| ||
| The Ovation Fan Club | ||
| ||
| Random quote: "Believe me when I say that some of the most amazing music in history was made on equipment that's not as good as what you own right now." - Jol Dantzig |
 LIVE GIG FROM HELL?
| View previous thread :: View next thread | |
| Forums Archive -> The Vault: 2006 | Message format | |
rick endres |
| ||
Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | I was wondering if anyone had any horror stories about "live gigs from Hell?" What's the worst experience you ever had playing out? Mine happened about three years ago. There was a little club nestled in some woods in Colerain Township called "Rounding Third." Mind you,this is a pretty nice part of town, and I never would have expected what was to come. I got a gig there and played on a Thursday night. It was a nice place, kind of rustic, with a bar and some pool tables, and a really nice, spacious stage. I had a great night; the crowd enjoyed it, and they asked me to come back Saturday night. I was pumped. Came back Saturday night and it was like the Twilight Zone, like warping into an alternate universe. The crowd was entirely different. There were a number of tall, dangerous-looking characters wearing boots and cowboy hats playing pool when I arrived (remember-- this was not supposed to be a redneck zone!). Some of them wore NASCAR jackets. They eyed me suspiciously as I set up my gear. It was a little nerve wracking, but I decided to soldier on. It was a disaster. The enthusiastic cheers of 2 nights earlier were replaced by grumbling and murmurring that grew louder as I proceeded through my set. "Turn the f@c$ing jukebox back on, Mary!" "Sumbitch don't even know any Merle (pronounced Murr-oll) Haggard!" It was getting tense. I felt like I was in the Blues Brothers movie. Remember the part where the crowd at the redneck bar starts throwing stuff at them? That's what it felt like-- except I didn't have a protective fence in front of me if they decided to start hurling projectiles at me! I chucked the set list and started playing every fast, rockin' song I could think of. I was burning, and I was working up a sweat. They didn't applaud, but at least the grumbling lessened and they paid more attention to their pool games and less attention to glaring at me. I tore through a blistering rendition of John "Don't Call Me Cougar" Mellencamp's "Pink Houses." That ought to hold them! The owner came up, a look of terror on her face, and asked, "Don't you know anything UPTEMPO?" Well, at that point, I'd HAD it. I said, "Lady, that's as uptempo as I GET!" She said, "Well, the natives are getting restless." I tuned a little bit, and noticed this little old guy-- had to be about 80 years old and about 5'5" tall-- standing right in front of me and staring at me with glassy, beady eyes. He was about as drunk as anyone I'd ever seen and was swaying back and forth. At the top of his lungs, he yelled out,"HEY THAR, BIG OL' FAT GUY-- PLAY SOME DAVID ALLEN COE!!!" With that his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out, falling backwards. I played "Please Come to Boston" for him (Dave Loggins wrote it, but Coe played it). I don't think the old fellow heard it though. I took a break, and by mutual agreement Mary and I decided to call it a night. She paid me for the whole night, and I packed my gear. As I was rolling my last case out of the building, a fight broke out just as I was leaving; one of the cowboys cracked another one over the head with a pool cue, and the melee was on. As I headed east on Springdale Rd., several Colerain Township police cruisers were heading west with their lights flashing. I had just left in the nick of time! Rounding Third is under new ownership now, and it's called "Beach's Pub." I'm not EVEN tempted to audition, though! | ||
| |||
| Jeff W. |
| ||
Joined: November 2003 Posts: 11039 Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Never wear purple velour at bars like that. | ||
| |||
| Knuckledragger |
| ||
Joined: April 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Clinton ,Ct | Mine happened at an outdoor gig .a band called Red House. We warmed up for NRBQ in CT once.So we felt pretty good.So we get this big outdoor jam. Set up. Everyone was fired up.We launch into the Doors Light my fire full b3 hammond organ part [a great opener by the way]I step up to the mic and POWWWWW.I see a blue flash and go flying back into the drums .Smell ozone. Sh-- that hurt.The crowd is just looking at us.Total mind eraser.I'm lookin around getting my bearings.I look down and I have six string burn marks across my forearm.Seems they plugged everything into the same power supply with bad grounds.Quick check .and away we go .Brought a new meaning to Come on baby light my fire | ||
