonade with. MOST great ideas in human history were actually MISTAKES. They were NOT a brilliant idea by an inventor!
HA: I composed one Power Trio piece of music where the GUITARIST appears to have technical problems from the start, and WHILE he is trying to solve it, the drummer and bassist start to show off, never stopping the momentum... so we have the DANGER element of "oh shit what's wrong with the guitar and I hope he can fix it!" with the "DANGER" element of the bass and drums suddenly tearing it up to cover for the missing guitarist... and then after like 3 minutes, the guitarist "fixes" the problem and cuts PERECTLY BACK into the Power Trio (!) and they end big! They then bow, and say "That piece was called 'Technical Difficul-tease"" and they all realize.... "OHhhh! The guitarist FAKES that his shit broke, to give a reason for the rhythm section to show off. That's SO MUCH COOLER than walking off stage cuz it's the drummer's solo or bassist's solo, see?
Oh jeez, suddenly not being able to play the tonic in your song (at least how you learned it.) That's a hilariously unfortunate thing to happen.
I was on a mission for my church and we would go to a retirement home, every Thursday at noon, and play songs for whomever got rolled in the rec room. One guitar and three pianos along with a very vocally challenged kid. Mostly country or 50s music is what we played. During the song Stand By Me an 80ish,maybe 90ish, lady pulled her dressing gown over her head and showed me how wrinkly a body can get. Stand By Me is not, nor will it ever be, on my playlist.
Read a lot of these comments, but this one takes the cake.
That's very brewtal , granny rocks , LOL
Oh,god...
"And darling, darling stand by me! Oh not you Granny!"
what the fuck
Good vid! Yes, I got a few stories. Been recording and playin' pro since '69. Polka, symphony, pop, metal, blues, big band, mostly jazz, etc. I play Saxes, flutes, Bassoon and bass. In '71 we booked a private gig on a Miss. paddle-wheeler. After we set up the drummer realized he forgot his sticks!! He convinced the Capt. to hold the boat, he could get back to the gig in 5 minutes. Well, it took 45 min. The crowd of 200 were on the mezzanine floor booing him as he walked up the gang plank!
Played a big band gig on New Years Eve, '73. Koehler Hotel in Rochester, Mn. We all met at a wayside just out of town, parked our cars there, and took in 2 vans so we wouldn't have parking issues. Like many NYE gigs I played, it started to snow,....., like REAL bad! Gig went good. When we got back to our cars it was snowing so hard we could barely see. The lead Trumpet man went to start his car first. The engine flooded, then caught fire. We were all throwing snow on it to put it out. It took 6 hrs. to make the 1 hr. drive home.
Played an Elks Club gig in the 80's. We were in the middle of a tune with a crowd on the dance floor. Fireman came walking through in full gear with a hose. We kept playin' and the crowd kept dancing. 10 min. later they walked out and the crowd cheered. THE KITCHEN WAS ON FIRE! But the show went on.
I got lots more stories if anyone's interested.
Hi Sam (!) !
I lvery much like what you do on youtube, and I appreciate it higly.
I've had som bad gis I won't bother you with, only stuff like forgetting the piano's ac/dc adapter and having to borrow batteries, and earlier on the same, borrowing a guitar with only 5 strings left. There is one: We were playing for about 30 people when there was an emergancy one of us had to take care of. The singer starts complaining INTO THE MIKE about it.
My best experience was when a jazz bad I was in was playing, and after Fly Me To The Moon the singer said: "This audience is not into jazz! Play some funk! Nobody made a sound. She started singing. We followed and played for 40 minutes, and the croud loved it. We had only prepared our jazz set, so we had to improvise, and it sort of happened, because of the singer. She is just great. Unschooled, intuitive, beautiful.
The last one must have been really fun ! Improvising an entire song is already great (as a player), so I can’t imagine how much fun it was to improvise a whole show ! :)
30 years gigging? You do not look like you've been gigging for 30 years man! Are you a vampire?
he probably meant that hes 30, he cant be over 40
Asians never get old. Look at Lucy Liu, she is like 50yo and probably hotter than your girl
@@renanterezan9922 False, Asians do get old but it happens very quickly and very late in life
Victor Avellino he’s 30
famousbirthdays.com says He was born 1987, one time He said He was 30 in a video, but I'm far certain that He's probably in His mid to late 30s, unless He meant it as in He was alive for 30 years, either way, by the time He's 40 He'll still look nearly the same anyway
i actually can’t see you smoking weed
Lol, yeah - good one ... ;)
You actually have to look right when he's doing it, otherwise you can't see it. Excellent observation, though!
