One for the Noisemakers among us: Best Gig or favorite show(s) played?

[battema]

Just an idea that sprang to mind whilst discussing a tangential subject. Thought it might be fun since I suspect many of us have spent at least a few minutes on the noisy side of the stage (well, the side that SHOULD be noisier than the audience anyway ). Any favorite or all-time-best gigs to share? Maybe something particularly memorable?

I'll start with two just for fun, both from 2017 actually:

• Unified Past @ ROSfest 2017: this was a pinch-hitter gig; I hadn't heard of the band prior to late January of that year, but they needed a keyboard player on super short notice and George R remembered that I was game for crazy ideas So I learned their entire repertoire in about 3 weeks, did I think 4 rehearsals with them, and then joined them onstage for ROSfest that spring. I even kept it a secret from my other friends who went, so they got to be legit surprised when I suddenly walked out onstage that morning! I think my actual performance was a solid B- but still, purely as a "f*ck it, it'll be a great story to tell later" perspective it was a total joy and a blast and I still owe a big ol' debt of appreciation to George and Stephen (UP mastermind) for giving me a shot.
• Ephemeral Sun @ Progday 2017. This is actually THE best gig of my life I think. Everything was perfect: the crowd, the weather (not a given at PD!), our playing, even my sense of self-confidence. We'd just released Lord of Hounds and had played a couple of supporting gigs that went really, really well. One of those is what led to the PD booking in fact. It was also great because I remember being onstage and feeling that great vibe (sometimes it's only afterwards that you realize a gig was important). Still of the happiest moments of my musical life (hell, my entire life) and I'll never be able to say thank you enough to Michael B, Helaine, Debbie, and everyone with PD that made it happen.

Plenty more, but these felt like a fun start. Maybe this thread will tank. But at least I tried

[Sputnik]

With Eccentric Orbit, playing Prog Day was pretty amazing. I actually think we played better at the Regent Theater in Arlington, MA in January, 2015 at a smaller, local festival, but Prog Day was an incredible experience.

With my classic rock band, Brave Pursuit, the last gig we did was pretty cool. Some woman we didn't know was having her birthday party at the club we played, so there were a lot of people there, and they enjoyed what we did, including our originals. It was the only time on stage I really felt I had the audience in the palm of my hand, which was partly the product of me singing lead vocals in that band in addition to playing bass. That was a great experience.

Bill

[Rarebird]

Only live performance I did, was at a fashion-show. Me in the back of the audience playing over a backingtape I made beforehand and couldn't hear, while I also couldn't hear what I was doing, dressed in black leather, with hair painted black and a white tail and wearing heavy make-up. Memorable to say the least.

One public performance of my music, played by the computer. I was presented as someone who would be in the music-dictionaries between Mendelsohn and Mozart, within 10 years. (Well, that never happened, although I am in a book on Dutch progressive rock.)

[unclemeat]

Let me see... My performances usually leave me dissatisfied. But I've received positive feedback surprisingly often.
The strongest one may have been Heart of the Sun in 2015. But it did little for the audience, as it was - intelligently - booked as the opening act for an accordion player, who proceeded to play for three hours.
One fine performance with scarlet (a savage noise duet - you have been warned) was the opening act for a Dixie jazz tribute...
The subjectively hardest one had an infernal heckler. It turned out musically valid (imo), if admittedly rather strange. Hey, it's free improv.
On to celebrities...
Playing Die Dönnergotter with Rhys Chatham in 2009 was a positive experience, although we were under-rehearsed. I'd love to perform that superb piece again. Large ensemble (six guitars, two basses, two drums, two violins, keys, sax...), playing LOUD (louder than a Boeing taking off, we were told !). We also performed Guitar Trio (a lengthy one-chord piece) and Drastic Classicism.
The Butch Morris conduction I took part in 2006 (Marseille Skyscraper), also with a large ensemble, was a demanding but very inspiring experience. This has had a major impact on my own creative process.
The League of Crafty Guitarists (one gig in Lübeck, 2004) had potential but the destructive elements prevailed.

