So first gig was terrible...

djmemjy

Member
Hi guys,

I guess this is an introductory post as well as a humorous story. I've been drumming for 18 months, played guitar for a year or two before that and originally started out my music career mixing vinyl 4 years ago. I've been frequenting this forum to try and garner as much wisdom and inspiration as possible

Had my first gig tonight, age 27, with a band I had been rehearsing with for 3 months, and man it was a shocker. Made a heap of errors towards the latter end of the set, and the lead guitarist lost the plot (and eventually his amp) and just went crazy freestyle for a while. The bassist and I eventually reined him in and we finished with a small level of dignity intact.

I watched the other acts afterwards and spoke with the other drummers. Great learning experience but realised I have sooo far to go!

Anyways, has anyone else got some funny stories / anecdotes to help alleviate the feeling of failure I have right now? Haha I'm joking I don't feel that bad, I'm glad to have my first gig over and done. Can only get better right?
 
I once dropped a drum stick - TWICE - during one song. The audience laughed.
The singer in my band frequently forgets the lyrics, sings the lyrics from a different song, etc.

When I saw another band playing, the guitarist snapped a guitar string - and it took him 15-20 minutes to replace it since he refused to continue playing without the string. They played for a total of 30-35 minutes, 20 of them the audience were just waiting for the guitar player to get ready. It was pretty funny.
 
There was this one time in band camp...that I forgot to bring my drums....and..........no that never happened.:)

Steve B
 
My first ever gig was a disaster, on the first song I had to play quarter notes on the bass drum during the guitar intro ... and I did 8th notes upbeat instead, the bass player tried to help me by nodding his head heavily on the quarter note pulse, haha...

After the gig, a drummer friend told me it was cool and he liked it, needless to say, my band mates were not very happy.

Yep, first anything in life, you tend to remember for a long time, I wish I could forget this one :)
 
Our little praise band once went to play at another church, and I forgot the legs to my floor tom, so I played with only one mounted tom. Then there was the time the my drum throne fell apart during a rock gig. I somehow made it through the song. Once, the end came off of the bass drum pedal beater, and the shaft went right through the batter head, so it took me fifteen minutes to put the front head on the back. That is one good argument for using a solid reso head. Once, I forgot to take my cymbals to the gig (a private party). I had to go back and get them.

The best was when we were playing at a bar in New Orleans. The PA amp passed direct current to the speakers and fried them. So we had to go to our practice place to get more gear. Then while we were playing, it rained very hard and flooded the streets. We ended up spending the night there. I had only been married a couple of weeks then. My wife was pretty worried.

Your gigs will probably get better. Peace and goodwill.
 
I seriously doubt anyone's first gig was great, even if it felt great at the time. It's a learning curve like many others. Take the positives from it, deal with any big issues quickly & get them out of the way. Playing live takes practice just like any other performance element. Get out there as much as possible. Road miles are the best way to grow as a performer.
 
Not first gig, but first gigging band, we actually stopped in the middle of a song, it just sort of disintegrated ha ha. Good Girls Don't by The Knack.
 
I seriously doubt anyone's first gig was great, even if it felt great at the time. It's a learning curve like many others. Take the positives from it, deal with any big issues quickly & get them out of the way. Playing live takes practice just like any other performance element. Get out there as much as possible. Road miles are the best way to grow as a performer.

This! Additionally, my guess is anyone who's done more than 10 gigs can share at least one story where things didn't go very well. It's inevitable! Let me play 10 in a row and I'll be able to share a story with you soon enough.
 
My first "gig" was at a school talent show when I was 15. Everyone that I ever went to school with was in attendance. We played "Wipe Out". Everything was fine until the big chord at the end. For whatever insane, moronic reason, I did the same thing the Spinal Tap drummer did, standing up on my drumstool, hitting my cymbals.

Next thing I know I'm flat on my back behind my drums, having fallen rather unprofessionally from the throne.

As I laid there I thought, "I have a choice to make...either I slink offstage as quickly as possible, leave town, change schools, grow a mustache, change my name and otherwise never show my face again......OR......I get up, throw my hands in the air and ignore the fall that just happened. I chose the latter.
Not one person aside from my bandmembers even mentioned it. That, to me, was the weirdest part of the whole thing, since they must have seen me fall. But all anybody ever talked about was the show itself, not the little stuff.
 
My first "gig" was at a school talent show when I was 15. Everyone that I ever went to school with was in attendance. We played "Wipe Out". Everything was fine until the big chord at the end. For whatever insane, moronic reason, I did the same thing the Spinal Tap drummer did, standing up on my drumstool, hitting my cymbals.

Next thing I know I'm flat on my back behind my drums, having fallen rather unprofessionally from the throne.

As I laid there I thought, "I have a choice to make...either I slink offstage as quickly as possible, leave town, change schools, grow a mustache, change my name and otherwise never show my face again......OR......I get up, throw my hands in the air and ignore the fall that just happened. I chose the latter.
Not one person aside from my bandmembers even mentioned it. That, to me, was the weirdest part of the whole thing, since they must have seen me fall. But all anybody ever talked about was the show itself, not the little stuff.
But did you get laid?
 
