Worst/most embarrassing performance moments

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
knotkranky
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Post by knotkranky » Wed May 30, 2007 5:55 pm

Allison Redhead wrote:
knotkranky wrote:Yeah, JR was a classic. I gotta few good ones.

Red, get one of those astronaut diapers. :wink:
Depends?

No, you're a PA, splurge and get the good stuff.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 09902692&q

rbmonosylabik
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Post by rbmonosylabik » Wed May 30, 2007 6:02 pm

Allison Redhead wrote:Actually, that reminded me of another one, also in Europe:

I had to pee really bad in the middle of a set so I put on an 10 minute remix of something or other (in case you don't know, the line for the girl's loo is MUCH longer than the guys ALWAYS) to give me time for a quick dash. So I leave the booth, trek over across the floor and find the line is just huge. There is NO ONE in line for the guys. I'm kinda desperate so I just walked in. One guy is leaving and he just smiles at me coyly on my way in.

I come out and there are three security guards, arms crossed, who are NOT amused at all and are taking it really seriously. Apparently some girl in line complained. I spend a ton of time explaining to them that I have to get back to the booth and apologizing. I'm getting a lot of shaking heads. The "I'm the DJ" routine is NOT working. I finally get away by telling them in my best dumb and drunk tourist routine that I couldn't read the sign. A long discussion about the utility of the international symbols for the genders ensues before I manage to defuse their ire.

I rush back to the booth in a panic (the track is coming to an end and I feel like a complete slacker for letting the same song go for nearly a deci-minute) and there are two young women (both plastered) waiting outside the empty DJ booth and alternately pounding on the door. I just walk between them with an "excuse me," and stick the key in the door. The one girl grabs my arm before I can open it. "Hey, if you are going in there..." she then proceeds to lean on me, kick off her heels one after another, strip her panties off from under her now hiked up miniskirt, step out of them, and hold them out for me with one hand, "...can you give these to the DJ?"
Ok, it's high time to become a DJ.
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JDSampo
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Post by JDSampo » Wed May 30, 2007 6:24 pm

I played keys in a prog rock band in a previous life. At one gig we were playing Tom Sawyer (yeah yeah.. I know, but it was the 80s so it's ok :D ) . Anyway we reached that magical keyboard solo moment in the middle and I somehow hit the wrong patch button on my Jupiter 6. So, instead of getting the expected dah-du-dah-du-dah-dah I got this hideous WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!!! So I did the only thing I could do: I stopped playing and glared at the guitarist. :oops:

--jd
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dm_hawk
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Post by dm_hawk » Wed May 30, 2007 6:31 pm

i was singing a solo recital once and inhaled a gnat.

another time, i was singing a concert for donors of an opera company and my nose started bleeding just before the high note of my aria.

both times, i had to stop in the middle of the song and walk off. luckily, the audiences seemed to have gotten an adrenaline rush out of it and were quite happy to see me return in one piece.
..... . . . . . . . . .

mikemc
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Post by mikemc » Wed May 30, 2007 7:08 pm

Two stick out, one with a band, one as a 'Live PA' ...

With a band: 2nd night of a two night gig, opening for a guitarist's band whose semi-famous national band had broken up and he was going solo. Rock band, some covers, some originals, playing lead and singing.

First night did really well, 2nd nite equipment was set up the day before so we showed up just a bit before show time the next night and hopped up on stage to play the first song. Aghast... someone had diddled wtih *all* of the knobs on my stompbox, the amps... it took three songs to get back to where we were. Then, the rhythm guitarist's strap broke PRRrrrRRANNG... didn't break, but he could not get it back into tune that night. Then I broke a string, which provided some silence during which some drunken woman berated us loudly for being the worst band she ever heard, and it was hard to disagree.