| |||
| rick endres |
| ||
Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | Man, you were LUCKY! Good thing there wasn't any standing water on stage or they'd have been fitting you for a halo and a pair of wings. | ||
| |||
| OldLiverJones |
| ||
Joined: October 2005 Posts: 803 Location: Avondale, AZ | Your stories from hell are worse than mine. It was our first paying gig. It was at Grand Central Station in Phoenix. The drummer and the bass player went to Gramm's Central Station. That was a much larger venue and there was no way we could get a gig there. I took the bass and the drummer for the other band played for us. We had to change our set to songs I knew on the bass. It was more of a country bar. We were doing the Eagles, and the Stones. The younger crowd love it. During "Dead Flowers", I forgot the cord progression for the chorus. I stopped playing and the bottom dropped out. The guitarist, who was really the keyboard player, started yelling the chords to me. After that the manager stopped the show. We had just played 5 songs. We didn't get payed. | ||
| |||
| alpep |
| ||
Joined: December 2001 Posts: 10583 Location: NJ | well it all started in college in the late seventies and after 2 failed attemps at bands with the same egomaniac lead singer I decided to break out my d 35 and do the coffeehouse circuit. I was hanging in emerald city that famed club in cherry hill where the old lead singer used to work. I sat at his bar because he figured out how to rig the booze counter to give 2 shots of rum in the coke for 1.25 on dollar nights and I was way into quantity as opposed to quality at the time. One night I sat at his bar he pushed a drink in front of me and said this one is on me I have to talk to you. sure I vowed never to be in a band with him again but after a half dz double rum and cokes I decided to give it a go. I show up to the house for rehearsal. it is the home of the drummer his wife and baby. the drummer could beat the hell out of the skins and was into playing metal and had a kit that the slightly smaller than niel peart. He was formerally in a band called krank yes named after the drug which I later found he would cell to make ends meet along with pot and his wife was very addicted to both. she was the typical speed freak. the guitar player was a tall skinny guy that played left handed, upside down and backwards like hendrix even though he was a righty. he explained it as he started on piano and his dominant hand was his right so he figured it would be easier to fret with that hand. we had a revolving door of bass players so I can't remember who it was at the early practices but we finally got a 16 or 17 year old kid who had a P bass and an svt and fit the bill fine. after many frat/sorority parites, small club gigs, private parties, college events etc we decided to hit the big time. We booked a gig on audition night at j. c. dobbs on south st. in philly. dobbs was the cbgb'g of philly. bands that broke there were robert hazard and the heros, the hooters, ken kweeder and the secret kids, quincy, pretty poison, the reds, alan mann, george thorogood etc etc etc. after being bounced for over a month (we were an unknown local band with no management) we finally got our chance. Three days before the lead singer decided to take a road trip to south carolina, he picked up 2 bimbo hitchhikers who were headed to boston, he blew through town on his way to boston with the chicks. That is when the drummer's wife found out they were 14 and 15 and runaways. When the lead singer got to boston he called me the day of the gig to tell me he was flying back and could I pick him up at the airport in philly. of course I could this was the day of our big gig. Yes his flight was late but we got to the drummer's house to load up the equipment on time. The bass player was MIA. It was touch and go with him because he was underaged and we did not want any trouble with the club owner. We finally went to find him and found out that his girlfriend just broke up with him that day. How did he cope? he drank heavily and dropped acid. We poured him into the car and went to the gig. At the gig we realized he was in no condition to play so I instruced the drummer on how to pull the plug out of his speaker cab so he would not be heard. i pumped up the bass on my guitar and just hit the lowered notes really heavy. Years later I found out that I discovered "power chords". I think the bass player did not even make it on stage for the 2nd set but it did not matter. a strange thing happened that night at the club. sure all of our friends