Live Show Etiquette

[spawnofthesith]

Not sure if mentioned but always be preared to play just guitar+amp.

I don't care of you spent 50k on your quad amp stereo setup plugged into a pedalboard with 50 strymons and 5 different klone pedals; if shit doesnt work stop crying that It was perfectly ok during reharsal and just play.

I somewhat agree, but also disagree a lot too. Depending on the type of music that could be like telling a death metal band to suck it up if they have to play the show straight into a twin reverb



Just with the amount of live looping my band does alone, if I had to play a gig without my pedalboard it would be a VERY different show, and probably unenjoyable for both us and the audience. That said, my board did go down once a few songs into the gig. We finished as strong as we could, only felt the need to completely cut one song and powered through the rest

 

[GunpointMetal]

I somewhat agree, but also disagree a lot too. Depending on the type of music that could be like telling a death metal band to suck it up if they have to play the show straight into a twin reverb



Just with the amount of live looping my band does alone, if I had to play a gig without my pedalboard it would be a VERY different show, and probably unenjoyable for both us and the audience. That said, my board did go down once a few songs into the gig. We finished as strong as we could, only felt the need to completely cut one song and powered through the rest

Yeah, I'd rather give them nothing to remember than a shitty performance.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I somewhat agree, but also disagree a lot too. Depending on the type of music that could be like telling a death metal band to suck it up if they have to play the show straight into a twin reverb



Just with the amount of live looping my band does alone, if I had to play a gig without my pedalboard it would be a VERY different show, and probably unenjoyable for both us and the audience. That said, my board did go down once a few songs into the gig. We finished as strong as we could, only felt the need to completely cut one song and powered through the rest

I'd rather play death metal into a twin reverb than try to play an ambient set with no pedalboard lol. At this point I have enough material that I could switch it up and still do a decent solo set with no board, I've done it before at "open mic" style gigs where I borrowed a guitar and amp, but all the looping, layering, etc would be out the window.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Shit, if you gotta play death metal straight into a Twin you can just tell the audience you’re a surf metal band.

 

[sleewell]

Ok... fuck... thought this one was obvious...


When a band finishes their set and you are playing next give them a second to clear the stage before you get up there standing around taking up space. If they aren't dilly dallying around and are actively trying to hurry to gather their stuff you just milling around in the way is really frustrating and slows everything down.

Dear lord people... common sense lol... beer me the strength

 

[crushingpetal]

Shit, if you gotta play death metal straight into a Twin you can just tell the audience you’re a surf metal band.

You know, reamping Dick Dale into a metal amp might be epic.

 

[GunpointMetal]

Ok... fuck... thought this one was obvious...


When a band finishes their set and you are playing next give them a second to clear the stage before you get up there standing around taking up space. If they aren't dilly dallying around and are actively trying to hurry to gather their stuff you just milling around in the way is really frustrating and slows everything down.

Dear lord people... common sense lol... beer me the strength

I like to stand out of the way but in sight while holding my guitar case so they know I would like them to continue to get the fuck out of the way. If I see cables getting wrapped or cymbals getting unscrewed I will probably aggressively ask if there is anything I can grab.

 

[JimF]

From experience I've had the promoter saying "You're up, get your shit on stage!", even though the other band are still packing up their gear. So you hang back, and the promoter comes by again and is like "Set up! Come on!". You offer the other band help and they decline because they don't trust anyone with their gear. Makes sense.
This was in a shitty local scene about 15 years ago by the way.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Depending on the size of the stage, I find the changeover goes slower when both bands are on the stage at the same time. It's also more prone to errors/gear going missing (power cables, that thing that holds picks on a mic stand, etc).

 

[spawnofthesith]

It always surprises me when other musicians come over and immediately start talking to me at the end of a set, its like c'mon guys I would think you of all people would know? lol

 

[GunpointMetal]

Depending on the size of the stage, I find the changeover goes slower when both bands are on the stage at the same time. It's also more prone to errors/gear going missing (power cables, that thing that holds picks on a mic stand, etc).

That's why I'll stay off to the side unless someone asks for help. But I won't stay out of the way while someone does some dumb shit like re-wrap their cables or trying to put their amps/pedals back in cases. That shit is to be done out of the way of everyone else. It is super inconsiderate to do that shit on stage in the middle of a multi-band show.

It always surprises me when other musicians come over and immediately start talking to me at the end of a set, its like c'mon guys I would think you of all people would know? lol

"Hey man, thank you. I've got a bunch of shit to move real quick but I'll meet you at the merch table in 15 minutes!"

 

[wheresthefbomb]

That's why I'll stay off to the side unless someone asks for help. But I won't stay out of the way while someone does some dumb shit like re-wrap their cables or trying to put their amps/pedals back in cases. That shit is to be done out of the way of everyone else. It is super inconsiderate to do that shit on stage in the middle of a multi-band show.

I do those things on stage, but I'm fast. I can set up and tear down my stereo rig faster than most people with one amp. It's very obvious at transition time who has and hasn't thought through their setup/teardown. To me, that's the most important thing. Have an order of operations and know what goes where.

It always surprises me when other musicians come over and immediately start talking to me at the end of a set, its like c'mon guys I would think you of all people would know? lol

There is a very fine art to not blowing off fans while still clearing your shit off the stage. It's funny watching our current bassist, who is very new to performing, get totally wrapped up in talking to people. I'll have all my gear packed up and loading out while he's just barely started coiling cables. Hasn't been a big deal at our last two gigs but he'll learn soon enough... reminds me just how much I've learned over the years.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I do those things on stage, but I'm fast. I can set up and tear down my stereo rig faster than most people with one amp. It's very obvious at transition time who has and hasn't thought through their setup/teardown. To me, that's the most important thing. Have an order of operations and know what goes where.


