Worst performance experience

[T Texas]

Back in the 90's I had an original band. We weren't particularly loud for a rock band (more new wave). Another band asked us to play a show with them at a coffee house. We said yeah even though it didn't pay. We were just trying to get our name out at the time. During our first song the manager comes running out of the kitchen and starts yelling at us something to the effect of "If y'all are gonna play that loud you can just quit now!!!"

So we did. Packed up and left that crap hole and his patrons listened to the crickets until the next band showed up. Which by the way, were considerably louder than us.

[SFCRetired]

I haven't played in front of a lot of people. Some, but not a lot. One time years ago when I was taking lessons my teacher hooked me up with another one of his students who needed to play with someone. So I said okay what the heck. ( I could already play a lot of country and old time blue grass songs)

Well he invited me over for a family barbecue. Uncles aunts grandma grandpa, the whole family type of barbecue. When I got there he had his garage set up with amps and all the equipment a band would have.

Let's play some songs he said, okay let's play. Everyone sitting around watching us and it became obvious real quick neither one of us could play the same songs.

It was a disaster. I never went back.

[FriedaCalor]

I was a punk rocker back in the late 70s. I have stories that are absolutely unacceptable in a nice forum like this. I will tell one that isn't too obscene:

We were playing a show in Fresno at an Indian Center that was next to a cow pasture. Midway through the set, a big guy in a mohawk grabs a guy with long hair, pulls out a really large Bowie knife, slams him against the stage, presses his head down on the stage and with his knife raised is screaming "I'm going to kill you hippie" over and over again. About 4 feet from us. We stop playing, kindly ask the madman to let him go and he does. No bouncer, no police were called, seemed to be just another crazy show around those parts. We continued and finished the set. Scary.

[muscmp]

annual awards function at a large inn holding 400 people. besides playing in the office band, i had one of our singers ask me to back her on fleetwood's "landslide." she and i had worked it out and felt comfortable. but during the song she lost her place. so i just kept playing the verse so that she could capture it and we'd go into the chorus together. it took a while but she finally nodded to me and we made the change and even finished the song with her doing a great job. for a while there i really didn't know what to do.

play music!

[jc1027]

Back in my electric days, played a show with a great crowd for a major label that was interested in us. Free bar and a very drunk drummer....you can guess how that went!!!!

[Captain Jim]

In 1972, I was playing in a horn band out of Lawrence, KS. We were scheduled to play at a community college in Dodge City, KS. We didn't know it ahead of time, but there was a Knights of Columbus convention in town at the same time. Didn't make any difference for the gig, but it meant there were no motel rooms available. I managed to find 5 rooms at a non-chain hotel. We set up at the college, then drove the bus to the motel. When I went inside to get the rooms, the old boy behind the desk said, "Get outta here long-hair! We have some respectable white people coming."

I explained that we had called ahead, weren't going to cause any problems, and...

He pulled a gun from under the counter and put the barrel up to my forehead! "I said - get out!" One of the other guys who came in with me wanted to continue the discussion - I said, "Yes, sir. OK, we're just backing out here."

The gig went fine. When we told the college contact about what happened, they let us use the showers in the gym. Afterwards, we were about to start loading equipment into the bus, when we saw 3 cowboy types hassling a long-hair couple. Nine of us walked over to break it up... one of the cowboys said...

"Oh, yeah, well we've been beat up by more guys than this before!"

Yes, really.

OK, not so much about the playing experience, but it was an interesting night.

-----------------------------

Same band, playing for a county fair. Our agent booked it as a percentage of the gate, with no guarantee. Unusual, but he told us, "They are expecting a couple thousand people - it will be good."

We got to the place, tracked down our contact person, and he showed us where we would be playing. Our contracts were very specific about stage size, electrical requirements, etc. There was a concrete slab with what looked like a short snow fence around it. They would be collecting the gate as people came in the opening in the fence. I asked, "What's to keep people from just standing outside the fence and not paying?"

"Oh, I didn't think about that."

I asked, "Where do we plug in?"

He asked, "You need electricity?"

