adam411booking Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Hey all! I'm just curious to see how many interesting stories there are out in this community. I'd like to know your best gig experience (or any memorable moment at a gig for that matter). I'll start. In August 2009, my former band played a show in Aurora, IL (about 20 minutes outside of Chicago). The name of the venue was Doug's House of Rock n Roll (I think). Anyways this place wasn't as big as Carnegie Hall, but it wasn't an underground basement show either. It was sort of a last minute show we added to end our midwest tour, so we weren't really expecting much out of it.... Boy were we wrong... We arrive to the venue and take a look around. We see a pretty big stage, professional light and sound rig, at least 500 capacity venue (along with a balcony area). So from the time we stepped out of our van and into the venue, we realized it was gonna be an awesome night. This show was not promoted that well at all. We literally got booked a few days before we arrived, so we didn't expect a huge turnout. Well...we were wrong again. I'm setting up our merch booth with the rest of the band when the doors opened. The next thing you know, we had fans all over our table buying merch from US! We didn't even know we had any support in that area at all. It was so shocking. Then comes show time. We get on stage and we strike the first chord...from there, the venue turned from a cool little hangout into a massive rock concert with mosh pits, people jumping and down, and my personal favorite...kids were singing out lyrics....Wow. Again, this is the first time this particular project I was in had played in that area. We were stunned by the enthusiasm by the crowd. And our vocalist put the mic out over the crowd and they were chanting the words. I couldn't believe it. So after an amazing show, the headlining band performs (same sort of reaction to them as well) and as I'm sitting at the merch table this group of kids walk up to me and start asking for autographs! I couldn't believe it. Of course I gave them my signature and they bought a few shirts and cd's so I signed some of the merchandise. I was just shocked that kids actually wanted my autograph. So after the show is over we return to our hotel rooms and I pull out my laptop and get on the bands facebook (to give the "thank you Chicago for the awesome night" post) and as soon as I log in there's photos of us "tagged" all over our wall. I look at some of the photos and read the comments, and wow I never felt better about being a musician. It really made me feel like all the long hours of driving without sleep, days of eating nothing but spam, and being away from my family and friends was really worth it. Anyways, that's my awesome gig story. Let's hear yours! Whether it's an amazing gig, a mess up on stage that's funny (and worth sharing), or a memorable backyard barbeque concert I'd love to hear it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Then there was the night in the St. Roch neighborhood in New Orleans when our singer stabbed himself with a bottle and punctured his lung after he lost his temper... That was right after Katrina - National Guard medics saved his life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam411booking Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share Posted September 12, 2012 Then there was the night in the St. Roch neighborhood in New Orleans when our singer stabbed himself with a bottle and punctured his lung after he lost his temper... That was right after Katrina - National Guard medics saved his life. Jeez that's intense. What happened? He just got mad and stabbed himself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LT ED Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 What a total nutcase. [scared] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Holy cow....and I thought being with Van Morrison when he got arrested was an unusual gig! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiz Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 brundaddy, that's pretty metal, er, crazy! I'm glad he was ok regardless. He looks like he could have given GG Allin a run for his money. Haha. I've been lucky to play some really fun shows. My most recent one was a few weeks ago for my band's album release show. I've only played one other release show in my life, and they are always special. We had an interview in Pittsburgh's City Paper (I'll put the link below if you'd like to check it out), and the venue was packed. -Not a huge place, just a little rock and roll bar, but there were people from the stage all the way to the back of the room and everyone was cheering and throwing the horns. Such a good feeling. I love playing out so much. Pittsburgh City Paper Lady Beast Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 oddly enough, the "best" gig I ever played, was a Jack and Jill party that was out in the middle of nowhere in Baldwinville Mass. at a Rod and Gun club, that was once someones house... There's no way you could have safely fit 80 people in there. the night we played this Jack and Jill party, there was at least 200 people crammed into that place. The singer, (The drummers wife) locked her keys in the car on the way to setup, and had to wait for AAA to unlock her. Show must go on, so we proceeded to the gig, set up, sound check, all the while hoping she would show in time for first set. she didn't.. so we re-arranged the set list, and the 15/20 songs that me and the bass player sang was what we went with. We started out with rocked up version of Dizzy Miss Lizzy and from that point on proceeded to blow the roof off the place. Best crowd we ever played for. Singer showed up just as we wrapped up the first set (good thing cuz we were out of songs we could cover with out her).. Once she got her head out of being pissy about waiting for AAA - she got in to the groove, and we rocked it like that band never rocked it before. The dad of one of the kids getting married was a bass player that we'd played with before, we called him up and did Led Zep's Rock and Roll, - legendary.. I'm still working with most of these guys (now an originals outfit), and we still talk about that gig to this day. I've played shows where I've stood in front of 15,000 people, I've been in bands that have opened for acts like Billy Ray Sirrus, yet, that one night, in the middle of the sticks in Nowhereville Massachusetts in a converted Ranch, then a Rod and Gun