[unclemeat]

The Butch Morris conduction I took part in 2006 (Marseille Skyscraper), also with a large ensemble, was a demanding but very inspiring experience.

During that concert, Butch saw fit to give an unaccompanied solo to a character (not a musician) who played on an instrument of his own invention. The Billotron, which consisted of a single string with a contact mic attached, could produce only one sound. So this guy played his cadenza. It went like this :

zzzzboingggg...
??? [long silence. Dude waits and wonders what to play next]
zzzzboingggg...
???
zzzzboingggg...
(etc.)

That went on for what seemed like an eternity.

And then the string snapped.

[battema]

During that concert, Butch saw fit to give an unaccompanied solo to a character (not a musician) who played on an instrument of his own invention. The Billotron, which consisted of a single string with a contact mic attached, could produce only one sound. So this guy played his cadenza. It went like this :

zzzzboingggg...
??? [long silence. Dude waits and wonders what to play next]
zzzzboingggg...
???
zzzzboingggg...
(etc.)

That went on for what seemed like an eternity.

And then the string snapped.

I can close my eyes and see that scenario

Not even in the same insanity wheelhouse as yours, but located at a crappy frat house down the road: did a gig with a band for a frat who required that we play a certain Lynard Skynard tune, and that all the frat bros were allowed to come up and sing along with us.

We ended up vamping on the song for over 30 minutes while bro after bro came up with their plastic cup half full of terrible beer to stand in front of the mic, not make a single sound at all, then wander off again to make room for the next pillar of humanity's future to come up and repeat the ritual. I distinctly recall that night as the first night I began to view nihilism with a smidge of positivity

[unclemeat]

not make a single sound at all...

It must have been a John Cage composition.

[battema]

It must have been a John Cage composition.

[kenschwartz]

It must have been a John Cage composition.

A Lynyrd Skynyrd/John Cage collaboration? I might pay good money to see that

[MudShark22]

We ended up vamping on the song for over 30 minutes while bro after bro came up with their plastic cup half full of terrible beer to stand in front of the mic, not make a single sound at all, then wander off again to make room for the next pillar of humanity's future to come up and repeat the ritual.

I think the ritual was subjecting everyone to 30 minute Skynard vamp......shudder....hell week indeed.....



Sent from my NE2217 using Tapatalk

[battema]

I think the ritual was subjecting everyone to 30 minute Skynard vamp......shudder....hell week indeed.....

Think of it as "Outside the Dream Syndicate" for rednecks

[moecurlythanu]

^ They sure know how to pair you with the headliners.

[SteveSly]

Just an idea that sprang to mind whilst discussing a tangential subject. Thought it might be fun since I suspect many of us have spent at least a few minutes on the noisy side of the stage (well, the side that SHOULD be noisier than the audience anyway ). Any favorite or all-time-best gigs to share? Maybe something particularly memorable?

I'll start with two just for fun, both from 2017 actually:

• Unified Past @ ROSfest 2017: this was a pinch-hitter gig; I hadn't heard of the band prior to late January of that year, but they needed a keyboard player on super short notice and George R remembered that I was game for crazy ideas So I learned their entire repertoire in about 3 weeks, did I think 4 rehearsals with them, and then joined them onstage for ROSfest that spring. I even kept it a secret from my other friends who went, so they got to be legit surprised when I suddenly walked out onstage that morning! I think my actual performance was a solid B- but still, purely as a "f*ck it, it'll be a great story to tell later" perspective it was a total joy and a blast and I still owe a big ol' debt of appreciation to George and Stephen (UP mastermind) for giving me a shot.
• Ephemeral Sun @ Progday 2017. This is actually THE best gig of my life I think. Everything was perfect: the crowd, the weather (not a given at PD!), our playing, even my sense of self-confidence. We'd just released Lord of Hounds and had played a couple of supporting gigs that went really, really well. One of those is what led to the PD booking in fact. It was also great because I remember being onstage and feeling that great vibe (sometimes it's only afterwards that you realize a gig was important). Still of the happiest moments of my musical life (hell, my entire life) and I'll never be able to say thank you enough to Michael B, Helaine, Debbie, and everyone with PD that made it happen.

