How did last night's gig go?

thecolourbox

Keefy said:

Yesterday afternoon actually, but hey ho...

My niece asked me to play for her wedding ceremony. As well as being an honour this was quite a challenge for me, as I'm generally surrounded by a band, whereas here I was performing solo guitar. I worked up pick-and-fingers arrangements of tunes that she had requested, plus a few that I had suggested and had met with her approval.

The venue was the courtyard of a delightful old country house owned by friends of the couple. The whole affair was refreshingly casual, in contrast to some wedding gigs I've done where the organiser has virtually been chasing guests, band, and caterers from room to room! I managed to find a spot that was both shaded from the sun and sheltered in the event of rain, although the latter wasn't going to happen. It was also raise a foot or so above the courtyard lawn, giving me a 'stage' and affording my kit some protection from rug rats. When first asked I had decided to play electric guitar (probably my Gretsch) through my Princeton Reverb, but when I tried my acoustic (Taylor 310 with LR Baggs M80) through it at home I realised it sounded lovely - so I now have an acoustic rig for zero extra cost.

Background (guests take their seats):
- Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- You've Got a Friend In Me (Randy Newman - from Toy Story)
- Come As You Are (Nirvana)
- Your Song (Elton John)
- Wildwood Flower (Trad.)

Processional:
- April Come She Will (Simon & Garfunkel)

Recessional:
- Blackbird (The Beatles)

I had been pretty nervous about this but all went quite smoothly, and any slips I did make were not the sort that get noticed at all. What I hadn't counted on was me tearing up when my niece emerged on my brother's arm! I don't propose to make a habit of this (@thecolourbox your side-hustle is safe), just glad to have acquitted myself well enough to receive a few compliments afterwards.

Well done Graeme - you never know, you might fancy it again at some point. It's much harder doing it for people you know than for strangers. There's plenty of room for different musicians in the side hustle world of weddings 

Keefy

Supportact said:

Well done @keefy. I've played at weddings twice and I don't think I'd do it again. They both went ok but the feeling of nerves on both occasions was horrific. I'm generally not at all prone to nerves but something different about doing it at a wedding.  Feelings of absolute dread all day long before going on!

thecolourbox said:

Keefy said:

Yesterday afternoon actually, but hey ho...

My niece asked me to play for her wedding ceremony. As well as being an honour this was quite a challenge for me, as I'm generally surrounded by a band, whereas here I was performing solo guitar. I worked up pick-and-fingers arrangements of tunes that she had requested, plus a few that I had suggested and had met with her approval.

The venue was the courtyard of a delightful old country house owned by friends of the couple. The whole affair was refreshingly casual, in contrast to some wedding gigs I've done where the organiser has virtually been chasing guests, band, and caterers from room to room! I managed to find a spot that was both shaded from the sun and sheltered in the event of rain, although the latter wasn't going to happen. It was also raise a foot or so above the courtyard lawn, giving me a 'stage' and affording my kit some protection from rug rats. When first asked I had decided to play electric guitar (probably my Gretsch) through my Princeton Reverb, but when I tried my acoustic (Taylor 310 with LR Baggs M80) through it at home I realised it sounded lovely - so I now have an acoustic rig for zero extra cost.

Background (guests take their seats):
- Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- You've Got a Friend In Me (Randy Newman - from Toy Story)
- Come As You Are (Nirvana)
- Your Song (Elton John)
- Wildwood Flower (Trad.)

Processional:
- April Come She Will (Simon & Garfunkel)

Recessional:
- Blackbird (The Beatles)

I had been pretty nervous about this but all went quite smoothly, and any slips I did make were not the sort that get noticed at all. What I hadn't counted on was me tearing up when my niece emerged on my brother's arm! I don't propose to make a habit of this (@thecolourbox your side-hustle is safe), just glad to have acquitted myself well enough to receive a few compliments afterwards.

Well done Graeme - you never know, you might fancy it again at some point. It's much harder doing it for people you know than for strangers. There's plenty of room for different musicians in the side hustle world of weddings 

I've done plenty of weddings before, but always in a band where people have had a few bevvies and are looking to dance the night away to bangin' toons. That's my preferred M.O.!

thecolourbox

Actually @Keefy by pure coincidence, the first time I played any piece of music in public on anything other than a piano was playing Wildwood Flower on Autoharp while my cousin sang

Plectrum

Keefy said:

Yesterday afternoon actually, but hey ho...

My niece asked me to play for her wedding ceremony. As well as being an honour this was quite a challenge for me, as I'm generally surrounded by a band, whereas here I was performing solo guitar. I worked up pick-and-fingers arrangements of tunes that she had requested, plus a few that I had suggested and had met with her approval.