i could totally see him smoking weed
The drummer for the band I was in managed to get us a festival slot, he assured us all that it was all taken care of and we hadn't played a show in months so we were mostly just stoked and didn't ask any questions. so as we hadn't performed in a while we go into a season of heavy practice before the fest. The day of the festival gets there, we pack up all of our gear in our tiny ass cars and drive 5 hours away and mostly sit around and watch the fest while we wait for our slot. About an hour and a half before our slot someone from the festival comes up to me and was like "hey are you in * insert band name here *?" After I say yeah he hits me with "well you guys didn't sell enough tickets, you can't play". I went on an immediate manhunt for our drummer who's only excuse was "well I figured once we were all the way out here with all our gear they'd let us play". They did not let us play.
1st gig, we had to play a metal show during a power outage.... I learned that playing grindcore acoustic with no outlets is missing something important.
There's a venue in philly notorious for double booking, but we didn't know about it. They are next to a School Of Rock, and when we showed up at 7 pm for 9 pm gig (doors at 8), the SoR show was still going. Normally when shows run long the bands just have their sets cut short, but the school of rock kids all have parents in attendance that paid a lot of money, and this gig was the payoff. So the show, as poorly organized as it was, was going to go on. Meanwhile, the venue informed us that their door person has gotten drunk and had to be driven home, and the promoter had decided not to leave New York that night. Our fans had already showed up and were patronizing the bar. We negotiated with the owner to wave ticket prices in light of the massive let down on their part. The first band didn't end up taking the stage until 11pm, on a Sunday night with an expected 9pm showtime. Amazingly, most of the fans and family stayed, we put a collection bucket at the front of the stage, and we ended up making more than we would have if it had worked out the way it was supposed to. Still, it was quite a fiasco, and though I'm not proud of it in hindsight, it wasn't the last time I played a gig there that was double booked. You live and and you learn... eventually.
the annotation at 1:38 was tasteful and important. you're really good at this youtube thing
You gave me flashbacks of my life. A quick funny one.I played a gig where some random guy took over my drum kit in the middle of a performance. Just after I had stepped away to adjust my equipment. When I asked him what he was doing, he just ingnored me and kept playing. Mind you my bandmates were baffled when the quality of musicianship shifted quickly and were confused, looking behind them to see a huge drunk dude just pummelling away. I dont even remember how I got him to leave. He was twice my size. We all laughed about later. Im sure when he sobered up he felt kind of embarrassed. Besides everyone had a blast that night. Except our bass player getting hit in the head with a skateboard an hour before we went on stage.
I once was playing bass for a jam, completely jet lagged from a day of travelling. I was sitting down, playing some rather dull blues, when I fell asleep... woke up a few seconds later to a drum stick hitting me in the back of the head lol
fuck this shit...why did i not find this amazing channel earlier, i like it how you renew my soul everytime i listen to your advices, for me who's trying to learn all this music theory by myself it's really helping special when I'm having information overload,being confused or simply about to give up, how you show the right path is the real deal, keep it up sensei
ok, so about 25 years ago, the band and I were playing a high school PROM ( as DJ's ) there was a group of students that were all about headbanging and found out we were a heavy metal band and requested us to do a live performance of 1 song, to break up the endless string of pop/dance songs... so... we did, before the song was done, all the lights came on in the auditorium and the principal was front & center, arms crossed and he wasn't happy....luckily, we finished out the night with the standard dance tunes of the time ( 1990's ), still got paid, and didn't go to jail...….
That there is the devils music, shame on you! (joking, hopefully obviously)
shit! you just reminded me of another of my "WORST" gigs: I was playing electronic uke in NYC subways one nite, while my french GF filmed... (with a real film camera on tripod)... and a thug NYPD cop JAILED ME FOR 6 DAYS, on $500 bail, til I plead guilty for breaking no law!!! (The details are batshit crazy but I'm too tired to type them.) NO HUMAN has ever sat in jail for 6 days for DISORDERLY CONDUCT! Even if guilty you rarely do ONE!
What a lame principal
"Everyone was at their cabin for the summer" I really envy the Canadian lifestyle
the resolution with the shoe guy is so satisfying
Dude! You went to SJR? Me too! I was in John Einarson's Canadian Studies class in Grade 9, and participated in the rock show 3 years running (Summer of Love 1967-97, Oh What A Feeling*, and Woodstock '99, my graduating year - I got to play "I'm Going Home" by Ten Years After...let's just say the song stretched my abilities as a guitarist, but I think I did a passable interpretation**" And just fyi, I actually ALMOST got banned from the Woodstock rock show due, not to pot, but some illicit computer manipulations I did and for which I got suspended 1.5 days (and I had to paint the school's speed bumps yellow in detention...fun times). I heard about the marijuana exploits of the school band third-hand - SJR took that stuff WAY too seriously. You can be glad there were 18 others who shared the burden with you - in my grade 10 year, 3 people got caught smoking pot on the ski trip, and one of them was actually expelled (the other 2 were suspended and given mandatory counselling...like you were). A different world today, I think.
