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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
 Posted - 09/16/2008 : 11:07:48
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After the sad news about Rick Wright and the shenannigans at one of our gigs last saturday..i thought maybe it might cheer up a few people... anyone else got any stories...??.i used to play in a band with a dodgy promoter and a lot of our gigs were in the 'less savoury' parts of the city..putting it mildly.... i've had a few 'blues brothers chicken wire moments'in my time...one of the scariest was when a full scale riot started in the bar we were playing in between the cops and a bunch of gangsters..an off duty cop spotted a small time crook who was on the run from prison and he called for back up,as soon as they arrived and tried to arrest him the place erupted with pool balls and cues being used as weapons to fight the cops..(our guys in uniform don't carry guns)the bouncers ran into the mens toilet and locked themselves in.....one guy jumped onto the stage looking for something to throw and it's one of the closest times i've ever come to clocking someone with the boom end of a mic stand.....needless to say the gig was over and we had to talk hard and fast with the police to get our equipment out of there...the place was closed down for two weeks afterwards over it...looking back now it all seems funny but at the time it was a bit hairy as i was only 17 and a the singer and keyboard player were older and had seen this sort of thing before.. another time i saw a guy been dragged out by two bouncers and he must of been a contortionist in a previous existience.... as he managed to get an arm or a leg free,kicking over or picking up something off every table on the way past and throwing it behind the bar smashing bottles and mirrors everywhere......... |
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0110402712
Copper Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 14:24:59
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Hi Guys
I in another life was a roadie for a few cover bands, filled in one night for a well known Melbourne cover band at a joint on the north side of town, things were going ok got there about 3pm meet the boys, set the gear up. Band kicks off about 10pm, 1st set is going well, life is good! Band takes a break, some idiot proceeds to get himself kicked out cos he is pissed and stupid. nothing new I say life is still good. Idiot go's around the back finds a fire hose reel, next to said fire hose reel is the fire exit ( go figure ) funny i didn't know the was a fire exit door behind the stage. anyway 2nd set kicks off life is good again. idiot holds fire hose at the bottom of the fire exit door and opens the valve,
by the time we figure hay that's water, cos ya cant hear it(band is loud ok)and ya cant see it (good light show going on)Band is on a riser, punters are same level as band. so anyway its like shit! the 3 phase is in 2 feet of water! 45 seconds to find main board and pull breaker, 30 seconds more for staff to find hose and turn it off. shortest gig i ever did, loaded and out the door before 12.
probably the scariest gig Ive been at.
forgot to mention when they turned the hose off the idiot still had hold of it,
yes officer he fell over, 
yes officer on he's own,
no officer we didn't help.
cheers |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 14:53:29
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Hi 0110402712
Nice to see you back.
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 15:19:13
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good one. .i bet you have seen a few things on the road as well... we drove through a snowstorm one time with no windscreen wipers on the van coming home from a gig...i had a piece of string on one side of the drivers wiper and he had the had a piece on his side....we drove for nearly 100 miles like this... ..another time the exhaust fell off driving down the road...try putting that back on with no tools,a roll a gaffa tape and heap of beer on board....at 5am in the morning.............. |
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redundant
Silver Member
Turkey
247 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 10:46:52
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This is from about 10 years and two bands ago...
Names withheld to protect the innocent & the guilty
My guitarist at the time had a few connections with people in the Istanbul music scene, & was contacted by this sorta-well-known songwriter who had just arranged an album for his girlfriend, a singer with an adequate voice & not much else (bit of a dog-face, and as bright as a 5W bulb). Anyway, she needed a backing band, & we got volunteered by my guitarist (exposure, eh). The rehearsals soon began to piss me off as she would hardly ever show up as we learned the songs (NOTE TO OTHERS: pay attention to warning signs).
Anyway, day of the gig, & the band (without our diva, of course, who will be traveling in a bit more style) meet at the practice studio, get in the mini-van, & start driving, & driving, & driving. This being 10 years ago, I was still relatively new in the country & my Turkish was very limited, so I had no idea where we were going. I also discovered later that the rest of the band was withholding this information from me, knowing that I was about to be rather unimpressed. Too late: was already seething with rage.
After about two hours, we arrive at our destination: a shopping centre outside of Tekirda� (a small city to the west of Istanbul). So our gig is in a suburb of an Istanbul suburb. Next, we see the stage. That was easy, because it too was in the parking lot of the shopping centre. And then we get to hear the lovely music playing over the PA: yogurt commercials. Yes, we are playing as part of a yogurt company promotion. Joy.
