What Was Your Worst Gig and Why?

[BigMoney]

I made this post originally in r/guitar on Reddit and heard some great stories, so I figured I would ask you all as well.

I'll start.

When I first started playing guitar (age 10, and 22 now) I played here and there usually around school and of course my performance skills weren't top notch so I don't really count those ones.

Having played some professional gigs by this point, I would have to say the worst one I've ever played was a jazz gig with a weak pianist and weak guitarist. I was actually playing bass for this event. The piano player was very arrogant and thought he was the leader because he was the oldest in the band. He was constantly bringing out his reharmonized lead sheets for standards that we were already used to playing. We kept getting lost playing over the weird changes and the whole night was just a disaster. I admit we were all playing with bad time. The piano player would tap his foot very loudly to try and stabilize everyone but he wasn't doing it with good time so it actually made everything worse. The guitarist would play lines completely out of time, and I kept slowing down the more up tempo tunes because I wasn't good enough to walk bass at 200bpm for more than a few choruses.
None of us really clicked on a personal level either and that is something I find makes or breaks the night.

What do you guys have for stories? Cheers

 

[I Break Things]

Wait... I gig now? When did that happen? I must have blacked out... Who roofied me?!

 

[Uncle Remus]

We had the play Freebird guys at a show one night and I was only about 19. I started the slide part. Then stopped and told them that they wouldn't be able to stay to hear it as they needed to get home because the trailer park would be locking the gates in 10 minutes. Well the two guys ran onto stage and I hit one with my guitar as soon as he got up there. The other guy was beating the hell out the bass player, so I clubbed him too. Ended up in jail and a few head prints on my old Ibanez. Thank God they didn't press charges.

 

[Sct13]

ohhh boy....

There was MORE than one worst gig....

The worst gig .....I remember it very well....we weren't ready PERIOD....The drummer and I agreed but the others (who booked the gig before the band was actually lined up....(brilliant plan BTW) ....thought we would do fine...the first two gigs went fine...but only because we the drummer and I knew the songs like the back of our hands. the other guys were just able to keep up...

the real fail was when the "Leader" decided it was time to add a country set....which would have been fine....but I have to admit ....I'm NOT that good of guitarist....Blues and classic rock...fine ....I can do almost all of it. But switching gears midway....? No way....

And oh...changing the set list at the last minute....and not telling anyone.....this is so your set up for the next song wasn't planned out properly....What?? I need the acoustic for this? ....Or... hey dumbass....that's an OPEN G tuning....

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

I have posted this here before but.... when I very first started playing shows , I inquired about playing a bar close to home. The owner ( I have known her husbands family since I was 12) told me she needed a player every other wednesday night for an indefinite period if I was interested. I told her I was and she asked what I charged. I told her and she started back pedaling and asked about auditioning so I offered to play the first show for free.

I get to the venue and immediately I am informed by the owner that I have to keep the volume low. No problem. A woman I have known almost 30 years works in the kitchen and came out to say hi while I was setting up. She told me she had not heard me play in years so turn it up loud enough she could hear me in the kitchen. I told her I could not but I would turn a speaker her way and turn it up a little but keep the one pointed at the dining room turned down.

Immediately to my right are 2 older couples . one of the women intentionally said loud enough for me to hear " As far as I am concerned he can turn this one off" ( it goes down hill from here) I get my beat up strat outta the case and her husband says " Yeah he is probably gonna play some ozzy Osborne shit. lets hurry up and eat and get outta here before he starts. Keep in mind these people are 5 feet from me intentionally talking very loud to make sure I heard em.

My first song was an old Haggard tune. The old womans head popped up and they actually stayed about an hour after they finished eating. Anyway the crowd immediately started complaining that they could not hear me. I told em I was not allowed to turn it up any louder. People literally got up and left complaining that they could not hear me. The owners daughter walked up and said " You gotta turn this shit down, I cannot hear to take my orders" So I turned it down even more... A guy in the audience yelled " You gotta be shittin me.. is she serious?" More people left. A guy in the audience said to me " dude this is ridiculous. If I were you I would just leave" . My son begged me to turn everything up and play voodoo child and walk out.

The owner walked by and I asked if everythng was all right. I swear she said "Yeah but you are still too loud". I played 3 hours with one 10 minute break. I drank 2 sodas THAT THEY MADE ME PAY FOR. brought I think 25 people with me...when I was tearing down the owner came out and sat at a table with her back to me and to this day I have never even gotten so much as a thank you from them.

I have talked to 3 or 4 other musicians, a couple WAY better than me who she has treated just as badly.