*I broke my leg on the school ski trip that year so I wasn't able to perform in the concerts, much to Einarson's dismay...he moved Rock Show to the spring months to avoid similar incidents in the future. Also, I think I am indirectly responsible for the school deciding not to hold ski trips...and I may have inadvertantly let everyone know exactly who I am by this comment, but I don't care.
**Here's a link to the original song as performed at Woodstock...no youtube in 1999! It's absolutely wild. th-cam.com/video/bW5M5xljdCI/w-d-xo.html
My worst gig was when I played in a bar and the bassist’s amp blew up and the rhythm guitar player didn’t bring strings and his A string broke which means no power chords, the drummer broke the drumhead of one of his toms and I also cut my hand open on the bridge of my guitar and then just decided fuck it and played eruption then smashed the ride cymbal with my guitar and then we went home
Jesus do I have some horror stories. Ugh. Between a gig where half of the already small bar being closed off because the former guitarist of the band Ra was playing with his band and wanted "privacy", and that resulting in having 5 minutes to load in all our gear from outside.. in the winter.., and another show where we were threatened by "actual vampires", no really, these people believe they're vampires... you might think it'd be hard to pick just one. NOPE.
My band set up an all day local festival at a local rundown kinda spot. The proprietor was never at these shows, instead this skeeze bucket that was renting the attic was comped rent by the guy for "running" shows. Load in was for 1pm, and us being in charge of the whole thing, we were to be there at 11. We get there, place is wide open, no ones there. Now, at the time, we didn't know this dude was living upstairs. Around 1230, after numerous frantic phone calls wondering what the hell is going on, this total trash of a human saunters down the stairs, and with all the grace of Jack Sparrow's drunkest, stretches and says "Ahhh, man. What a great night, I'm never fucking anyone over 16 again." Yes, you read that right. This man was like.. 30. Cue the casual follow-up, "You guys want some coke?" .....fuck my life.
The day proceeded pretty much as to be expected when run by people with little experience, bands showing up late or dropping last minute, bands showing up that didn't tell anyone about the show, sets being moved around at the drop of a hat. At one point I drew the short straw and had to go up to this dudes room to get him for some reason. I head up there, and there he is, with a couple girls, very clearly in their teens, sort of out of it, coke on a mirror, and again, he's all very casual about it, offers me coke. I mentally pondered that maybe being kind of frumpy was a good thing and went back downstairs.
Somehow or another our set got pushed back to last, and since this was in a residential area with a noise ordinance, we're on borrowed time. However, despite being told how long we had, and confirming that with the actual owner of the place, this piss stain of a human cuts all the power to the stage in the middle of our first song. Needless to say, we're furious. He gets all apologetic and says that the owner called and chewed him out for letting the show go so late. We clear the building and whatnot, and he's rushing everyone, being a real dick about the whole thing. Finally, the rest of the bands left, and he goes "Okay I gotta be real with you, someone called the cops." Not for anything _he_ did, no sir. No, apparently none of this was above board in the first place, and we'd been lied to by multiple parties.
The thing is though, that wasn't true either. Not only did the cops never show up, but we ended up finding out from the owner quite some time later, after scuzboy had been arrested for an unrelated sexual assault, the real reason he kicked us out is because he wanted to go to bed...
People are fuckin weird, man.
What a story. In his defense, he was high on coke, not really responsabile for his actions. I guess.
@@MrStronglime I hope your kidding, I've been clean about 7 years (ex heroin addict etc.) But when I got really dopesick once I decided to pick up my klonopin prescription that I didn't need that I basically forced my doctor to give me. Being as sick as I was I took the whole bottle and blacked out for a couple days where I only remember bits and peices. I might have had little control after taking the whole prescription but I had made thousands of decisions leading up to that that I am responsible for. Long story short I broke into two buildings a cleaners an a salon and took about $600 -$1200 depending on which cop I am to believe. I was picked up two days later still completly put of it and interrogated illegally but it didn't matter it was too late to prove that by the time I came around. I spent a year in TDCJ and another few months in state jail after getting revoked. Point is, im responsible for making good choices when I am in control so I can stay in control. Just like the sleezeball mentioned above. Luckily getting away from everything helped me get clean. I was spiraling out of control at the time cause my dad died and I was barely 18 still in high school. I had zero coping skills blah blah blah you get the picture. Your responsible for your actions and if you wanna say your not you'd better have a much better excuse than you did a little coke.