Went to an open mic with my laptop. I was in a rush prior. Left all important cable end adapters at home, did not realize this till I got up to play. Pitifully fumbled with mics, to see if I could mic the PC speakers !!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: and then said 'sorry, can't pull it, technical issues...' :oops: :oops:
UTENZIL a tool... of the muse.

decrepitude
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Post by decrepitude » Wed May 30, 2007 9:50 pm

leedsquietman wrote:In college I played guitar in a grungy rock group but on the eve of the college battle of the bands in which we had a reasonable shot at winning 2000 dollars and 2 days in a recording studio, our bassist fell down the stairs after a night on the sauce and broke his arm, so I had to step in on bass (Jamie would do solo duty on guitar, which was fine).

Anyway, I borrowed the bass and the ampeg bass rig and rehearsals went fine with me as the sub bassist, so we were still feeling confident and got out on the stage in front of about 350 people and everything was going swimmingly for about 35 seconds until I had this 'rrrrrriipppp' sound *the strap broke) and then the bass fell out of my hands on to the stage, the neck just broke in two and this horrendous wall of harmonic distortion screeched around the hall for about 4 seconds, then, no shit, the ampeg amplifier blew ,'boom' and caught on fire, leading to everyone having to be hastily evacuated while some dude ran in with the fire extinguisher... needless to say, we did not win the prize and to boot, didn't have any insurance and I didn't have any money, so I ended up having to pawn my guitar and amp to pay for the bass being fixed and a new bass rig and leave the band.... oh happy days of college rock !!

After that I REALLY got into playing synths and doing home recordings... :D

Oh man - this gets my vote. I couldn't stop laughing. Like something straight outta Spinal Tap!

mcconaghy
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Post by mcconaghy » Wed May 30, 2007 11:07 pm

Back in my drumming days we were playing a gig out in the middle of nowhere (band from Europe, our first trip to the States) and ended up playing at this country & western bar - good choice of venue for an industrial act like ourselves. We knew we were in for an exciting night when we saw the regular patrons wearing gun holsters and the sign at the door asking for all rifles and shotguns to be left with the barkeeper. We should have left when we saw that sign.
During the set, we had been repeatedly heckled by some drunk redneck cowboys, our singer gets to the point where he introduces the band as one fat and toothless guy with a Confederate flag baseball cap screams "Play 'Fishing In The Dark!'" Our singer, without batting an eyelid says "We don't do requests." Drunk guy pulls his gun and starts firing at the amplifiers! Marshall number one gets hit, guitarist number two gets in the firing line and ends up with a bullet stuck in his (brand new) Les Paul, and we're all making a run for it as bullets are ricocheting off my cymbals adding new vent holes to my bass drum.
In the alleyway our guitarist looks at his guitar and says "Maybe we should learn some covers, dudes..."
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Verbal
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Post by Verbal » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:37 am

I enjoyed this thread so I thought I'd bump it and add my moment..

I've had turntables since 2000. I feel basically confident in my skills but I have stage fright and have always been worried about playing in public. I've played a couple friends parties and got the living room full of dancers a couple times, but public is just different.

My girlfriend is a server at a bowling alley and there's a restaurant/night club next door. The manager was trying to start theme nights, one being a techno night on Thursdays. I make a CD for him and he hires me. It's shit money for 4 hours of spinning plus I have to bring my tables every week. We agree to try it out for six weeks and see what happens. Everything is good the first two weeks, but there's no turnout. And the regulars complain about not liking techno. The town I live in isn't exactly into this music.

Third week into it, I'm sick as hell and find out that the manger found this other DJ and he was coming in tonight. The manager said to me that it's my show, so if I want him to play a bit that night it was ok with him. So I talk to the guy and he seems cool, so we agree to switch every hour. This guy seemed cool, but he has a whole entourage with him. About 25+ people being obnoxious. They didn't really seem to be into the type of music either-- seemed like they just into it for the "I know the DJ" status. I was excited though cause this was the best turnout yet.

I go on and his entourage is just sitting around, not into the music. He spins progressive house and I was spinning stuff more on the techno side. while I'm beatmatching the third track of the night, I see one of his guys go back to where the amps and house mixer are setup and I hear the sound changing. I then realize he turned me down and the radio up. I was pissed.

