equipment failure during a show? well, have i got a story for you. after my band broke up i joined the army and set of basic training and AIT. after AIT i went home for a few weeks before going to new york for my first duty station. while i was home me and the guys got together and decided we would do a 'reunion' slash 'farewell' show to be our final gig and to go out in style. and boy did we ever. 9 song setup, supposed to take 30 minutes. we did 6 songs and it took 45 minutes. here's how the night went, and we'll call this the 'worst show ever'.
before the gig we had practiced everyday for a week straight to remember songs we hadn't played in 7 months and get them perfect. our back up guitarist had joined a new band. since i had used his drums before as the band drums i assumed we would use them again. only problem was that he was letting the new band use them and we had to share them. so we get to the show, his new band is playing 2 bands before us. they get up, play, then tear down and leave. halfway through the band after them i realize they took the drum set with them. when i asked them bring it back as we had agreed they said no straight up. (lots more to this i wont' go into here). but no worries, my bass player had a band playing there too and said we could use his drums. so sweet! problem fixed. get up to play and here's how it went.
song 1: i had to scrounge for sticks, and managed to find 4. none of which matched. well, in the first song one of those sticks broke and the snare switch broke. wonderful.
song 2: i punch through the batter head on the snare, a friend brings a snare and (no kidding) holds it while i finish the song. then the bass player breaks a string (THE BASS!!). after the song i set up the new snare, he tunes a new string and we're good to go.
song 3: back up guitar player breaks a string, while attempting to fix it in the middle of the song his amp starts cutting out. he missed his solo.
song 4: the only song of the night that goes decent, not good, just decent. no big issues.
song 5: in the intro both guys that broke strings, back up guitar and bass, break more strings. we have to stop the song and start again. at this point it's getting comical. they tune up and we drive on. half way through the first verse (and this is the only time i've ever heard of htis happening to anyone, anywhere) the foot board on the bass pedal breaks. in. half. i attempt to kick the bass to keep a thump going, doesn't really work so i just stamp on the ground for the rest of the song to keep myself in time.
so now we are just over half way into a set and we're close to 30 minutes. quick band huddle to figure wtf we're going to do. this is when brilliance strikes. my buddy dalton in the crowd also plays drums (he's the one that brought the snare earlier), so i ask him to take the last stick and use it on the bass during the song that we decide will be our last. up to this point the back up guitar player's amp has been coming and going as it pleased, and we thought we had it fixed. so, 10 minutes later we start our last song. the 15 people who remained were laughing almost as hard as we were at this point.
song 6: with dalton pounding away on my kick, we start. if anyone cares, i still have the pictures to prove this too lol. half way through the guitar amp dies, power goes out and thats it. he misses his only other solo of the night. to his credit he stood there for a few seconds fiddling with it then said f**k it! threw his guitar down and started dancing. the end of this song is were all hell is supposed to break loose. i knock over my whole kit keith moon style and we walk off in a haze of distortion and feedback. true rock stars. and this part went perfect. the only thing all night, controlled chaos, that goes perfect.
we all went to steak and shake and laughed harder than we've ever laughed in our lives at that point. no one else inside gets the joke.