 

[Sct13]

I have posted this here before but.... when I very first started playing shows , I inquired about playing a bar close to home. The owner ( I have known her husbands family since I was 12) told me she needed a player every other wednesday night for an indefinite period if I was interested. I told her I was and she asked what I charged. I told her and she started back pedaling and asked about auditioning so I offered to play the first show for free.

I get to the venue and immediately I am informed by the owner that I have to keep the volume low. No problem. A woman I have known almost 30 years works in the kitchen and came out to say hi while I was setting up. She told me she had not heard me play in years so turn it up loud enough she could hear me in the kitchen. I told her I could not but I would turn a speaker her way and turn it up a little but keep the one pointed at the dining room turned down.

Immediately to my right are 2 older couples . one of the women intentionally said loud enough for me to hear " As far as I am concerned he can turn this one off" ( it goes down hill from here) I get my beat up strat outta the case and her husband says " Yeah he is probably gonna play some ozzy Osborne shit. lets hurry up and eat and get outta here before he starts. Keep in mind these people are 5 feet from me intentionally talking very loud to make sure I heard em.

My first song was an old Haggard tune. The old womans head popped up and they actually stayed about an hour after they finished eating. Anyway the crowd immediately started complaining that they could not hear me. I told em I was not allowed to turn it up any louder. People literally got up and left complaining that they could not hear me. The owners daughter walked up and said " You gotta turn this shit down, I cannot hear to take my orders" So I turned it down even more... A guy in the audience yelled " You gotta be shittin me.. is she serious?" More people left. A guy in the audience said to me " dude this is ridiculous. If I were you I would just leave" . My son begged me to turn everything up and play voodoo child and walk out.

The owner walked by and I asked if everythng was all right. I swear she said "Yeah but you are still too loud". I played 3 hours with one 10 minute break. I drank 2 sodas THAT THEY MADE ME PAY FOR. brought I think 25 people with me...when I was tearing down the owner came out and sat at a table with her back to me and to this day I have never even gotten so much as a thank you from them.

I have talked to 3 or 4 other musicians, a couple WAY better than me who she has treated just as badly.

Oh my God .....Volume issues are the VERY reason I don't do this as much anymore... BTW the exact "Similar" situations have happened to me as well.

People expect that your a radio....to be turned down on command ....when I hear "can you play at conversational volume"? the gig is over.....

Now a days ....it's like ...Look if you want a rock BAND we cant play any quieter than the DRUMMER!!! Who is going to play louder than you are used to....If its too loud then get a DJ with teeny tiny ...itty bitty speakers, because your "venue" wasn't built for rock and roll...

the worst kind of bars are the ones that have Karoke 6 days a week...the regulars expect the volume intensity to be only slightly louder....so the drummer kicks in and these idiots start moving back or leaving....Well DUH!!!

Go to Mancini's down the street I think they have a soft Sounds radio night ....or what ever....

 

[DavGrape]

First one cuz we sucked swamp water.

 

[RichBrew]

My first gig was the worst, by far.

Playing under rehearsed original material; the situation exacerbated by a recalcitrant bass player, it didn't help that we were the live interest for an under 14s disco.

We met the drummer for the first time 45 minutes before going on stage, so things were off to a pretty shaky start before we played a note.

I learnt a lot that night.

 

[Nard]

First one cuz we sucked swamp water.

Likewise. The rest of the band had played together for a while but being the newcomer nerves got the better of me.

 

[DavGrape]

We fucking did War Pigs at a junior high school dance. Badly; in 1976.

 

[staffy]

On the back of a flat bed truck ,large crowd , whole band trippin' and everybody playing a different song at once....not good

 

[RedSkwirrell]

"Agincourt" Camberley.
Small club, out of our usual stomping-grounds, can't remember the year ('86?).

Was a brilliant, brilliant gig.
For us.
On stage.

Crowd were really hostile all the way through and we didn't know why.
We could not understand it and even suspected our support act had put 'em up to it.
Caused some friction on both sides.

Unfortunately, the sound had been diabolical OFF-stage.
Sound Engineer had been facing some..., 'constructive critique' even before that, but we parted ways the next day.
Friends told us later.

Still hurts to think about today.
Sound through our fold-back had been so good.
We thought we'd nailed it and were really disappointed to learn that wasn't what was going out.

Ah well.
There's many a mickle that makes a something-or-other.

BEST GIG
Walking through some back streets after the first gig I'd written material for and hearing a guy in front of us humming one of my songs.
Best feeling EVER!

 

[RichBrew]

... Sound through our fold-back had been so good.
We thought we'd nailed it and were really disappointed to learn that wasn't what was going out.

On every occasion that I've played where the whole band has gone through the PA, I've just assumed the guy on the desk will be making a hash of things.

Mind you, I've come across one or two hostile monitor mixers in my time.

