Last piece of gear you forgot?

Does forgetting stuff AT the gig count for this thread?...I'm not proud of this one.

Just two weeks ago I played a gig, and in the course of packing up my stuff I was talking to this drunk girl who just would not leave me alone...I guess she distracted me, because somehow, before I even got home, I realized:

I HAD LEFT MY ENTIRE CYMBAL BAG (yes, with cymbals) AT THE GIG.

I turned around immediately and went back to the club - empty. Locked. I couldn't see the bag from the window. There had been four bands that night, at least one from out of town; could my cymbal bag have been [accidentally or otherwise] loaded into someone else's van?

I slept fitfully and began calling the club the next day; no answer at all. I finally just drove to the club after work; fortunately the sound man was there setting up, as well as the bartender from the night before (who I had tipped EXTREMELY well).

He saw me come in, and before I could get a word out, he just pointed at me and asked, 'Cymbals?' Turns out he found the bag while cleaning up and stashed it behind the bar for me. All cymbals intact.

Felt extremely stupid...but also like the luckiest drummer on Earth. Won't happen again.
 
philrudd said:
Does forgetting stuff AT the gig count for this thread?...I'm not proud of this one.

Just two weeks ago I played a gig, and in the course of packing up my stuff I was talking to this drunk girl who just would not leave me alone...I guess she distracted me, because somehow, before I even got home, I realized:

I HAD LEFT MY ENTIRE CYMBAL BAG (yes, with cymbals) AT THE GIG.

I turned around immediately and went back to the club - empty. Locked. I couldn't see the bag from the window. There had been four bands that night, at least one from out of town; could my cymbal bag have been [accidentally or otherwise] loaded into someone else's van?

I slept fitfully and began calling the club the next day; no answer at all. I finally just drove to the club after work; fortunately the sound man was there setting up, as well as the bartender from the night before (who I had tipped EXTREMELY well).

He saw me come in, and before I could get a word out, he just pointed at me and asked, 'Cymbals?' Turns out he found the bag while cleaning up and stashed it behind the bar for me. All cymbals intact.

Felt extremely stupid...but also like the luckiest drummer on Earth. Won't happen again.
Click to expand...


I've never left cymbals at a gig, tho a drummer friend of mine did. He left them outside leaning against a pillar near the van while packing up. Black cymbal bag, the inconspicuous completely black look working in reverse. One reason I like my DRUMSLINGER cymbal bag which has a yellow band on it, can't miss it in a dark club/parking lot.

My only cymbal scare (knock on wood) came on an off day. My cymbal bag was in the trunk of my car, my kids loaded the trunk with recycle stuff, got to the recycle place and it was busy, they had unloaders outside, I popped the trunk and yup, I said "Take everything in the trunk." They took it all including my loaded cymbal bag.

Couple grand worth of cymbals. Got home and that feeling of your body going empty big time, then the adrenaline rush. Got back to the recycle place (it'd been within an hour) and the lady in charge said "We put that aside, we looked inside and did't know what those cords were for, so we set it aside until so and so came in to look at it, tell us what they were."

They didn't know what the mic cords were stashed in the pocket. They never opened the actual cymbal compartment (I don't think). Anyway, close one.
 
philrudd said:
Does forgetting stuff AT the gig count for this thread?...I'm not proud of this one.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine left a DW 5000 double pedal at a club 3 hours away. Sad part was, it wasn't his pedal. Unfortunately, we never found it and he never paid the guy back after losing his $500 pedal. To say the least, I don't let him borrow anything.
 
Drum throne top. I keep it n my snare bag, but decided to bring a different snare... :( I'm usually good about the checklist, but was in a rush. No worries - I brought my cajon, too so i just sat a couple inches lower. I was at a school so I probably could have raided their music dept anyway.

I usually don't have any problems unless I'm in a rush and someone helps me load. Throws the checklist off! These days I keep the gigging kits lined up, prepacked and ready to roll.
 
Drove almost 100 miles for a first-time jam with a drummer and showed up with my guitar, half stack, pedals, and NO guitar cord.
 
Forgot a snare stand once Someone was kind enough to run home and let me borrow it.
 
never forgot something for a gig, but before I was a drummer, I was a freestyle BMX rider. I flew across the continent, from BC, Canada, to Pennsylvania to go to "Woodward," a summer camp for x-games sports stuff. had to disassemble the bike to ship it, open up the box, and found I had forgotten my pedals and pegs. The bike shop on site had way less stuff than you'd expect, especially as there are pros who live there full time, ended up with asymmetrical pedals for my week at camp.
 
When using in-ear monitors, forgetting your earphones is kind of a big deal. Fortunately I was able to borrow a set of over-the-ear cans for soundcheck and my wife was able to bring my Shure in-ears to me about 20 minutes before downbeat.

I have a couple of checklists on the wall right by the door to my studio now, so as I'm packing out for various types of gigs I can review and check things off as they make the trip to the car. It's a good system and I rarely forget anything.
 
philrudd said:
Does forgetting stuff AT the gig count for this thread?...I'm not proud of this one.

Just two weeks ago I played a gig, and in the course of packing up my stuff I was talking to this drunk girl who just would not leave me alone...I guess she distracted me, because somehow, before I even got home, I realized:

I HAD LEFT MY ENTIRE CYMBAL BAG (yes, with cymbals) AT THE GIG.

I turned around immediately and went back to the club - empty. Locked. I couldn't see the bag from the window. There had been four bands that night, at least one from out of town; could my cymbal bag have been [accidentally or otherwise] loaded into someone else's van?

I slept fitfully and began calling the club the next day; no answer at all. I finally just drove to the club after work; fortunately the sound man was there setting up, as well as the bartender from the night before (who I had tipped EXTREMELY well).

He saw me come in, and before I could get a word out, he just pointed at me and asked, 'Cymbals?' Turns out he found the bag while cleaning up and stashed it behind the bar for me. All cymbals intact.

Felt extremely stupid...but also like the luckiest drummer on Earth. Won't happen again.
Click to expand...

You're not the only dumbass lol. I did this once. I left my Zildjain cymbal safe next to my van tire after a gig. It was a dark parking lot and I missed it, it blended right in. Drove home. Woke up the next morning with a pit in my stomach. Ran out to the van, no bronze. Called the bar, nothing. Had to buy all new cymbals. 2 weeks later I had a gig at the same place. Someone had found my cymbals in the parking lot and gave them to the bar. I got them all back. I fell to my knees and sobbed. Not really, but I was really happy.

I guess I should get this off my chest. I was tidying up my van after an electrical job in front of a customers townhome about a year ago. I had to put my cased Guru snare on the ground to make room to clean the van.

Yea, I drove away without it. Luckily my customers kid saw it and brought it inside. I noticed it when I went to get a little fishing in before going home that same day. I was this close to punching myself in the face for being so STUPID!
I got it back. That's a special kind of feeling when you do something so dumb and it's no ones fault but my own.
 
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