were there to support our first big time gig but the word suddenly got out on the street that this cool new band was playing at dobbs and soon the place was packed. they had to call in for the auxilary bartender to come in that night, they also had to open up the upstairs and call in yet anothe bartender. Yup people need to drink when they come to see me perform. the club owner was very happy and at the end of the night paid us an additional 100 bucks and booked us for another gig on a better night. that is when it all went bad. the drummer who never helps us break down mistakenly put the club mics in out bags. the club owner went ballistic. "you will never play in this town again " he threatened. It was all an honest mistake. the bass player's acid started to kick in full force and he wanted to leave the club. he rolled his 8 x 10 svt cab to the edge of the stage and let it drop. it crashed to the floor he was not happy. the drummer was assigned to take him outside. while outside he started to calm him down. but again in a rage he put his fist through the store window next to the club and the alarm started to go off. At this point, the equipment was loaded, and I could hear the sirens in the distance and I took off leaving the drummer and the high on acid drunk and now bleeding badly bass player on south street. we never played there again, although we begged and it was a magic night for our music. Maybe some day I will tell you how we played another bar down the street and we never seemed to get our correct pay from the bar owner, I found out later we were working off the lead singer's coke bill....... there are a million stories in the naked city... | ||
| |||
| FlySig |
| ||
Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4071 Location: Utah | My live gig from hell was back in college. The girlfriend and I go to this coffeehouse show, and it's her ex-boyfriend performing! Because I was an idiot and trying to be all mature about the ackward situation (yeah, like she didn't know who was playing when she invited me...) I got to be the backstage guitar tuner for this jerk. And, because I was a real idiot, he never played a guitar before or since then that was in more perfect tune. Yeah, it was a real hell of a night. | ||
| |||
| rick endres |
| ||
Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | So far, Al's gotta be the winner! Good Lord! | ||
| |||
| Northcountry |
| ||
| Joined: February 2004 Posts: 2487 | Yeah Al I remember the nights when "Word of Mouth" alone could fill a Bar in an hour! As bad as the Drugs were (or good depending upon your viewpoint) and all the Shit that traveled with them, back in the day, It was good to hear the way things were with audiences. That's about it though. I remembered something, reading your story. We bought our second PA system from a club owner who had ended up with the system as payment for money owed by a bigger band we were sort-a chasing after who had apparently been borrowing cash from this guy. (We all knew he was sort of a Coke Dealer/Bar owner/Whatever Deal Came Along kind-a guy) Nice Speakers though custom built cabs with Fane's, Crown Amps, Big Peavey board. About as good as it got back then. We were happy to play a few gigs for free to have this stuff. (I think about 6) And the owner was good with us he let us take the door anyway and we made out real good. Horror stories.... I am sure I will have more as this Acoustic Duo progresses. Audiences are tough around here. The private Gig we did a while back went great but averyone there was into the music and the guy paying us is an aquaintace friend of both of us so he did not care at all that we were unprepared for the last hour or so of our 3 hours of music. He had no set time requirements for us but we played pretty much everything I could do ayway. My partner was of course spot on perfect But I am catching up. He does a solo act currently and tells me that the shit that bothers him the most is when an Entire Bar will just act completely uninterested in anything you play. ?? Well we will see. If they don't like the Floyd then we have Tull. If they don't like the Tull we have Zeppelin. And if they don't like any of those choices they are brain dead and do not deserve to hear the Beatles anyway. Tell those Stories guy's Sometimes this stuff is real funny....... Randy | ||
| |||
| First Alternate |
| ||
| Joined: May 2005 Posts: 486 Location: North Carolina | About 20 yrs ago or so someone from the crowd wanted to know if we did any Neil Young. Our front man replied that we didn't have anyone who could sing that bad. It went down hill from there. | ||
| |||
| rick endres |
| ||
Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | Yeah, don't diss Neil! If ANYBODY can cut across generations and find a common ground for an audience, it's him. Many a shaky gig has been saved by cranking out a few Neil Young songs. | ||
| |||
| cliff |
| ||
Joined: March 2002 Posts: 14842 Location: NJ | Last Friday night, Rick & I played for the first time at this little BikerBar in the hinterlands of NorthernNJ. As usual, we warmed-up with some of our mellower material, and then "ramped it up" as the night rolled merrily onward. It seemed no matter WHAT we played, all we could get from this crowd was a wee smattering of applause. Now, I'm NOT that insecure that I need to have my musical prowess reinforced by thunderous applause (but then again, perhaps I am :-) but for crissakes, we were playing stuff that goes over REALLY well at a variety of other venues we play, but THESE guys were just giving us NUTHIN! . . . Finally, after pounding out a killah rendition of of one of our better tunes . . . we were rewarded with . . . . crickets. I stepped up to the mic and said: ". . . Y'know, . . it totally AMAZES me that with the total lack of APPLAUSE around here . . . that there aren't MORE handicapped parking spots out in front of this fuckin' place!! . . ." THAT comment illicited laughter and applause from everyone around the bar, and the night went a little better from that point on . . . . . . plus, . . it didn't hurt that the liquor was kickin' in . . . Sometimes bar crowds are like old mules . . . . y'just gotta smack 'em in the head once in a while just t'get their "attention" . . . | ||
| |||
| Rasmuth |
| ||
Joined: August 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Churchville, NY USA | "He was formerally in a band called krank" I remember the band Krank...and it looks like they're back together... http://cdbaby.com/cd/krankrocks | ||
| |||
| fillhixx |
| ||
Joined: November 2005 Posts: 4832 Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | It was the BAND, not the gig! Many decades ago we'd been rehearsing this trio for most of a year. Once a week at the drummers place. He was a genius(drummer? :eek: ) , capable of intense concentration. He'd been playing just 6 months when I found him at a jam. ("See the left foot, that's 1/4 notes. The right, that's 1/8ths. On the snare I'm doing 16ths. And the right hand, that's 20th notes.....even Neil Peart doesn't play 20th notes!" Not neccessarily great for a dance band, but he didn't drink or do drugs and had a wicked sense of humour. The bass player was a longtime friend (even still) and one of the best bass players I've ever known. (though he does have a weakness for playing 'lead bass'.) I was the strummer and screamer. we were tight and funny in rehearsal. I got us our first gig. At the legion, natch. Though the dancefloor was packed all night, both nights, the president of the legion decided early on he didn't like us. (I found out later he didn't like anyone who didn't play Vera Lynn...) He was screaming in the bass players face to turn down while we wer playing. The bass player wanted to stop and drag him out to the parking lot. We turned down, 'till just the monitors were on. The dancers are screaming to crank it up, the three old guys and the president are scowling at us all night long from the back of the room with thumbs down. Oh well. We got paid. That, thankfully, is my worst horror story. The rest are all hillarious! But I know some people who are even funnier than all of you..... :eek: :rolleyes: | ||
| |||
| OldLiverJones |
| ||
Joined: October 2005 Posts: 803 Location: Avondale, AZ | Fillhixx: But I know some people who are even funnier than all of you..... Now that's funny. Are they all Canadians? | ||
| |||
| OldLiverJones |
| ||
Joined: October 2005 Posts: 803 Location: Avondale, AZ | Rick: So far, Al's gotta be the winner! Good Lord! You read all of it? ;) ;) | ||
| |||
| rick endres |
| ||
Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | Yeah-- I can relate, although we never had anything THAT extreme! | ||
| |||
| fillhixx |
| ||
Joined: November 2005 Posts: 4832 Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Originally posted by OldLiverJones: No. But they all want to be! ;) Are they all Canadians? When God made Canada The Canadian Apology | ||
| |||
| OldLiverJones |
| ||
Joined: October 2005 Posts: 803 Location: Avondale, AZ | Now, that's funny! :D | ||
| |||
| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] |
| Search this forum Printer friendly version E-mail a link to this thread |
| This message board and website is not sponsored or affiliated with Ovation® Guitars in any way. | |
| (Delete all cookies set by this site) | |