 

[Slick]

1996 we supported Travis which was a big break for us at the time. However, the drummer arrived drunk and the bass player wasted no time in telling him what he thought about it. Onstage the drummer was shouting insults at the bass player between songs and 5 songs in they were trading punches onstage. The gig ended right there along with the band.

 

[meatball]

Will always remember the date ,, June 17th , 2015
Will remember it the rest of my life on that date, for the rest of my life . It's a date that you might remember yourself .... Got your interest peaked now ?? Read on....

I had lost my 94 year old dad three weeks before and now my mom was sick ,, in fact , hospice was called in ... Mom and Dad had just celebrated their 70th anniversary three weeks before his death and now she is for some reason deathly ill . I was two hundred miles away and I had to play a corporate gig with my current band , the Double Naught Spies , that had been booked for 6 months in advanced .
We were playing at the College of Charleston that Wednesday night .We Started on a hot night under a tent . Played for about two hundred marine biologist and their families in the middle of the college . About half way thru the gig ,I could feel my phone blowing up in my pocket . At the break I went off to be by myself and read all the post . The first one I saw was " She Will Be Missed " from my brother . My mom had died during my gig . I found the band on break and told them no blues or ballads for the rest of the gig or I will give them a gig they will never forget . We were on that night too , We could do no wrong as a band . Even performed a new Zeppelin tune . "What Is and What Will Never Be "
A man walked up to me before we started the second set and told me how much he was enjoying us . I told him that my mom had just died and that its going to be a different set from that point on . He said he was shocked that I would still finish the night . Actually ,,, so was I .....
After we were finished ,as we were packing up To leave, a security guard for the College of Charleston walked up and told us that we needed to take a difference direction home ,because there was about 200 police cars and ambulances down the street . Little did we all know ,that history was being made at the hands of Dylann Roof two blocks away from us ,,,,,,,, two blocks away !!!
I lost my mom that night . They said she had lost the will to live,Due to a broken heart . Others lost their moms that night to an idiot with a gun .
I will never forget that night . Eleven months from now ,on June 15th ,2018 ,when the news is reporting on the third anniversary of the Church shooting in Charleston, I will be reminded of that night again . I cant forget that night .It was the worse gig of my life .

 

[Deus Vult]

My worst was the one where my bass player took some pain meds between sets (legit, not recreationally) and zoned the fvck out on American Girl by Tom Petty. Yeah that four note bass line in the intro? Couldn't do it.

 

[SteveC]

I played this one gig, a long time ago... it was on a farm up in NY. Rained the whole fucking time. I took too much bad acid and missed a lot of it, most of my memory is wiped out... except for this black guy playing The Star Spangled Banner on his guitar. That kid could really play. Eventually, I woke up in a mud pit with this girl. She told me that we got married.

Been with her ever since. Never did find my guitar and amp. Oh well.

 

[Stevie 202]

Was supposed to be some kind of "record release party" at some shit bar.

Stupid lead guitarist booked the gig for the next day; had no band, no rehearsal, no setlist...nothing.

Dummy sez "we'll wing it."

We managed to get a couple guys from a local band to back us up...these cats knew none of our stuff and we knew none of theirs so we proceded to butcher a bunch of Stones and a bunch of old classic rock shit.

People kept yelling at us "play the song!" all night long but we never did 'cause like idiots we recorded it with so many tracks it was almost impossible to play live and no one knew it anyway.

It was so embarassing that when it was over I quit the enterprise and disapeared from view for a couple of months.

Yikes..

 

[bulletproof]

Had plenty of bad gigs.....from volume issues to playing for the wrong type of crowd. One sticks out the most,mainly because ,well,to me,it was just funny as hell. Early '83,we are playing a huge kegger,easily 3-400 people. The singer,Tim,well,he was a real piece of work. He thought he was fuckin' Robert Plant/Rob Halford. Granted,the guy could really sing,but,that ego and his attitude,man,what a bitch he was. Anyhow,we were cranking pretty good till some chick gave Tim a 'Lude. We were playing " Cocaine " (because Tims GF liked that song) and he kept singing slower and slower and,well,y'all get the picture. It ended up sounding like a dirge by the time we finished and I couldnt stop laughing. I know,bad form,especially in front of so many. Ole Tim ended up passed out in the van and we invited people(very carefully)up to sing a song of their choice. Good times ,man......

 

[MikeyTheCat]

We were touring and in one town that we were going to be playing for three nights the club owner "booked" us into the "town square" in the afternoon to drum up business. The place was surrounded by restaurants and his rival club owners. Having been only supplied with an ancient vocal PA like the one below but not as good the club owners turned up their sound systems and blew us away with Frank Sinatra.