Aside from the diva going into a panic about her hair, only to remember that her sister (who had accompanied her) was a hairdresser, the rest of the day & the gig went off okay: had to save her ass once when she went into a chorus early (show up to rehearsal, bitch). At least I got to scare the locals: we were asked to do one warm-up song, so we launched into Pearl Jam�s Do the Evolution. And, to my knowledge, this would have been the only time people in that community ever saw a Boston Bruins jersey.
As it turned out, this was the only gig we played with the diva: the album sold about 13 copies: 12 to family members, & one to me to learn the songs.
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 11:00:44
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Warning signs taken and noted......we have been asked to back out people before as well but we always declined with a "i think the diary is full for those dates already..sorry..." the one time we did was a special occasion and we did about 40 mins with an elvis impersonator ...good fun... .. but i would have been pissed off with the shopping centre gig for a yogurt promo as well.... |
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 17:55:25
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Well, not real serious scary moments so far, but I do remember when we had our first gig (always scary ).
We had finished, and were packing up our gear when some drunk idiot literally walked over my gigbag with my bass in it, which I'd put on the drumriser.
Lucky nothing happened to the bass, but no more gigbags for me, I'm using a hardshell case nowadays. Period.
A funny story is when someone in the crowd got so excited that he tripped and rolled over the monitor on my pedalboard engaging my wah.
[ pom-pom-pom-WAOOHpom-pomwhat the hell?!] |
Edited by - Dirk on 09/18/2008 17:59:58 |
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Goran
Double Platinum Member
Sweden
2203 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2008 : 08:38:12
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The scariest gig I ever had was about 20 years ago, the band I was in was hired to play some private party. Our roadie/vandriver had booked it and didn�t know much about what the �private� was, just where it was.
So we arrived quite late and the party had already started and we found out that it was a meeting of Bandidos, the motorcycle gang�
Nearly all of them where stoned and drunk, really drunk. Of course it was not what we have expected and for myself I was really scared of all these big, fat, drunk, tattooed men (only very few women there).
With that band we played some sort of Swedish Progressive improvised music, with lefty lyrics and attitude. I remember we started of with something like a bluesrock number, it went OK. But when we played some of the intended material we all saw that the Bandidos didn�t like it at all� It was like the Blues Brothers in the country club.
We had to play something different for sure and as all of us had played blues and classic rock for many years that was the only way to go.
And it worked!! We really got those big, fat etc men having a good time, puuuuh, and nothing violently didn�t happen to us. They liked us so much we had to play for hours, and we didn�t dare say no.
We left very late, as discrete as possible, glad that nothing bad really happened to us or the equipment.
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2008 : 10:21:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Goran
The scariest gig I ever had was about 20 years ago, the band I was in was hired to play some private party. Our roadie/vandriver had booked it and didn�t know much about what the �private� was, just where it was.
So we arrived quite late and the party had already started and we found out that it was a meeting of Bandidos, the motorcycle gang�
Nearly all of them where stoned and drunk, really drunk. Of course it was not what we have expected and for myself I was really scared of all these big, fat, drunk, tattooed men (only very few women there).
With that band we played some sort of Swedish Progressive improvised music, with lefty lyrics and attitude. I remember we started of with something like a bluesrock number, it went OK. But when we played some of the intended material we all saw that the Bandidos didn�t like it at all� It was like the Blues Brothers in the country club.
We had to play something different for sure and as all of us had played blues and classic rock for many years that was the only way to go.
And it worked!! We really got those big, fat etc men having a good time, puuuuh, and nothing violently didn�t happen to us. They liked us so much we had to play for hours, and we didn�t dare say no.
We left very late, as discrete as possible, glad that nothing bad really happened to us or the equipment.
