Embarassing electric gig/playing moments?

[Dru Edwards]

So, do you have any embarrassing gig moments? I know not everyone has gigged so I'll open it up to playing in front of friends, at a party, or even in front of your girlfriend/boyfriend.

It was one of my first gigs when I stepped on the guitar cord and it came out of my Les Paul. It happened twice that gig. The other guitarist in the band said "I can see how that happened once, but twice?". I laugh at it now but it's embarrassing when you're on a stage at a bar.

I learned to use a 90 degree jack as well as wrap the cord around the strap and it never happened again.

[BilliBob]

Forgetting to Capo up on a tune, everyone was in perfect key apart from me, the main rhythm. Took a moment for me to understand what was happening. Its truly amazing how fast you can fit a capo when you need to. I felt like plonker.

[Bob Womack]

It was my first band, somewhere around 1971, probably the third gig. We had worked up a schtick where we went into a vamp with the curtains closed, the vocalist introduced us over the vamp with great bravura and then "SNAP!" our 'roadie' popped open the curtain and we went into the first song, loudly. For this gig we were brought in by a church to play for a social in the youth group meeting room.

We set up the gear with the curtain closed, got tuned up, and waited for the host to tell us to go. When the host cued us, it was vamp, vocal intro, SNAP!

and we were staring at a crowd of seniors, as in, 70 years old and older.

Bob

[arie]

i have a long and formidable history of public embarrassment. here's a couple:

-having moshers invade the stage and trample all over my pedals. power got cut to my amp, stuff got turned on and off, cords got plucked out, etc.. the bass player was kicking them in the head with his doc's as they climbed up on the stage but not fast enough apparently. i had to put my wah pedal on top of the amp and work it with my hand. the entire room seemed to be swirling with bodies. kids looked like they were running sideways on the walls. unfortunately, my showcase solo got deprived of it's majesty, but on the other hand, it was punk rock and it was glorious!

-getting semi-electrocuted on a wet lawn playing a backyard kegger. i tried to work through the tingly feeling but it was kinda annoying. anyway, we only got two songs out before the cops came and shut us down. months later people i didn't know were coming up to me on the street trying to bond with me over that one. needless to say our reputation grew.

-playing another backyard gig and having the owner of the house next door come up on stage and try to turn down my amp. he couldn't figure out the controls and was messing things up until i aimed the pointy end of my charvel at his face. he gave it up. next came the sheriff's dept and their video cameras, a mass exodus from the house, a road closure, and an escort back down to pch.

-we played mr.t's bowl once and got a couple of songs into the set when two gentlemen got into fisticuffs on the floor. broken bottles came out, and they were slashing at each other for a little bit, got bloodied up, then they ran out the door. lapd comes by and shuts down the whole club, lines everybody up outside for a meet, and a greet, and a frisking. an hour later we pick up again, and there is only one person left on the floor. she was the audience. on the drive home, our uhaul got shot at by somebody with a paintball gun.

[RedJoker]

Not music related but I've performed as a professional juggler. At one show, the temp stage wasn't built correctly and it partially collapsed while my partner was on a 6-ft unicycle and I was on a 4-ft walking globe. We almost landed on the table in the front row. During a show at a street festival, we dropped a bowling ball that bounced backwards off the stage and through the booth selling artwork behind us.

[redir]

Nothing too bad but I have started playing the wrong song or the correct song in the wrong key on numerous occasions. I have had to deal with bad stage sound a few times as well. When you can't hear a **** thing it's almost always going to be bad. I've had a few occasions of drinking a bit too much too. I guess the worst for me is having the band ready to go and I'm still trying to figure out why my signal is not getting to my amp. I always always test my rig before a show and it works fine only to magically have some stupid cable crap out while setting up. I HATE that!

[clintj]

Two gigs ago, our lead guitarist had his A string break during the first song intro (which, of course, was in A). He somehow fumbled through it enough for us to come in so he could switch guitars, but that got the whole first set off to a bad start.

Last gig, our keyboardist's keyboard went rogue and started playing a pre-programmed drum loop at a different tempo and time sig than our song. Talk about mass confusion. I finally had to mute every channel on the board to see if it was us or the house sound system.

[LouieAtienza]

I usually just improvise solos to our originals, but my bandmates wanted a song with a more "structured" solo, a simple stupid melody. Of course I experience brain fart when the solo comes and just dead silence from me for the first couple bars. I ended up fudging it somehow but it was funny.

We also did a lot of pop tunes. Mad About You from Belinda Carlisle. We never really rehearsed and didn't even have the lyrics (smart phones weren't prevalent then.) To make matters worse, people in the crowd were filling our pints with the coldest beer ever. We must've played the chorus 20 times and I think no one really noticed!

Been using Roland stuff since the VG-8. We had to transpose quite a few songs, and I did it electronically with the VGs. One gig I accidentally hit patch down instead of patch up and it was in a totally different tuning! Sounded god awful! Had a few instances where I hit an acoustic modeled patch instead of a lead solo patch.

During intermission, I'd run my iPod through the PA. One time, some very "off-color" music came on. I couldn't run fast enough to the mixing board!

[Dru Edwards]

Some great replies. It's all part of the experience, unfortunately.

I played one gig where I couldn't get any volume from my Marshall head to the cab but it did work as line out but with almost no gain. For a metal band, not good and I had no backup. Anyway, the next day I was reading the instruction manual and I read about the "mute" button on the amp. Now I like amps without tons of buttons. Actually, the moral of the story is to "know your gear".

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Some great replies. It's all part of the experience, unfortunately.

I played one gig where I couldn't get any volume from my Marshall head to the cab but it did work as line out but with almost no gain. For a metal band, not good and I had no backup. Anyway, the next day I was reading the instruction manual and I read about the "mute" button on the amp. Now I like amps without tons of buttons. Actually, the moral of the story is to "know your gear".

Good moral there Dru. You don't want to be reading the manual when you're going on stage.

[Davis Webb]

I got silly drunk at a New Year's eve gig and was the lead guitarist. I leave to the imagination what transpired....

[Malty]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

and we were staring at a crowd of seniors, as in, 70 years old and older.

And......?

[craigj]

I put strap-locking buttons on my Tele, and didn't know I had stripped the hole until the front screw, button and strap came loose and sent the guitar crashing to the stage floor headstock-first in front of a bar-full of rough-and-tumble oilfield roughnecks and the only woman in town I wanted to impress.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Malty

And......?

We were the period equivalent of a metal band, playing Uriah Heep and the equivalent. We finished the first song (Sweet Lorraine) and got a round of applause. Then the lead vocalist has the brains to laugh and say, "Well, obviously we are neither the band nor the audience anyone expected tonight. Give us a minute." We put our heads together and came up with more appropriate music and did the show by taking requests. It helped that we were a five-piece with guitar, bass, keys (classically trained), drums, and vocalista. Basically, whoever knew a song, especially the keyboardist, arranged in his head and called the changes. I think the folks really appreciated our making the attempt to please them.

That wasn't the last time that happened to me, by the way. The next time it was my blues rock power trio and a German/American Club who expected an ompah band at the Knights of Columbus meeting hall.

Bob

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by The Growler

Good moral there Dru. You don't want to be reading the manual when you're going on stage.

LOL, Growler. Reading the manual on stage ... now that would be embarrassing.