There is a very fine art to not blowing off fans while still clearing your shit off the stage. It's funny watching our current bassist, who is very new to performing, get totally wrapped up in talking to people. I'll have all my gear packed up and loading out while he's just barely started coiling cables. Hasn't been a big deal at our last two gigs but he'll learn soon enough... reminds me just how much I've learned over the years.

If you're doing it quickly I wouldn't have time to notice. But if someone is still wrapping cables and whatnot when the drums are already gone, I'm probably annoyed. I know this last band I started working on the vocalist was little confused that I consider the setup and teardown a big part of show prep. He was definitely one of those "brings a mess of knotted cords on stage to sort it out as we setup" type of people last summer. Not so much any more.

 

[warped]

After starting to play live again after a ~10 year break I've found venues all want the bands to all share gear for fast change-overs (sometimes they have backline beater cabs they want everyone to use). Is it bad etiquette if you want to use your own gear (knowing you can setup and tear down quickly)? Bad etiquette if you don't particularly want to share your gear?

 

[wheresthefbomb]

After starting to play live again after a ~10 year break I've found venues all want the bands to all share gear for fast change-overs (sometimes they have backline beater cabs they want everyone to use). Is it bad etiquette if you want to use your own gear (knowing you can setup and tear down quickly)? Bad etiquette if you don't particularly want to share your gear?

The venues might disagree but IMO if you can change over quickly I personally don't see an issue. I'm pretty lenient about letting people use my amps at local DIY shows and offer to backline often, but if I'm being honest it's part plain ol laziness on my end. If my wall o' amps is the backline, they're all already there when I go to hook up my board. I'm always surprised when people want to use my stuff, I'd never use someone else's amp if I could help it, even if it was "better," it's an unkown factor.

 

[GunpointMetal]

After starting to play live again after a ~10 year break I've found venues all want the bands to all share gear for fast change-overs (sometimes they have backline beater cabs they want everyone to use). Is it bad etiquette if you want to use your own gear (knowing you can setup and tear down quickly)? Bad etiquette if you don't particularly want to share your gear?

The smaller the venue the more likely they want to gear share. I'm fine with cab sharing, I can make 99% of guitar cabs sound good with the global EQ on my Helix. Drum sharing seems weird to me. Like I wouldn't just grab someone else's guitar to play a show, why would you expect a drummer to use gear they haven't practiced with? The only time it bugs me is when bands EXPECT there to be backline without talking to anyone and show up with no gear. We played a show last summer where this band literally went on tour without a drum kit or amps/cabs.

 

[JimF]

The small gigs we played used to provide a bit of a backline but it was a very DIY local scene. It was cabs, PA and drumkit minus cymbals, snare & stool. If you had some unusual requirements you were welcome to bring your own stuff, but be expected to be asked for other bands to use it. I mean christ, half the venues we played didn't even have stages!

 

[TedEH]

Is it bad etiquette if you want to use your own gear (knowing you can setup and tear down quickly)? Bad etiquette if you don't particularly want to share your gear?

I'm going to say flatly yes. Unless you're part of some giant touring package playing sizeable venues where there's a reasonable expectation that the indie level of cooperation isn't necessary, being hard-headed about gear sharing is exactly how I'd never want to book you again. I play a lot of little hole-in-the-wall places where there's a tendency for headliners to show up and insist that they setup, soundcheck, leave all their stuff on stage, including multiple 4x12s each, double bass drums, etc., and nobody can share anything. It's a dick move. Every other band ends up squeezing into their tiny little 2sq ft spaces left, and it sucks. Gear sharing is to everyone's benefit. If you're going to be precious about your stuff, then leave it in the van and use my cab instead.

Years ago, we had an opener show up with his massive drum kit, insisting on using the whole kit, and insisting that nobody else was allowed to use it. When we asked if we could just share one set of shells and swap breakables, like a normal band would do, he says: "Would Slayer let you use their drums?" Slayer isn't playing a dive-bar-slash-strip-club in Canada mid-January for 15 people, and if they were, I can't imagine they'd be in a position to be dicks about the gear.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I just can't imagine playing music that is simple enough that a drummer can just jump onto a kit that isn't set up to their preference and play things properly unless its like straight punk music or something. I think it's great when drums are available, but I would never expect my drummers to use someone else's kit, or expect other drummers to want to use his. That and the two times I've seen someone play like animal from the muppets and damage someone's kit or break heads, they both acted like it was someone else's problem. Fuck dealing with that nonsense. To me that would be like someone handing me a Les Paul and expecting me to be able to play my set that I've been rehearsing on a 9 string with fan frets in a totally different tuning.

 

[TedEH]

I was a drummer - not even a very good one - playing metal, and it was never a problem to adapt to someone else's kit. Two kick drums? No problem. Weird tom setup? Only one up one down? No problem. Mounted flat? Whatever. Mounted so that all the shells are practically vertical? Fine. Each tom is a giant beast of a drum? Tiny rocket toms? Rototoms? Whatever. Not the same number and placement of cymbal stands? Not the end of the world. I always brought my own snare stand because the height difference makes rimshots harder to do consistently, but adapting to strange kit arrangements is a very normal thing for a gigging drummer to contend with.

Hot take: If you can't adapt to another drummer's kit, it's almost always not the kit's fault.

It's not at all like going from a Les Paul to a 9 string. It's more like going from a Les Paul to Strat in the same tuning, but different scale length and string gauges, and singles instead of HB. Will it play differently? Yeah, of course. Might you need to improvise a bit? Probably. But to 99% of the audience, they won't be able to tell the difference.

A better analogy would be borrowing someone's 5150 instead of your recto. It'll feel different, it'll sound different, but it'll still go CHUG CHUG and MEEDLY MEEDLY and get you through the set.