Plenty more, but these felt like a fun start. Maybe this thread will tank. But at least I tried

Those were both great show, especially ProgDay. As you say, everything was just about perfect that day and you guys were at the top of your game.

[clivey]

Well . looking way back, My old band was very busy touring Scotland and during 1990/ 91. We played over 150 gigs over a two year period with a 3 Van Convoy. Band, PA, Lights. And there were many " high jinks" had.

The most memorable was at the Village hall of this tiny village on the road to Skye called Dornie. We were scheduled to go on at the back of 1 am . For the life of us we couldn't fathom out how we were going to be playing to anyone at all given the miniscule population and remoteness of the venue. We need not have worried. At about 1 Am the cars and vans started to roll up , many of the drivers pretty well loaded on booze and weed, then we were ushered outside to witness the lights of a small fleet of boats bobbing across the loch towards our shore.

No bar, all booze brought to site, No security, The folks policed themselves .
We played the gig to a load of very" up for it" heelanders and it was indeed a fantastic night. It all fizzled out at the back of 4 am and we crashed in sleeping bags.
A magical experience.

https://soundcloud.com/blue-on-shock-archive

[Lebofsky]

Oh jeez - so many fun memories. I do write up a lot of these tales on my Totally True Stories substack.

Like the crazy epic adventure leading up to my very first Secret Chiefs 3 (with zero rehearsal): https://totallytruestories.substack....ock-the-casbah

Or another time where the Transylvanian locals fed us perhaps too much wine before a gig in Romania: https://totallytruestories.substack.com/p/romanian-wine

Many other stories in that substack (and I keep adding more). Some are locked for paid subscribers but there's plenty of free ones if you look for them.

- Matt

[boilk]

Well, I've yet to play a prog show, but I suppose my best gig ever was opening for a well-known local cover band at a packed bar on a Friday night.

We played our originals, kept people's attention and went over well. And two good things happened afterwards. An awesome guitarist told me that my fretless intonation was good (and I was told that he is not a bull-shitter) and a girl came up to me afterwards and told me that she couldn't take her eyes off me for the whole set (no idea if she was bull-shitting, or not, but sounded quite legit, ha).

Neil

[battema]

Those were both great show, especially ProgDay. As you say, everything was just about perfect that day and you guys were at the top of your game.

Yes, I still remember that Progday show and how much fun you were having up there. The energy was palpable, you did justice to an excellent record, and the crowd was into it.

Neil

Oh yay, it's nice to have outside validation on that show As a minor aside Steve, you're also responsible for one of my personal fave memories from that ROSfest, a brief exchange in the men's room of all places, later that afternoon: "that TWIST, John!!!"

Loving the other stories, especially the crazy ones!! Maybe I'll circle around for one of my all-time most bonkers gigs, playing a funeral for a strip club owner with a rock blues band back in Richmond. Bikers, dancers, catering by Hooters, all crammed into a woefully-not-ready-for-what-was-about-to-happen Holiday Inn banquet hall. Things were seen, yes they were...

Looking forward to more goodness from folks

[boilk]

Just an idea that sprang to mind whilst discussing a tangential subject. Thought it might be fun since I suspect many of us have spent at least a few minutes on the noisy side of the stage (well, the side that SHOULD be noisier than the audience anyway ). Any favorite or all-time-best gigs to share? Maybe something particularly memorable?

