# 1st Gig last night...far from perfect



## canadiangeordie (Jan 10, 2009)

Hi
As per my previous post, the dreaded first gig was played last night as part of the Supernova Band On The Run series. We played at 10.00pm for half an hour.
Well, it didnt exactly run as well as hoped. First song i had tech issues with a loose connection that i couldnt trace, so had to just play straight through the amp meaning i lost the use of my noisegate. So i was feeding back like crazy.
One song was really sloppy with me actually coming in far too early for the outro and it generally sounding like ass, though apparently it didnt stick out as much as we thought. 
My major concern though is that the monitors/sound levels etc seemed all out of whack. I could only hear my own amp, the vocals and bass were too low, and hence had to concentrate pretty hard on trying to make out where we were at throughout most songs.
My solo's were average and though my guitars were perfectly in tune before going on, seemed to slip out towards the end (especially the damn G string) which wasnt noticeable to me until it was too late, as all i could decipher was a wall of noise. 
We tried to make out like we were pleased and didnt grimace or show we were pissed off on stage, and 3 of the 6 songs we played kicked ass, but i kind of feel like i let myself down last night. I hadn't played with the guys for 2 weeks having just returned from England the day before, but dont want to resort to excuses. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.


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## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

Dealing with those problems is all part of the game. I remember during my first open mic performance, the PA just cut out halfway through the song and you couldn't hear the vocals at all, but the band and I just kept on truckin' and the crowd liked us even more for that. I also broke a string during that song (the high E), but managed to pull off the solo anyways. Playing live involves a lot of "thinking on your feet" because things go wrong all the time.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Ya you only get better by dealing with problems as they arise. Very few gigs will be perfect. Whether it's performance or gear issues you will always be dealing with something. Just use it to motivate you for next time.


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## Coustfan'01 (Sep 27, 2006)

Thing like that happen. I really should put a video of my first gig online... it was atrocious.
The more you gig, the more you'll learn to avoid some mistakes(keeping spare cables, etc) , and deal with the things you can't avoid(pa, crowd reaction, broken strings, etc.)
Don't sweat it too much, just enough to keep getting better from gig to gig :rockon2:


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## Eminor (Sep 16, 2008)

About two months ago I was playing the second of two reunion gigs with a local hardcore band from like 25 years ago, old friends - the first gig (all-ager) went really well. Second one was at a local club that is a bit of a hole, there's not even any kind of band room so you can get away from the crowd and noise and have even a semi-secure place to leave your guitar. OK, par for the course, we knew all this. So we sit through a couple sort of drunk-punk bands with the crowd getting more and more drunk and unruly. By the time we get to set up it's well after midnight with a looming curfew. Get all ready to go and sudddenly the sound guy discovers the PA is not working. At all. We hang there on tenterhooks for what seemed like half an hour, I guess it was maybe 8 or 10 minutes, while he furiously and unsuccessfully tries to get it working. It appears that during the preceding beer-soaked chaos someone had stepped on something and broken it, or who knows, poured a pitcher of beer into something vital. Meanwhile we're aware that if we don't start playing we're gonna get the plug pulled on us as the "climax" of the evening. Finally he just turns the stage monitors around to face the crowd and says "Go!" We turned up as loud as we could and just went for it. It was insane, by this time the more extreme elements among the crowd are almost out of control and then we start playing this over-the-top old school hardcore that makes them just start losing it. Shit was flying everywhere and I was just kind of hanging back by my amp watching for bodies, airborne objects, mike stands etc coming at me. :rockon2: Ultimately it came off all right but despite the crowd response I can't say it was the most satisfying show I ever played. I'm also getting a little old for that kind of scene  

The point is it happens, like others have said, and you just pull through however you can. The audience never notices most of the mistakes that seem so glaring to the band.


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## Slidewinder (Apr 7, 2006)

Welcome to the club. That's something you'll be able to have a laugh about when you look back over time.
Over the years I've had things happen like, broken strings during solo, guitar chord gets stepped on and pops out during solo(always an eye opener), trip on guitar chord during solo, amp suddenly decides to start whistling and playing it's own solo halfway through a song, string gets under fingernail and the blood starts to flow(always carry a little tube of crazy glue), after daydreaming forgetting where you are in the song, drunks walking on stage during the song like it's an American Idol competition, etc... 
And the list goes on. There have been a number of other stupid things over the years that I still cringe about, but mostly laugh about now when I think back. 
There have also been incredible natural highs and fun that make all the screw ups more than worthwhile. 
Don't sweat it. You've got lots to look forward to and a big part of the fun is flying by the seat of your pants toward whatever happens.
As guitar players we never learn do we..lol ?


