The dont's of live performance

[Devyn Eclipse Nav]

Something that happened to me at your last show:

Don't leave your Mesa/Boogie Half stack with a Dual Rectifier head and Oversized Mesa cabinet and your rack of stuff onstage after your set, so the promoter of the show and the guitarist for the opening band have to move it to the back while you go hang out with the other bands.

Seriously, that thing was freaking heavy, I agree with the promoter, I should have just taken it

 

[The Norsemen]

All of these are for gigging local bands, some can be applied to all bands.

Get your shit on and off the stage, Immediately.

I can't tell you how much this pisses me off.
Some mediocre screamo band will just get done doing a Taylor Swift cover and then they feel like they were so good, they should stand around and get praise from the girls they brought.
Meanwhile I want to get my shit on stage and commence the jigglin.

Not only is this rude, but it have several adverse effects.
1. If every band does this you've pushed the scheduled times out the window and the last bands will be there all night.
2. Between bands is when people go outside for fresh air or whatever. If you take half an hour to get the next band ready guess what? Half those people have left and now you've fucked off shit.
3. You're going to look like an amateur and a douche to the other bands and once they all put a bad name out for you, you're gonna have a hard time playing again.


Don't be a prima donna and bitch about slot times.
You get what you get. If you happen to be first and get a half an hour set like everyone else than so be it.
If you think you need to be headlining every local show around then you have your head up your ass.
Besides the fact that headliner is just false title when it comes to all local shows anyways. All its for is so the egotostical band can go around saying they've headlined shows.
Nobody gives a shit if your name is the biggest on the flyer for the high school talent show bruh.
The best spots are in the middle and towards the end anyways when all the people are there. The only one waiting til 1:30am to see you play is your mom and thats because she drove you there.


Don't let your vocalist call out the crowd. It IS and always will be a bad idea.
Nobody wants to be called names at a show. Especially by an asshole with a mic through a PA turned way the fuck up.
Don't get pissed when people don't mosh or get into your tunes and call them pussies for hugging the walls.
(Side note: don't call out where you want circle pits or ask for a wall of death when there's 5 people on the floor who won't do them anyway. You're not ____Insert famous band.)
I have a personal story for this one.
The vocalist in my band came down with a severe case of RBS (Randy Blythe Syndrome) one show because someone stole $50 from his ride.
Needless to say that show was a fiasco as he paraded the stage and called everyone a pussy, taking a minute or more (feels like an hour) to start the next song.
Made us all look like it was our first show and severely hurt our reputation in Albuquerque.
We haven't been asked back to the El Rey Theater since and that pisses me the fuck off.


This one is a personal opinion but don't play a show unless you are ready.
I understand wanting to get out there.
Playing live is the greatest feeling I have ever experienced. But if you're serious about playing don't rush out there, play a few terrible shows, and do irreparable damage to your rep.
This might just be a thing for me playing in a small town though.
Word of mouth is powerful here.


Last one I'm gonna post is mutual respect.
You won't always get it from other bands, but the way you handle yourself and your band will undoubtedly make its way to the ears of the promoters.
If you don't play well with others, they won't let you play.
Don't be a dick! Be a dude!

These are just some things I've picked up around my area.
Theres a lot of unfair bullshit goin down here though. I'm assuming its like that everywhere though.

 

[CTID]

Don't be a prima donna and bitch about slot times.
You get what you get. If you happen to be first and get a half an hour set like everyone else than so be it.
If you think you need to be headlining every local show around then you have your head up your ass.
Besides the fact that headliner is just false title when it comes to all local shows anyways. All its for is so the egotostical band can go around saying they've headlined shows.
Nobody gives a shit if your name is the biggest on the flyer for the high school talent show bruh.
The best spots are in the middle and towards the end anyways when all the people are there. The only one waiting til 1:30am to see you play is your mom and thats because she drove you there.

I agree with your entire post, but this part I agree with the most. My band's other guitarist bitches (hopefully only to us) about not being put later on setlists because we've played more shows than most of the other bands. We just remind him that he should be grateful that we're booked on shows in the first place, it's incredibly frustrating at times.

 

[Demiurge]

I'm not much of a live-show-player, so I'm interested in the answer:

What is the etiquette for covering the artist that you're opening for? I presume that unless it's a deep track and/or said artist comes out to jam on it for, it's an absolute total no-no.

