Weird Gig Moments...

I played with an orchestra in the opera house in Gent.I was surprised they hired me for the job anyway…a guitar in an opera?.....When we all sat down they gave me a score for a harp! I said a harp has 47 strings, I’ve got 6…the conductor answered: sorry but we were hired for a 42 piece orchestra so there got to be 42 musicians on stage….try to play here and there a note….

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Cool subject!

I was in a gig a few years ago when all of the sudden some guys started a fight in front of the band! My keys were in front of the stage so i worried a bit for my instruments!
We just kept on playing the song and watched 4 or 5 guys beat the h*ll out of eachother..... I hate fighting people... useless....
After the song we took a break and the fight came to an end, (was it our playing) :)
Some time later on we restarted the gig!

Uncomfortable ambience! :) but we could laugh about it afterwards!

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...long time ago now, but.... playing in a really crowded london pub, someone's jack russell (dog) walks on stage, pisses on the singer's mic stand, then turns and sits on the front of the drummer's riser as if expecting applause from the audience.....well, it probably entertained them more than we did.:)

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.....well, it probably entertained them more than we did.smile.gif

the people like dogs more than music
very sad:(

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Had a similar experience but with a complete drummer. The tent we played was lifted by the strong wind and covered the drummer. I noticed because his timing went a bit of and when I looked he was literally sitting behind the tent, with his arms under the sail still playing his drums trying to finish the song as best as he could... :D
[img]http://gijs.mrbasic.com/zaandam%202008.jpg[/img]

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Must have sounded fantastic! …Ringo surely would have loved it; he himself did put some towels on his drum set when the Beatles recorded Come Together…

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I was on stage and each time I came near my amp (stack) a specific place "flexible" on the wood floor made it almost falling!
On a famous jump for end... It failed! And I stayed on the "solid" ground but It could be me :)
I have ended the show in front of the stage after change for a longer plug for pedals !!

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crappy little gig on a crappy little stage, our drummers throne kept moving backwards until it and he fell off the back wedging his rear end between the wall and stage

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My most embarrassing gig was at the Casino in Knokke with the Flanders Prom Orchestra.
The sound guy’s must have worked their ass off all day to mike up the 48 piece orchestra, the band’s gear, the light..etc. etc..
When we walked in at 7.30 for the gig at 9, the orchestra was already sound checking ,but….the sound guys had put up a setting for a classical orchestra…., with the band in the back ..…well ….we didn’t mind for everything was already set up, with on each classical instrument a DPA,… not wireless in those days..the band all mike’d up, the light.. but Lee Towers, the singer,said”oh no guy’s!!...........no no no, the band behind me, then the strings and behind them the wood… and then the brass in the back!!.....the sound guy’s turned completely pale…I made a jump for the bar and stayed there till someone came at 9.30 and said the gig could start…never been so ashamed ever since…

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My most embarassing moment is when my partner and I were supposed to give a show in a secondary school. My partner was not there on time and I had to start the show alone. I said to the people there that the musicians who were supposed to play couldn't come and that I was replacing them. In the middle of the show the 'partner' arrived completely drunk and started to play with me. A very embarassing moment.

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Lots of embarrassing moments, like not listening to my fashion consultant(wife) and watching video of my goony self in my git-up(outfit). The worst as I can recall though was in high school. I was in a talent show. I had an acoustic number/vocals and an electric/vocals number.
We'll I borrowed a Fender stack from a manager I worked with. The Stack was taller than him. I had never played this amp before, and while The most beautiful vocal group was singing "Danny's Song" by Loggins and Messina and that amp started to squeal as it was on, I was next up and quite some distance from the amp. Stage hands were scrambling. Almost after their whole song was ruined they found the culprit was that amp. Where was the hole I could crawl into and die? I just remembered this because I had been thinking about high school as someone on this site, out of this great big world went to my school. And we've jammed several times on the loops unaware.

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Once we were playing this crappy tiny place but there was a decent crowd, having fun & ( lo & behold.. ) actually enjoying the music… needless to say EVERY LIVING THING was absolutely smashed with all sorts in that room !!
So much so one of our mates/back up singer/percussion/dancer-prancer decided he was really cool stuff & running towards the front of the stage took a stage dive of magnificent reach only to see the crowd split upon approach instead of catching him up so he fell face first, HARD !
EVERYBODY stopped for a couple of seconds until he emitted this visceral groan of pain & moved. 1 point 1 seconds later we all continued playing & crowd dancing - he then limped his way back to the dressing room…

He was FUMING at us for quite a while……..

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In the late 1960's I was "a singer", not very good, and not very smart singing in the nearly dead "crooner" style. But had the occasional gig and would be called on to do charity stuff for middle aged (or older) audiences. I got called up to do a charity Christmas show at the Beverly Hills Hilton with George Shearing (blind jazz pianist and a wonderful guy). There would be no rehearsal and we'd just wing doing some Christmas Carols. I'd never sung with him before, and wasn't used to being in the presence of Jazz royalty, so this was a real treat for me. The gig went OK, but the acoustics in the room were a bit strange. At the end George stood up bowed deeply to the opposite direction of the audience, in essence giving them a fully clothed "moon". I remember being incredibly embarrassed (although I shouldn't have been) and wondering if I should spin him around, but didn't.

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George Shearing? Wow!

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Yea, I'm THAT old! It was a charity gig...I guess he couldn't get a real singer.

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Funny thead^^
Well... Flying bras or panties so cool^^
But one day one stayed hung on the tuning peg of my guitar's head while I was playing...
It was a XL man's underpant... Still makes me laugh ^^

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