seemed a good idea at the time

[Emperor Fabulous]

+1 to the tuning thing. Get the guitar down to the outside temperature at least an hour before playing, and tune up just before you go on. Expect it to drift a bit as it warms up from your body - so check the tuning after the first few songs.

[stevefingers]

Did an outdoor gig in December a few years ago. I couldn't feel a thing on my guitar, and the sound seemed really brittle.

We all walked on at the start of the gig in biker jackets and some old punk shouted 'fucking 'ell, it's the Ramones!'

[thompy]

good call on the cold weather + tuning .... my main guitar is a semi hollow so I might swap it with the back up solid body LP (until that is I break a string on the 2nd song )

[Danny1969]

Biggest problem I've had tunning at outside gigs is seeing the dam tuner, those little lights that are fine in pub gigs disappear in Daylight if the sun's out! If you have a needle tuner then maybe use that or make a little sun shade for your floorboard.

PA wise bigger outdoor generally need a different kind of PA than your normal pub \ club. Something like the HK Projector which is designed to throw the sound further at the expense of a little hi fi quality. The wind makes a huge difference even with a proper long throw PA though, a big gust of wind blowing across the FOH stacks will seriously attenuate the output.

We had a big one organized last year, see pic below but the weather just didn't hold, you normally get paid regardless though so that's something.



Best of luck though, hope it goes well

[thompy]

I was a good gig in the end

Sun was shining, weather was fine, no fingerless gloves required ..... but god dam you can't see the lights on your tuner or other pedals in the sunlight at all. Might get some pics up later.

On the downside we did manage to blow one of our PA cabs