I find the manger and explain what happened. The manager and I talk to the group and they say they were just trying to turn it up. I call bullshit cause the guy that actually did it was obviously avoiding us. I was so pissed I told the other DJ that he could spin and I wanted to cool off.

I was really sick and pissed, so I just let him spin the whole night. It was obvious his group wasn't really into the music-- all night they just kept cheering his name and going up to him and talking. And they were freak dancing like rap was playing. wtf.

End of the night I'm tearing down and packing up my stuff. I found a napkin that was written to the other DJ....."I think the other guy retired." Pissed me off even more.

This was way longer than it should be-- sorry for the long, unnecessary read. Still kinda bitter about that night. Heh.

rutgermuller
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Post by rutgermuller » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:59 pm

jaffadj wrote: Now I’ve got a mate in the audience that swears that what the crowd then saw was this blonde girl just picking herself up from the floor right in front of me, looking to all intents and purposes as if she’s just been giving me a blowjob and running out of the booth. I got a big round of applause and shouts of encouragements which embarrassed me even more, it took me a while to get everything going again
I LOOOOOOOLd

swett
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Post by swett » Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:44 pm

Many many years ago, i was a radio station dj at one of biggest stations in my country.
On one of my starting shifts, I introduced a song (Duran Duran's 'Save a Prayer), hit go, and forgot to turn the mike off.
So i'm there, sitting in my dj chair, singing to myself...-oooo Save a prayer for me nowwww, save it til the morning after...-
Then the phone rang:
-I think you left the mike on- the voice said.
(shit)

I will never forget that day.

hacktheplanet
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Post by hacktheplanet » Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:00 pm

It was a packed loft in Seattle. After party for the Daft Punk show, and after-after party for some Ed Banger gigs on Capitol Hill. Anyway, all the DJs were rocking it. The place was packed and sweat was dripping off the walls. Great party! I think I went through a whole bunch of Adderall and a bottle and a half of champagne during the entire evening. My DJ set was flawless. Mixing is spot on, and the track order seemed just right for the crowd. Just having a great time.

Then I played my last track. After I finished mixing it in, I pressed the eject button and the music stopped. The promoter leaned to me and said "Yeah, you're generally not supposed to do that." And then he screamed "SORRY SOMEONE KICKED THE POWER CABLE!" Which I think saved my ass from a lynching. Boy was I embarrased. But luckily he still booked me for a few shows. :)
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dphouse84
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Post by dphouse84 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:58 pm

Monkey Mouse wrote:Once when I was with this hot chick, I stuck it in the wrong hole (and didn't notice) - very embarassing, but the performance went on.....
:lol:
nice one, she musta liked it :P
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freshdrumma
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Post by freshdrumma » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:43 pm

i was on stage drumming, the drumkit was on a very tall raiser, i stand up and do the rockstar trick of choking the cymbal with one hand twirling a stick in the the other hand, all of this on the beat , when i went back on my stool, the stool wasn`t there anymore and i felt down from the raiser!!!!!
:lol:

jamief
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Post by jamief » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:55 pm

around 93 . I was in band and we played the ministry sound in lomdon.
All live 909 303 2 mixers jd800 etc etc. Cubase running off atari st. Timing was solid - never wavered . ow times have changed.
i digress
Anyway we are on stage just about to do our set. i discover my band mate has gone round the mixer and aletred all the gains on the desks. This led to a fight which was filmed by our mate on vid cam.
The fight calms down and we prepare ourselves for the set.
Next thing were on !
So we have the 909 on individual tracks on the desk b drum snare hats etc etc
so first thing i do is bang the fader on thebass drum upto the max ( i had set it up before) and both us who had long hair at the time and wearing wild jumpers and all that felt this massive whoosh of air that literally blew our hair back and a ginormous fucking massive bang. We nearly blew there system up. my patner had fuckin maxed the gain on the base drum which was in hard and accent in the 909 pattern.
The engineer wasnt to chuffed but we had a good night anyway.
That was an amazing soundsystem in that club 4 big pyramis stacks in each corner :P

Emissary
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Post by Emissary » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:03 pm


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