The most amateur-ish thing you've done live?

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    The female singer in my early 90s shoegaze band was notoriously quiet. We were extremely loud to be fair and she just wasn't up to it. Anyway at one gig she started the first song with her microphone turned off. We were all glaring at the PA guy who was turning it up and scratching his head when she suddenly realised and turned the mic on. The ensuing howl of feedback brought the whole thing to a standstill. Someone shouted "do that again" and we started over. With hindsight I have to admit we weren't very good!
    Now you know why no proper professional-quality vocal mic has a switch :). If it has a switch it's designed for amateurs and karaoke...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • The worst thing that still brings me out in embarrassed hot sweats was when my originals band back in the day was playing a showcase for a label who were super keen. We played our big hit song but the guitars and bass were horribly out of tune. I gave the bass player an evil eye and he did the same to me. It was  horrendous quarter tone out and we had to carry on, it was an ugly sound.
    When it got to the guitar solo, which featured the whammy pedal, everything sounded in tune again, and I realised all along I had accidentally knocked the whammy slightly out at the beginning of the song. I never left the whammy always on after that...needless to say, the record label left the gig...
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  • Another naive schoolboy error at self engineered covers gigs I keep doing is leaving the PA main outs muted by accident as we blissfully play our first song with in ears giving us the impression all is sounding great! Audience members gradually starting pointing at singer and gesticulating for more vocal...bell end.
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  • weekend before last i managed to play the jingly intro to mr brightside two frets lower by mistake.  singer sang to it , not until i went to the next bit on the 7th fret did she glare at me for the sudden key change.  dont think the lagered up dancing ladies heard or cared one bit. makes me realize i shouldnt be allowed to play guitar anywhere other than a backstreet boozer.
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    First ever gig - in a local talent competition.

    In preparation for the big solo in the first song I stomped on my drive pedal, then promptly caught the lead with my foot and pulled the jack out of the side of the pedal. 

    The song was arranged so that the rest of the band stopped playing for the first 2 bars of the solo, then came back in.
    So there was total silence while I bent down and plugged the lead back in.

    We did not win.
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    Mentioned this before .... Drummer announces at interval that he's (unknown to band) off to pick is boys up.  At a station 25 miles away, so a 50 mile round trip IF they are on time.  5 minutes after he left sombody pours a pint in the disco - silence for about an hour and a half.

    Same drummer ... our second gig of the 40th birthday reunion, announces to the audience that he's doing some drums and piano numbers - it was half an hour of purgatory with pianist singing wouefully flat (luckily me, other guitar and bass/singist are not playing).

    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    The perils of vocal effects pedals....

    We're playing Mama Mia, and I'm doing my best girly BVs with added octave + 3rd harmony in D major.  All is good

    Next song is Gangsters by The Specials, and I have the lead vocal.  I step on the pedal to give me my awesome delay + low-fi megaphone sound before bellowing "BERNIE RHODES KNOWS DON'T ARGUE" in the traditional style.

    ..except I missed the footswitch, and I still have the Mama Mia patch enabled.  It sounds like a demented, helium-powered alien screaming unintelligible gibberish from another dimension.  Very loud.  Entire pub stares at me like I just took a shit on-stage.  I sheepishly find the right patch before the first verse, and pretend nothing happened.
    Some of the gear, some idea

    Trading feedback here
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  • firepaulmusicfirepaulmusic Frets: 362
    edited October 2019
    Koneguitarist asked me up on a pub gig to play ‘walking by myself’ by Gary Moore with pretty much the best local guitarist at the time. He handed me an ancient Tele and said “go for it”. I stepped on his distortion pedal and he said ‘ oh yeah, the battery’s dead’. He’s such a twat....
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  • Drummer dropped his drum key on a laptop mid set and turned on the headlining (touring) bands visuals for our set...they were......unimpressed
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    ICBM said:
    The female singer in my early 90s shoegaze band was notoriously quiet. We were extremely loud to be fair and she just wasn't up to it. Anyway at one gig she started the first song with her microphone turned off. We were all glaring at the PA guy who was turning it up and scratching his head when she suddenly realised and turned the mic on. The ensuing howl of feedback brought the whole thing to a standstill. Someone shouted "do that again" and we started over. With hindsight I have to admit we weren't very good!
    Now you know why no proper professional-quality vocal mic has a switch :). If it has a switch it's designed for amateurs and karaoke...
    I've been in a couple of situations backstage where people have forgotten their wireless headset mic's are still live .. You can mute them on the bodypack transmitter but then you need to trust the performer to unmute it again :)
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    One of my favourite incidents happened during a Stones tribute gig at the Brook in Southampton a couple of years back.  We're playing "She's a Rainbow".  Lots of very intricate piano parts, so it's a real showcase for our keyboard guy.

