This past Saturday night my band SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE played @ Blue Line Bar & Grill (Woodridge IL). This gig was a charity hockey game between USA/Canada benefitting the American Cancer Society.
We were asked if we could sing the National & Canadian Anthems to start things off and Cory/Jennie agreed to do it. I got there early and the puck was to drop at 7pm so I just hung out at the bar. Cory/Jennie were running behind and by 6:45pm I haven't heard from my contact yet about where Cory/Jennie were to go. I finally got a call 5min later & I told them Cory/Jennie were on their way & I asked them what's the latest they have till...7:20pm. Cool, they walked into the arena at 7:10 and I (via cell phone) directed them where to go. They didn't have any jackets on and had to wait 5-10min before singing. They sang both anthems for us at practice on Wed night and it sounded AWESOME!!! However now they're in a hockey rink & it's COLD!!! Cory pulled it off well but I could hear Jennie shivering while she sang, still good but not as good as she did @ practice.
So after that we loaded all our gear up into the bar on the 2nd floor. We decided to set up along one wall and this place NEVER has bands play there. I walked down the wall...no power outlets!!! Great, there was an outlet in the ceiling with 6 plug ins (afterwards we learned it was a 6 plug adapter plugged into a 2 outlet box). We ran EVERYTHING (Guitars/PA/Lights) off one power cord and taped it to the wall over the door so no one would trip over it.
When we started our 1st set we had about 50ppl there. As we played through our set NO ONE acknowledged us AT ALL. No applause, no dancing...NOTHING??!??!? :? These people couldn't care less if we were there or not. We even played "Chelsea Dagger" from the Fratellis, this is the song they play at all the Chicago Blackhawks games (hockey) when they score a goal. It was a "shoe in" to go over well!!! Nothing, it was the LAMEST crowd I've ever played for and BY FAR the WORST GIG I've ever played. :cry: It was like playing a funeral. At my previous worst gig at least they started getting into it by the middle of the 2nd set. We didn't even get that far. By the time we finished the first set (and we cut 3 songs out) we had less than 10ppl left. Our drummer asked if we could just quit and get ½ the pay & go home. I went up to the guy running the gig and asked him if he wanted us to continue playing because obviously no one is really sticking around. So we decided to just call it a night. The other guitar player told me of a gig he did where they had 4ppl in the bar and they did the same thing however they made them play the whole night...ok...that's worse!!!
Now I have to say we sounded GREAT, played well & both the guy who hired us and the bar owner said we were a GREAT band :) ...however obviously this crowd wasn't there to party. We did have an issue with the PA, the amp we were using had a safety thing built into it so when we were playing and drawing a LOT of juice this amp started to shut down instead of blowing the fuse (since we ran everything off one cord) & the volume of the vocals suffered. Honestly if we did blow a fuse I don't think anyone would have noticed anyway. I joked that maybe we should light the bass player's pants on fire (ala Motley Crue)...maybe that would generate a reaction??? Either way we just treated it as a “paid practice†and went home early. The guy who hired us said “hopefully when we do this again next year it will be different when we have you guys back outâ€. He says he does other benefits too and said he'd be in touch again for those. I don't know if my band is going to want to do any of these again... :?
Our next gigs are Jennie's (North & South) B-Day Bash!!! On Friday (4/8/11) we are @ Sullivan's (4660 W 147th St, Midlothian) & then on Sat (4/9/11) we are at Sharkey's (601 Railroad Ave,Round Lake). BOTH ARE NEW ROOMS FOR US but we've played @ Sullivan's before when it was Papa T's & the decor is REALLY NICE now. No more concrete floor now it's all that fake wood floor stuff and has more of a LARGE pub feel to it w/a HUGE stage to play on!!!! These gigs should be a TON OF FUN as we know a LOT OF PEOPLE who will be coming out for these shows!!!!
Pics are up from our Mugshot's gig on 3/5/11 gig & I put these pics up on my Facebook page (Tom McLaughlin) & on MySpace (Tommy Gunz).
