[Nyxyxylyth]

Just sharing a story while I’m going stir-crazy on lockdown:

 

At my work, we have an annual event where we throw a party for 1200 customers. We hire a band to play songs for a couple hours, but the highlight of the night is a band of company employees, led by a guy who’s played guitar since he was a kid, and routinely does session gigs for various bands.

 

Well this year, the drummer left the company – and since there wasn’t another drummer in the house, they asked me. When I play Rock Band now, it’s usually with an e-kit with an amplifier, and the cymbals are Zildjian Gen16 that I don’t even bother hooking up to the game, so the emphasis is definitely on sound rather than score. I’ve had a real kit for years that I only dabble with, so I practiced like mad for a couple weeks and went to audition. I’m not sure they really had a choice, but I was deemed good enough. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_biggrin.gif”>

 

Over a few practice sessions, we worked out a playlist. I hit it hard, practicing every day for 3 months:

 

Gary Numan – Cars

Aerosmith – Walk This Way

KC and the Sunshine Band – Get Down Tonight

Grand Trunk Railroad – Some Kind of Wonderful

Prince – Let’s Go Crazy

AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long

 

Our little stage was just a couple steps up inside a giant beer tent, and the lights were blinding. I made it past certain terror with the solo drum opening on Walk This Way. When we got to Get Down Tonight, something amazing happened:

 

The better we play, the harder they dance!

 

Performing live was the most fun I’ve had in my entire life. I know it was a captive audience, and we’re just a mediocre cover band, but it was pure joy anyway. I’m happy to be learning new tricks on the wrong side of 50.

 

Playing plastic is still fun, but I highly recommend the real deal. Lots of work, but worth it!

[Shroud]

Loved your story! I’ve been in a few mediocre cover bands in my life too and I really loved it ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_biggrin.gif” /> But I haven’t played for almost a decade now.

[imported_doa]

Great story! Playing live fills me with dread lol ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

 

Happy to hear that you enjoyed it so much – you put in a lot of work! ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

[FujiSkunk]

Good story, glad you had fun.

 

I’ve also had a small taste of playing live, and yeah, when the stars align and your hands are cooperating and the audience is with you, it can be a dragon you wouldn’t mind chasing again. Probably the closest I’ve come to a real gig is when some of my church’s worship team sat in for a concert with a missionary who was also a signed musician, performing concerts to raise money for her missionary work. I played keys and also dueted with her on one song. We didn’t have much an audience, mostly just the church regulars, but I was told I did good. I suspected bias, but the compliments were nice to hear just the same.

 

My favorite experience though was one particular karaoke night, where first I went back and forth with the audience on “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” and then jammed on an inflatable guitar while a pair of guys absolutely killed “Don’t Stop Believin'” as only bad karaoke singers can. It was awesome.

[BornGamerRob]

Had a similar story with a company gig, but I was one of the organizers of it. We had just merged in a rather large company in a different region and we had quite a few remote employees that were feeling disconnected from the company, so the organizers of our event (including me) thought it was a great idea to see how we could get people from the merged company and other remote employees together in a song to show how if we worked together we could make something truly great.

 

The weeks went on and we found everybody but a singer. People would toss out names but no one knew whether or not they were any good with some even outright saying they weren’t. At the risk of canceling the whole thing, on a conference call with other organizers I just blurted out, “I’ll sing”, to which there became a deafening silence. I don’t think anyone wanted to oppose it, yet, they had no idea if I was any good either. I reassured the group as much as I could and they went along with it.

 

We all had about three weeks to practice individually before we could actually come together on the day and play as a whole. That was nerve racking; practicing by yourself but never knowing quite what cues there would actually be with other musicians.

 

The day came and all the individual musicians arrived for the event. We were going to perform in a little venue that was just adjacent to the Tech Museum in San Jose, California. As we were gathering, the lead guitarist pulled me to the side and sat me down and started to play the song on his guitar (Today, by the Smashing Pumpkins). He then said one word to me…”sing.” I knew what he was after. He was scared to death whether or not I could sing. I ALMOST purposely tanked it and was going to sing off pitch and crack my voice, but I thought, I probably put these poor guys through the ringer for three weeks not knowing what kind of performance they were about to be part of. So I sang. After the first verse, he stopped playing and just said another word… “good.” At that point, the bass player was nearby and sighed in relief. He was wondering whether or not he was going to have to put on the groucho marx glasses.

 

They were also concerned with the drummer, but he came through as well.

 

When we all finally were able to get together, we fired up the instruments, played ONE full play through of the song before we were interrupted by the folks at the Tech Museum who said we could not practice any longer because we were bleeding through the walls (what? who doesn’t like Smashing Pumpkins???)

 

In any case, we got one practice in together before we had to go live that day. It was nerve racking. We discussed arrangements, but that was the best we can do.

 

When it came time for the live performance, I was to take the stage from the audience by climbing up some improvised stairs. I grabbed a water from someone’s table and tripped up the stage stairs in the dark. And as I took a sip of the water, yup, it went straight down the wrong pipe. The beginning intro that is played on the guitar we worked out to be played on the keyboard and it was well on its way. I had a massive panic attack right then and there, but still managed to keep it together. Thank god for that relatively long intro, as it gave me just enough time to cough it all out underneath the instruments and I successfully belted out the first line…”Today is the greatest, day I’ve ever known…”

 

And it truly was.

[Author]

Posts