I feel for you man, but it was in fact a joke. I thought that "I guess" really gave it out. But, seriously, I'm far from wanting to criminalize any addict for what he does anyhow. Sure I won't congratulate them or respect them for any of their choices, but for sure I won't think of them as any less human. That guy probably was a SOB, and, an addict. But really, you got plenty of stories.
@@MrStronglime Its hard to tell considering how many idiots there are commenting on TH-cam, now that you say so I see it was obviously sarcastic. Now that I'm clean I share your stance on addicts aswell. Anyway my bad brother.
The Teen Girl Squad “ugly one” made me click
Hahaha that unplugged performance with guitar not fully plugged in... Hahahah cheers that was really good :)
To start with, I live in Russia, and to start a metal band here is a burden because literally nobody gives a shit about metal apart from some classic staff. Once we have decided to join a big and well established band (as we thought at the moment) at a gig in another city. It was 6 hours on a fast train from the place we lived so at 8 in the mourning we have boarded a train to be there at 2pm. When we have arrived at the venue at 3pm, we realized it was closed with nobody at sight, and the organizing band was out of the coverage. So we headed to a closest mall to eat and then returned at 6pm, when the gig was about to begin. The situation didn't change so we waited for another hour for the drunkest man I've seen alive to appear and to open a club. It appeared to be the basement with no ventilation at all with the stage 1santimeter higher than the dancefloor. It was dirty AF in there, the wet dirt was even higher than the stage. And the stage was slippery as well, and we needed to find some sticky spoiled beer to even stand on and not fall. The drunkest man was chattering some excuses about the mess, repeating he was the general there. We thought he meant something like general cleaner, but when the sound technician and the bartender (she appeared to be the general's niece) came, we realised he was a general director and the owner of the place. At 8pm the "well established band" appeared alongside some local band and we were about to open the show. Nobody was in there but us, literally. After stalling for another 15 minutes, people started coming and we began. Literally 10 guests came there, and the most hilarious thing is they got wasted during out set and after we finished they headed after us to the street. Literally no one was there to listen to the local band, and like 2 people returned there to listen to the headliners. The show was the illustration for us to lack of everything: motivation, advertising, organization etc. This is still the worst show I've ever had.
Yeah, the first time we played in high school at an assembly. The other guitarist was using his friend's lefty, flipped around, and the cord came out the top. He went to throw the cord over his shoulder, and it unplugged and whipped around and broke through one of the drums. We stopped playing and the gym teacher had to seperate us when the arguing got heated. We didn't play together again.
was studying music performance at college, and had a night where the bands we all made together would perform as like a small concert.T he place itself was a bar with a large (ish) underground wine cellar that had been converted into the live music venue itself, so a pretty place.
now, there was this one guy who played sax, but loved muse, so he essentially wrote a muse song, changed the lyrics, and spun it off as his own and played guitar instead; problem with this being that he couldn't sing, play guitar, or memorise his lyrics, and no one wanted to play with him and he was supposed to be on right before my group (which was the last group of the night), so out of kindness our drummer volunteered to go up with him and provide a beat. up to this point the other groups managed to fill up the cellar with about 80-90 people which to us was mental, and he came on and played, which then reduced the room population to.....3......me, his mum, and dad who after about a minute left, leaving me and his mum stood there (I didn't leave because I'd feel bad). within the space of almost under a minute, this guy had managed to disperse 80 people quicker than a french riot squad with only a guitar and his phone of lyrics, thus leaving me and my group to play to his mum in the hopes of getting people back inside for the very last band.....also our bass player got wasted and put on a tin foil hat because he thought it would be funny, I just wanted to die there and then
As a Musician myself.. I've only had a few bad experiences.. the one that sticks is with my former band, we went to go play at a Open mic (which was our only spots to petform at).. we brought along a friend of ours to do some video recordings of us playing, we were very pumped up & wanted video clips of us performing, I was a guitarist that used lots of pedals & effects to our songs (which sounded great).. so I had all my pedals & was using a Digitech machine pedal that had all my effects in it, unfortunately I forgot the damn AC plug in cord!!
So we went on & played, I had to just plug my guitar straight to a Peavy amp they had on stage for anyone to use & i was not a happy camper!!