good one........another reason to have a couple of deep purple,AC/DC numbers in the setlist to carry a roll of chicken wire in the van......i must remember to call into a builders providers soon............ |
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bossarea
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
3652 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2008 : 15:05:28
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| Nothing really scary has ever happened to me but I once played at a wedding where our drummer got really drunk. The wedding kept going way into the night and everyone got a bit intoxicated but no one more than the drummer. He fell of the throne during Money for Nothing and didn't wake up until the next day. |
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2008 : 17:38:00
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| So he didn't get his chicks for free huh? |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2008 : 18:13:08
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.......Not really suprised with drummers...ours is nutcase as well..our last drummer from a good few years back did something similar to what happened bossarea..he was very fond of tequila and arrived at a gig with half a bottle already gone and having smoked a load of 'herbal' cigarettes ... he ended up falling asleep on top of on of the toms near the end of the gig..the bass player hit him with the headstock of his guitar to wake him up and it ended in uproar to the amusement of the audience.....another band i was with one time had a drummer with a habit of putting leather jackets in his bassdrum ..the only problem was they weren't his...!!!! after we got reports from a few gigs that it was going on we started keeping an eye out only me and the singer knew about it....... but never thought it was actually someone in the band.. .the singer twigged him doing it one night,his mate or girlfriend would take the jacket and leave it near him and he would put it in his bass drum...we got rid of him on the spot even though it left us a bit stuck.... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 09/24/2008 18:15:18 |
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jack
Platinum Member
USA
1418 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 05:14:43
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| When I was in high school, I almost impaled the other guitarist in the band with my BC Rich Warlocks reverse headstock because I ran across stage, a la Scott Ian, but he didn't see me running towards him until I was just a couple feet away from him... |
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leonard d rock
Silver Member
Philippines
301 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 12:37:33
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i had lots of adventures and drunken fun with a band i was in college. 1.my band were told to fill in at the last minute for another one. we played in a rice mill in the middle of a rice field. place was muddy as hell. we had to sleep over since the vehicle which brought us there broke down. we had to haul our gear and ourselves in a farm trailer pulled by a tractor and we had to dodge the mud splatter and splash coming from the tractor wheels. we weren't even a dance or country band, we were playing hard rock and heavy metal.
2. we were again asked to fill in despite our protests that we weren't a dance band but since we were paid in advance and twice our rate we took it. it was in another farm and we had to play during a town beauty contest. some old folks requested a chacha and a boogie and a waltz to dance over. what we did was play CSN's "long time gone" in the different beats (drummer's idea) above and the people didnt notice.
3. scariest. we were paid to play in a war zone for army troops on r&R cause the regular army band was on military alert. we were in the middle of the set when something exploded causing all our army audience to lock and load their weapons. we finished the gig ringed by a platoon of soldiers in full battle gear. requested songs? "war pigs, seek and destroy, burn" and twice requested (at almost gunpoint) status qou's "in the army"
LDR |
Edited by - leonard d rock on 09/25/2008 12:40:23 |
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 17:18:59
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Hi LDR, Metallica's For whom the bell tolls would've been a nice one too.
We actually played in some guys livingroom once with my old band. We cramped 30 people in there, and there was beer spilling all over his marble floor with mud being dragged in from outside. I don't have to tell you what a pigstie is was when we left The next day it turned out that his long curtains had soaked up most of the beer! |
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verivorax
Platinum Member
Canada
1185 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 21:54:13
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2 really memorable gigs.. Please remember we were a blackmetal-style band, some covers, some awful originals.
1)Murillo Fall Fair, outside Thunder Bay, Ontario. for $200, we played on a 20-foot long flatbed trailer (fitting a metal drum kit, 2x guitar, bass, keys, singer) only to be STOPPED by the organizers because our music was spooking the horses for the chariot race! SO.. we laid our equipment down and they towed the trailer to a new location on the fairgrounds. New location was right behind the main bandshell which featured country music. SO.. we played our metal set, to everyone's ire. We had nobody watching us except one guy who stopped to hear "For Whom the Bell Tolls" albeit with new lyrics (demanding our $200 for playing the awful venue..). Metal and Farming.. not a nice combo.
2) Playing at an anti-violence festival at a youth multi-cultural centre. Asshole drunken high audience member (who forgot that we were friends when in grade 2..) starts heckling us, so I make kissy faces at him.. The audience loves it, he does not. At the end of the song, he climbs the riser, grabs the microphone and says "excuse me while I punch out the guitarist".. and proceeds to give me his ham-handed right hook. I nearly fell back into the cymbals, but managed to stay up. We start the next song almost without missing a beat, but I'm seeing stars! The guy ran, as someone called the cops and he was already wanted for something...
Then years later, I was working at a video store in Toronto, and he came in to get a membership. I said.. "hey, you punched me onstage in Thunder Bay!" and he was all.. "uh..yeah... *chuckle*" as if it was alright.. I dismissed his chuckle and ignored him after that.
That's all I have!
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Funniest or scariest gig stories......