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## james on bass (Feb 4, 2006)

Sucks, but shit happens! 

I've had some absolutely awesome gigs where you just feel completely high for hours afterwards, but along with that, come some memorable train wrecks!

Speaking of monitor issues... we had a gig about a month ago at a new to us bar with full PA and sound-guy. The sound guy was really good, but walked into the bar that night to see a brand new PA system. We came to a very new song for us in the set and all of a sudden the monitors were overwhelmed with the CD he was cueing for next break. It was only in the monitors so we were the only ones aware of it. Talk about a mini-freakout!


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

james on bass said:


> ..... We came to a very new song for us in the set and all of a sudden the monitors were overwhelmed with the CD he was cueing for next break. It was only in the monitors so we were the only ones aware of it. Talk about a mini-freakout!


Now that's funny.......

I have had the conversation in mid song thing happen too... ..Dude.. I am supposed to be singing ... 

Or they guy that swears on a stack-o-bibles that he is Bruce Springsteen's sound man..


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## jfk911 (May 23, 2008)

That sucks but like everyone says its part of the game. I find that the hardest part is taking a compliment because alot of the mistakes you guys make the crowd wont notice close to as much as you guys will. SO if you screw up alot then some one comes and tell you you did a good job and you know you screwed up like mad, i find just saying thanks works alot better then you pointing out of all your mistakes. Our last two have been royal screw up, we have two tracks that have some sampling in the background and at one point its only our sampling playing. Since we are poor right now we cant afford a sampling machine live so we just bring in a mac book which has a click in one channel and the the beats in the other. Long story short the last two sound guys forgot to turn the track on so when the beat took over we all stopped and there was nothing and we looked like complete idiots. No matter how much we told them that the track had to be as loud as the guitar they did not listen oh well we got over it and its just part of the game like everyone else stated.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Look at the show as an opportunity to find the biggest problems and solve them. 

It's easy to find the "low hanging fruit" so to speak.

Hearing each other is a common problem that needs to be solved. To some extend it's about amp placement and levels, but there's also an experience factor involved. You do get better at adapting to different sounding environments as you play more shows.
It's important to understand that every stage will sound different and you will get better at listening. The thing is, it takes a few songs for your ear (or more acurately your mind) to adapt to a sound that is different than what you're used to. Only playing six tunes can be tough in this respect as you're just starting to hear things clearly and the set's over.
The biggest problem most bands have and the one that causes the most problems is being too loud on stage.


Feeding back? Perhaps you're using a bit more gain than you need. I suppose it depends on the music you're playing, but I've never used a noisegate and really never have problems with a guitar feeding back. 


Anyway, the first one's always tough. You should be able to walk into the next show starting from a much better level.


Rock on.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

james on bass said:


> Sucks, but shit happens!
> 
> I've had some absolutely awesome gigs where you just feel completely high for hours afterwards, but along with that, come some memorable train wrecks!
> 
> Speaking of monitor issues... we had a gig about a month ago at a new to us bar with full PA and sound-guy. The sound guy was really good, but walked into the bar that night to see a brand new PA system. We came to a very new song for us in the set and all of a sudden the monitors were overwhelmed with the CD he was cueing for next break. It was only in the monitors so we were the only ones aware of it. Talk about a mini-freakout!


LOL, we used to use some recorded sound effects and some "walk on" tracks for some shows. One example was the intro to "Breathe" by Pink Floyd. We'd have the heartbeat through the mains and monitors and start the live music at the appropriate cue. Of course the sound man was SUPPOSED to cut the track once we started playing. On one occasion he forgot to mute the track in the monitors and it continued throughout the song, just slightly out of sync with the band. It took a lot of concentration not to trainwreck the song.

Fun with buttons


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## ennsgr (Sep 26, 2007)

First gigs are never perfect. As far as monitors go, I've had nightmares too - Sometimes you can't get a mix you like. By and large they are, at least for me, the worst part of playing live. The method we ended up resorting to was putting our drummer between me and the guitarists amps. 

Then for our amps, I had my 4x12" on top of his 2x15" on my side, and he ran with my 4x12" under his 4x12" on that side... Then we each ran our amp into a cabinet on both sides of the stage. It helped immensely with keeping us on page when we were playing. 

I then just ask the soundman kindly to only put Kick, Snare and Vocals in the monitor. I could hear everything I did, keep in time, and make sure I'm on the same page as the other members of the band.


Band ended up dissolving but I think I'd try this out again if I'm to get another three-piece together.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Yeah, stuff like that is part and parcel of performing live. It sounds like you dealt with it pretty well, and didn't lose your cool. That's all you can do. And it's important.:rockon2:


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