Keeping the beat at a show while in tears with laughter

benthedrum

Senior Member
I found that it is virtually impossible to keep a solid groove while being in hysterics with laughter......and tears in your eyes.

How did this happen?

Well.....the guitarist suffers from hyperhidrosis of his hands and is prone to breaking strings.

Anyways, we had just started "All Fired Up" by Pat Benetar. The intro was done and we had just launched into the first verse......all was well.

The guitarist then snapped a string....."PING!"

However, his guitar strap also broke and he caught it at the last minute between his elbow and his waist. What got me started laughing was the squealing and the scratching noise he was making as his elbow was rubbing against the strings. He was determined not to let it go.......so he wasn't actually playing at this point.

I was maintaining things well, but I was laughing.

However the bass player decided to get all "Rock n Roll" and proceeded to lift up one of his legs and place his foot against my drum rack.

He totally missed the distance and his foot sailed right past the rack and he tumbled forward, his glasses fell off and his fedora he was wearing slid forward over his face and he steadied himself after going down.

Well that was it.....I was done. I had a guitarist on one side who was out of action, the bass player was out of action. I was laughing and crying so much I was unable to keep things going effectively.

My groove became a quiet, slowed down version of itself.

It is incredibly difficult to keep playing while you are laughing hard. It's like a challenge in Independence.
 
Time for a drum solo.

How'd you guys recover?
 
The guitarist then snapped a string....."PING!"

However, his guitar strap also broke and he caught it at the last minute between his elbow and his waist. What got me started laughing was the squealing and the scratching noise he was making as his elbow was rubbing against the strings. He was determined not to let it go.......so he wasn't actually playing at this point.

However the bass player decided to get all "Rock n Roll" and proceeded to lift up one of his legs and place his foot against my drum rack.

He totally missed the distance and his foot sailed right past the rack and he tumbled forward, his glasses fell off and his fedora he was wearing slid forward over his face and he steadied himself after going down.

I kept waiting for you to mention a cape.
 
Time for a drum solo.

How'd you guys recover?

Unfortunately, I didn't. A seasoned professional would have found a way. But I was just too far gone. I just played 4 on the floor until the boys composed themselves.
 
I've love to learn of anyone's own experience in this type of situation.
 
I've love to learn of anyone's own experience in this type of situation.

My sense of humour is way too warped to answer this question properly and the professionally offended types would be after me!

As with anything practice makes perfect! You can prepare yourself for most scenarios if you know what's coming but as in your case something can always catch you off guard.
 
My sense of humour is way too warped to answer this question properly and the professionally offended types would be after me!

As with anything practice makes perfect! You can prepare yourself for most scenarios if you know what's coming but as in your case something can always catch you off guard.

It was the million to one chance of this happening that threw me. The drum solo idea is pure gold, but as I was unable to maintain a 4 on the floor effectively......a solo would have ended up as an absolute disaster. But mikyok........IF you have been in a similar situation, please do share.
 
IF you have been in a similar situation, please do share.

Outdoor weddings, wet grass, a portable dancefloor that turns into an ice rink and lots of booze. I've seen people get some serious air.

There was also the time our bassist decided to go on a walk with his wireless and fell face first into a patio door in front of us but behind the crowd. Nobody saw it other than the band. Trick is don't look at each other it only makes it worse!
 
I've had a few laughter breakdown moments, but my best "show must go on" is at a festival where a wasp decided my face was going to get stung. That little b*^% was dive bombing me & I was trying to nail him with my sticks whilst keeping the show going. The video operator caught on to this & projected a live closeup onto the back screen for everyone to see. I became the show, & the audience reaction added much pressure. After about 30 seconds or so, I did clip him with a stick - I don't know of his fate.
 
I've had a few laughter breakdown moments, but my best "show must go on" is at a festival where a wasp decided my face was going to get stung. That little b*^% was dive bombing me & I was trying to nail him with my sticks whilst keeping the show going. The video operator caught on to this & projected a live closeup onto the back screen for everyone to see. I became the show, & the audience reaction added much pressure. After about 30 seconds or so, I did clip him with a stick - I don't know of his fate.

That would have been even harder for me to manage I reckon. Kudos for maintaining the pocket!
 
We were playing at a benefit for a local museum where the big feature was a dinosaur exhibit. The show was in the museum itself, so you had the guests walking around with drinks, eating hors d'oeuvres, with these large dinosaur exhibits all around us.

Our singer stepped up the mic and announced that, in honor of the dinosaurs, he was going to play our next song on keyboards using t-rex arms. So he brings his arms in to make them really short and proceeds to play the keyboard that way, which put his face just inches away from the keyboard. I cannot describe how funny this was and I just lost it. We all did. It was unplanned, just a funny thing he thought of on-the-spot.

I don't think I made any major mistakes, but we were lucky to get through that one.
 
We were playing at a benefit for a local museum where the big feature was a dinosaur exhibit. The show was in the museum itself, so you had the guests walking around with drinks, eating hors d'oeuvres, with these large dinosaur exhibits all around us.

Our singer stepped up the mic and announced that, in honor of the dinosaurs, he was going to play our next song on keyboards using t-rex arms. So he brings his arms in to make them really short and proceeds to play the keyboard that way, which put his face just inches away from the keyboard. I cannot describe how funny this was and I just lost it. We all did. It was unplanned, just a funny thing he thought of on-the-spot.

I don't think I made any major mistakes, but we were lucky to get through that one.

Your singer sounds like a total legend. Man......I LOVE that type of humour. Wish I had of seen that.
 
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