Another gig threatened by rain

Tomorrow night is our biggest gig of the year. It’s an outdoor Rib Festival that my band has played every year since it’s inception 5 years ago. We usually have 1000 to 1500 people through the course of the night. There’s another band from KC that will be using our equipment and trading off sets back and forth all night (which actually works pretty well).

Right now, the forecast is thunderstorms...all evening, LOL. I hope it holds off, ‘cause this is the last gig we have booked....at least until fall. Our lead singer is having serious medical issues (maybe need to give it up), and my brother (who plays Bass) broke his left shoulder :doh:. I have a fill-bass player that sings, so we’ll be making it up as we go. Probably be doing a lot of songs that we’ve never even played before. It will be a “follow the Bass player and watch for the changes” kind of night :punk:

Once we get this gig over, I’m going to re-assess the whole band. We may look for new lead singer and/or change many of the songs. We may continue with our current cast of characters but only play occasionally. We’ll see what direction we want to go. In the mean time, our newest lead guitar and vocalist has suggested I join him and a Bass player friend of his in a Blues trio. He has the connections to book some top level places. I’ll probably take him up on the offer, but for now, I just hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow night!

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Originally Posted by N2Bluz

I just hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow night!

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So....tonight's the night.

Good luck and I hope for clear weather for your entire show.

Let us know what happens and how you fair with the Blues Trio. Could be an easy money gig if the music suits you.

So far, as of 2:30pm it’s a crap shoot for the weather. We’re supposed to start at 5:00. We’ll show up and see what happens. I told them that if the pavement is wet, we don’t play. It’s a safety issue.

Good luck man, keep us updated.

Well.....thankfully, it’s over, LOL. Disaster seems to be the best description. We got set up and started the event off with 3 songs. The fill-in Bass player did OK, but it was kinda rough in spots. We then turned the stage over to the other band from K.C. And they rocked. I got to sit in with them on a few songs. They did an hour set.....and the rain began. We pushed all the equipment into the center, threw some tarps over everything, and the lowered the canopy we were playing under all the way down. This is were it gets good...
After 10 minutes of rain, our acting lead vocalist/guitarist (the one that wants me to join him in a Blues trio) decided he was “done” for the night. He loaded his stuff and then asked me if I had collected the check from the event yet. When I told him “not yet”, he got all belligerent with me. He proceeded to hurl insults at me and then asked if I “had his money”. In all honesty, I actually had enough cash in my wallet to pay him his cut right then. But....I figured if he was going to act like a male reproductive organ, he could wait until I cashed the check like the rest of us. So, I told him when I cashed the check, he’ll get paid. He hurled more insults (called us amateurs) and left....taking the Bass player (who is his friend) with him, LOL. Evidently, that’s how “professionals” act?? :think:
Well, we waited another half hour and the rain cleared. So here we are....no vocalist, no Bass player...and the event manager asking us to start playing again. :doh:
I explained that two of our guys had left, and luckily, he was very understanding. Since we were supplying the sound system for the event, I felt obligated and offered to set the PA back up if the other band wanted to play out the remaining 2hrs. They were very appreciative, and that’s exactly what we did.
I felt like a complete moron and was embarrassed sitting there while another band played the whole rest of the night. Especially in my home town.
Suffice it to say; I believe I’ll have to kick the guy out of the band, as this is not the first time he’s acted this way. He’s good, but not good enough to put up with that kind of behavior. As for forming a trio with him...that doesn’t look real desirable at this point either.
Oh well. That’s how it goes in this business!

Wow Brian that sounds rough. Sorry to hear, but at least you found out the singer's true nature before you started another project with him. You showed class staying and helping with the PA.

Not surprising. Some people take on the Diva approach and that just won't do.

We hit that plateau last weekend and I thought Radioface was done but the guitarist came around, apologized for his amateur behavior and we sort of "cleared the air" of festering grievances.

Lastly we had to reschedule our outdoor gig for today due to impending thunderstorms all day.

Thanks, rain!

This was not the first time. Honestly, I really like the guy and really like playing with him. Regardless of his outbursts, he’s got a good heart deep down. He just has that Diva thing that comes out occasionally. He’s fully aware and the first to admit it. He’s even told me to just ignore him when he gets that way. The thing is, he’s never gonna change and I don’t need the hassle or stress of dealing with his crap. We ARE amateurs and we do this for fun!

On the positive side, I have no other gigs booked, LOL. We can take some time, get everybody healthy (or look for replacements), work on new material and re-group. If it takes a year, then I’m OK with that.

Brian, get with someone that you trust implicitly and put your own band together. You don't have to have the "best" guitar player, keyboard player, etc.etc.. You just want people that are on the same page with you and, preferably reading the same sentence.

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Originally Posted by rickthedrummer

Brian, get with someone that you trust implicitly and put your own band together. You don't have to have the "best" guitar player, keyboard player, etc.etc.. You just want people that are on the same page with you and, preferably reading the same sentence.

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Agreed. With the exception of this guy, that’s pretty much what we have. He’s good, but we don’t really need his guitar abilities. In fact, I would rather have someone that can sing well and just play simple rhythm on an acoustic or Telecaster all night. We still have our long time lead player...who’s one one the best in the state (and the nicest guy you’ll ever meet). That’s what makes this a relatively easy decision.

I already have a potential replacement in mind. He’s a friend of a friend, but I’m told he’s a super nice guy and is looking for a band. I heard some of his stuff off an album that he recorded several years ago, and he sounds like what we need. We’ll see.

Also, we have a banjo player that’s been joining us occasionally. He’s a good guy as well. I think we’ll be back and better than ever once everything is said and done.

Well, here I sit, staring out the window and watching the sun as we got rainchecked on our gig today....sigh

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Originally Posted by Bish

Well, here I sit, staring out the window and watching the sun as we got rainchecked on our gig today....sigh

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Well, I wish they would have just canceled our last night, LOL. I just spent 2hrs unloading and unpacking all our equipment. Chords, mics, drums, PA.....every last piece, along with all the cases...and spreading it all out on the floor of our practice room. We put a de-humidifier in the room and shut the door. Even the stuff that we never set up was damp with the high humidity. All 10 of our Sure 58’s were covered in condensation. The grill on one of our monitors is broke because in the mad scramble to load up, someone bounced it off the concrete. My drums look OK, but the BD got a little wet.

I know it sucks to get your gig canceled, but it’s better than getting caught in the rain like we did!

Well, that sounded ugly.

Brian, that was the gig from hell. You took the high road and acted like a pro. The other two guys? Well, they don't deserve to be in the band in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by late8

Brian, that was the gig from hell. You took the high road and acted like a pro. The other two guys? Well, they don't deserve to be in the band in my opinion.

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It was ugly. BUT, honestly, I’d rather have it turn out like it did then play a full night in front of 1000 people with a fill-in Bass player, doing songs we’ve never done before, LOL. Maybe it was a blessing...
The Bass player was actually a super nice guy (and talented). He only left because he rode down (about 60 miles) with the guitar player.