Worst Gig Experiences?

MY BAND HAD A GIG AT THIS PARTY RIGHT WELL WE LOADED ALL OUR STUFF INTO THE VAN AND DROVE FOR AN HOUR GOT LOST FINALLY FOUND THE PLACE AND GOT ALL SET UP AND SAT THERE WAITING FOR THEM TO STOP TALKING AND WHAT NOT AND READY FOR US TO PLAY BUT WE NEVER PLAYED SO WE HAD TO LOAD EVERYTHING BACK UP AND DRIVE AN HOUR AGAIN
 
I was playing in my school's talent show with my band and i was using the drums of another guy...he had one of the legs of a cymbal stand broken but he said it was ok he did a couple thing so we should not worry about about it....2 minutes after the stand fell in the middle of a guitar solo..." Was part of the show! - I said to the guys.." was one of the most embarrasing things ive ever experienced..
 
MY BAND HAD A GIG AT THIS PARTY RIGHT WELL WE LOADED ALL OUR STUFF INTO THE VAN AND DROVE FOR AN HOUR GOT LOST FINALLY FOUND THE PLACE AND GOT ALL SET UP AND SAT THERE WAITING FOR THEM TO STOP TALKING AND WHAT NOT AND READY FOR US TO PLAY BUT WE NEVER PLAYED SO WE HAD TO LOAD EVERYTHING BACK UP AND DRIVE AN HOUR AGAIN

A good story is much like a good joke, it's in the delivery.
 
First gig at 16 at a party - put my beater through the kick drum first song.

Age 19 and had a pub gig lined up. Was drunk and other stuff after a work Xmas party in the afteroon, fell asleep on the train home and ended up running late miles out of the way. Caught a cab home, quickly packed my gear in the car and arrived t the pub only to realise I'd left my snare at home. Mercy dash back.

Then the pub filled with bikies who got drunk and created chaos. Our percussionist had some substance during the break and then starting doing choke licks with my crash cymbal just as I hit it. *Clang!* Lead guitarist threw up in the break after having a hard night beforehand.

Age 21, playing at a rough pub near a wharf. As we were setting up the "day crowd" - wharf workers - were still drinking. A woman storms in, screams abuse at her husband at the bar and hurls a steel beer tray at him. He ducks and it hit the guy next to him in the side of his head. His head opened up like elevator doors - blood everywhere!

He goes off to the toilet to get bandaged up and then got wildly drunk through the evening, concussion and all. We were packing up at the end of the gig. Then he got up and started staggering around. He blundered into the Bose PA speaker, sending it crashing down onto our singer's flute, which was lying in its open case on the floor. The flute ended up shaped like a V.

In later years there were the usual supports for big name bands whose sound engineers would sabotage our mix in case we upsteged them. One time they left low level feedback howling out of the PA and walked away, leaving us to try to play through the noise. Another time, another band ... my foldback was: snare - audible, kick - deafening, toms and cymbals - almost inaudible. Bleagh.
 
He ducks and it hit the guy next to him in the side of his head. His head opened up like elevator doors - blood everywhere!

...

In later years there were the usual supports for big name bands whose sound engineers would sabotage our mix in case we upsteged them.

Brutal!

It appears that being a musician is more dangerous than it seems, at first glance. xD
 
Well i had a gig last night, all started well and got worse. The position and size of the snare mic meant that i couldn't play fills properly as it was in the way, on top of that my bass pedal came apart mid song whilst i was flying away on double bass and i had to play with one foot. My floor tom was also moving towards me when i was hitting it so my leg was getting wedged between the snare and floor tom. Man i felt like crap after it. I'm really annoyed at my Sleishman though, you pay through the roof for something only for it to let you down when you need it most. I'll make sure it never happens again though cause i'm glueing the mofo together lol.
 
Not really the worst gig experience but our bass player set up this gig at a bar in a 'small' town' we'll leave it at that...

We drive the hour or so to get there and play to about 20 people as the usual crowd all know each other and one of them has a birthday party or something so they are not in that night.

Halfway through the set the local drunk is staggering all over the place- he get over to one of our PA speaker stands falls over pushing on the speaker so that the stand its on snaps in half and the speaker luckily falls onto a covered pool table.

He then preceeds to stand up and stagger away again the pisses himself and gets himself thrown from the premises.

SO all in all it was a terrible gig however they did pay the agreed $300 even for 20 people in there and we had or guitarist fix the stand from parts from his work- so all in all- an experience learned
 
This is a long story, but I doubt anybody can top this.

My worst gig was when I was back in college. My band got a gig in LAREDO and so we drove all the way from denton, tx to laredo. I think it was about a 12 hour drive. We left super early and got to the venue really early. The venue was a pizza parlor/pool hall/metal bar, decent sound, kind of akward. Anyways we were super early so we decided to walk to mexico. We could see the mexican flag in the air and it looked like it was maybe a mile away. We started walking towards the flag and 3 hours later we realized that the mexican flag was at least 100 feet wide, one of the hugest flags I've ever seen. so by the time we got to the border we had to turn around and walk all the way back. I was wearing converse, and no socks, none of us were really prepared for a 6 mile walk!

