I can't decide if it was playing on the steps of City Hall where the view of the conductor was completely obstructed and the sound engineer was harrasing our percussionist...

OR

playing at a 70's theme party and being utterly drowned out by hipsters sipping drinks, who were talking very LOUDLY with maybe one or two folks glancing our way

What are your horror stories? Band members flaking out at the last minute? Equipment breaking down? etc.

Cool thread!

My nightmare was playing for a party of club owners and restaurant owners in a small farmers town in The Netherlands.
I was playing beatles,Armstrong,evergreens etc and my own music.
People in the audience were having dinner and one dude was looking at my sheetmusic and telling me what to play..the club owner told me to play something more upbeat and it was a real shithole place all together..LOL.
My amp started buzzing..my second half of the show I got drunk and walked out but got a bussiness card from an Argentinian dancegroup manager who was the only one who digged my playing I guess.
LOL
I left without getting paid too.
Also another gig was on the streets of Columbia South Carolina with 3 street musicians surrounded by drunk racist hillbilly college kids who were going yeehaw n stuff,touching me,yelling and making racist remarks to my fellow musicians.

Playing a club and was getting booed by this dude, who was really an asshole and was in a Who tribute band, and he threw a plastic water bottle onstage. We all got in a huge fight afterwards and got banned from the club.....

Harsh!

This bar in the ghetto run by Vietnam vets, we're all on blow and the music is pretty angry. My 350 lb singer is irritated that nobody is paying attention so he runs into another area of the bar and knocks the pool balls off the table and then jumps on it and screams "You're all a bunch of fucking slaves"

Then more people show up. Seems to be going alright until a drunk heckler and it turns into a full on fight with the band and this guy with his friends. That is until Tony (the bar owner) pulled out the machine gun and everybody cleared out. No shots were fired and we were always welcome back.

I'm glad I don't play that type of music, do blow or hang out with people like that anymore.

Slave2daGroove said:

Most recently, the worst gigs ever are when the other musicians are idiots who do not listen and are unprepared for the damn show. I want to plant my telecaster up the a#@ of a bass player or drop my amp on the drummer sometimes.

There. I'm better. Thanks.

Come to think of it, my worst gig was when I was in 7th grade. My mom always got me late to everything and we were very late for a concert of my youth orchestra at some community center. So I rush in backstage extremely stressed out because everyone is already on stage and I unload my violin. There's another kid who is late so I follow him down the stairwell. He barges through the door and I follow, but the door closes on me and snaps the fingerboard off my violin. That was my worst gig ever. There was an empty seat in the first violin section.

When my mom found out after the show, she wanted me to turn in the boy who ran through the door before me and make him pay for the violin.

Played for a reception for Aretha Franklin once--in 90 plus degree heat in the direct sun. I was in a string quartet and we were supposed to play for an hour. I got up and left after 20 minutes--I thought I was going to pass out.

beauhall said:

PREACH!

I had a friend named David that hosted jam sessions on Monday nights at a local restaurant. Prince had been in town over the weekend, and my 8-year-old daughter was still pumped over seeing him, so I said, "Hey, bring a friend and we'll go to David's jam session and since I'll be among friends, I'll play some Prince songs for you".

So we go to the restaurant but it had been awhile since I'd been to one of David's jam sessions and when I walked into the joint, I quickly discovered two things:

1. David didn't host the jam session any more, but
2. Rednecks did.

I was decked out in my Musicology t-shirt and symbol hat. I had my green limited-edition Telecaster and a fuzz box. And I had two 8-year-old groupies that wanted to hear RodeoSchro play Prince.

So I did.

The look on those dudes' faces when I broke into "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" was worth every bit of awkwardness.

Double-post edit.
[Edited 11/5/07 7:59am]

RodeoSchro said:

Thats why I like that scene in 48 hours where Eddie Murphy walks into that redneck bar.
"Black russian?"

"there's a new sherrif in town"
LOL



"Music industry is racist" -sting
[Edited 11/5/07 9:59am]

OK, here's mine...I used to be in a band that was very well known in Europe (but no so much in the States) and we were on a US tour. One of the main dates on the list for me was playing First Avenue...I was so looking forward to it and, being a sad Prince fanatic, planned to check out the NPG store in the day. Trouble is, the night before, we were playing in a university town and...let's just say I got to know one of the audience members quite well that night. Anyway, we went back to her place (close by) knowing that I had to be back on the tour bus in about an hour's time. I lost track of time and got back to where the bus was, only to find there to be no tour bus. The bastards had left without me. I was stranded God knows where with no clue how to get to Minneapolis! The girl I was with let me stay and she kindly drove me to the train station the next morning. I got a ticket for Minneapolis hoping that I'd get there in time for the gig, knowing that I'd be cutting it fine. Of course, the train was delayed and I got into Minneapolis knowing that the show had already started. Dishevelled and still hungover, I got a cab to the venue and (understandably) the door staff didn't believe my story. In the end, I got in, 30 minutes into the show. Unknown to me, the guitarist in the band had told the audience of my predicament and asked if they'd shout out "Wanker" repeatedly when I got on stage. Rushing in, I went through the backstage area and finally arrived on stage. Having 2000 people shouting "Wanker" at you for about 2 minutes ain't fun, especially when you've got the rest of the gig to do. Hey, I deserved it and my own sick sense of humour somewhat appreciated it.

I could probably write a bloody book on this subject, actually.
[Edited 11/6/07 2:00am]