Went to a show last night where the opening artist, a quasi-electronic act, not only covered one of the headlining artist's songs- a new song and part of the headliner's setlist- but also included samples of the covered song in the cover. It was also a horrible rendition.

 

[Styxmata]

If it's your gear to play then it's your gear to load the fuck up:
I had a guitarist who was the laziest half stack of shit I have ever played with. Every show from setup to pack up he was just standing around, smoking, fucking off, etc... One day at the end of our set his dumb self went outside after taking his shit off stage and as usual the 4 of us just loaded everything up and I guess he set his ESP next to another bands shit and the rest of us of course didn't know because well, it's wasn't our fucking instrument, so it wasn't until almost a week later during our next jam sesh he realized "Holy fuck, where the fuck is my guitar at" and only after convincing him none of us had the thing it was pretty obvious that maybe it's your own god damn responsibility to make sure all of your gig gear is not left behind (bands with roadies may be excluded). With that said a very costly lesson was learned but I didn't feel bad one bit as we we're always bitching and yelling at him to help load and unload everything and to make sure it was all there each time. I guess atleast a band who maybe takes care of their belonging's now has a new/free nice guitar.

Also I hate hate hate during live shows when between songs the singer decides to yabber and talk about the dumbest shit a person can possibly say, it's like a nervous tick of mouth diarrhea. Just shut the fuck up and awkwardly stare at the crowd if that's all you can think of doing.

 

[Styxmata]

Fact

 

[metaljohn]

This one is a personal opinion but don't play a show unless you are ready.
I understand wanting to get out there.
Playing live is the greatest feeling I have ever experienced. But if you're serious about playing don't rush out there, play a few terrible shows, and do irreparable damage to your rep.
This might just be a thing for me playing in a small town though.
Word of mouth is powerful here.

Try being in Phoenix. There's one promoter(I won't name names) that consistently puts bands that sound like they showed up for practice on their shows. Luckily, this promoter doesn't put on the type of shows I would normally go to(occasional friends band to see, and even more rarely, touring bands I'd actually like to see.) Unfortunately, they are one of the biggest promoters in AZ, and definitely in Phoenix.

 

[The Norsemen]

Try being in Phoenix. There's one promoter(I won't name names) that consistently puts bands that sound like they showed up for practice on their shows. Luckily, this promoter doesn't put on the type of shows I would normally go to(occasional friends band to see, and even more rarely, touring bands I'd actually like to see.) Unfortunately, they are one of the biggest promoters in AZ, and definitely in Phoenix.

I might have an idea of who you're talking about.
I hear about stuff in AZ here and there from bands that come to Farmington.
Try promoters and shows on the indian reservations!
Done any of those shows yet?

I also hate when a promoter lets the same 2 bands play all the shows.
Eventually everyone gets tired of hearing the same bands play the same songs and the scene gets stagnant as hell
Not as bad to recover from as a recession but all the same.

Sometimes their just won't be a good amount of tight, talented, local acts to change up the shows but come on.
If little ass towns like mine can do it then larger towns and cities have no excuse to throw the same 2 bands on every show.

 

[BabUShka]

The biggest dont for me is: NEVER BRAKE EQUIPMENT!!
I hate when people smash guitars, amps and other stuff live. I've seen some local hardcore bands gone really wild on stage and almost broke the microphones and other stuff, which wasn't even theirs..

 

[metaljohn]

I might have an idea of who you're talking about.
I hear about stuff in AZ here and there from bands that come to Farmington.
Try promoters and shows on the indian reservations!
Done any of those shows yet?

I also hate when a promoter lets the same 2 bands play all the shows.
Eventually everyone gets tired of hearing the same bands play the same songs and the scene gets stagnant as hell
Not as bad to recover from as a recession but all the same.

Sometimes their just won't be a good amount of tight, talented, local acts to change up the shows but come on.
If little ass towns like mine can do it then larger towns and cities have no excuse to throw the same 2 bands on every show.

I have done shows on the reservations before. Worst thing ever.

You're probably thinking of the same promoter I'm talking about. They put the same bands on almost every show, too. I don't get how they keep getting all the same people coming to their shows. Unfotunately, they're also pretty much the only promoter that will actually pay bands. That sucks, but I'd still rather play for anyone else(with a few exceptions).