I wouldn't worry about it, I played my 100th or so gig last week and between me and the guitarist * we forgot to bring a snare.

Had to play the entire gig on tom hits and rimshot variations!!. Bad gigs happen be it the first or last. All part of the learning curve.

* the guitarist forgot...and my lesson that evening was never to trust a guitarist again.
 
I've played on many humorous and disasterous gigs but my very first paid jazz gig was the
opposite end of the spectrum....one of the best jazz groups I've played with. It was 1962 and
as a young teen I got to play drums (not sit-in, but as a band member) with the Kenny Soderblom Quintet. It was amazing and kicked my young ass all right! Kenny still plays in
Florida with his wife. http://gwf225.tripod.com/leahkenny.html
 
My first gig was awful; It was about 4 years ago. I had a bunch of experience playing publicly but it was my first rock gig and first time playing drums to a crowd.

Long story short, we were unprepared. Our singer forgot a bunch of lyrics and he was so racked by fear that he faced me the whole show. Our rhythm guitarist knew almost none of the songs and our bassist was just grooving along with no set parts. On the final song we all forgot a riff at the same time, panicked, and stopped playing.
I called for a groove and the bassist obliged. We grooved for a few minutes, then we left the stage, pride and hopes destroyed.

We fought through it and played for a few more years. It's all a learning experience. Im still playing and improving with better bands and a wider variety of music. Take it in stride, bad shows can happen any time, just try not to make the same mistakes. Be critical of yourself and improve, don't get bogged down.
 
I once drove 100 miles to a gig and arrived with no stool. played the gig sitting on a dining chair. It was fairly comfortable too! I have a recurring nightmare about arriving with no sticks. I keep a spare pair in with the jack in the boot of my car, just in case. I remember a story of Phil Collins with Genesis early on where he played a gig with half a drum stick and a pair of pliers....
 
Got to agree with the above; You can play a tonne of gigs and you'll have the occassional one that for some reason is a shocker. I played a club a few months ago, 2nd gig with the band, though everyone was experienced and good at what they do - we had totally unbalanced stage sound, couldn't hear each other (just had to hope memory served and we all ended at the same time - epic pressure on the drummer!) The carpet I had for the drums was shifting, bowing out so the kit got cramped in together in the middle. I had floor tom and snare snuggling my right leg by the end of the first set. It was also a grumpy crowd, in the first place!

So yeah, you get the crapola gigs but you learn from it and move on. I now use in-ears to monitor and have a Pro-Racket mat that doesn't move for galactic forces. Now just to wait for the next harsh lesson :p Learned the "double check all your stands are tightened down before you start" lesson the hard way many moons ago!

Get back out there and do it all again!
 
I made $16 on my first gig. I had a bass drum pedal that broke that day and I had to play the gig with string holding it together. It turned out OK, though. I've had a couple trainwrecks though. In fact, my first thread on this website was about trainwrecks. Plenty of people chimed in too. Don't feel like you're alone, bud.
 
My first gig, which was a high school talent show event, I go so nervous I couldn't remember anything but the downbeat. So, that's all I did. All the fancy fills I practiced were gone, all the groove work, gone. All I had was bass on 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4. I was quite embarrassed, but at least I kept the beat for the rest of the band!

The drummer in the next band was so awesome, I felt like quitting right there!
 
I've had a few!

I remember going on a music tour when I was in high school - There were roughly 30 students and I was the main drummer. We played on bandstands in Holland and Belgium. Due to issues with space, there was one gig where I had to set up on the opposite side of the bandstand to the rest of the rhythm section. It was HELL - I could barely hear them and consequently kept slowing down, to the point where a staff member actually came over to be my personal metronome - Embarrassing... But not as embarrassing as the last concert we played...

I had put in a really good performance on the last number of the gig. A younger student near me turned around and complemented my playing. I opened my mouth to respond... and spat all over her. Valuable lessons were learned that day - Always remember to swallow while you're playing.

I've also played with a rubber monkey mask on - I was part of a progressive rock band and my band mates essentially forced me to wear this thing and throw it off during a drum solo. I felt like I was about to pass out, as I had to keep it on for around 15 minutes. Not pleasant, but was actually a great gig.

On a more serious note - The last proper gig I played (roughly a year ago) I really overdid it. I had been practicing very intensive pieces, which were physically too fast for me, for a month, the last 2 weeks of which I practiced every day for 2 hours. When it came to the gig, roughly 3 minutes in my arm gave out. I couldn't stop playing though, so I struggled through the performance in a lot of pain. It was tough and in the end, at 19 years old, I had managed to give myself acute tendinitis in my hand/wrist. I couldn't play for 60 seconds without feeling great pain in my hand and it was scary. Thankfully, I've just about recovered, although I still get a niggle every once in a while to remind me.

Never go beyond your physical limits without the technique and practice to back it up - a very important lesson learned.
 
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