Yes, really.

They had someone from the power company come in and run a line off a power pole with two 4-connection boxes. None of us wanted to touch it. We finally got set up, did a sound check, then went back to the motel to clean up. There was a good size crowd when we got back... they easily had the size crowd our agent was told... but about 90% of them stood outside the fence, where they listened and danced... for free.

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Worst actual gig experience. I was playing in a duo with an amazing piano player. We were playing at a hotel lounge... it was actually a good gig. The piano player was going through an ugly divorce... she walked in with another guy (we had a full house), sat up front, and started making out with the guy... just to "twist the knife." I said, "Let's can this."

My buddy said, "We need the gig." I could see the heartbreak. I can't think of another time I felt SO bad for someone. She was pure evil. He didn't want the divorce.

We played through it.

[Dan Lampton]

My wife and I played a church tent at the Morton, IL pumpkin festival. The back of the stage was against the beer tent and a ferris wheel was right out side the tent. Not sure if anyone heard us - we sure couldn't hear ourselves. It was quite a blessing.

[3rd_harmonic]

my best and worst (simultaneously) was one of the two times I played in public. crowded room. people talking...loud. I play bare fingerstyle. couldn't even hear myself play. So it was all about muscle memory. But then .... no one heard my mistakes either.

[James V]

I have played a ton of bad gigs with bad experiences. The good outweighed the bad, but some gigs were really trying. Mostly fights, bad audiences (play Freebird!), drunks, Yokos and such.

Two bad experiences I remember:

1. A new singer joined the band. His voice wasn't the best and his stage presence stunk, but his gear was top notch. However, his worst quality was his general disposition. He was fire all the time. During the first gig-yes, first gig-he and the hotshot guitar player (not me) got into an argument pre-gig. Not a little argument, but a major blowout. I had to calm the two fools down, so the gig wouldn't be canceled. They were willing to physically fight over their placement on the stage. It was bad and unprofessional. The drummer, whose timing was always a "bit off," quit and left us in the lurch for a series of gigs. The singer's voice "went out" after the next series of gigs, so he was booted. Luckily, we knew the songs and could sing them without him.

2. Hotshot guitar player, who become the defacto "new singer," and whose voice was questionable, decided to book a gig without our input. The bass player generally managed the business side of things. His guitar playing was quite good though and we were a good tandem of dual guitar. He toured and played with major acts, so he had been around. He called me and said he would be "a little late" for the gig he booked. He arrived over two hours late! Needless to say, the gig was canceled and we were never booked there again. The bass player quit and kicked the guitar player's amp, which destroyed the speakers of his vintage 60's Marshall cab. I would never do that, but it was a long time coming.

A little crowd story (I have a lot of these): Two girls start arguing during our second break over a guy. They start getting very loud, so the owner of the club asked us to start playing, instead of kicking them out. I never understood why he asked us this. It was a regular gig and he was a good owner. A minute into our set, they start fighting--pulling hair, biting, smashing bottles, etc. It was rediculous. The police eventually arrived and arrested both of them. The guy they were fighting about had a warrant and was arrested too. Everyone stayed at the gig to watch the hijinks though!

I am sure I could think of more, but these are memorable and funny.

[piper_guitarist]

Getting booed off stage at an open mic. Need I say more?

Needless to say I never performed again after that incident.

[hermit]

Originally Posted by piper_guitarist

Getting booed off stage at an open mic. Need I say more?

Needless to say I never performed again after that incident.

Were you playing the bagpipes?

Originally Posted by hermit

Were you playing the bagpipes?

I think he had his banjo that day.

[GaoFeng]

Gigging in China brings you numerous unimaginable circumstances. I was once asked to play at a farm themed fashion show on a massive pile of....vegetables. A massive pile. I vigorously declined and ended up right beside the wasteful pile.

