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Thread: What's the strangest gig you've ever played?

  1. #1

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    Default What's the strangest gig you've ever played?

    I played in a millionaire's mansion one time. We were like a wallflower. Nobody cared that we were there. We were just background noise.

  2. #2

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    Every gig I played with this 1 guitar player was strange.

  3. #3

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    We played a small bar, that we'd played several times before, ,on a Saturday night that happens to be on the venue's sound guys birthday. Granted this was a rough place, but we"d always had a good time there. Well, the sound guy was tripping. He'd told several of us he was tripping on acid. Systematically throughout the night he individually pissed each of the band members off with asinine comments and suggestions about our music, and individual aptitudes. The gig went well, but everyone wanted to take this clown outside and shove him in the dumpster.We all agreed to never play there again. This was a place who called us to book gigs.

    Fast forward 4 months later, and video of the band , and only our band, from that crazy night is featured the venue's commercial, without even asking us for permission.
    Last edited by Rotarded; 05-10-2015 at 12:20 AM.

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    I played the gig, didn't make any mistakes all night.
    Last edited by 8beat; 05-10-2015 at 05:08 AM.

  5. #5

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    An old band I was in did this acoustic thing with bongo's and that's fine but I'm not much a bongo player. It was a local talk show/comedy show and we were the featured band during the breaks. I felt dumb playing this little set of bongo's, I wasn't really into doing it.
    Last edited by slinky; 05-10-2015 at 08:35 PM.
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    Played an AA convention for 1500 people that wanted a drink.
    I've never seen so much smoke and coffee.
    We had beer in a cooler backstage in the band trailer.
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  7. #7

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    Pretty much any wedding reception for farmers....especially dairy farmers. They get up at like 4:00AM, so by 8:00PM, the party's over. Last fall we played a 40th anniversary gig in the back room of a local bar. By 9:00PM everyone went home. They still had a keg of beer and food left over, so they just turned it over to the bar patrons.
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  8. #8

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    When I was in college (back in the stone age ) I was in a four piece cover band and we had a fairly steady gig in a bar/club in the basement of a downtown building (can't remember the name of the place). We played three 45 min. sets with a 15 min. break. We had the gig on weekends for about four weeks. During our break there was a Middle Eastern belly dancer, young girl, who was accompanied by her father on ude and a young man on a tov, much like a dumbek. About the second night the drummer left (got crossways with the father-either got fresh with the girl or didn't show up on time for the gig, I don't remember). During a break the father approached me and asked me to fill in. He would show me how to play with his music. In the 70's it was my first exposure to 5/8 music. We would play a set and during the break I would accompany the belly dancer. Then we would play another set, etc. I never got a break and by the end of the night I was exhausted. This went on for four weeks or so. Strange gig.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2Bluz View Post
    Pretty much any wedding reception for farmers....especially dairy farmers. They get up at like 4:00AM, so by 8:00PM, the party's over. Last fall we played a 40th anniversary gig in the back room of a local bar. By 9:00PM everyone went home. They still had a keg of beer and food left over, so they just turned it over to the bar patrons.
    Oh, that's hilarious! I used to be a farmer and I still live in the sticks. Even now I am in bed no later than 7pm, and get up between 2-3am. Those hours used to be real killers when I was younger - party until two am, then try to get up at six for work. This is never a problem until I have a gig that begins about the time I normally go to bed. Thanks for the story.

    GeeDeeEmm

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    Let me first start off by saying I am not prejudice against gays. With that said.. in an older band we were hired to play a private party wedding ceremony. We never mind private parties as they pay well. Turned out to be for a gay male couple. We knew a head of time of course so we weren't horribly surprised but it was awkward for awhile but they were a great crowd of people and had a lot of fun.

