"it'll be alright on the night" : gig disasters

[RockSuperstar]

Hi guys!

I'm just back from the emergency room after doing myself damage playing soccer last night :) The doctor says I've busted nerves in my elbow, so I might have some loss of feeling for a few weeks, but i have a splint to wear to stop the bones dying on me ;).

I have a gig this friday that I'm 50/50 confident of being able to play, so this is what I was thinking:

What kinds of adversities have you guys overcome (in true "show must go on" spirit) to get to the gig on time. have you played though the pain barrier, or driven through snow/wind/hail to get there on time?

A bit of a silly thread I know, but I like hearing other players telling stories of gig nights and life on the road :)

[Koala]

Lol, once i played through a whole show having both my guitar and my mic giving me electrial shocks every time i touch either of them. Umm i played a show with my leg in a cast, and i played one show (which actually was stopped by someone else in the band i was back then) after donating blood (as much as i could) to an old lady who was pretty ill. I felt like ****, and probablly played that way but i got through the show:D.

[Gandalv]

Umm...have you read this, Koala?

http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/electrical/safety/index.php

[Koala]

:D Thanks for the link, interesting stuff. Still, getting shocked reminds me of the good ol days :D.

Considering the link you sent me; we were once invited to play a club in another city in Mexico. Just the week before we went a bass player from argentina passed away on stage after touching a rail beside the stage. Guess Ive gotten lucky more than once then.

[Bizarro]

I don't know what the situation is like in Mexico, but in the US I ALWAYS check all the outlets with an "outlet checker". This device tells me how the outlet is wired and tells me if the hot/neutral wires are reversed. If those wires are crossed you can pass lots of current through your body when you touch the mic stand and your guitar strings. It can kill.

Yes, I'm paranoid! :)

[Gandalv]

I wouldn't say you're paranoid, Bizzaro..but all the technicians probably say so. The "letter from an electrical engineer" in that link talks a bit about another phenomenon in electricity that outlet testers don't prevent, you might want to read it.

Anyway, to keep it on topic, does anyone have any tips for poor Superstar? I've never played any gigs, so I wouldn't know.. I'd just say be careful, but that doesn't say much or help much. Don't hurt yourself, at least.

[theguitarist]

Well i have not had any such experiences in music but in football.I was having back problem as i had fallen from 6ft hieght.Just after 3 days there was a big match which i just couldn't leave.So got some special training from the coach and ready to play.Coach decided that i play only half time or according to situation.I went into the field,played, but couldn't last after 25 minutes.It got so hard i had to leave the game for my sake and for the team's sake.It was fun though :D

Now in a elbow injury it would be painfull to play.How is pain infact,if it can be reduced or temporarily stoped?That would be helpfull during the show.Any such kind of medicine?

[Gandalv]

Nonono, no painkillers. That'll just make you push yourself too hard. The pain is there to tell you that you must be careful.

[RockSuperstar]

I tried picking up the guitar today, and it was like teaching myself to play again:S

I'm going to attempt a rehearsal tonight on a mixture of painkillers and anti-inflammitory drugs..... but I'll admit defeat for the friday gig if I dont fell up to it


Arrrrrgh :)

[Bizarro]

Do you have anyone that could fill in? It might be the best course of action. If it's classic rock, you shouldn't have too much problem finding somebody.

I can learn about 40 songs in 2 days if required, but I can't make the commute to Scotland to help you out!!! :) I'd like to go there someday tho'! My mom's side of the family has some Scottish history, and Irish too! :eek:

[RockSuperstar]

hee hee, let me know when you're over here Bizarro ;)

I had a rehearsal and it was ok, we'll need to drop a few numbers with huge fret stretches :)

The classic rock guys are remarkably thin on the ground over here though, at least guys with any degree of proficiency! we'v gone down that route before and its probably just as well to go with a singlke guitar player than get someone in that doesn;t sit tight with the band

[Koala]

I don't know what the situation is like in Mexico, but in the US I ALWAYS check all the outlets with an "outlet checker". This device tells me how the outlet is wired and tells me if the hot/neutral wires are reversed. If those wires are crossed you can pass lots of current through your body when you touch the mic stand and your guitar strings. It can kill.

Yes, I'm paranoid! :)

Guess im gona buy me one now :D

[Carvinite]

Guess im gona buy me one now :D

Me too :D even though I dont gig, the electrical outlet in my room may be messed up, and I dont want to be to 'electrified'!!!! :D j/k

[six_degrees]

In all the time that I have been playing I've encountered many, many a gig disaster right from the constant dropping of a pick, strap snapping, and strings going mid solo, to the morse serious ones. One time I was playing in this community centre and the place wasn't earthed right, I went to sing into the mic, didn't even get very close to it and via my lip ring (which I now don't wear) got given a huge electric shock which threw me backwards. Was pretty nasty. Another time the bassists amp went on fire in the middle of a set. Ended in tears of course. The worst though was when we were supposed to be playing t-in the park and our drummer went and got himself knocked down the day before whilst out bevvying. We had to pull out of our biggest ever gig, a really big music festival all because he can't cross a fecking road. *sigh*