[cattzap]

Not a guitar related thing, but back along time ago, I did part time DJ stuff. Lost of cash to be made quick. Went to Dallas to do a wedding in a VFW hall. Got setup. Then went to the wedding, and slipped out early to be back to be ready for the crowd. Walked in and everything that was setup was gone. Someone in a uniform said the General came to town and wanted to have lunch so everything had to go. The people had to wait till this clown and his court left and we had to set all the reception back up and proceed. Alot of people sat in a hot parking lot for an hour. It was very nonprofessional on the VFW for renting the place and allowing this person to just walk in and take over the place like that. They still had to pay full hefty price for the place.

Anther time, i had a helper go with me. He picked up a rough looking gal, with the intentions of taking her home. She sat up on stage with us and wanted to help. I told her when we were done, she could roll up a pile of cords. She took that as now and pulled all the cords out of the wall.

Another time, which wasn't a bad time, I did a wedding reception way out in the boonies. Well before cell phones. My deals were made cash only, $50 and hour and after midnight $100 an hour. At midnight, someone got up and asked for donations to keep the music going. Each hour this happened. At 6 am I finally said stop. They had collected so much cash by donations I just found a giant paper towel box and was dumping it all in there. Not counting it each time. The wife was furious when I got home and was convinced I ran off with a floozie. I just carried everything in then dumped the cash on the floor and told her to tell me how much it was when I woke up. It turned out to be something like $6,400. I wonder how many woke up the next day wondering where all their cash as at.

Another time, during a setup, something hit the stage like someone had thrown a rock. After everyone left and I was packing up i looked around for what was thrown. It ended up to be a really nice wedding ring. Never found the owner and sold it at a gold exchange for about $3500.

Another time a college ring hit the stage. It had a name it so it got returned.

Doing some live sound at a funeral, one time they had a special singer coming in. He was late, brought me a cassette with his background music "ready to go" I had him put an X on the correct side. He walked up to the front, pointed to me to GO and it was the wrong song. He left the correct tape at home. Another funeral there was a special lady going to sing. There were so many flowers they put her in place by the piano then finished filling the gap with the flowers. When she was about to start, she turned the switch on the mic off. Nobody could hear her and there was nothing I could do. I got rid of any mics with a switch after that.

Another guy a wedding was going to sing a special song. There was so much stuff by the piano he couldn't get beside it so i mic'd the piano ad gave him a monitor. He said he didn't want to hear a monitor, he wanted to hear the piano. I gave up trying to explain to him that he would hear the piano with the monitor, so he stood off to the side with no monitor and couldn't hear the piano and was very off.

I haven't played live and solo with just me and my guitar yet. Not a singer so I probably wont ever. With a bass joining in with someone that mad eup songs as he goes with no idea what he's thinking or where hes going. Impossible to follow. Felt kinda stupid just standing there.

[Woodstock School Of Music]

Somewhere in the early 1980's my band was touring clubs in the Midwest. We were a former country rock band in the midst changing into a full fledged rock band after the Suburban cowboy fad had passed.

We got a 5 day booking in Quincy Illinois with rooms provided so as we pull into town we see a Holiday Inn near where we're going so we assumed that's where we'd be staying. It looked like a nice town until we got to the bar to setup and we notice that this one block of town was pretty seedy looking and run down with a flea bag motel, a sex shop and the bar. We were informed that we would be staying in said flea bag motel

To make a long story short we played and on the first night our soundman was threatened by the good old boy bouncer with a gun to turn the volume down, the bar we were in was attached by doors to another bar loaded with transsexuals, transvestites, prostitutes and men seeking their comfort. We were hit on and propositioned back at the hotel which was a breeding ground for this kind of activity and the place was so disgusting you didn't want to touch anything. The hotel was full of down and outers and addicts and next day they carried out 2 dead bodies from the hotel and we met all kinds of "interesting" people that were living there

We played the second night and at the end of the night we were informed that our services would no longer be required so at 3 am 8 hours away from home we packed up and drove home that night, we couldn't get out of there fast enough it was literally like the scene in The Blues Brothers but with some Twilight Zone thrown in.

I remember waking up in my bed and thinking the whole thing was some kind of surreal dream. We were a group of 19-22 year old rural kids that had never seen anything like this in our lives