Tell your gig disaster stories

[Bill h]

Well, I'll start, the reason I started this thread is because I think I just had the worst gig of my life last weekend. We are a country-southern rock band and it was your typical 4 set night with 15 minute breaks. It all started at sound-check and without going into great detail nothing went right, monitor problems, feedback trouble and so on, this went on right up to start time and we had to go with it. The first 2 sets were filled with major brain farts, playing mistakes, noise problems some tuning issue's I mean just everything went wrong. Granted, we play about 50 songs at a gig a we are all working folks and barely average on our instrument but this was crazy. About the third set I switched guitars and quickly checked the tuning without the tuner and we started playing. I then found out right away that my guitar was tuned a half down so instead of trying to tune I switched back(lesson learned). In the same song I had to use my voice box and didn't notice that I had kicked the tube out when I turned the box on, OH brother. Then in the last set, second to last song my amp takes a shit in the middle of a song, so there I am on my hands and knees trying to diagnose the problem under stage lighting while my band struggles thru the rest of the song. (Turned out to be a failed tube). Those were just my issues, everybody else had just as bad a night. We felt guilty getting paid for it. To our suprise the feedback from audience did not reflect the big turd we just laid on stage, man, what a night, so it made me curious if any of my gigging brothers on the forum have ever had a night like that. I just wanted to dig a deep hole and bury myself as did my bandmates.

 

[lǎo​wài]

Had a full scale made for TV brawl break out in the middle of Gloria. People swinging chairs, bottles breaking, lot of blood. Practically everyone there seemed to be involved. (About 100 people)

A small army of cops came and after it had spilled out onto the street.

Still have a broken chair leg from that night. Got paid too.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

I broke a string once. ...and dropped my pick a few times.

 

[12watt]

1) Drummer had a heart attack mid set.

2) Pub emptied in front of us, I looked out the window and saw a huge brawl going on outside.

3)One of our friends got drunk and started throwing cans.

These were different gigs.

 

[TOMMYTHUNDERS]

one time the donkey got out of his harness. he really went to town on me.

 

[michaelinokc]

one time the donkey got out of his harness. he really went to town on me.

I think OP was talking about things at a gig that don't normally happen to you, Tommy.

 

[kfowler8]

I was in college and we were playing a show at a church gymnasium. I was in between amps at the time so my setup was Guitar > Boss Metal Zone > DI Box. That's it. We made the mistake of recording it. My tone, if you call it that, sounded like a buzz saw. Horrendous. Cats mating make more pleasant sounds. Top that off we only had one mic for the drummer and placed it on the high hat. It sounded like to plates clapping together.

 

[Shadowplayer]

Blew up an amp

 

[SteveGangi]

Blew up an amp

I was in a "wedding band" - BRIEFLY.

The "head guy" owned all the amps except mine. They were cool amps, but apparently not well maintained. Mine was the only amp that didn't break down in the middle of the gig. I was also the only one who had brought a spare set of tubes and fuses... for me.

 

[Laggspike]

wow that's some serious horror stories in here haha

 

[electric head]

My biggest disaster gig is the fact I have not had a gig since 1979....

 

[Maynar]

A local producer was getting a Zep tribue night going. We went to a pub one afternoon to audition for him. I made the mistake of not putting new strings on, and popped one halfway through the second song. I only owned one guitar, no backup. Had to stop the band.

Eventually one of the other bands lent me a guitar, and we finished the set with that. It was a Strat.

Needless to say, we didn't get the gig. Oddly enough, he had printed up the posters before he even heard us. So even though we weren't there that night, we were still on the bill. Not that anyone noticed, really...

 

[kevinpaul]

Got nothing, it always goes just perfect.

 

[Maynar]

Wanker.

 

[LPG]

Hmmmmmmm.......

Had an amp die.
Luckily we were close to home base so I called for a break and zipped back to get my other amp

There was this time.......
Buddy of mine.
His band was playing a gig at a popular little club.
100 / 150 or so people.
Elevated stage....at least three feet.