I'll start with two just for fun, both from 2017 actually:

• Unified Past @ ROSfest 2017: this was a pinch-hitter gig; I hadn't heard of the band prior to late January of that year, but they needed a keyboard player on super short notice and George R remembered that I was game for crazy ideas So I learned their entire repertoire in about 3 weeks, did I think 4 rehearsals with them, and then joined them onstage for ROSfest that spring. I even kept it a secret from my other friends who went, so they got to be legit surprised when I suddenly walked out onstage that morning! I think my actual performance was a solid B- but still, purely as a "f*ck it, it'll be a great story to tell later" perspective it was a total joy and a blast and I still owe a big ol' debt of appreciation to George and Stephen (UP mastermind) for giving me a shot.
• Ephemeral Sun @ Progday 2017. This is actually THE best gig of my life I think. Everything was perfect: the crowd, the weather (not a given at PD!), our playing, even my sense of self-confidence. We'd just released Lord of Hounds and had played a couple of supporting gigs that went really, really well. One of those is what led to the PD booking in fact. It was also great because I remember being onstage and feeling that great vibe (sometimes it's only afterwards that you realize a gig was important). Still of the happiest moments of my musical life (hell, my entire life) and I'll never be able to say thank you enough to Michael B, Helaine, Debbie, and everyone with PD that made it happen.

Plenty more, but these felt like a fun start. Maybe this thread will tank. But at least I tried

Yes, I still remember that Progday show and how much fun you were having up there. The energy was palpable, you did justice to an excellent record, and the crowd was into it.

Neil

[Plasmatopia]

I've had a lot of interesting experiences playing in bands, but most of the things I remember were the weird, surprising, accidental, or annoying aspects. Not sure what it says about me, but I offhand there aren't any sort of peak experiences coming to mind. The closest things I can think of are when we played something unplanned and unrehearsed. Band practices (and gigs) were always about playing the same songs the exact same way every time. We played one gig outdoors in September (private party) and it got really cold, but the person that hired us wanted us to play another set after we'd exhausted our list of songs. This particular gig featured a guy who sang and played guitar (we were mostly a small steel drum band) so he knew a bunch of songs I was completely unfamiliar with. Luckily one of the steel drum players also is an amazing bass player and he had played with this guy before so while he played bass I played guitar. I was really pleased with how smoothly it went under the circumstances and a chance to improvise was a treat.

- Another time I played with the steel drum band for a skating party next to a pond in February. It was 15 degrees F and I used fingerless gloves with chemical heat packs stuffed into the palms.

- Played for a pre-wedding lunch with a 7-piece steel band. They kept asking for us to play quieter and quieter. Easy for me to just turn down my bass amp, but drums and steel drums? We each made $300 to play as quietly as possible for 1 hour, lol.

- Did a gig for a nudist camp. We were told clothing was optional, but we were among the few fully clothed people there. The weirdest part was arriving and seeing a couple of completely naked teenage girls casually walking across the parking lot.

- Had a very interesting experience playing at a steel drum festival in Maine which was held in a hockey rink. Bands set up around the perimeter and each played a couple songs. At the end 50 bands played one song together (with a drummer and additional percussion leading us from the center of the rink). Acoustic chaos, but still very cool.

[battema]

^^ You know, I started this thread to maybe spark some talk of personal highlights, but to be honest some of the craziest weird stories are every bit as entertaining

Nudists?! I can see my old rock blues band being VERY interested in that sort of show

[Plasmatopia]

^^ You know, I started this thread to maybe spark some talk of personal highlights, but to be honest some of the craziest weird stories are every bit as entertaining

Nudists?! I can see my old rock blues band being VERY interested in that sort of show

It was mostly not as interesting as one might hope, lol. One guy came up to the side of the stage while we were setting up. Completely nude aside from his sandals. He stood there with one foot up on a retaining wall while he talked to my female bandmate. She seemed to handle it okay, but these people were mostly not any great physical specimens. The coolest part of the night was during our last set and it was getting dark. A few more attractive ladies showed up to dance under the black lights while wearing body paint.