So we finally get back to the venue 6 hours later, and start getting set up. Then out of nowhere a freak hail storm happens (this is in march in the middle of the texas desert). Water starts pouring in from the cieling all over our gear, we are scrambling to get our gear back into cases, and the club owner comes in and starts yelling at us to MOVE his pool tables out of the dripping water. We spend the next hour moving everything around while he yells at us.

The city starts flooding, it's pretty clear the show is cancelled. Our cars all got massive hail damage and cracked windows. The club owner tells us the show is cancelled and offers us PIZZA as payment. We decline and decide to drive to austin to stay with friends.

When we get to austin (it's like 2 in the morning, we've been up since 4 am) we go to our friends house and a raging house party is going on. We tried to decide if we should sleep in the cars, but we end up deciding to drive home to denton (probably another 5 hour drive).

It doesn't end there, on the way to denton we pass through fort worth, and the texas motor speedway is having it's NASCAR RACE. the entire freeway is stopped and we sit in traffic for 2 extra hours. we didn't end up getting home until 12 noon the next day.
 
You're right, none of my bad experiences can top yours. I live in sourhwest Fort Worth, so during race season I never go "up north" around the speedway for that very reason. Hats off to you and your band for enduring that ordeal. Hopefully you guys are doing better now!
 
This is a long story, but I doubt anybody can top this.

My worst gig was when I was back in college. My band got a gig in LAREDO and so we drove all the way from denton, tx to laredo. I think it was about a 12 hour drive. We left super early and got to the venue really early. The venue was a pizza parlor/pool hall/metal bar, decent sound, kind of akward. Anyways we were super early so we decided to walk to mexico. We could see the mexican flag in the air and it looked like it was maybe a mile away. We started walking towards the flag and 3 hours later we realized that the mexican flag was at least 100 feet wide, one of the hugest flags I've ever seen. so by the time we got to the border we had to turn around and walk all the way back. I was wearing converse, and no socks, none of us were really prepared for a 6 mile walk!

So we finally get back to the venue 6 hours later, and start getting set up. Then out of nowhere a freak hail storm happens (this is in march in the middle of the texas desert). Water starts pouring in from the cieling all over our gear, we are scrambling to get our gear back into cases, and the club owner comes in and starts yelling at us to MOVE his pool tables out of the dripping water. We spend the next hour moving everything around while he yells at us.

The city starts flooding, it's pretty clear the show is cancelled. Our cars all got massive hail damage and cracked windows. The club owner tells us the show is cancelled and offers us PIZZA as payment. We decline and decide to drive to austin to stay with friends.

When we get to austin (it's like 2 in the morning, we've been up since 4 am) we go to our friends house and a raging house party is going on. We tried to decide if we should sleep in the cars, but we end up deciding to drive home to denton (probably another 5 hour drive).

It doesn't end there, on the way to denton we pass through fort worth, and the texas motor speedway is having it's NASCAR RACE. the entire freeway is stopped and we sit in traffic for 2 extra hours. we didn't end up getting home until 12 noon the next day.

Don't be such a wimp, McBike. Whinge whinge whinge.

I had a nasty broken fingernail last night while packing up after band practice and no one in the studios had nail scissors (can you believe it?) so I had to go the whole 5kms home with a hangnail!

Hmm, maybe having an office job isn't so bad, after all ...
 
You're right, none of my bad experiences can top yours. I live in sourhwest Fort Worth, so during race season I never go "up north" around the speedway for that very reason. Hats off to you and your band for enduring that ordeal. Hopefully you guys are doing better now!

this was years ago, and I don't think i'll ever be in that situation again. that band ended up doing rather well, but we had plenty of harrowing gigs. It puts everything in perspective for me, and I am the last person to complain about a bad gig or a small crowd now.
 
Worst gig memories: Playing with the flu. Forunately everyone lost interest in hanging out to dance, so we cut the gig short with one set.

Worst venue: An old cemetery in New Orleans after sundown (seriously).
 
I will have to compete on the basis of quantity rather than quality, but I'll see what I can come up with...

Once I was doing an outdoor gig and I had a rare slot to do a solo, but right at the end of the song that led into it my bass beater flew off and I had to crawl around on the floor under my kit trying to find where this thing had gone while the rest of the band kept everything going. Fortunately I found it.

The same thing happened at a battle of the bands that another band of mine was in. We had got through to the final two, and had to play one last time, but this time the beater fell off at the beginning of the song. I could hardly stop the song halfway through, so I had to play the song with no bass drum. Naturally we came second.