[oscardoo]

Just this last Friday night our singer got picked up by the cops on an outstanding warrant (for what I'm not sure) like two hours before showtime.
We started worrying when he didnt show for soundcheck and by 10:00 I was ready to freaking kill him.
He finally arrived at 10:50pm and we went right on stage without a word exchanged and played a KICK *** show!
I guess him phoning his band with his 'only' phone call was too much to ask ;)
Man did I play hard all pumped up with adrenaline though

[Koala]

LOL Oscar, I wouldn´t mess with him, maybe he´s wanted for murder, so never say "i was ready to kill you" around him :D hehehe

[sugarbee]

I had this gig once, it was a talent search actually, and it was a pretty big deal for me at the time, in terms of recognition on my home turf. Anyway, I made it through to the finals and the day before I started to feel my throat getting sore (I 'm a singer) and I started freaking out. So I went to sleep and the next morning I woke up and yup, had a scratchy throat. Not to mention the fact that I had to drive three hours to the gig (I was away at school) and there was a snow storm beginning! Anyway, I went anyway and nursed my voice as best I could, but I wasn't at anywhere near 100%. But I got up, did my songs and did okay, no noticeable mistakes (except to me of course) but in the end I still managed to win 2nd place and a bit of cash to spend in a local music store! maybe my fear of screwing up gave me the extra push I needed or something! I dunno, but I try to take better care now!

[diamondbanger]

I remember way back a few years ago, a band I was in had a fairly big gig coming up on a Friday afternoon. The original bass player had moved away, but committed himself to playing that gig. The day before the gig, he arrived and we practiced and he went out on the town to look up some friends. The next day, 2 hours before the show, he hadn't shown up yet, and we were getting pretty worried. We had an alternate bass player, but he was not into playing that show due to severe stage fright. Finally the bass player shows up an hour before we are to arrive at the venue, it turns out the night before, he'd got disgustingly drunk and made a scene at a convenience store at 2am and the cops hauled him to the drunk tank. We take the stage and were beset by numerous problems such as the bassist's cord between the distortion pedal and the wah pedal died, the singer forgot the 2nd verse in a song, the drummer missed a few beats, and I fouled up lead break. Despite this, we managed to do allright and got quite a few comments from the people there about our music. Sometimes the worst gig, can turn out to be the best, or not as bad as you thought...

[Los Boleros]

Hi guys!

I'm just back from the emergency room after doing myself damage playing soccer last night :)
I play Soccer as well. I was playing on a team and practicing with my friends three other times a week but it was too much for and old guy like me. eventually something gave out. It took two years to heal from a damm groine injury. It gave my a terrible limp. While injured I had to perform kinda standing in one place so I would't move like a dork. It was kinda painfull all the time for the first three months. after that I kept on re-injuring it everytime I felt alittle better. It sucked.

[whopwooper]

Nonono, no painkillers. That'll just make you push yourself too hard. The pain is there to tell you that you must be careful. I'm just butting in here with the following jist...I have a new band although
we have once played a few times before it seems to be a mine field of stress
and a fight to be heard...For example lets say I knock up an idea on my Roland/bass lines/etc, and give that to my drummer...He changes everything around and makes something new.....which is kind of good but he never sticks to whats there which is all been corrected and anyhow in my eyes O.K. How far should you let this go and where are the boundrys of another version and then another version....Should he not at least attemt to stick to a rough version of my original idea???

[jade_bodhi]

Hi guys!

What kinds of adversities have you guys overcome (in true "show must go on" spirit) to get to the gig on time. have you played though the pain barrier, or driven through snow/wind/hail to get there on time?



Great topic.

Couple anecdotes... the day of a big university gig I was mixing mortar in a motorized mixer, and the belt was slipping on the pully, so I was manually assisting the pulling in its revolutions to get it going,meanwhile looking inside the barrel to see how the mortar was mixing. The wheel suddenly caught and one of the mixing paddles through a large splat of mortar in my right eye. It burned the hell out of my cornia, which sent me to the opthamologist. And it hurt bad for the gig, but I played with a patch on my eye. And I played badly, I might add.

Our lead player was once incapacitated by severe hemmorhoids during a gig. He had one of the new Nady wireless guitar attachments and spent most of the night playing his lead from a reclining chair in the dressing room off to stage right! And I will add, he also played badly!

Jade

[jade_bodhi]

Hi guys!


What kinds of adversities have you guys overcome (in true "show must go on" spirit) to get to the gig on time. have you played though the pain barrier, or driven through snow/wind/hail to get there on time?

I forgot to mention the number of times when the number in our band nearly outnumbered those in the audience. I bet you can relate to that.

J

[Carvinite]

dude, that stuff about you lead guitar player and the hemroids was hilarious, I know it sounds cruel, but that is some funny **** man, tell him he is more than a hero, he is simply unbelivable, even Dimebag wouldnt have played because of a bad bout with hemroids, ouch!