The venue was the courtyard of a delightful old country house owned by friends of the couple. The whole affair was refreshingly casual, in contrast to some wedding gigs I've done where the organiser has virtually been chasing guests, band, and caterers from room to room! I managed to find a spot that was both shaded from the sun and sheltered in the event of rain, although the latter wasn't going to happen. It was also raise a foot or so above the courtyard lawn, giving me a 'stage' and affording my kit some protection from rug rats. When first asked I had decided to play electric guitar (probably my Gretsch) through my Princeton Reverb, but when I tried my acoustic (Taylor 310 with LR Baggs M80) through it at home I realised it sounded lovely - so I now have an acoustic rig for zero extra cost.

Background (guests take their seats):
- Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- You've Got a Friend In Me (Randy Newman - from Toy Story)
- Come As You Are (Nirvana)
- Your Song (Elton John)
- Wildwood Flower (Trad.)

Processional:
- April Come She Will (Simon & Garfunkel)

Recessional:
- Blackbird (The Beatles)

I had been pretty nervous about this but all went quite smoothly, and any slips I did make were not the sort that get noticed at all. What I hadn't counted on was me tearing up when my niece emerged on my brother's arm! I don't propose to make a habit of this (@thecolourbox your side-hustle is safe), just glad to have acquitted myself well enough to receive a few compliments afterwards.

Well done.

Fez

First time at the Rock in Horsham. First half a bit quiet but appreciative punters. Nice to see Flanging Fred turn up with his good lady. Dep singer did really well, only had one rehearsal but it went really well at least no tragic train wrecks. Trout mask Adel clone requested a tribute to Ozzy (probably she only heard of him last week) so I cranked out a couple of riffs which seemed to do the trick and was something I planned to do anyway.
First time out with the Yamaha stagepass 1k mk2 which performed admirably. 

Keefy

Out with a pub covers band last night. The venue was a ginormous pub with a huge (but not separate) ‘function room’ area at the back. Sadly they had at some point walled off the stage to create a store room and somewhere to mount the biggest TV screen I have ever seen, so we set up on the floor. I really wasn’t feeling it at first as I’d played with the band the previous night and could have done with a night in. Our sound check quickly cleared a table in front of one of the PA speakers, not a great sign!

But as soon as we started playing our first set there were people on the dance floor, and it just got busier as the night went on. By the end there were several people dancing on the tables, which fortunately seemed to have been constructed from scaffolding materials!

I ended up playing my modded (with Lace Sensors) Steinberger Spirit for half the first set and all of the second. Sometimes a guitar is just doing the thing and you have to run with it.

The landlady was so happy with the band that she paid us an extra 20%.

Supportact

@keefy - definitely had that feeling before where your initial impression is fairly negative and then it turns in to a great night.  Sounds like it did.

relic245

Never been paid more than agreed before. Top job!

Roland

Last night I went to see our vocalist sing with a pub blues band. Bass was too loud, and boomed because his cab was on a suspended floor. Guitar had WAY too much gain, and his rhythm playing was fizz and mud, with no mid range. Drums were unmic’ed and barely audible. Of course no one would turn down, but we did get them to EQ the vocals so that they cut through the “mix”.

thecolourbox

I don't normally bother posting my wedding piano gigs on here but yesterday's was a bit different and slightly relevant to here so i shall. 

I'd originally been booked as pianist for ceremony, drinks and breakfast. But the bride saw my social media post for one if the weddings where I'd also sang and played guitar and asked if she could change the drinks reception to be that instead as a surprise for her hubby to be. Do piano was inside for ceremony and then remained there for the breakfast in the same room, then I did my singing bit outside on a lovely terrace overlooking a weir and the river. The venue was called the Saxon Mill in Warwick, i suspect the name is fairly self descriptive, it was cool - the wheel was going around nicely which was fun to watch. Photos below. 

So she asked for a selection of songs, Oasis, Coldplay, Beatles, Bryan Adams, Stereophonics, Bon Jovi (amusing to imagine if you've heard me sing maybe). I managed to sneak in a few of my own favourites as well with Stand By Me (Ben E King not Oasis), You've Got A Friend (Carole King), Somewhere Only We Know. So all very middle of the road stuff but was actually quite fun and refreshing to play more wide reaching stuff rather than the more niche things i play when doing it for my own pleasure. 

I used my Harley Benton acoustic which is kind of spaced out more like a classical on the neck (I'm tempted to try some nylon strings on it now this gig is out the way). I played through my Tonex One with an IR on it and some compression, treble turned right down though as it sounded very trebly to start with. Vocals through my TC Helicon voicelive into my Bose S1 speaker. No need for a mixer as the amp was within arms reach.

