Pollyanna
Platinum Member
This is where monitor wedges are your friends. Those gigs in small resturants/bars where you are essentially on the floor, I always try to establish some sort of defensive perimeter around the band. Floor wedges, guitarists pedal boards, cables (taped down with gaff tape) mic stands, whatever. The psychological effect of the "barrier" keeps some folks away and gives you time to react when others "cross the line". "Hey everyone, lets hear it for the birthday girl!" as you spin her around to the audience. "Oh, it's not your birthday, I though you just turned 21!" as you push her back into the crowd and pick up where you were.
Aeolian, great corny ideas for defusing problem patron issues and use of barriers. If a Pocket Aeolian Troubleshooter® was on the market, I'd buy one - even more useful than gaffer tape!
That diamond-shaped footprint comment nails it. Yeah, we're at the point of the diamond [sic] ... the only thing I detest more than having my elbows bang into the wall are crevices that make it impossible to keep the throne stable.
DJ Magic, I'm obliged to qualify that drunk and jealous human beings per se are a massive problem (not gender specific). But I agree, if bar owners equate your band with trouble, it's a huge black mark.
Big D, agree that all most of them care about is money but bad vibes turn people off, defuses the party vibe (the drinking vibe) and if a fight breaks out it also risks the safety of patrons and property. There was a great venue near my Dad's place that stopped having bands because of fights - not major fights either, just some drunk idiots.
jon e rotten ... good to see you again! Larry, here's the answer to your problem ... bring jon e to your gigs as a chick bouncer. His job is to closely watch drunk, attractive women who get close to the stage, and if they look as though they are going to get frisky with the singer he has to leap in and seduces them with his Howard Wolowitz-like charms
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