BIGGEST Gig Ever????

[jason41224]

i think i played 500 once at a festival. it was nuts though, this also happened to be the day where we got bad power so my rig cut out mid set, and the sunlight glared out my tuner (before i had polytune, of course). kinda disappointing cause we thought we sucked so bad, but that was our best shot at getting our name out.

[ironlung40]

I played 2 dates on the vans warped tour once. Granted we were on one of the smaller stages, but hell it was still the warped tour. this was way back though, Green Day was on that bill. This was in 2000 in Jacksonville Fla.

It wasn't MY band though, I filled in for the bands guitar player who had strained his wrist in a car accident. He was the singer and rhythm player, so I just played his rhythm parts and he sang. I had a hard time learning a couple of their songs, but when you are in a multiple piece band, it's pretty easy to hide a little bit, especially when the other guys know how to cover for ya a bit. It worked out well, though.

I'm strictly guessing here, but I think there had to be around 4-6 thousand people at this show. Hell, maybe more. I'm sure most of you know how big the warped tour is....but attendance varies city to city of course....and it depends on what days it falls on etc.

[the gray area]

Well I don't know about biggest gig, but smallest gig was a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the scene; good sized music bar (nice venue, stage & PA etc all good) with about 80+ people there. The support band came on & they were VERY 'different' ( think of those 80s bands like Throbbing Gristle & Cabaret Voltaire). Don't misunderstand, they wernt terrible or any thing, just nobody was quite prepared for it.

We went on 45 mins later, there was just a couple of old guys who had switched their hearing aids off.

[ironlung40]

I forgot to add........at the warped tour 2000 I was talking about, some lucky bast ard got to jam with Green Day! Billy, asked some people in the crowd if they played guitar, and he picks this guy out of the pit. He gets him on stage and teaches him how to play one of their songs (3 power chords), and then he let's this guy rip it up with the band and Billy sings to it all. Pretty cool moment for some unexpecting fan.

that guy probably still talks about that, ALL the time. but too

[Latrainia]

This is my biggest (an unfortunately only) gig. At the time I was in a post rock band (similar to explosions in the sky). Well it happened that the gig landed on a day that we had a pretty bad snow storm earlier. only about 50 people showed up (not saying its the snows fault we were an unknown high school band, lol), and when we started playing most people were sitting around until we hit the heavy stuff and they got into it. Pathetic but still the best feeling in the world!

[hellagnar Brosevelt]

Two of the biggest shows of mine are also my two least favorites. First with Strung out who never even left their bus until it was time to play then right back on the bus. Also told us we couldn't sound check even though the venue wanted us to??? Second was Earth Crisis. one word for that one. LAME!!

[ironlung40]

Two of the biggest shows of mine are also my two least favorites. First with Strung out who never even left their bus until it was time to play then right back on the bus. Also told us we couldn't sound check even though the venue wanted us to??? Second was Earth Crisis. one word for that one. LAME!!

I hate it when bands act like that. I mean, what makes them think they are so freaking cool anyway? I can understand maybe 1 guy in the band having an attitude, but no reason the entire band should act that way in conjunction. What motive is there for that? If you're opening for another band, give thanks by mentioning them on the stage and firing the crowd up a little for them, but if they act like that they deserve nothing more afterwards. And, if there is time, it is up to your band if you want to sound check or not, regardless whether the headliner wants you to or not. It's your performance, and you want it to be the best it can be, so prepare the way you normally would, if the venue is supporting it. Tell the a$#holes to go back to their bus.

[Wendigo]

I played alone on stage for about 300-400 people one time...that made me sweat (I usually play as part of a band). Played a tapping thing from Satriani (Day at the Beach) and the delay pedal which I borrowed ran out of battery right in the middle...had to figure out what happened in front of them all.

[iblastoff]

how about the LOWEST you've ever been paid?

$11 in lansing, michigan on a tour several years ago!

[Randy Bass]

how about the LOWEST you've ever been paid?

$11 in lansing, michigan on a tour several years ago!

I've been paid zero before if that counts. Otherwise, $100 split five ways was a bit of a pile of poop .

[Tango]

I played alone on stage for about 300-400 people one time...that made me sweat (I usually play as part of a band). Played a tapping thing from Satriani (Day at the Beach) and the delay pedal which I borrowed ran out of battery right in the middle...had to figure out what happened in front of them all.

Oh no, oh no no no nooooooooooooo!

[Captain Wedge]

I played alone on stage for about 300-400 people one time...that made me sweat (I usually play as part of a band). Played a tapping thing from Satriani (Day at the Beach) and the delay pedal which I borrowed ran out of battery right in the middle...had to figure out what happened in front of them all.

Reminds me of one time I was playing the solo from Zep's Heartbreaker in front of about 60 people. I had set my Les Paul on the ground earlier in the concert, and it had rested on the G string tuning peg, causing it to go almost a whole step out of tune. I tried to fix it by turning the tuning peg durring the pull offs at the beginning, but it didn't work so well. I decided to end the song right there, and only a few people noticed. Later in th concert, I played SRV's Little Wing on my Les Paul. Bad idea. Sounded nothing like I was planning it to.

[onewaycpr]

This place held about 7,000 people and it was full.

[MaxProphet]

how about the LOWEST you've ever been paid?

if you count bar tabs i've been in the red many a time

[jamison162]

$$$ We're not getting paid for this gig, but c'mon...who would turn down playing for 5,000 people through a 25,000w sound system on a stage in the middle of a football field. Closest I'll ever get to a Super Bowl halftime show. The sound guy is doing a live recording to CD, and we've got 2 HD cameras that will be rolling.

We're opening with a cover of The Veer Union's song "Seasons": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eVK87dlylk