I was playing one time in front of thousands of people. I went to kick off the next song and just froze. I could not "hear" the song in my head! It was the ultimate brain freeze! There was dead silence in the air. Finally the bass player leaned over to me and said, "Let's go man, what are you waiting for?" - So I just started counting but didn't even know what tempo I was supposed to be counting off. I just hoped and prayed the band would know and that I would be quick enough to adapt. We sort of just fell into place. The band was furious. I was humiliated and embarrased. How I kept my job, I'll never know. But they just forgot about it and never even really came to me and asked me about it. I never knew whether that happens to other musicians or not. I just kept it to myself. I worked much harder after that day to remember everything. I would always have little cheat sheets and anything I could do to keep it from ever happening again. It's a frightening experience!
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