Talk about your last live gig.

[Drakken]

Take a moment to tell us all about the last time you played in front of an audience.
Was it a bar, a stadium, a wedding reception? How did it go? What do you remember most about it?

[randdrum]

St Paddy's Day ... small bar in a cowpoke town (and we do rocked out 80's new wave covers). Started out pretty slow but by the end of the 2nd set the dance floor was packed and we started locking in pretty good. Had offered the owner a free show but he sold enough booze that night to pay us $300 + $100 bar tab.

[Artisan]

In front of 500-600 people, 11 days ago. It was awesome! It was the best I've ever played, according to mates. I played on a Yamaha MCA with HHXs. Lovely kit! The trickiest song we played was Frank Zappa's City of tiny lites. It went really well, and the audience loved it!
I've done so many gigs now, I don't really get nervous, but this was a big gig for me and so I thought i'd be nervous. In fact, I wasn't! I got out there, adrenaline going and just played.
I used Vater Excel sticks, that i'd been getting used to for a week, specifically for the gig, as I needed a louder sound and more volume. The tips really helped with that.

So yeah, there we are.

[Big King]

2 weeks ago my band was one of 6 bands that played as part of a cancer fund-raiser. We went on 2nd to last. about 100-300 people in the place. I think we were the only serious band there. The other bands were ok, but they were pretty much Jimmy Buffett cover bands. We opened with a perfect note for note version of "Sin's A Good Man's Brother" by Grand Funk Railroad and cruised through the rest of our 50 minute set which consisted of original songs, and covers by Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Little Walter etc. Everyone loved us. We got the biggest crowd response. We had a really good time. It was a benefit fund raiser, so we didn't get paid, but we did get free shirts with our logo on them, and made a bunch of new fans, and picked up regular gigs at this place. Plus we got added to next years event, and other events this group is putting on.

This gig was a stark contrast to the gig we played the week before where we played a 4 hour set to less than 10 people, but got paid $450.00. So it was like a paid practice. Those are the shows where we debut and try out our new songs.

[MilesAway]

The last gig I played was the Firkin on King in Toronto, last weekend... I was a last minute sub (the regular guy plays for Alyssa Reid), and so was the singer\guitar player. It was just a trio gig, which was good because the stage was literally a "perch" behind the bar. The amps and bass drum were pointed literally just over the back of the bartender's heads, so we pretty much had to play radio volume. I brought my Manu Katche Hip Gig kit for this one, instead of my usual Oak Custom (with monstrous 20" kick drum ha ha). It was a lot of fun; turns out we all knew a lot of 90s pop rock, so we did a bunch of Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20, Fastball etc as well as a bunch of hip hop tunes (Taio Cruz, Ne-Yo) done in a more live style. I spent the break between 2nd and 3rd set chatting about David Bowie with this couple who kept drunkenly yelling out requests for different Bowie tunes ha ha...

Pros: Meet new musicians\contacts, $125 and free food\beer, lots of fun, no stress\rehearsal necessary.
Cons: Having to play the whole night at triple-pianissimo... I'm not a loud player, but it would have been nice to do the Foo Fighters at at least MF ha ha...

[Drakken]

We played 2nd in a 3 band line-up. The crowd were mainly friends, they started chanting for us while I was still setting up my gear. We played around an hour and loved every minute of it. A few people we knew said that was the best we have sounded. Good to know cuz I was using the headliners set and $h!+ just kept going wrong. 1st- the gooseneck on the vocal mic I was using was old and kept drooping down. 2nd- his boom arms kept tilting down. 3rd- I broke my snare side head. 4th- I broke a stick. ETC.
But the crowd was way into it and we were asked back by the booking manager.

[bighairbigdrums]

You want to hear about my last gig with the band I love but has been on haitus due to illness. Or the last gig with the band that I was ready to kill the guitar player before we hit the stage and I left after the the last set and never spoke too again? LOL

[dale w miller]

My last gig was SXSW. I enjoyed myself very much.

[Drakken]

Well, BigHair, your choice. But I was going for the LAST gig you played as the calendar goes. But feel free to share which ever experience you wish.

[GoodmanDrumz]

We played at the Backroom Recording Studio on Audley Street. One of the sketchiest venues I have ever been to. We played in what I think was formerly an apartment. Hardwood floors, a kitchen, no real stage. Maybe 50 people there, including parents. I love those types of shows.

Upcoming is an EP release party for some friends of ours, at one of my favourite venues, the old Masonic Lodge.

Oh, and in a month I'm filling in for a band opening for anvil.

[pearldrums13]

I last played at the local pizza pub, Firehouse pizza in Normal, Illinois. I sang the 1st song, and in the middle of the song, a spring on my bass pedal came loose and wouldn't rebound. I was so embarrassed! Then, my drum teacher had to run down to his studio and get me a spare because I made the mistake of not bringing an extra. That was the big part of my gig. But then, during the last song, my stick broke and barely missed the guitarist. Luckily, I had an extra stick.

[MitchLyons]

Played at a church after an open mic night as part of a free concert-of-sorts. It was a lot of fun. We met some really cool guys from Florida (the band before us, and the rapper after us), and we got comments that it was our best gig. Maybe 100 people showed up, but it was a blast getting to play in the big room. Lots of natural reverb.

Best part of the night was when we did a cover song. The guy who leads worship on Sunday mornings used to be in a Christian hair metal band (he played bass) that broke up in the mid-90's, so we covered one of the band's songs! I borrowed a double bass pedal from a good friend of mine to stay true to the drum track, and it got a great reaction from him and the crowd.

Yeah, great time. Definitely want to play more church shows. The bar scene gets really old, really quickly, especially when they have to make exceptions to let me (17 years old) and my band mates (18 and 18) into a 21+ venue. Loooots of fun there.

[dale w miller]

At the Cake Shop in NYC I had a reunion with my old no guitar art-punk band, in the midst of a name change, with Japanese noise band Ultra Bide. What a great show! The energy was high and we played fairly well considering the amount of rehearsals.

[MeaninglessPhoto]

Raleigh, North Carolina on December 15, 2013. It was my first gig with my new band, Listen. It was also the first time that I've performed live as a drummer since 2007 (I've played bass and fuitar for a few Christmas gigs). The gig was also gonna be recorded by a company called RMC for a television show that is being pitched to the Fox network for local music. Came out flawless. We only had a set list of 3, which we had to repeat twice each for recording purposes )we had a list of 5 but due to said purposes, we had to change our gameplan). It was at Deep South, which is a bar and a record company based in Nashville and Raleigh. It was a perfect night and a perfect gig.

[DrumLord316]

I played my first gig back in August. My band consists of a guitarist, bassist, and drummer. We played for a neighbor's birthday party and we had a set of 8 or 9 songs. I was soo nervous and I tensed up to the point that I barely moved while I played. The first thee songs went well until I messed up BIG TIME in 'Enter Sandman.' Then I picked it back up and realized I needed to get loose and then I had a blast. On the last song I dropped a stick.