What is it like to PERFORM LIVE?

[deantaylor]

Tell us a good story or two about performing live. I am just a songwriter. No performing talent. But I dream about it. Let me live vicariously through you.Tell some stories, like .. what was your best gig ever, your worst, best venue you ever played, worst venue, ever smash a guitar on stage, got any pics of you in a terrible outfit (Kiss make-up anyone?), forget the words to more than one song in the same set, most famous band/artist you ever opened for, most famous band/artist that ever opened for you, .... or whatever comes to mind ... funny, sad, serious ...Thanks for sharing,Dean

[billg]

wow Dean, I'd have to take that in segments . . . yes, I'm that old!There's no way i'll remember all of them but here are bands or artists that MY bands have opened for (pardon the spelling!);Deep Purple, Richie Havens, Steve Forbert, 38 Special, Wet Willie, The Smithereens, Adam Ant, Rick Springfield, Dave Edmonds, The Bodeans, Chris Issaks, The Bangles, The Red Rockers, The Rain Dogs, The Motels, The Plimsouls, (i'll have to come back when I think of more)I was in a very popular band in Va. Beach in the 80's and Modern English on their first tour opened for us. Our guitar player used to be a guitar/bass tech for a lot of studio players in NY and once Kenney Aronson (pretty well known bass player although I think I spelled his name wrong!) came to visit him and brought along Brian Setzer (he was playing in Brian's band . . . this is post Stray Cats). Really cool guys, we drank too much, the club was empty and the 2nd and 3rd sets just became a big jam session. I'll never forget what an unassuming nice guy Brian Setzer was . . . just a real regular guy.

[davekershaw]

May 1, 2009, 8:11am, deantaylor wrote:Tell us a good story or two about performing live. I am just a songwriter. No performing talent. But I dream about it.Ha! Nice one Dean!Had a gig once; must have been seventeen or so.Did the first set, then all the band went down the pub!Had a "few" pints then got back on stage for the second set - once we'd found the steps! This club was full, and I don't "think" we even got as far as a jam!I think we called ourselves "The Professionals" Club owner refused to pay us at the end for some reason! Then there was the time Elton John opened for us and ...no, come to think of it, that was a dream!

[ragani]

Hey Dean! Goodness... where to begin?? So many stories.... Our band is not the usual kind of band-- no beer, no light shows, no scantily-clad band members, no English words... LOL! But with 300-400+ people in attendance every month, it's the largest of its kind in the nation. So one event I remember in particular was in our former hall, in the basement of a church-- we were all set up, soundcheck was done, and everyone was piling in (it was standing room only in our last days at that hall). I was in the restroom with my lead backup/flute player and the lights went out. And they stayed out. For the entire night. Found some police officers and they told me the entire block's transformer had blown and it would be a few hours before it would come back on.So I went back to the hall to tell people they'd need to go home (as there was no electricity for the system, no lights in the entire block), but there were already a few hundred people jammed in the hall, and they were all singing with the musicians who had started playing acoustically. It was so dark! There were tiny little blue lights everywhere from people's cell phones, and one man got an enormous flashlight from his car trunk, which we placed at the front of the hall for a little light. I looked decided I had to go for it anyway, somehow, even without a sound system. What a strange night it was! I nearly lost my voice just from speaking and singing so loudly (it was a lower-ceiling, carpeted hall too), and it was very difficult to hear anything-- I couldn't even hear the guitar player, who was sitting right next to me! I saw him playing, but could only hear the drums and the voices of everyone in the hall. Such a strange night! Funny, I received the most e-mail from people after that night, saying how much they loved the feel of that night, the dark room, the hundreds of little blue cell phone lights... and even without hearing much of the musicians, it was one of their favorite nights of kirtan. I enjoyed it in a strange kind of way too, even though I strained my voice and couldn't see or hear the musicians-- it was a kind of bad dream and a mystical night all at the same time. I'm glad we did it, because it became a kind of landmark event for us-- people still talk about being at the kirtan the night the lights went out.Here's a quick pic of 1/2 our group just before soundcheck in our former hall: http://www.raganiworld.com/g-kirtan1_ro ... h.htmlIt's kind of large, so I didn't want to post it here...So there's one story to start it off... Gotta run now, as we've got to go set up for our event tonight!Raags

