Drinking beer at a gig

The reason it's "very nice" is because it's a belgian beer, not french. The frogs know about wine making, but zilch about producing a decent beer. For that, you'll have to go a bit up north where the world champion brewers are :)

On topic, one of the reasons why I'm religious with the 'don't drink and drive' thing, is because I very quickly learned through drumming how much even a small amount of alcohol will impair your reflexes and mind-body connection. One or two beers, and I already experience some kind of delay between what my mind tells my body to do and when my body does it.
So I never drink when I have to drive or play drums!

Off topic, Stella in the UK is now brewed in the UK by Interbev or InBev and Isn’t the same flavoursome Belgian Beer it was years ago when we got it in cans or bottles on import. For home consumption I recommend Asda’s much cheaper Belgian Lager and I’m sure Aldi and Lidl will sell similiar too. All obviously in my opinion.

On topic, one pint after I’ve set my gear up and the PA is being fettled, this will be around 8pm and gig start time is generally 9.15 ish. After that, a pint or two of water then perhaps a gin and tonic when I get home between 12 and 1am
 
Drinking alcohol during a gig just looks unprofessional to me.
No-one would turn up to their day job and drink beers

Each to their own though
Mick

I use to manage a General Motors plant. Plenty drank on the job back in the day. I have no idea why the company went bankrupt :)
 
My drink of choice at gigs is club soda with lime, which also happens to be my drink of choice all the time. I avoid alcohol at gigs. I feel I need every bit of awareness I can muster to play my best. And I rarely drink anyway, so even one or two beers can make me sleepy.

That said, I'm not religious about it. I've had a beer or two on occasion at a gig or done shots with the band during a break. But I mostly live by the "play every gig like it's the most important gig you've ever had" rule and I wouldn't be drinking any alcohol on my most important gig, so...
 
Full disclosure, I love beer. And Jack Daniels.

When I'm being paid to play, i rarely drink, and if I do, not until later into the evening. I might have a beer in the last set break, perhaps... and one during tear down.

Now at a group Jam, that doesn't apply, heh heh.

I simply get sloppier after drinking. Not noticeably after one or two...but one leads to another...and so I hold off.
 
I've known a few fellow band members who'll have one before the start of the show to settle the nerves. Most have been pretty good for the most part, but I've been to shows where it's clear that one or two guys are buzzed to the point of making mistakes.
Sad really.
 
Not noticeably after one or two...but one leads to another...and so I hold off.

"One is too many and a dozen aren't enough."

I'd stay away from it if it affected me like that.
 
No matter how experienced a substance user you are, you can pass the point of functional deficit without meaning to.

Short of addicts who need the substance to come up to a 'normal' level(who should be admitted to an inpatient recovery program immediately), I would say it is a potential detriment, at best, to anyone's playing and not worth the risk.

Any substance...including over the counter medications.

Its a matter of professionalism.

Same for practices and business meetings.

You wanna potentially waste your own time...sure...but when other people are involved that count on you...derp!

To paraphrase Tom Waits...'Sobriety's for people who can't handle booze.'

I kid, of course. Just say no, people.
 
To paraphrase Tom Waits...'Sobriety's for people who can't handle booze.'

I kid, of course. Just say no, people.

Another old saying.......Rehab is for quitters! I kid, as well but I used to play with a guy back in the day that wore the "rehab" persona (and an actual tee shirt that said it) like a badge of honor; pretty sad really!
 
Drinking alcohol during a gig just looks unprofessional to me.
No-one would turn up to their day job and drink beers

Each to their own though
Mick

Sitting at work, designing buildings, listening to Thunderpussy and drinking a PBR tall boy right now.

It'll be a good while before I'm gigging, but at the shows I visit (metal, rock, punk, pop and everything in between) I think nothing of it when the performers have a beer before the set or onstage between songs. Sometimes it's good to show they are here to party and bring some energy into the room - especially the openers who often have the fun of playing to 2 dozen people: 12 at the bar trying to get their liquor on before the next set and 12 half paying attention from the back of the room. Oh and the headliners smoking on the back patio.
 