The video was about 20 mins long.. I wasn't happy, trying to play along with my bandmates.. thank god I got a good ear & could easily play along to whatever they were, so yeah.. it happens!! Lol
Its always important to remind new musicians that no matter how much you think you’ve fucked up your shows, everyone’s been there, and its pretty normal. The huge factor that separates those who make it and those who don’t is determination. If you think anything could potentially knock you down to the point where you won’t get up, you don’t have enough determination.
Happens with my band all the time..lol but we are growing to become stars soon. There is no sweet without the sour!!!
Sorry to hear that happened to you at the pyramid, being a local winnipegger I love seeing the acts that come into that place.
I like how he’s actually honest with what he did
Honesty can be difficult
So hilarious!
Thank you for sharing these
I think it was 1960 ,before I started learning guitar,and my friend Warren had signed up to lip sync a song. This was junior high. He drafted me at the last second and we sang ,or synced Peggy Sue. There I was,didn't know the first thing about playing so I improvised! A star was born ! Hahaha ! I finally forgave Warren.
Showed up to the gig and the "stage" they had set up for us was big enough for 4 people without instruments; we were 7 members. It was also set up right next to the entrance of the place so we had vehicles driving in front of us half the time.
Worst ones for me:
Playing Perth, Western Australia. To save money we took earlier flights, so had a lot of time to kill. Being a metal band, we naturally filled the time with drinking. Once we'd all had a skinful, we decided it would be fun to have some mock wrestling matches. Yours truly mis-stepped, fell, and smashed my face on the edge of the coffee table. Had to go on stage 3 hours later with a swollen face and a black eye.
Playing New York City. Rented guitars, told the place we needed guitars that could handle B-Standard tuning. They gave us a Strat and a Tele. After re-stringing they were workable (but sounded awful) and on top of that both our guitarists came down with a terrible stomach virus and it was all they could do not to vomit or shit themselves on stage.
I once played a "show" to the headlining band. They didn't promote at all, and the very limited promoting we did around our high school had no affect. We played a Ramones cover, and when they were up, they played another Ramones cover just to, what I could only assume at the time, either show us up or rub it in our face how bad we were. During one of their songs, I tried moshing with the members of my band, for my guitarist/vocalist to hit me in the face. We broke up shortly after that to get back together a few years later.
We played one show when we got back together. We were playing a benefit show at someone's shop at their home to try to raise money to restore an old venue. All of the other bands and fans there were metalcore bands and fans, with the exception of like one indie band, we were a Tom Petty-esque rock band. I wasn't quite expecting that turnout, since said venue had hosted a huge variety of different bands of different genres. Pretty much everyone in the crowd went outside during our set. Again, the bassist and I left that band to start a new project that didn't last.
During a shared night with another band, we opened, then they went on, they we did....etc. SO...we wound up bringing more people to the venue then they did, though they were the top bill. After our first set, which we rocked......everyone was buying me shots (tequila was my thing) and congratulating me/us on 'blowing them away'...and being so much better then the top bill. They played their set, then we had to go back on. Remember all the Tequila shots ? ;) We opened our 2nd set, with me on a stool....doing 12 string "Babe I'm going to leave you" in a solo arrangement. The plan was for the band and singer to come in on a 2nd verse sort of.... I played about 2 measures, completely blanked to the point I didn't even remember what song I was playing..... and promptly said to the crowd 'thanks for the shots, I'm fucking wasted'. Standing ovation....and we kicked right into our 2nd song. :) Rock and Roll !!!!
Didn't happen to me, but at a music festival in Boston I saw this good band called Royal Blood. Just two guys, a bassist/singer, Mike, and a drummer. Halfway through the set, Mike suddenly goes off stage and the drummer goes into a really long drum solo. Mike comes back and finishes the set -- I found out later that he had broken his foot onstage. But he came back and completed the set with a broken foot, a true professional.
If those are your worst gigs, you did great! The band I was in experienced belligerent drunk hecklers, fights with KKK members, playing in makeshift brothels, having to play for 5 hours because the other 3 bands didn't show (we were the opening band with about 10 songs down), some guy brought a machine gun to a multi band festival and accidentally pulled the trigger while we were playing and of course the dummy booking person that hired us to play for a bunch of middle school kids who had no idea who we were and hated us. All this and the usual equipment that was either missing or DOA, blown house speakers, stolen guitars, etc.....