I normally play finger style but I've learnt that in those situations I'm better just using a pick and strumming more basic chords whilst singing so i can keep focus better.

I struggle with background noise in general, but when singing it's mostly on the lower notes that i struggle to pitch. Ive never got around to sorting a good monitoring setup to suit my weird hearing (some level of either hyperacusis or misophonia) so I think that would help me give a more dynamic singing performance if i could. 

Anyway it went well, some nice comments from guests and was even asked to turn it up a bit whilst doing Don't Look Back Into The Sun. Not bad considering I've been suffering from awful vertigo all week and everytime i looked down at what my left hand was doing i got an awful headrush while the scenery around me moved and caught up with my balance. 

maltingsaudio

Bassist walks on stage , plugs into the Ashdown routmaster we’ve been using all weekend as backline, no sound. Signal on the input dial nothing out the amp. Changed the speaker leads and guitar cable still nothing. Put bassist on a di and fed back through monitors so show can start. Google amps manual to find there is a tiny headphone switch right by the Speakon in which mutes the speaker output. Pressed it and all good with the amp replugged bass player back in. How the bloody hell was anyone who didn’t own one be  expected to know that? And how did it get knocked or was it deliberately pressed to screw up the band?

Fez

The Brewery Shades was interesting from the sound point of view, it's lots of little connected spaces on different levels so we had to do some tweaking to get the vocals right. I went ampless as we thought the pace was a bit tight but they cordoned off the level we were on so we had more room than anticipated. We were able to park right outside as well. Plenty of friendly faces which is always good to see. The venue doesn't really lend itself to dancing but plenty of people were singing along and responding. Got some nice comments from some of the younger punters. All in all a good gig. 

Jonathangus

Aside for a couple of fluffs by yours truly, and the comedy drummer-falling-off-the-back-of-the-stage incident (fortunately before we started playing), probably the best we've done!

We do need to go shopping for some lights, though as it got quite dark in the marquee.

Fez

It was hot and sweaty. A lot of the party guest's stayed outside but those inside did party. Got some nice comments and the birthday boy enjoyed himself.
Great venue too with a proper stage.

ESBlonde

Parking was a bitch, and it was warm in an understated English way. We played two acoustic style sets and had a dep percussionist on cajon, she was wonderful and did us and herself proud. Just fret less bass, cajon and acoustic guitar with a femal lead vocal.
Audience were very good but the location meant they emptied out somewhat by 9pm and we finished shortly afterwards.
A fun night with lovely people. I made one mistake, which was to printout all my chord sheets afresh and place them neatly in set list order. Whilst practical, it bypassed all those little manual notes I’d added to the main pad and in a couple of cases had me working harder than I needed to. Lesson learned! It might be time to go digital/iPad for the rather extensive multi band sets I’m working these days, although two weeks ago a singer couldn’t read her iPad in the sunshine, my paper was well clipped down in the breeze and very legible.

BenSirAmos

Last night was sweaty
https://www.facebook.com/100002204800787/videos/815101041078374/

Fez

Easiest load in ever, we could drive right up to the fire door which was by the stage area.
Crowd a bit sparse as we were competing with a Gay pride event and boxing or something but some friends including our original drummer turned up. The people loved as and will get bookings next year. The landlady and barmaid did some hilarious chair dancing. A good night all round.

victorludorum

Fez said:

The Brewery Shades was interesting from the sound point of view, it's lots of little connected spaces on different levels so we had to do some tweaking to get the vocals right. I went ampless as we thought the pace was a bit tight but they cordoned off the level we were on so we had more room than anticipated. We were able to park right outside as well. Plenty of friendly faces which is always good to see. The venue doesn't really lend itself to dancing but plenty of people were singing along and responding. Got some nice comments from some of the younger punters. All in all a good gig. 

In Crawley?

ESBlonde

A social club, better weather/temperature than recent days. Crowd was, well not much of a crowd . But the band was tight and performed to a high standard, despite being bass & drums plus a dep rhythm guitarist and me depping on lead and vocals.
once we realised there were only 20+ regulars we allowed ourselves to play some old classics that wouldn’t normally be considered Social club staples. The response was fantastic both band and audience. The band got booked back ( always a plus point for me if I’m depping), and the load in/out was easy.

Rowby1

I think yesterday’s gig is best summed up by one of the audience members who insisted on buying me a beer after the gig.

”I f*****g hate live music but you lot are ok.”

Damned with faint praise.