  11. #11

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    I had the Walter Ostanek Polka gig when I was a lot younger, so was Walt. We did the Center for Hearing Impaired. Oh the Irony.
    click to see my kit re-veneer/finish
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  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by signia fan View Post
    I had the Walter Ostanek Polka gig when I was a lot younger, so was Walt. We did the Center for Hearing Impaired. Oh the Irony.
    I'll put this on "my one to remember" list!
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  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by signia fan View Post
    I had the Walter Ostanek Polka gig when I was a lot younger, so was Walt. We did the Center for Hearing Impaired. Oh the Irony.
    We were asked a few weeks ago to play a short gig for the local state home for the mentally handicapped. The clients range from severely handicapped to those who can function in a group home setting. I talked to several local bands who have done this,and they all say it they loved it. The clients all love music and love to dance...they even dance when your tuning & doing sound check, LOL. They don't care what you play, or if you play good or bad...they just love music. The administration will only let you play for about an hour, otherwise they over-exert themselves dancing. Seeing the clients derive so much badly needed joy from your efforts is worth way more than the money they pay you.
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  14. #14

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    A couple of years ago we played a Halloween gig.
    we pulled up outside, and started to unload, then the doors burst open, and a man ran out followed by his wife and her Mum, who were beating him up! I was dressed as the devil, with horns and hairy trousers, my mum was a witch, George was a zombie and Tom was beetle juice. They stopped to look at us then carried on fighting literally on the bonnet of our car!
    Just then Lee, who was with us too, came out the pub dressed as Dracula, and then the cops turned up , they looked at us then arrested the women.,
    We went inside and the man sat and watched the gig, covered in scratches!
    That was nerve wracking! Never went back to that place !

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2Bluz View Post
    We were asked a few weeks ago to play a short gig for the local state home for the mentally handicapped. The clients range from severely handicapped to those who can function in a group home setting. I talked to several local bands who have done this,and they all say it they loved it. The clients all love music and love to dance...they even dance when your tuning & doing sound check, LOL. They don't care what you play, or if you play good or bad...they just love music. The administration will only let you play for about an hour, otherwise they over-exert themselves dancing. Seeing the clients derive so much badly needed joy from your efforts is worth way more than the money they pay you.
    Cool!
    I forgot we played at a centre like this, there were kids and young adults in wheelchairs, in a mosh pit! It was crazy!

  16. #16

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    1. I did a New Years Eve party for this organization... http://www.alcor.org/
    These are people that believe in storing/freezing your body after you die so when medical technology in the future advances, you can be brought back to life. I made me feel like I was inside a cult. The leader spoke - his followers admired him........I thought I was in Guyana. They paid well.

    2. I played the Memorial service for our bass player that died of cancer. (he requested we play a set). Toughest gig ever did. Brutal.

    3. Played a rocking wedding reception where most everyone had cerebral palsy. The groom worked at a UCP home...he loved our band and would bring clients to our gigs now and then. He ended up falling in love with a girl that had cerebral palsy...they got engaged and they hired us to play their reception.

    Sadly..His family was very upset with him about this....and believe it or not boycotted the wedding. He got married anyway....and everyone from the home (and more) supported them.

    Turned out to be a really good party...and was actually a really cool thing to be a part of.
    "The problem with information on the Internet is that you can not validate it's authenticity. " -Abraham Lincoln

    SILVERFOX DRUMSTICKS & SOULTONE CYMBALS Endorsing Artist.

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by SpazApproved View Post
    Let me first start off by saying I am not prejudice against gays. With that said.. in an older band we were hired to play a private party wedding ceremony. We never mind private parties as they pay well. Turned out to be for a gay male couple. We knew a head of time of course so we weren't horribly surprised but it was awkward for awhile but they were a great crowd of people and had a lot of fun.
    I played a birthday gig at a gay bar back in the day called Big Mama's in Hayward CA.

    Along the edge of the bar were planters containing various live flowers.

    During my drum solo they threw flower petals at me to show their appreciation.

    A humorous memory to say the least.

    My weirdest was playing a Musicians Performance Trust-fund concert band gig at a nursing home.
    Picture a 50 piece brass band playing Stars and Stripes Forever to a bunch of drugged up elderly folks that literally are passing out during the fanfare movement.
    Man ,there ain't nothing good about growing old.
    Last edited by pgm554; 05-11-2015 at 04:53 PM.
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  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by EddieV View Post
    1. I did a New Years Eve party for this organization... http://www.alcor.org/
    These are people that believe in storing/freezing your body after you die so when medical technology in the future advances, you can be brought back to life. I made me feel like I was inside a cult. The leader spoke - his followers admired him........I thought I was in Guyana. They paid well.

