The lucky dip of power sockets and venues

CaseOfAce

You know the deal .. you turn up at a club/pub after loading in the gear and ... oh hooray...it's "find the power sockets" time.
Sometimes you've got 4 doubles at the back of the stage - thank you god (or the electrician / club who had foresight to realise live music requires voltage and current).
Other times you've got one socket halfway down the club behind the jukebox or coffee machine.
Playing in beer gardens is always a hoot when it comes to this.
Let's hear your horror stories...

Roland

The one where a customer unplugged the PA so that he could play the bingo machine.

The pub where one of the sockets had neutral and earth reversed. 

EricTheWeary

Definitely had a few behind TV sets that are ten foot up a wall. Sometimes combined with you can't use it until the match has finished ( roughly three seconds before we are due to play). 
Even at venues, as opposed to pubs, some very dodgy looking sockets to be seen. 

Roland said:

The one where a customer unplugged the PA so that he could play the bingo machine.

Our PA went down mid gig - someone had unplugged it for their phone charger. 

Musicwolf

Older pubs are usually fun.  I used to play at one where we had to run our longest extension cable from the kitchen out of one window and back through another.  I carry a tester for dodgy looking sockets.

I bought one of these a few years back, it's been worth its weight.

https://www.diy.com/departments/masterplug-5-socket-13a-blue-extension-lead-15m/244075_BQ.prd 

maltingsaudio

Chillers and PA on same circuit nuff said

shufflebeat

Roland said:

The pub where one of the sockets had neutral and earth reversed. 

What about the pub where half the sockets had neutral and live reversed?

+1 for:

Socket testers

RCDs

N.B. A certain working men's club in South Manchester apparently couldn't find a qualified/sober electrician.

Jeremiah

One venue in Edinburgh where there was water dripping from the ceiling, forming a slowly spreading puddle about 4 feet away from the power sockets.

Danny1969

Indoor electrics haven't normally much of a problem for me.  Outdoors is where there always tends to be problems. Either stupidly long extension leads meaning the extension lead ground is no longer ground compared to real ground or they’re using a generator which isn't earthed  properly with its rod .  Or worse they are using two lower power generators spread across the PA and band because they were too tight to rent in a single  multiphase powerful unit. You can get away with that using one for the lights and one for audio but when they mix and match two generators amongst the audio it’s always a right old nightmare.

 Then of course you have water coming in from the sides when it rains  ... even if the stage roof is good.  One of the reasons I switched  to EMG pickups 20 years ago was to do with constant small electric shocks from outdoor gigs. 

Roland

Danny1969 said:

... stupidly long extension leads ... 

Years ago I was playing in a marquee. Smoke started billowing from behind the stage. One of their long extensions was still coiled on the reel, and our lights had caused it to overheat.

PolarityMan

Jeremiah said:

One venue in Edinburgh where there was water dripping from the ceiling, forming a slowly spreading puddle about 4 feet away from the power sockets.

Nicol Edwards used to be like that.