1st Ever Gig ... video footage included

[Close2u]

My first gig.

The first gig with my newly formed covers band called Breaking Cover.

It was a little weird to be honest.

It was in the dining room / bar of an exclusive clubhouse of an expensive golf course attached to a spa hotel for the nouveau riche. It seems they were expecting some acoustic live performance - not a 5-piece rock band. We were told not to play too loud.

That was disconcerting and off-putting from the start ... we all played a little tentatively and made some fumbles because we were trying to play in a contained manner. It didn't feel quite natural.

Anyway, we played lots of mellow songs to start, re-jigged our set list somewhat. And we had the singer do a few solo acoustic pieces. Then we started to play the rockier, louder songs. Every few minutes a member of staff went over the the lad on the mixer desk telling him to turn it down! And we got loads of dirty looks from the manageress. Eventually, right after we had played The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love ... and just as I had hit the first power chord of Billy Idol - White Wedding we were told to stop!!

So - 1st gig ... and we had the plug pulled!

Rock & Roll!



I've uploaded some vids if you fancy watching.

Edited versions of 6 songs:
Amy Winehouse - Valerie
Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Coldplay - Fix You
REM - Losing My Religion
Oasis - Wonderwall
The Animals - House Of The Rising Sun

http://youtu.be/2ieStBQV-w8


All 6 songs in their entirety

Chasing Cars
http://youtu.be/yaH4OIRVmzs

Wonderwall
http://youtu.be/E0F4gAnodAU

Fix You
http://youtu.be/H4I9OIdC7e0

Losing My Religion
http://youtu.be/qa6qBOX3mNg

Valerie
http://youtu.be/aKIb080AZS8

House Of The Rising Sun
http://youtu.be/z_3OnNDi2Qw

[RocknRollDave]

I can't watch much cos I'm at work, but the small part of Fix You I saw was bang on - very good!

Yeah, I have experienced similar things with my band in terms of being asked to turn down over and over again - and we're pretty good at keeping a tight rein on our volume anyway, as live bands go. Some venues (or should I say some venue managers) have unrealistic expectations and the best you can do is speak to venues as much as possible in advance to make sure they know what sort of band they have booked and what to expect, and not just in terms of volume but also in terms of how much space you need and how many band members there are etc - seriously, the tiny spaces we've been offered to set up in on occasion have been laughable. We're not divas, we don't need Wembley Stadium's stage, we just physically cannot fit a drumkit onto a space the size of a pulpit!


So, prime the venue as much as possible but expect to come across the odd unreasonable venue every so often. Comes with the territory I'm afraid. So long as you do your bit to make your set appropriate to the venue and to keep the volume etc reasonable, then there's only so much you can do, eh?

[Bezzer]

Anyway, we played lots of mellow songs to start, re-jigged our set list somewhat. And we had the singer do a few solo acoustic pieces. Then we started to play the rockier, louder songs. Every few minutes a member of staff went over the the lad on the mixer desk telling him to turn it down! And we got loads of dirty looks from the manageress. Eventually, right after we had played The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love ... and just as I had hit the first power chord of Billy Idol - White Wedding we were told to stop!!

So - 1st gig ... and we had the plug pulled!

Rock & Roll!

Can't watch the vids at work but will have a look later. I feel your pain though, we had that a while back. Booked to a local pub KNOWING we were a metal band but we were doing a freebie as a favour to the landlord. Wish we hadn't bothered ... half way through the first set we were told to turn down ... we did as far as we could. Then we were literally kicked out of the pub.

"You're too loud and too bloody heavy!"

What a ******.

As we were loading the gear into the van the video juke box kicked in at about 4 times the volume we'd been playing ... and playing our set list! Locals showing their disapproval as it turned out ...

Anyway ... never mind. F*** 'em! Enjoy the Rock N Roll moment and move on to bigger and better Good luck with the band!

[Not_the_DJ]

Likewise I can't watch the vids at the moment, but I'll take a look later.

It's not uncommon to end up playing somewhere inappropriate. Making sure both parties know what to expect beforehand is key. How did you actually the gig there?

Anyway just move onto the next one and never play that place again. In the covers bands I'm in we tend to play the same venues a few times a year, plus the occasional new place, some of which turn into regular gigs, others we just right-off as a paid rehearsal and move on.

If it's somewhere local I try to call in before hand, ideally when another band is on just to see what they set-up is and what they're used to, but that's not always possible.

[erictheweary]

Also can't do youtube from here but am amazed sometimes at how little thought has gone into putting a band on. Lack of space and electrical sockets being the main issues. Lack of parking sometimes as well, turning up for a gig to be told only staff allowed on the car park so we have to park by the supermarket across the road and carry stuff across.

Yet other places couldn't be more helpfull so keep going!

[Close2u]

Thanks for the good vibes ...
the gig came about almost by accident / chance so it's no real loss ... it got us over the first hurdle of playing the first gig and setting up all our gear anyway ...

and we got some decent vid footage so that'll be useful for promo stuff later on

any feedback on the actual performance would be useful

[JAYJO]

Congrats on your first gig. Just had a look at wonderwall and fix you. Good luck and well done

[Close2u]

Thanks Jayjo


Any other feedback is welcome.

[Not_the_DJ]

Good work guys.

I've seen (and been in) worse bands!

I'd certainly stick around if I stumbled into a place you were playing. Seems pretty tight for a first gig.

Personally I'm not that keen on the keyboard sound doing the mandolin parts of 'Losing My Religion'. We actually tried that song ourselves but could never get it sounding right so we dropped it pretty quick.

There's a few parts where the singer's overdoing it a bit (I noticed it in Chasing Cars), the sort of unnatural 'emotional' inflections.

Those a really minor critisims, you did a great job.

[Close2u]

@ Not_the_DJ

thanks for the constructive critique .... and the fact you'd sit and have a few beers rather than leave I take as very positive!


I've struggled to get some decent chord shapes that work along with the lead mandolin lines translated to guitar ... a work in progress ... albeit not top priority, but your comment gives me reason to keep seeking a fix.

I'm really happy that you comment on us being tight.

As a five-piece together we only had three full rehearsals before this gig.
I met with the keyboardist in August, the bassist got involved soon after, the singer about 6 weeks ago and the drummer just a couple of weeks ago.
So the progress we're making is really promising.
Any more comment is welcome - thanks