    2. I played the Memorial service for our bass player that died of cancer. (he requested we play a set). Toughest gig ever did. Brutal.

    3. Played a rocking wedding reception where most everyone had cerebral palsy. The groom worked at a UCP home...he loved our band and would bring clients to our gigs now and then. He ended up falling in love with a girl that had cerebral palsy...they got engaged and they hired us to play their reception.

    Sadly..His family was very upset with him about this....and believe it or not boycotted the wedding. He got married anyway....and everyone from the home (and more) supported them.

    Turned out to be a really good party...and was actually a really cool thing to be a part of.
    I think #1 is the most strange one yet. #2 would have to be the toughest. I can't imagine. I don't even know how strangers can sing/play at a funeral. I get very involved in the music anyway. If it's s sad song at a funeral....no way I could do it. MAYBE....I could do an Irish wake and play drinking songs
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2Bluz View Post
    We were asked a few weeks ago to play a short gig for the local state home for the mentally handicapped. The clients range from severely handicapped to those who can function in a group home setting. I talked to several local bands who have done this,and they all say it they loved it. The clients all love music and love to dance...they even dance when your tuning & doing sound check, LOL. They don't care what you play, or if you play good or bad...they just love music. The administration will only let you play for about an hour, otherwise they over-exert themselves dancing. Seeing the clients derive so much badly needed joy from your efforts is worth way more than the money they pay you.
    This is the coolest gig I've ever heard of. Very touching. Thanks for posting.

    GeeDeeEmm

  20. #20

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    Man, these are really cool stories!

  21. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2Bluz View Post
    We were asked a few weeks ago to play a short gig for the local state home for the mentally handicapped. The clients range from severely handicapped to those who can function in a group home setting. I talked to several local bands who have done this,and they all say it they loved it. The clients all love music and love to dance...they even dance when your tuning & doing sound check, LOL. They don't care what you play, or if you play good or bad...they just love music. The administration will only let you play for about an hour, otherwise they over-exert themselves dancing. Seeing the clients derive so much badly needed joy from your efforts is worth way more than the money they pay you.
    I did a gig like this once......but after all was said and done, turns out... I was in a bar in Apache Junction AZ.

    "The problem with information on the Internet is that you can not validate it's authenticity. " -Abraham Lincoln

    SILVERFOX DRUMSTICKS & SOULTONE CYMBALS Endorsing Artist.

  22. #22

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    My strangest gig was actually a practice. A couple friends and I couldn't practice in any building when we met up(poor planning on our part) so we went to a nearby gazebo and I used my Cajon, at first 2 or 3 people we had met recently sat down and listened while we played but in about 10 minutes we had about 65 people sitting in or around the gazebo listening and requesting songs after 20 minutes we had about twice as many people but I quit counting at 80, it was kind of awesome.
    Wear hearing protection.

  23. #23

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    Have only done like 15 gigs, but the weirdest gig I've done was also the most important. A neighborhood in Prague has a festival using different venues for 2 evenings. Each band plays for 30min, then the next band plays 30min after that. They told us to show up at 1pm for a 4pm start. We're all there, and nothing nothing nothing. at 330 drums and equipment finally come and we do our sound check. The soundguy flips out over my crash, as if I'd just played the loudest gong on the planet. He then thinks I'm a loser because I don't have rods. And the screw you tighten to attach the pedal to the BD was missing. Anyway, the gig went fine, only the drummer after me played with a rod, and everyone else was 5x more loud than we were. Anyway, my mentor says czechs are the worst sound people, so whatever.

    The last gig we did, it was a smaller venue, they miced the drums and had two more mics over the kit- total overkill. The sound was completely off (the HT was louder than the entire band), we had feedback several times...seriously, so much work, and not even the basics right!
    Last edited by jgziegler; 05-12-2015 at 03:53 AM.
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  24. #24

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    Back in 1979, we played a gig at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Gallaudet University is an institution of higher learning for the deaf.
    Last edited by inthpktplayer; 05-12-2015 at 06:22 AM.

  25. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by EddieV View Post
    made me feel like I was inside a cult. The leader spoke - his followers admired him........I thought I was in Guyana. They paid well.

    Just drink the vodka straight up.
    Don't use the Kool-Aid as a mixer.
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