Another time, the second gig I did with my current band Sorcerer's Spell, my shoelace on my right shoe got hooked around the beater on the left bass beater, meaning that if I used the left pedal my foot got yanked forward.

...and another time, using someone else's bass pedal, the beater fell off no less than three times during a half-hour set, having already fallen off once during the soundcheck. I had to stop two songs and go and explain to the audience what was going on.

I played at a festival once where we did a brand new song we'd only written days previously. I tend to rely on guitar and vocals for cues, but the engineer had given me a foldback mix that consisted of bass guitar only. Consequently I missed a cue to come in halfway through a song and had to come in four bars late and make it look deliberate.

I did a gig once as part of a three-piece where we had to set up on a stage about the size of a drum kit with a leaking radiator on one side of it. We'd had to borrow a PA to do the gig because the pub didn't have one, the only people who were in the pub were people we'd brought with us, and the landlord's parting words to us afterwards were "you'll get there".

I'm sure there's been more than that, maybe I'll post more as I remember them.
 
Worst venue: An old cemetery in New Orleans after sundown (seriously).

That sounds amazing! Who booked that gig?

And you talking of flu reminded me that last year I had to do a gig while feeling extremely ill with something flu-like. After our set I fell asleep leaning on a table and slept through the main act's ridiculously loud set.
 
PQ, listening to your repeated pedal hassles makes me wonder if you should get rid of the pedals and take up the Mo Connolly approach and play your bass drum with mallets :)
 
I'm sure I've written this before but, here goes:

First gig. The kit was a horrible trax kit. The hi-hat stand refused to open and the toms where a mile high. I enden up dropping sticks 2 times per tune, and I was ofcourse furios. We had two gigs that day(in the same place) so I tore off the toms and played with snare, bassdrum, ride and closed hihat.

Another time was when me and my old band were playing in this talent contest, and we played U2 with Elevation. During the song our guitarist broke all strings but four, and had to play the solo on those. It sounded weird to say the least, but we won the competition(this was semi-finals) and moved on.

Thats about it. Guess I've been lucky.
 
Not a bad gig experience but a bad gig related experience.

The year was 1983. The country rock band I was in had been in Cocoa Beach, Florida doing a 2 week engagement. The gig went great and we left to drive home. On the way home, a 22 hour drive, we had taken some illegal stimulants, and we had consumed a certain illegal herbal substance.

I get pulled over for doing 80 mph in my 66 Chevelle.

This was right after we consumed the herbal substance, so the odor was inescapable, no lying about this.

So I proceed to tell the officer the whole truth, we're musicians from Pennsylvania just going home after a 2 week stay in his fine state. I came right out and told him I was in possesion of about 14 grams of Mother Nature. He asked me to produce it, then made me drop it off the bridge, where he had pulled me over, into a Florida swamp. Then he writes me an 80 dollar speeding ticket and sends me on my way. Phew!

Well we had 21.5 hours left to drive and we were kinda jacked up, so after about 5 miles, I decide to turn around to retrieve what I had dropped off the bridge. Went back to the spot where I got pulled over, got out the flashlight (it was nighttime) and managed to spot it. I grab my fishing rod (never leave home without it) and a brand new roll of duct tape. Put the sticky side of the tape facing out and tied the whole roll to my line, to try and lower it down and hopefully stick it.

Well the roll of tape was too heavy and it broke the line in short order. Curses! What to do now? That's when I decided to get brave (read stupid) and said, "I'm going down there after it". So I walked to where the bridge met the land, hopped the guardrail, and started making my way down the embankment.

Meanwhile, the guys were still up on the bridge with the flashlight, shining it on my destination. So I get down the slope and start making my way through this Florida marsh at night. The further I go the deeper my legs are sinking in the marsh. The guys are saying, "Cmon, another 20 feet and you're there".

At this point, I'm literally up to the middle of my thighs in muck, with real water in between me and my destination. Then, I hear some sort of small life form make a noise near me and that's when it all hits me....Larry, you're not in Pennsylvania here, you're in Florida. THERE"S ALLIGATORS IN FLORIDA! (Not to mention water snakes) Headlines flashed through my mind..."Stupid Pennsylvanian gets eaten by alligator".

I got truly terrified and said (with real fear in my voice)...I'm...I'm....I'm gettin outta here! and moved myself as fast as I could back the way I came.

Got up to the road and said, F it let's get out of here! So I jump in the car and speed off, and wouldn't you know it, I get pulled over a 2nd time by the same cop that got me the first time. I get out of the car, mud up to my crotch, and the officer says, "Mr. Hinkel, what are you doing back here?" I made up some lame story that I must've dropped my drivers licence here and I came back to retrieve it. He never said a word about the mud on my thighs. He just wrote me a 2nd 80 dollar speeding ticket and let me go again.... I have no doubt in my mind that he's thinking what an idiot I am. No turnarounds this time, I got the hell outta Dodge.
 
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