I'm in the crowd and buddy spots me.
"Hey, Kevin.....get up here"

Hands me his new SG and jumps down into the crowd.

We tear into Whole Lotta Love.
Just as the solo is ending I break a string.
I turn to the guys and elevate the guitar a bit to show them the string.

No strap locks.
The front strap had come off.

I didn't notice.

I dropped the guitar back down and suddenly the strap is whipping around me.
Guitar hits the stage....bounces and flips right off the front of the stage.
And comes to rest about a foot away from my buddy.
I can still remember the look on his face.

All this while it's still plugged in.
It is a sound that has to be heard to be believed.

Yikes.

Good news is the, aside from the obvious DENT there was no other major damage to the neck or head stock.

Phuck was I embarrassed though.

 

[Cruznolfart]

We were playing a private party in '64 or '65, and it was a total drag. After trying to get some kinda reaction for an hour or so, we loaded out and bailed. On the way home we noticed the bandstand mid-parking lot at the little strip mall and decided to stop and check for power. As luck would have it, we found a hot plug. So we set up on the bandstand and began to run through our set list, in the darkened parking lot at about 9PM or so.

By and by, this long tall cowboy in a drop-top Caddy pulls up and asks if we'd be interested in playing for a private BBQ party the local midget racers assoc. was having at the local airstrip. We agreed to show up for drinks and grub. We played a couple hours or so. Ended up the night passing one of my cymbals around for donations. We got well-fed, somewhat faced and had about $16.00 apiece for our "trouble".

All in all, not a bad disaster, as disasters go.

 

[GitFiddle]

Was playing in a club that had a split level stage. The back of the stage did not butt up against the back wall. Had my amp sitting in a folding chair on the upper part right next to the rear of the stage.

The lower part of the stage was where the singing was standing. The height difference was only about 6 inches. The lower section was very shallow though. Only about three feet from front to back.

We had played there many times and I got good at blind hopping up backwards up to the upper level, then back down to the front, when we got wound up.

One night my heel caught the edge as I was hopping up backwards. I proceeded to perform one of those "5 minute" falls. It was like slow motion, but I eventually kept reeling backwards into my amp. The back legs of the chair slid off the back of the stage and my amp fell backwards slightly, against the back wall.

I managed to get everything back in order before the end of the song, although everyone else in the band was laughing so hard, the ending was pretty sloppy.

Kind of like this, but backwards:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkCSw-KDVjQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkCSw-KDVjQ[/ame]

 

[NYC LP player]

One night when I was performing for a crowd composed of the stuffed animal dog my girlfriend keeps on the bed I knocked my beer over into the laundry hamper. It was one of the last of a seasonale beers I had and it forced me to do the laundry earlier than planned. Still....there were no negative reviews.

 

[AngryHatter]

Auditioned for Stephen J Cannell and did not get the gig.

 

[Bill h]

Was playing in a club that had a split level stage. The back of the stage did not butt up against the back wall. Had my amp sitting in a folding chair on the upper part right next to the rear of the stage.

The lower part of the stage was where the singing was standing. The height difference was only about 6 inches. The lower section was very shallow though. Only about three feet from front to back.

We had played there many times and I got good at blind hopping up backwards up to the upper level, then back down to the front, when we got wound up.

One night my heel caught the edge as I was hopping up backwards. I proceeded to perform one of those "5 minute" falls. It was like slow motion, but I eventually kept reeling backwards into my amp. The back legs of the chair slid off the back of the stage and my amp fell backwards slightly, against the back wall.

I managed to get everything back in order before the end of the song, although everyone else in the band was laughing so hard, the ending was pretty sloppy.

Kind of like this, but backwards:
Guitarist plants face into his Marshall. - YouTube

Although I really hated to see the guys rig go over like that it was hilarious anyway, I don't feel so bad now. Thanks.