In a band? Bad gigs and how do you deal with them?

[PAZ]

Ok, just played an open air gig at a pub - private do, large garden & car park. Loads of people there but the layout of the place meant that, wherever we set up, we were only ever going to be visible to about 10% or less of the punters. Also lots of hyperactive kids there running round in circles (as they do).
Consequently we ended up playing to (visually) very few people - apart from the kids running round in circles who seemed attracted to us.

At the end loads of punters came and said how much they enjoyed it (and we got paid well :clap:) but we thought it was crap - it's difficult to play well with zero audience feedback.

It's left us all very down. I know every band gets gigs like this so, the question is, how do you deal with it?

[MovieMax]

Do what we did, have a few drinks and put it down to experience.

[ceiberman]

Its a long time since I was in a band. But whenever we get back together to catch up nowadays its always the nightmare gigs we talk about.

Sometimes things are out of your control. In this case it was the layout - another nightmare for outdoors can be the sound. There are some experiences you can learn from for the future.....but sometimes you just have write the whole thing off as bad luck.

[Harry May]

Just don't worry about it.
We've played plenty of gigs where we thought we were rubbish and the audience has seemed less than enthusiastic. Then afterwards they come up and tell you how great it was.
If you're not getting much response, don't leave gaps between songs. Otherwise there's a danger that you'll try to fill it with talk which is always a bad idea.
At least you got paid well - that's a rarity in itself.

[TigaSefi]

When doing a gig, don't talk for more than 3/4 sentences cos it ****** me off. That is the best advice I can give you as a band that is starting out. Play a tight set, not necessarily short..

[Jon]

Ideally you should aim to be well rehearsed enough that you can play well - that's to say tightly, competently & with commitment under any circumstances. You'll get inattentive audiences (sometimes no audience apart from the sound guy & the other bands!) dire onstage sound, no room to move, stages so dark you can't see your instrument/pedals etc, hostile audiences heckling & demanding stuff you don't know...

Know your set, know your parts, play for yourselves - on the right night the audience will respond the way you want - but these can be few & far between so just focus on the next gig. And you should get out & play as much as you can because that's the bottom line of what makes a good live band - one that plays live a lot.

J.

[ceiberman]

sometimes no audience apart from the sound guy & the other bands!
Now that takes me back. We had quite a few nights like that. Especially in that London.

We played some of our best sets (musically at least) to empty rooms.

:-)

Then there were the nights when nothing went right and you only wished you could have been on your own.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

You act as if you're enjoying yourself and play your heart out. Sometimes the audience just doesn't respond, but more often than not you'll get compliments at the end, so go figure. As long as you are playing compentently, then you are doing your job.

[TheoGB]

Especially in that London.

Oh god, don't tell me saying 'that London' is becoming a thing. Are you from that Manchester? :(



Bad gigs fall into two categories I always found: bad in that you really did screw things up in some way and bad where it just feels wrong no matter what anyone else says.

This sounds like the latter and I don't think it makes any difference about the audience, the sound, your playing, etc. when it comes to that. It's all about being an 'artiste' ;) Well, you know what I mean, there's just something off that you never can get. You just have to accept it and move on because there's nothing to really learn from that experience to help you improve.

The one time we really upped our game was when we were the worst band of four and we knew it and we analysed why and corrected it.

[ceiberman]

Oh god, don't tell me saying 'that London' is becoming a thing.

Not that I was aware. But then again I'm far too old to know about these things anyway. I was being sarcastic but in a loving way.

I used to play London a fair bit in the mid 90s. It was always a love hate thing for me. Some of my best gigs were there as well as my biggest nightmares.

[PAZ]

Thanks for the comments guys. We've pretty much come to the same conclusion as most of you - basically, learn what we can and turn the page.

Strange how things don't seem so bad after a few beers and a good nights sleep isn't it?
But it's nice to know we're not alone!

[bumfrog]

generally I tend to treat gigs where people aren't listening, or there's hardly anybody there as a live rehearsal.

If you're in a band you will have bad gigs, just part and parcel of it. Blaming the drummer tends to help ;) hehehe.

[jpig]

If it worked the gig before and it worked the gig after then it was them not you. If it didn't work on all three nights, then its you not them.