 

[cwhitey2]

If it's your gear to play then it's your gear to load the fuck up:
I had a guitarist who was the laziest half stack of shit I have ever played with. Every show from setup to pack up he was just standing around, smoking, fucking off, etc... One day at the end of our set his dumb self went outside after taking his shit off stage and as usual the 4 of us just loaded everything up and I guess he set his ESP next to another bands shit and the rest of us of course didn't know because well, it's wasn't our fucking instrument, so it wasn't until almost a week later during our next jam sesh he realized "Holy fuck, where the fuck is my guitar at" and only after convincing him none of us had the thing it was pretty obvious that maybe it's your own god damn responsibility to make sure all of your gig gear is not left behind (bands with roadies may be excluded). With that said a very costly lesson was learned but I didn't feel bad one bit as we we're always bitching and yelling at him to help load and unload everything and to make sure it was all there each time. I guess atleast a band who maybe takes care of their belonging's now has a new/free nice guitar.

Also I hate hate hate during live shows when between songs the singer decides to yabber and talk about the dumbest shit a person can possibly say, it's like a nervous tick of mouth diarrhea. Just shut the fuck up and awkwardly stare at the crowd if that's all you can think of doing.

Holy shit! I think thats my bassist hahaha

He has lost stuff our last 5 shows. Hes always like "why didnt u guys grabzzz it"

I made it very clear after our first gig with him, that I dont give 2 shits about his gear....its not mine and I have my own stuff to worry about. I mean he spent $500 on his rig and just dosnt give a shit. Anf hes never there for loading before or after the gig....

Now that I think about...why is he still our bass player

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

That was a general rule with us.
Every member inventory's his own gear on load in/load out.
If we brought our own P.A., then we each had a portion if it that we were responsible for.

 

[Jacobine]

Last saturday our (now ex) drummer talked us into playing our first show. We only had one song and we (he) weren't even ready to play that. Long story short we plyed like shit. Next time im making everyone sit down and read this so it doesnt happen again.

anyone else have a bad show?

also:

Cinnamon Challenge = good makeup for shitty performance (depending on the venue) if its outside and your friend/guitarist owns it good.
if its in a little pizza place Bad.
just remember that for future use lulz

 

[Genome]

anyone else have a bad show?

What's that?

 

[CTID]

Last saturday our (now ex) drummer talked us into playing our first show. We only had one song and we (he) weren't even ready to play that. Long story short we plyed like shit. Next time im making everyone sit down and read this so it doesnt happen again.

anyone else have a bad show?

also:

Cinnamon Challenge = good makeup for shitty performance (depending on the venue) if its outside and your friend/guitarist owns it good.
if its in a little pizza place Bad.
just remember that for future use lulz

I'm like 99% sure I played that show with you.

 

[tehgriffmeister]

I'm like 99% sure I played that show with you.

I'm like 100% sure I played that with you.

Also, huge pet peeve, vocalists that spit water at the crowd. I don't want your nastiness.

 

[Dommak89]

Quick notes, as a soundguy...

Than you're the one in a hundred. I know bands can be difficult, but fuck, soundguys can be difficult too. I've seen a lot of gigs being ruined by a wannabe soundguy with (as it seemed) 3 weeks experience. And this even happens at big concerts (think of Metallica, almost every band opening for them sound like shit, no matter how big the name). Having said that I can understand Bands cranking up the volume or being pissed off at some point at the soundguy. Although you should, as a band, show some professionalism and not insult him while being on stage.

I don't want to repeat what has been said already, and I agree with a lot of opinions here, but we should all keep in mind that we are all human and make mistakes. I think its a matter of handling the situation right and avoiding the critical "do nots" which makes a gig perfect.

 

[Jacobine]

I'm like 99% sure I played that show with you.

lol yeah im the guitarist for Above All Tradgedies lulz

 

[Jacobine]

I'm like 100% sure I played that with you.

Also, huge pet peeve, vocalists that spit water at the crowd. I don't want your nastiness.

did that happen at our show?

 

[Ashwin]

no no no ... i dont like live performance ...
becuase its very different from other performance ...
well , in case , in show time - fire or technical problem then why watch live performance ...
i mean ........
But i agree with management of live performance ...

THANKS