I played several churches when I was homeless in the band, I played for homeless people at The Urban Goatwalker, it was great except I had to borrow a guitar because of the pawned guitars I mentioned before, and someone had it tuned really high, they all loved me and wanted an encore. I played a Twice told cafe' before it got shut down for people doing drugs there, and i played at the mall at willis music before it went out of business. I've done impromtu concerts in the park and at guitar center that were fun
First big gig
I stepped on my cable and fell
You are such a good human being ❤️
GASP!! You threw that guy's shoes onto the roof of the building?!? My GOD, you Canadians are a mean, aggressive lot!! 😂😎🤘🏼
Damn our old sjr rock show has changed. This was my first year and I LOVED it
Respect, I didn't have the greatest attitude as a teen, I blame myself for being a bit of a shit
samuraiguitarist Saw your graduation picture in the hall the other day and was fangirling to my friends about how that guy was my fav TH-camr and that he went to our school. They didn’t care😂 I guess like the rock show, you’ve changed a lot too
That's amazing! I did a fireside chat at the ol alma mater a couple years back. Might be time I swing by again and say hi. Next time you see Mr Grynol tell him I say hi.
The worst part of a bad gig isn’t the gig itself. It’s the feeling of undone and incomplete. You can’t get it back so it’s just an empty feeling.
Ooo boy, do I have some stories.
Like the one time the drummer got so drunk before a show he played every song slower and slower for the whole 10-song set. He ended up essentially falling asleep on stage.
Or the time when it turned out that the lead vocalist couldn't attend an already announced show about 2 weeks in advance. And the replacement vocalist hired couldn't learn the songs or hit a single note, so we ended up playing instrumental for most of the set.
Or the time when we had full house at a bar but everyone was just sitting down and eating for the entirety of two 1-hour sets. At a rock concert.
Or the time when the lead singer and bass player got too high during a show and started randomly skipping lines or even entire verses. One of the songs was literally half a verse, a chorus and done. This one's actually pretty hilarious.
P.S. You should also do some awkward backstage / road trip stories, that's where the most weird crap tends to happen.
Being a winnipeg musician myself, everything you've said here. Is the exact reason I'm moving to Montreal. 👍 Gotta love the winnipeg music scene and our constantly dying venues. I kept hoping we'd bounce back. Maybe I'm still holding onto that hope, since I'm still here. But... after playing the Garrick Hotel a few times opening for touring bands, I don't know man. I just don't know.
My worst one was for a rodeo in our drummer's home town. We, a punk rock band, were going to play during the break of the country band playing for the dance at the end of the rodeo night. The drummer went to high school with all these guys and had played in bands with them in the past, and he said it would be fine. We weren't sure.
So we show up (the gig was four hours away and unpaid, but we did it for him) and it's just as we feared - cowboys everywhere, the alcohol was flowing, and the band was about as classic country as you can get. So I tell everyone - "Make sure you've got 'Sweet Home Alabama' in your back pocket." It was the only pseudo-country song that we knew.
The band onstage steps up to the microphone and says, "Hey, y'all, we're gonna take a break, but make sure you stick around for our hometown boy's band during the break! But we've got one more for ya..." And they launch into Sweet Home Alabama. We instantly start replanning - we were originally told we could have as long as we wanted and were planning (on the drummer's insistence) to do an abridged 30 minute set. I threw that out the window and declared that we were only going to play three songs. I didn't honestly know if we'd get that far. The drummer, seeing the reality of the moment, agreed.
The band ends the Skynyrd tune, and we start to climb up on stage. Since the gig was far away, we were just going to use their amps and drums. So I set down my pedalboard, pull out my Les Paul, and plug into the lead guitar amp. It's set up for chicken pickin' Telecaster tone. Bright as can be. My own amp is fairly dark, so all of my pedals are run fairly bright. Painful. Bass amp was set for country bass, so it was a lot softer than we usually run it. We don't want to mess up their amp settings, though, so we muscle through.
We launch into our first tune - punk rock, remember - and we quickly get into the groove and the nerves start to melt away. We might actually pull this off! Then I look into the crowd and see the cowboys starting to cross their arms. The song ends, and the biggest dude says, "Do you know anything country?" We panic.
Thankfully, we were rescued by a girl right up front who called out, "Do you know 'I Want You To Want Me'?" We had a quick band huddle and played probably the sloppiest version of "I Want You To Want Me" anyone has ever heard. When it ended, I shouted a quick, "Thank you very much!" and got the heck off of that stage.
To make things worse, we were supposed to crash with the drummer's family that night, but they wanted to stick around until the end of the dance, so we just took off and drove the whole four hours home. I was so tired that my girlfriend had to drive - I learned later that she was so tired she was worried she'd kill us all, but she was afraid to say no when I asked if she was a good night driver.