Ambition is the path to success...persistence is the vehicle you arrive in!!!
When we started our 1st set we had about 50ppl there. As we played through our set NO ONE acknowledged us AT ALL. No applause, no dancing...NOTHING??!??!? :? These people couldn't care less if we were there or not. We even played "Chelsea Dagger" from the Fratellis, this is the song they play at all the Chicago Blackhawks games (hockey) when they score a goal. It was a "shoe in" to go over well!!! Nothing, it was the LAMEST crowd I've ever played for and BY FAR the WORST GIG I've ever played. :cry: It was like playing a funeral. At my previous worst gig at least they started getting into it by the middle of the 2nd set. We didn't even get that far. By the time we finished the first set (and we cut 3 songs out) we had less than 10ppl left. Our drummer asked if we could just quit and get ½ the pay & go home.
Sounds like our Black Friday gig last fall at Hooah's. The hotel was empty, and most of Fort Lee was on leave. it was DEAD.
These are the gigs that test your ability to engage the audience. We never give up and go home though - even if we're the only rowdies in the room.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
Just think of it as a paid rehearsal, and try to have fun amongst yourselves.
Still, the guy that booked it seems to be happy with your performance, so you got that going for you.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Just think of it as a paid rehearsal, and try to have fun amongst yourselves.
Still, the guy that booked it seems to be happy with your performance, so you got that going for you.
Exactly, if the guy paying you likes your act on a bad night, imagine what he'd say after a good night.
Thanks for the responses. Yes, he said he was going to re-book us again for that same event next year and some others he has planned...we'll see...
Looking forward to our next gigs...
Ambition is the path to success...persistence is the vehicle you arrive in!!!
Sounds like a nightmare gig!
Fingers crossed for you it was a one off with a crowd like that! (although on the plus side - at least there wasn't any fighting :D !)
I agree Apache, & the part about the crowd not "fighting" made me laugh!!!! :D
Ambition is the path to success...persistence is the vehicle you arrive in!!!
That sux TG oh well just gotta go with the flow and don't dwell on it, doubt if it had anything to do with the band.
When I worked at the club in town that could hold around 2,000 we'd have these metal/hardcore shows with several bands.
I can remember many times when some of these bands were playing to less than 20 people (in a big room that holds 2,000...20 is like no one is there)
And these bands were usually loud ( the sound guy at the club liked everyone to be loud)
There were many nights when we begged the bands to just stop and go home.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Thanks for the response Cnev, nope I'm not dwelling on it. Our band is a "party band" and the crowd we played for wasn't interested in that. The only thing that was getting attention was Jennie's boobs from the guys from Canada :shock: I would've stayed but the only people left at the end were my friends who come out to almost every show so I didn't see the point in continuing...
Now the next 2 gigs (4/8, 4/9) are Jennie's B-day gigs so I'm expecting to rebound well from this one. Can't complain though its been a couple of years since I've had a gig like this so I'm sure I'm spoiled.
Ambition is the path to success...persistence is the vehicle you arrive in!!!
Yea Tommy you never know what kind of crowd you'll get especially in a gig like that, I guess that's just part of the deal when gigging.
Actually stopping proabably was the best thing unless you really needed the practice which I don't think you guys do.
We'd hated those bands that were playing to 10 people at 12:30 when everyone wanted to go home and wished they all did the same as you guys.
But in that club I think the allure for the bands was it had a huge stage, a massive sound system and many national acts played there so it was a huge step up from just a bar where you might be set up in a corner or something. Plus there were a couple dressing rooms upstairs above the stage that I quess made them feel like they hit the big time.
If I was playing I might not have wanted to stop either but when you've already listened to 7 Death Metal/Hardcore bands and now there's no one there....time to go home.
Good luck with your upcoming gigs I'm sure they'll be better...maybe get a fight started for atmosphere...Ha J/K
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