    He gets to the part where everyone else stops and he bashes out a solo instrumental verse.  Right at that moment, his iPad slipped and somehow pressed a frigging DEMO button on the Roland stage piano.  None of us knew that this thing even had a demo mode, but there it was.  It kicked in with some crazy bossa-nova thing, complete with percussion, carnival whistles and all sorts.  Much confusion all around.  It was very loud.  Keyboard guy had NO CLUE how to stop it.

    I was laughing so hard I can't even remember what happened, except I think he pulled down his volume and rebooted the thing just to shut it up, as the rest of us crashed into a chorus and tried to carry on.  I was almost hyperventilating whilst trying to do those creepy high backing vocals.

    I don't think we've played that song since.
    Some of the gear, some idea

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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    Drummer dropped his drum key on a laptop mid set and turned on the headlining (touring) bands visuals for our set...they were......unimpressed
    Classic Tim.  This is significantly funnier if you know the drummer concerned :D
    Some of the gear, some idea

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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    @Trude someone told me one of the amps caught fire at a Bogs Brook gig ?
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • Kebabkid said:
    Early 90s and it was a Music Industry Battle of the Bands competition organised by Nordoff Robbins at The (newer) Marquee that was on Charing Cross Road. Celebrity panel, packed venue etc

    As we had to use the backline, we didn't know what was being supplied and so I brought along my Zoom 9002 (the first, mini one that started it all) and had a good bunch of presets that had been tried and tested at the rehearsals and the unit sounded great.

    We were playing FM's rockier version of the motown classic 'I heard it through the Grapevine' and just before we got to the quiet breakdown/vocal in the middle, I went to hit my solo preset in preparation from when we came out of that to launch into a guitar solo. The lights were dim and I accidentally hit the metronome button which through the in-house, large PA rig, sounded like someone banging a dustbin lid. It was horrible, loud, thin and metallic-sounding. To add to it, it was totally out of time with the drummer and of course, being a metronome, everyone thought it was the drummer's, or he'd been using it or triggered it.

    As the band looked on in disbelief, it seemed like an eternity before I actually realised what was going on and that alien sound was my doing, but in reality it wasn't, and I nonchalantly sauntered off to my Zoom and turned it off.

    Many people commented on 'the interesting break' and I didn't own up to it with the drummer being seen as The C***T of The Night, but in truth, that title belonged to me.

    Luckily, the drummer is still one of my besties and we're happy to still play in a band together, but he does mention it every so often - SORRY DAVE. 

    Here's a pic of the night where you can just make out a letter from the Marquee backdrop. The offending Zoom would've been sitting atop the Marshall head. As an aside, I miss my Tom Anderson shown here, which I now find myself trying to purchase one I can actually afford!


    Omg what a nightmare , I can’t imagine what it would sound like through a big p.a. , drummer sounds like a cool dude takin the fall lol , 
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    Danny1969 said:
    @Trude someone told me one of the amps caught fire at a Bogs Brook gig ?
    Oh yeah, that was my 60s Vox AC10.  I was running a two-amp rig that night so I didn't notice at first.  I was wondering why the keyboard player kept waving at me, until I noticed the thick black smoke filling up the back of the stage.  I managed to stop the lighting guy from hitting it with a foam fire extinguisher, and we just had to wait whilst they opened up the loading doors to vent all the smoke out.

    Ah, they don't make 'em like they used to!  
    Some of the gear, some idea

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  • Trude said:
    Drummer dropped his drum key on a laptop mid set and turned on the headlining (touring) bands visuals for our set...they were......unimpressed
    Classic Tim.  This is significantly funnier if you know the drummer concerned :D
    I hadn't realised it was unintentional, thought the screens might have belonged to the venue.  :)
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    Trude said:

    Oh yeah, that was my 60s Vox AC10.  I was running a two-amp rig that night so I didn't notice at first.  I was wondering why the keyboard player kept waving at me, until I noticed the thick black smoke filling up the back of the stage.  I managed to stop the lighting guy from hitting it with a foam fire extinguisher, and we just had to wait whilst they opened up the loading doors to vent all the smoke out.

    Ah, they don't make 'em like they used to!  

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Ive only ever set an amp on fire in rehearsal. 
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    Ive only ever set an amp on fire in rehearsal. 
    Me too - and a couple in the workshop. The WEM cab wasn’t anything to do with me!

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • GulliverGulliver Frets: 848
    Forgot to take a mic-stand to the gig.   Improvised by taping the mic to a guitar stand balanced on the top of the bass amp.


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