Things I've seen at gigs:
* A band of 14-15 yr old kids, getting a pep talk from one of their dads - "You get on that stage and you fucking blow the other bands away, 'cos you're _that_ good. Remember, you're best or you're nothing.
* A bassist and a guitarist, both stoned and drunk, getting into a punch-up on stage, over which song they were meant to be playing.
* A backing tape playing at half speed. Actually, I was the vocalist.
You have some nice stories there! Definitely enjoyed that video and keep it going, I love your content!
I recently played a gig with some local bands in Winnipeg. We didn't talk a second in between songs, didn't introduce titles, or even say who we were. There was awkward silence in between our songs. I am incredibly embarrassed. I am here solely to feel better.
Really enjoy your videos because you really put a certain type of real-ness that makes them quite interesting!
I think what got me turned off to playing in restaurants was one day I had my son at a play park he was quite young! I was playing Classical Gas there and met a man ,he mentioned he owned a restaurant in Sausalito, Ca. He liked what i was doing and invited me to play there for tips! I know i played quite good but i ended up getting only a dollar! From then on I lost interest in playing when nobody cares if you’re there or not.
But I understand there are a lot of guitar solo players that have a thick skin for that type of thing!
I played a whole gig one time with my fly down............ lol
crap! you just reminded me of another gig..... where my DICK FELL OUT!!
(over and over!) [sounds suspect, I know]
I USUALLY PLAY GUITAR while crouched on the ground, b/c I use the level knob of my fuzzbox as Volume Knob and I swoop in distortion while hammering notes and chords, while my right hand turns fx knobs... and I was playing a room where the audience is raked, meaning like bleachers, so EVERYONE can see the stage... and several times I noticed TOO LATE that my dick/balls were VISIBLE b/c I was wearing shorts!! OOOOOPS!!
Dumpy Goodness f
@@dumpygoodness4086 oh my god AHAHAHA my sides
damn bro u must be packin'
1:42 right there with you.... got popped at a b-ball game , lost the lead in 'bye bye birdie' senior musical and was banned from on campus events for 10 YEARS!!!
Two of my bandmates got into a fist fight on stage after a gig while we were packing up our gear. One had to go to the hospital. The other had his mandolin thrown twenty feet off the back porch onto the parking lot below.
poor mandolin
You might say bad, but that's metal as fuck
@@Outta-hz1ej It was actually a bluegrass band. but I'll take that as a compliment.
@@doggy7210 lol haha it was
quick reply lol
Damn that's cool though, I love bluegrass.
I just came back from work lol love gigging stories. Thanks dude😄
Once the lead guitarist got knocked out by the bass player’s headstock when they were jumping around on stage. Guy got a concussion.
With 11 years I failed my first onstage experience. I was supposed to play silent night for the school's Christmas party, but my guitar was totally out of tune and it took me to much time to get my fingers in the right positions for the chords. So my 11 year old me ended up playing a christmassong slower then normal, on a clean electric guitar which was out of tune, in front of about 700 people. Since then I never played again in the school even though I improved a lot. 😅
I find it cool you grew up in Winnipeg since my favourite musician Neil Young and I live in Winnipeg and grew up there
The first gig my longest running band played was pretty brutal. We wanted to play for a crowd so bad we hopped on board this brutal talent show contest called supernova. Im sure some people remember those scam artists. Anyway, they usually had like 20 bands on the bill and the shows went from around 2 pm to like 8 pm. All ages so no booze or anything. So we got our first gig through them at the graffiti gallery in Winnipeg. Its basically an art gallery for urban/graffiti art. The PA was tiny, my drums were not mic'd, none of the amps were mic'd, and there were no monitors. Also it was a house kit so not even my own drums. First song i quickly realized i couldnt hear a single thing anyone was playing or singing, so i played the entire show to music in my head. The crowd was a bunch of 16 year old kids with their parents. After our 20 min set we couldnt wait to get home and drink the memories of that gig away.
My mother sent my younger brother to a legit drug rehab after catching him smoking. Not weed. Just cigarettes. You just reminded me of that. I can’t even imagine the sort of lies she told them in order to accept a tobacco addict
I've played the Pyramid lots back in the day! Great place. Big stage. If we do a prairie tour I'll definitely try and book there.... seeing how the Zoo is gone from what I hear.
We usually run a couple covers through our set to fill time, so one night we are doing our thing and we decide to bust out Want you bad by Offspring......aaand I hit the wrong power chord....twice......in the same spot lol.
I've been playing that song since it came out. Haha. Oh well.
Go Jets go!