[battema]

It was mostly not as interesting as one might hope, lol. One guy came up to the side of the stage while we were setting up. Completely nude aside from his sandals. He stood there with one foot up on a retaining wall while he talked to my female bandmate. She seemed to handle it okay, but these people were mostly not any great physical specimens. The coolest part of the night was during our last set and it was getting dark. A few more attractive ladies showed up to dance under the black lights while wearing body paint.

That's an AMAZING story, even if I'm sure the actual "hotness" versus "GIVE ME EYE BLEACH I CANNOT COPE" ratio was far too lopsided for silly personal fantasies

At the strip club owner's funeral, all his biker friends came out along with all his dancers. As the booze flowed and the night went on, the dancers crying and hugging and consoling each other started to turn into, well, what they do. And all these bikers sitting and watching THAT show play out in front of our show...it was a singularly unique evening experience. Also, alcohol wipes are really great for removing all sorts of spills and stains from things like keyboard stands. Apropos of nothing

[Plasmatopia]

That's an AMAZING story, even if I'm sure the actual "hotness" versus "GIVE ME EYE BLEACH I CANNOT COPE" ratio was far too lopsided for silly personal fantasies

At the strip club owner's funeral, all his biker friends came out along with all his dancers. As the booze flowed and the night went on, the dancers crying and hugging and consoling each other started to turn into, well, what they do. And all these bikers sitting and watching THAT show play out in front of our show...it was a singularly unique evening experience. Also, alcohol wipes are really great for removing all sorts of spills and stains from things like keyboard stands. Apropos of nothing

I never saw anything that crazy at a gig, lol. We used to play at a place that had a strip club and bowling alley attached. During the breaks a couple of the guys would go to the strip club. Our singer had been a bouncer there and knew all the dancers. Before I was in the band they had played at a big outdoor bash put on by some bikers. At one point someone fired off a cannon and the concussion apparently took out one of the PA speakers. Things started to get dicey with someone pulling out a gun. The band decided it would be a good time to leave and a bunch of bikers helped them tear down and load up. They were loaded and heading down the road within about 10 minutes, lol.

[battema]

I never saw anything that crazy at a gig, lol. We used to play at a place that had a strip club and bowling alley attached. During the breaks a couple of the guys would go to the strip club. Our singer had been a bouncer there and knew all the dancers. Before I was in the band they had played at a big outdoor bash put on by some bikers. At one point someone fired off a cannon and the concussion apparently took out one of the PA speakers. Things started to get dicey with someone pulling out a gun. The band decided it would be a good time to leave and a bunch of bikers helped them tear down and load up. They were loaded and heading down the road within about 10 minutes, lol.

Oh man...the rock blues band used to play this biker bar downtown in Richmond (Medley's, long gone now). Those bikers were legit awesome; they loved our shows and packed the house but also respected the bar and treated us all really well. It was always a little surreal, being a very nerdy IT professional/prog keyboard player who was welcomed so warmly in that joint. But I always got excited when we had a date to play there. Easily some of the most all-around fun gigs I've played.

[Plasmatopia]

Did a couple of duo gigs where funny things happened. One was at a local bar/restaurant for a wedding reception. The entire wedding party ended up going outside and some people started setting off fireworks. My buddy was singing with his eyes closed when a rocket crashed through a window, landed on the floor of the restaurant, and exploded in pretty colors. He heard the glass break and thought someone dropped a glass in the kitchen. He was kind of startled and I was just watching the whole thing and laughing.

Another time he and I were playing at a restaurant and a guy came up and got in my friend's face while he was singing. This guy thought my friend wasn't singing loudly/forcefully enough and was yelling "come on, sing it! belt it out, man!" while my band mate just closed his eyes and somehow managed to not make a mistake or forget the words. I was of course laughing my ass off and enjoying the whole scene.