Silenced Fred Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I'm probably OCD or something, but what do you call a show you play? I call them gigs, and shows I attend, I call concerts. For whatever reason, it really bugs me when someone says they are going to a gig when they see a band play I know this really doesn't matter so don't make a thousand posts saying who cares Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 For me both terms are interchangeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I'm probably OCD or something, but what do you call a show you play? I call them gigs, and shows I attend, I call concerts. For whatever reason, it really bugs me when someone says they are going to a gig when they see a band play I know this really doesn't matter so don't make a thousand posts saying who cares I care.........It's usually called a gig...However, I've been known to do recitals, shows, gigs, concerts, special appearences, jam sessions, mojo chick magnet stage antics, rockfests, festivals, and musical engagements....Gotta run, I'm doing a concert tonight....... :unsure: .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl00dsm0k3 Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 courently not in a band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG FAN Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Since gig is another word for job, I think a show you play yourself is a gig and a performance you're going to see passively is a show or concert. Just my .02 ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 . The terms mean more or less the same thing in a dictionary, but I've got an odd take - To me a gig is a job for providing "live music", like at a coffee bar, alcohol bar, dance bar, party, etc. The people in attendance didn't necessarily attend to take in the entertainment. A concert is an arranged performance date with ticket sales, seating and an audience that intends to take in the performance. So . . . If you play a show - Is it a venue where the attending people came to take in the performance? = concert Or a venue like a bar where some people aren't paying any attention at all, some are dancing and some are watching the show. = gig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 To me, a concert is with brass and strings.... I call everything a show...whether I am playing it, or going to see it... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 To me, a concert is with brass and strings.... I call everything a show...whether I am playing it, or going to see it... :) The trouble with "show" is some would think you're talking about Broadway style. Check out "concert tickets" on google - http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1768&bih=1019&q=concert+tickets&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq= . . Bingo! . Pretty much all music concerts, mostly rock - Elvis to Zep to Nashville, etc, etc. And "show tickets" - http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1768&bih=1019&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=show+tickets&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m9&aql=&oq= . . Mixed - Broadway, Vegas, TV, Music, etc. Just sayin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 never really thought about it I guess I play gigs and I go to concerts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 For my idea, a Concert is a Major event. A gig is a band job, not the size of the concert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 A concert is when I go see a show. A gig is when I play a show. I wouldn't say I'm going to a RUSH gig. But I would say I have a gig tonight, If I were in a band and we were playing somewhere. All hypothetical because currently I am bandless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy R Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 As mentioned earlier I equate "gig" to work that you or someone does. So I would say that I have a gig tonight or that is my or his or her's gig. I guess you could possibly say " I am going to go see Rush Gig tonight"... or "I am going to Rush's gig tonight".... as in to see someone else gig/work but agree that sounds goofy. A show or concert is a little more interchangeable but I would say in the musical realm concert is usually more defined to a strictly music related event where as a show could be, a play, movie, art gallery viewing, comedy, etc... Another thought that can be applied is where the term Gig originated to mean a musician having a show to play or work. There doesn't seem to be a definitive answer but my best guess would be it came from Southern Jazz and Blues musicians who used to "Gig" at night for frogs and fish to eat. My logic is this would easily translate to an activity you do to make ends meet or provide food for your table. This is purely speculation on my part.... The early origin derivatives and the "God Is Good" theories don't really seem to be a natural flow into the slang term. IMHO Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 If it's a musician talking about his performance, it's a gig. If I'm going to see another band at a bar or club, it's a show. A concert is a major production involving an audience seated in rows who bought their tickets ahead of time (sometimes with a SRO floor like a rock concert). Concerts are typically held at an auditorium, arena, or other bigger venue. It's not always cut and dry but that's the way I see it anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 The trouble with "show" is some would think you're talking about Broadway style. Check out "concert tickets" on google - http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1768&bih=1019&q=concert+tickets&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq= . . Bingo! . Pretty much all music concerts, mostly rock - Elvis to Zep to Nashville, etc, etc. And "show tickets" - http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1768&bih=1019&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=show+tickets&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m9&aql=&oq= . . Mixed - Broadway, Vegas, TV, Music, etc. Just sayin' I getcha...not so concerned about miscommunication. My buddies know what kind of show i'm talking aboot... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 . Yeah, I agree, pretty much interchangeable in general usage. FF's question causing some interesting comments once people start thinking in specific terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swleary Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I'm probably OCD or something, but what do you call a show you play? I call them gigs, and shows I attend, I call concerts. For whatever reason, it really bugs me when someone says they are going to a gig when they see a band play I know this really doesn't matter so don't make a thousand posts saying who cares Finally admitting to one's own problem is the first step in getting better .....just sayin lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete c Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 a gig is when you get paid to be there, and a concert is when you pay to be there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpanda Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I call 'em shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff-7 Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Giggity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overtherainbo Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I'm probably OCD or something, but what do you call a show you play? I call them gigs, and shows I attend, I call concerts. For whatever reason, it really bugs me when someone says they are going to a gig when they see a band play I know this really doesn't matter so don't make a thousand posts saying who cares Hello, Fellow Babies, Much that I agree with here, but I think the point we might be missing here is not the misuse of the word "gig". I might very well be mistaken, but I suspect that Fuzzy Fred is reacting to the people who use the the word to describe their activities. Like about the only people I've ever heard use the term to describe their work were working musicians, and a few posers. In fact, I played in all kinds of venues since the early 60's and I never heard anyone use the word "gig" to describe playing in a band. I heard my father use it, in the Navy it was used to mean, either a small craft carried aboard a larger vessel reserved for ferrying it's captain in port, or a demerit. I don't think I started hearing it used to describe a job playing in a band until starting somewhere in the late 70s. So what I thought I heard he was saying was, " If yer not a player, don't use the jargon." One of the things I started to notice towards the end of the sixties is that my contemporaries had an exaggerated view of the exciting life-style of their rock stars, and all the press about drugs, parties, wrecked hotel rooms just sort of fed the sense of the fans that players were enjoying a life that they could only dream about. In the years I played before the "British Invasion I found that most of the time I was lonely, the motels were depressing, and missed my family, I never had the slightest impression that anyone cared how musicians lived during the day -- well except for Elvis. I remember a news article when he was making a comeback in 1968 that he was the highest-paid entertainer making $500,000 a year in Los Vegas. Okay, that's what the fans were thinking, and I admit that "hittin' it big" occasionally crossed my mind, but that's not why you play. I play because I'm the biggest, %*#)*^& ham you'll ever meet. Sure I love the guitar, but being on stage - even though I know it's some little EM club on the tiniest, most distant Navy base (like NWL Dahlgren, Va. as late as 1963) - is among the three most exciting things in my life! Hey, sex, motorcycles, and guitar on stage. Even now when I'm on-stage I sweat a pint, and I love every freakin' minute. But a lot of the guys I'm calling "posers" don't experience it, or see it like that. Look I know a lot us of live very regular lives, job, marriage, kids, mortgage, and there's not room for more than a few to make it big in music; so I'm not making fun of, or putting anyone down for that. If you've never earned a penny playin' guitar, if yer not in a band, you are a player, a musician, if you take your playing seriously, if you're always trying to improve and learn. An example would be the difference in the people I was meeting over the years that were trying to be musicians. In the early 60s I met a my first New Yorker, a guitarist lookin' to be discovered. He was looking to make it in Hollywood - if ya never lived in California, people BELIVE that they can be discovered - I can remember more than once hearing that," there might be a talent scout in the audience tonight'. Long after I stopped even thinking that might happen, I ran into a guy in a little bar that was picking up girls by hinting he was a "talent scout from Hollywood." I could talk about that-- I mean, how dumb - a talent scout from LA beating the bushes of the East Coast because there aren't enough people trying to crash the gates in Hollywood?! Anyway, the point is that about the mid-seventies, I started to run into what I call "posers", people who pass themselves off as musicians, act like they're living the life, and walkin' the walk. Met a guy from New York who was hanging with a crowd that came to my little recording studio - my brother, and a few partners operated a film production company and the sound studio was mainly for producing stuff for TV commercials, but we did a few demos for a few bands. Okay so he's really layin' it on thick about how he "knows" about the scene, he's always "carrying, man". First thing that aroused my suspicions was his guitar, a Strat that was beaten up beyond belief. Turned out he had deliberately scraped the finish to make it look like "he's been out on the road a long time." I could never do that to one of my babies! As a player, I believe in, "letting my playing do the talking." He was not a musician, he wasn't remotely a guitarist. The guitar was just a prop. He had no business using the word, "gig." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overtherainbo Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I'm probably OCD or something, but what do you call a show you play? I call them gigs, and shows I attend, I call concerts. For whatever reason, it really bugs me when someone says they are going to a gig when they see a band play I know this really doesn't matter so don't make a thousand posts saying who cares M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overtherainbo Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I'm probably OCD or something, but what do you call a show you play? I call them gigs, and shows I attend, I call concerts. For whatever reason, it really bugs me when someone says they are going to a gig when they see a band play I know this really doesn't matter so don't make a thousand posts saying who cares M sorry,guys, I really have not figured out why my stuff posts multiple times --- I might be dumb, but I'm a very sincere little ray of sunshine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 M One has to wait a minute or two for the post to be approved..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 M sorry,guys, I really have not figured out why my stuff posts multiple times --- I might be dumb, but I'm a very sincere little ray of sunshine. One has to wait a minute, oh, wait......... :unsure: .......Well hello sunshine !!!! Must be a tough GIG !!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 A show is like a presentation, with a stage and seats, but maybe not big enough to call it a concert, which is a major undertaking. A gig is no big deal, just a diddy at a bar or club. Still an obligation if you say you will do it, payed or not (although, I don't think it is cool to play for free unless the situation calls for it). Also, it is used as a verb. For example, "Fuzzy's band is gigging". You would not say, "Fuzzy's band is concerting", or "showing". Hipness is not a state of mind, it is a fact of life. To gig, or to not gig, does not make you a poseur. You can be cool, or uncool. Does that tighten you up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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