Not really horror, but just really, really sad. During my first drumming gig about fourteen years ago, the organizer of the event I played at had to intervene after our first song to inform to the crowd that a legendary experimental musician had passed away just several hours before the event. That legendary musician happens to one of the most influential and inspirational figures for me as an aspiring musician, and we had just collaborated three weeks prior when he improvised live on synthesizer around a poem I was reciting. The improvised collaboration was perhaps one of the best, if not the best, thing that ever happened to me musically. Three weeks later, he passed away when I was on my way to my first drumming gig. I finished the rest of the gig practically in tears while trying hard to keep the beat. What a real roller coaster.
I played an open mic with a live mic. And by "live" I mean electrified. Somehow, the drum kit was also electrified, at least the cymbal stand was. Meanwhile, the sound guy had the guitar and vocals turned all the way down in the monitor, but turned all the way up in the house. I couldn't hear myself, shocked myself on the mic, screamed, jumped back, got shocked on the drum set, back and forth like ping pong. Between every song I'd tell the sound guy and he'd say "well, stop eating the mic." We finished the set, though.
My first gig was also through my highschool. We were decent, and could play the songs through no problem. The issue was when the drums flaked out 2 days before the show. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but coming from a small town, only 3 other guys at the school claimed to play the drums. Two of which were already in bands playing the same show. I call up the third and he said he could do it easily. No problem. The rest of us had rehearsed enough that he should be fine. I couldn't be more wrong. About 6 hours before the gig, I get a text saying he hasn't learned the songs yet. I tell him to learn them well enough and went on my way. The show starts and he shows up claiming he knows them. Lo and behold, he did not. We get on stage and he has his earbuds in trying to learn them AS WE TAKE THE STAGE. The bassist and I did well. But everything else was a train wreck. He was out of time, missed whole verses and later confessed that he really didn't know how to play drums. We would've been better off as a strong duo. but hey, no one ever said you'd start off playing great.
I once played a full 2-hour set being promised $200 plus any tips that they received, I sang my lungs out as my amp had died and when I tried to start a clap during a vocal-only part, nobody, and I mean nobody joined in, it was the most awkward experience I've ever been apart of, also I wasn't paid because literally 2 days later the company went bankrupt Oo
I was drummer in a band project while I was a volunteer at a music venue.
Every band got to play up to three songs.
During the second song the singer forgot a big part of the lyrics, so he just stopped singing and the audience had to listen to a full minute of just the three of us playing our instruments until I decided that it might be smart to start the chorus.
Can you remember where you were busting in Brisbane? The Valley?, queen street mall? Or West End?
Some stories like Samurai Hero!
I haven't had a nightmare gig personally, but I saw a concert of some bands up from Detroit. The audience consisted of the bands not on stage and about 4 locals. The last band had us all get on stage and sing backup for one of their songs. It was pretty awesome, but it would suck to drive 2 hours one way to play to an empty room.
when i played trumpet in high school, we went to a jazz competition and i had a few solos....but, for some reason, i decided i wanted to try to take as much caffeine as i could and i ended up getting really sick. i dont remember the gig at all. my mom and grandma were watching....everybody said i did fine and nobody in the band even knew until much later. it was actually horrific. i remember everything up to when we were walking from our practice room to the stage....then i remember being outside in the snow, alone, puking into some bushes. i dont know how i got there and, frankly, didnt know caffeine could do that to you buuuut....there it is.
its odd to think about but the only time i ever experienced a loss of time....and it was while i was on stage preforming.
i havent preformed like that in years, so its extra horrific to think about something like that happening these days. 0.o
I also played clarinet in band and one of the band parents caught us about to smoke CIGARETTES and told the band director it was pot. We get called into the office and explain there was no pot and one of the people we were caught with offered to take a drug test to PROVE that we weren't smoking which was no good for me since I had been smoking pot all that week. Band memories.
Interesting, maybe I should relate some personal gig tales, including beer bottles, high heel shoes whizzing past my ear, guns & M80s on the dance floor, murder, knives, punks with chains, "mystic disappearing musicians", police raids(w/ dogs), $500 contract on our lead singer, 6-7 hour gigs 4 nights a week for 18 months, catching my face on fire, & that's just the beginning!:)
Its kinda funny when you mention places like the pyramid because I live in Winnipeg and played the pyramid many times
My parents sent me to a rehab for weed about 8 months ago. I'm pretty young and it was insane being around crackheads for a month. Absolute worst month of my life.
On the plus side I’m sure you’ll never do crack now; being that the illusion of the sexy, sultry world of crack cocaine has been shattered for you.
I can beat all of these … great video ! We all learn from failure
Thankyou for being the most relatable man ever