Another old saying.......Rehab is for quitters! I kid, as well but I used to play with a guy back in the day that wore the "rehab" persona (and an actual tee shirt that said it) like a badge of honor; pretty sad really!

No kidding! So did I. Mine was a bass player who was discovered puking drunk by his parents at the age of 15...something that happens to roughly 95% of all 15-year-old boys.

But his parents freaked. They sent him to rehab. Once he got out, he was convinced he was an 'alcoholic' and never missed an opportunity to tell you about his need for abstinence. He guided his choices in venue, in women, in almost every aspect in his life through the prism of 'alcoholism'. He feverishly, desperately sought out AA meetings in every city we toured, and suffered severe anxiety if he couldn't locate one. I can't count the number of anguished speeches (and tears!) I had to sit through, lamenting his 'disease' and how 'careful' he needed to be in navigating the treacherous, temptation-filled world of rock-n-roll.

THE GUY GOT CAUGHT DRUNK AS A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD. He hadn't had a drop since. And now he was spending the rest of his life paying for some benign adolescent shenanigans.

Pretty screwed up, really. If his parents had just grounded him for a few weeks when he was 15, he'd have been a lot happier at 25. And not just because he'd be drunk!
 
No kidding! So did I. Mine was a bass player who was discovered puking drunk by his parents at the age of 15...something that happens to roughly 95% of all 15-year-old boys.

But his parents freaked. They sent him to rehab. Once he got out, he was convinced he was an 'alcoholic' and never missed an opportunity to tell you about his need for abstinence. He guided his choices in venue, in women, in almost every aspect in his life through the prism of 'alcoholism'. He feverishly, desperately sought out AA meetings in every city we toured, and suffered severe anxiety if he couldn't locate one. I can't count the number of anguished speeches (and tears!) I had to sit through, lamenting his 'disease' and how 'careful' he needed to be in navigating the treacherous, temptation-filled world of rock-n-roll.

THE GUY GOT CAUGHT DRUNK AS A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD. He hadn't had a drop since. And now he was spending the rest of his life paying for some benign adolescent shenanigans.

Pretty screwed up, really. If his parents had just grounded him for a few weeks when he was 15, he'd have been a lot happier at 25. And not just because he'd be drunk!

You are touching on some very interesting points that I agree with. I have never heard someone say it that way before, and I will probably spare the forum and not add to it. But - very interesting.

If every parent labelled a teenager an alcoholic for going too far a few times, 80% of the population would be "alcoholics."

That word is a very necessary label. But it is also a very powerful label, and it should be applied by people with the knowledge and credentials to apply it. Ok, I'm going to stop now.
 
I don't because I'm always driving - my singer however drinks enough for all of us. To be fair he only ever forgets a lyric if he's completely smashed - usually the very last couple of songs, up until that point being a bit pissed does seem to contribute to his stage presence. He orders drinks over the mic though and that really winds me up - one step too far on the ladder of 'unprofessional' imo.
He never helps pack up either - heads straight to the bar and carries on drinking with the 'audience' - claims he's 'networking!'
 
Used to have a few before gigs, helped the nerves. On a hot day, it REALLY helps, not just gigs but also when practicing. Wouldn't really want to have more than two though.
 
I would limit myself to one beer, part drunk before I got on stage and the rest while on it. I would also have a pitcher of water on stage with me, to drink and to put on myself to keep cool.


The alcohol helped the anxiety a little and 'lubes up' the muscles a tiny bit too. It isn't for everybody but all that extra focus put me in the zone almost immediately.
 
I often have one light beer after I’m set up.

Then water on stage, and a coffee during a break to get me through the last set.
 
2 or 3 pints always before I play. Just puts me in the "Zone"
 
These days the only alcohol I consume is my home made tinctures. On rare occasions liquor serving size or half a glass of wine with meals or a night cap.

No beer.

In the past the rule wold be no drinking at the gig, but there are occasions like last set at a jazz club or a party band thing at a club where the audience keep buying the band drinks where it's more appropriate.

At a serious show there's no way. Completely unprofessional.
 
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