club, it was one for the ages. /KB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Jeez that's intense. What happened? He just got mad and stabbed himself? It was one of our rowdier shows. People started breaking bottles & getting wild - some girl bloodied ol boy's nose in the process. He used to have a temper problem, so he vowed never to hurt another person ... thus he took it out on himself with a piece of glass. He actually stabbed through his sternum somehow. Miraculously he missed his heart, aorta, etc. He was in front with his back to the band, so we didn't actually realize what he did until 2 songs later when he couldn't stand cuz he was bleeding out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Umm, ok. Wow. I have no comment. But anyhow, this thread has got me scratching my head. I can certainly remember the bad gigs but I can’t seem to recall one that stands out as my best gig. It was probably me playing piano at the famous Colored Musicians Club when I was 17 and just awestruck at the talent around me and the history of the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Yeah... I got to thinking... How far back to I wanna try to remember? 50 years? <grin> m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Another was a really wild country band I played in. One of our biggest fans, if he drank whiskey, would pass out and piss himself. Which is no big deal except he would pass out on the band sofa. The second time it happened was after a show, and we were partying like crazy. We cut off his clothes down to his soaked undies, locked a Kryptonite bicycle U-lock around his neck and threw the key as far as we could over the backyard fence. (Never ever do this, we're lucky he didn't die.) Then we busted out the sharpies and drew giant dongs all over his body and face, writing "C@CKMASTER" across his forehead. Then we heard sirens - lots of them, converging on our house. We freaked out, stashing stuff cuz we thought it was cops. But it was the fire dept. 2 houses over was on fire. Our fan sprang into action, briskly walking up to the firemen asking, "Hey is anybody hurt, is everything OK?" covered in wangs, with "C@CKMASTER" across his forehead, and a U-lock around his neck. The party rolled on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenderGuy1 Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 My best show was my grade 6 farewell, i played a medley of Hendrix and AC/DC, and a girl was singing :) and at the end of the night, i played the Star Spangled Banner on a distorted Keyboard from 1981 with an 8 bit sound, and the kids thought i was awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Early 1990's I was drummer/lead singer in a mainly Led Zeppelin/Rush cover band, we did some other stuff too but these two band's made up an hour of the 2 hours worth of songs we had down pretty good. We where by no means a working act as we only played privet parties and a few rare bar show's from 1986 on through to about 1994. I knew one of the stage sponsor's to a very large out-door event in my home county this particular year and I asked him if we could take the main stage for a short set before the main act's showed. He said sure so we rushed our stuff up on to a 40 or 50 foot stage behind a very large PA and monitor system and played for about 20-30 min's. I don't remember who the main act was that year but it was always a major label artist. We where told to vacate quickly and the stage area was roped off as soon as we got our gear out of the way so I never got to meat who ever was the main act but I was happy to have gotten to play in front of so many people and with that big PA pumping away it was great! When I was doing stage production for a job from 1998 to 2001 I was on some big show crew's, lot's of major act's and big corporate gig's, that was fun too but didn't pay very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam411booking Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 @Brundaddy - Wow....that's pretty metal if you ask me haha And I've seen some awesome posts on here! Crazy stories guys. And Milod, I'd like to hear your story from 50 years ago haha! I'd like to hear more whether it's a one off show or an entire tour! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 It involved a sweet lttle red head but the moderators probably wouldn't be happy if I posted the details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 My most memorable gig was in one of the seediest,hardcore,roughest clubs in Newfoundland and quite possibly Canada.The club's patrons were usually outlaw biker types and foreign sailors and fishermen as it was very near the waterfront.The place was so rough that instead of surrounding the bandstand with chickenwire they surrounded it with 2" welded steel pipe because when a fight started bottles didn't get thrown-that was regarded as sissy stuff-people did.Our little 3 piece was one of the few bands that played there and because it was hard to find bands that would risk playing there,the pay was about double that of other clubs. Anyway this particular night there were quite a few Portuguese fishermen there due to a huge North Atlantic storm that had forced the whole fleet in port.As I was taking out my flipped lefty Strat a few of them picked up on it and in broken English asked if I liked Jimi of course to which I replied a big yes.It turned out that the majority of these guys played guitar but they all played Classical and naturally mentioned Segovia,Diaz,Bream etc.As the night went on they all applauded politely and seemed to genuinely like our sets.Anyway at the end of our 4th and final set I figured that I'd"Pull out all the stops"and went into Jimi's epic blues song Red House.During the first and second verses I sang it as usual but when I went into the lead break,I decided to cut loose and proceeded to play with my teeth,behind my head and back and all other Jimi moves I had practised over the years.I didn't only play for "show" but put my guts and my very soul into it,bending the strings almost off the neck.When we finished they all jumped to their feet giving me my only standing ovation.I felt 50 feet tall to get such an affirmation of my playing ability by these classically trained musicians.It was truly humbling even though I felt like a king.It's true that music transcends all borders and is the common language of all the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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