Share your gig disasters :-)

[boji]

I used to play in a cover band. Instead of a fixed setlist, the guys insisted on always playing mostly new songs. Because I was the lead guitar player, it meant a lot of work on my end to learn new parts.

The week before the gig, I'm practicing the new songs like crazy and barely paying attention to the ones I already know by heart.

You see it coming, don't you? Well, here we are in the middle of the gig. So far, everything has gone smoothly. And then we start playing Johnny B. Goode, a song I must have played a thousand times. And here comes the solo part. The one where everyone stops playing and the guitar takes center stage, alone.

And I draw a blank. I have absolutely no idea what to play. So I just don't.
A very long and awkward silence...

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I fell off the stage of the empire music hall in Belfast while laughing at our singer after he walked into his mic stand.

He had taken the mic off the stand and was really going for it with his eyes closed and mic in hand. He walks forward eyes still closed straight into the stand then stumbled back with a look of panic on his face...

It was awesome and hilarious right up until the moment my left foot slipped down over an edge and the entire world flipped upside down and I landed in a heap on the ground with a load of people looking down to see if I was ok.

A - It really really hurt but I had to pretend I was fine in that way that only men can do.
B - My headstock was no longer attached to my les paul
C - My pedalboard was hanging off the front of the stage
D - Our singer was laughing so hard it looked like he was having a stroke.

E - Probably not my worst gig ever!

 

[boji]

I fell off the stage of the empire music hall in Belfast while laughing at our singer after he walked into his mic stand.

He had taken the mic off the stand and was really going for it with his eyes closed and mic in hand. He walks forward eyes still closed straight into the stand then stumbled back with a look of panic on his face...

It was awesome and hilarious right up until the moment my left foot slipped down over an edge and the entire world flipped upside down and I landed in a heap on the ground with a load of people looking down to see if I was ok.

A - It really really hurt but I had to pretend I was fine in that way that only men can do.
B - My headstock was no longer attached to my les paul
C - My pedalboard was hanging off the front of the stage
D - Our singer was laughing so hard it looked like he was having a stroke.

E - Probably not my worst gig ever!

Ahaha I love it! Bring on the rest of them!

 

[TheSin]

Out of pure laziness I used to skip clipping the string ends after re-stringing my guitars. One night in the middle of a song, one of those bastards happened to find its way right into an electrical outlet that was mounted about 5 feet from the ground right next to me. It shorted and tripped the breaker which killed all the power on stage. I realized how fortunate I was after that and have clipped my string ever since….lesson learned.
Having to burp while you’re singin is one that still happens to me on a regular basis, sometimes they just slip out….damn beer!

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Out of pure laziness I used to skip clipping the string ends after re-stringing my guitars. One night in the middle of a song, one of those bastards happened to find its way right into an electrical outlet that was mounted about 5 feet from the ground right next to me. It shorted and tripped the breaker which killed all the power on stage. I realized how fortunate I was after that and have clipped my string ever since….lesson learned.
Having to burp while you’re singin is one that still happens to me on a regular basis, sometimes they just slip out….damn beer!

Unclipped string ends are one of the things I hate most in all the world. I literally cannot deal with them flopping around like that

 

[peccary]

Nothing crazy for me, really. I guess the worst thing was that we had gotten to a point where we were gigging pretty regularly and getting better places to play (tough to find places that want originals) when our lead singer quit. She was a great singer and thought we were too small time so she went to sing with this local reggae band that has a pretty big following. No biggie for me, but then a year or so later she comes back and wants the band back together, so fine, we all still know the songs.

We play our first gig back at tis little bar in Pomona that regularly has local original bands play and we're early in the lineup. We get on to play and it's basically all wives and friends in the patio area where were playing, like maybe 12 people at most and I think all of them were known to us except for a coup[le of local drunks. We start our first song and out singer basically just starts doing stripper moves on the stage. The entire show (maybe 4-5 songs) she is like humping the ground and mic stand and writhing all over the floor. Everyone in the band was embarrassed. She starts doing this moaning sound in the middle of one of the songs trying to be all sexy, I guess, but you could just see the entire place shrink back. Didn't work.

It might have played if we were big time and didn't know anyone in the bar, but it was the wrong time and place for it and we're just four nobodies up on stage pretty much playing for free beers and gas money. No one was expecting it and multiple people commented on it being super weird. The bass player from the band playing right after us even asked me what that was all about. I mean, she would act sexy before, it's part of the thing with a good looking lead singer regardless of gender, so I'm not a prude or anything, but it was like way over the top, especially getting on all fours, humping, and moaning.

We only played like two more shows after that before she ditched again. Probably for the better, though she never did that again.

 

[peccary]

I used to play in a cover band. Instead of a fixed setlist, the guys insisted on always playing mostly new songs. Because I was the lead guitar player, it meant a lot of work on my end to learn new parts.

The week before the gig, I'm practicing the new songs like crazy and barely paying attention to the ones I already know by heart.

You see it coming, don't you? Well, here we are in the middle of the gig. So far, everything has gone smoothly. And then we start playing Johnny B. Goode, a song I must have played a thousand times. And here comes the solo part. The one where everyone stops playing and the guitar takes center stage, alone.

And I draw a blank. I have absolutely no idea what to play. So I just don't.
A very long and awkward silence...

Should have just sold it as a John Cage 4'33'' inspired solo.