[deantaylor]

Bill, Cool. I remember once you mentioned opening for Forbert .. wow .. nice list of other bands. And you gave Modern English their start. Nice of you. Jamming with Setzer sounds great.Dave, I guess 'The Professionals' werent too professional. lolRaags, very cool. Sometimes the mistakes turn out to be the best thing of all. And the best stories.Thanks for sharing guys.Dean

[davekershaw]

May 1, 2009, 8:58am, deantaylor wrote:Dave, I guess 'The Professionals' werent too professional. lolYeah, I'm squeezed in between two pro's here!Never did much performing, preferring to write from quite early on.Can't remember the real name of the band. It's so long ago!Good fun thread!Where's Ern? He'll have some good'uns!Have a great weekend.

[sgs4u]

Performing live, especially improvising with great musicians, or playing in a really tight act, is like seeing and being God at the same time, at least to me. It is communicating without words, on a level of the soul. On par with the best sex I've ever enjoyed. But you always get out of it what you put into it. There are some buried threads on this forum where lots of people have talked about their best gig or their worst gig ever. Pretty entertaining stuff.

[ggalen]

I've had long, appreciative applause in a well known club.I've also had a guy throw a peanut at me, bouncing off my guitar as I played in a Ground Round Restaurant.If possible, play somewhere where the emphasis is on music, not on drinking or socializing.

[mojobone]

I would also have to take this one in shifts. I've opened for some names you may have heard-Trick Pony, Molly Hatchet, a few others, but one in particular stands out, since his name came up in a recent thread, here; Pinetop Perkins. Sort of points up the bittersweet nature of the live gig experience, too. My blues band Red & The Roosters, was slated second on the bill behind The legend hisself at the BluesBerry Festival in La Porte. Unfortunately, Pinetop was a no-show, (health problems, we later heard, and understandable, I'm sure; he was already well into his nineties, even then) So we ended up headlining, and the pressure we felt was pretty intense. I hardly remember the gig itself, what we played, or anything, except the intense thunderstorm that hit just as we finished our set. We were playing on an outdoor stage built onto the side of a barn that had nothing but slats for a roof, so we had one of those near instantaneous, hell-bent for-leather post set teardowns, trying to keep the gear from getting ruined. In the darkness and confusion, I left my guitar behind, and didn't realize this 'til I arrived home in Lafayette, 'bout sixty-nine miles later. Holy crap, now my main axe is in a strange town, lyin' out in the rain, for all I know, and of course, I freaked; I had a scheduled gig in town the next night with my funk band, so I immediately fired up my trusty-er, rusty Chevy Cavalier, and headed back to LaPorte, another 120+ mile round trip, back to the barn, searching with a flashlight, but to no avail.Next night, I used my Hamer Sunburst backup axe, feeling decidedly un-funky. The gig went okay, other than the funk band's drummer quit after that night, but that's another story. So, several phone calls to the fest organizers later, I learn that the cats from Buck's, the premier blues club of LaPorte, had rescued my guitar from the barn and had it drying out next to their furnace. I had it back by the end of the week, and still enjoy playing it. (it's a red DeArmond with a Bigsby) And we must have done something right onstage that night, cuz they invited us back to headline for real, the next year.

[byllsong]

My most exciting performance.Years ago my band was in a talent contest.It was down to us and another group. We would be judged by points and audience response.They went first...Whew!As they counted in to play 'Ladies Night' by Kool and the Gang, the drummer dropped his sticks.I saw the energy and umph just drain out of those guys.They started again, but the damage had been done. People booed and laughed.I felt sorry for them. It could have been us. This however, gave us a boost and we felt we had a chance to win this.We counted in and hit the ground running with 'Sultans of Swing'I sang and played lead guitar...and we nailed it.The audience roared and the judges smiled.We won. It was the single most exciting moment of my musical experience.It was great. Wow...such a sweet memory. Billy