I'm playing the local jam last night (Monday), having a great time. Towards the end of the set, a very drunk guy walks towards that band, wanting to shake the drummer's hand between songs. As he is walking away, out of the corner of my eye, I see him fall backwards. It happened too quick for me to catch him but it seemed like slow motion. As he is falling back and to the side, he hits my Sony Jr. Avenger and knocks it over backwards and into a chair that is holding the PA head. It slaps down on the floor with a thud. MY HEART STOPPED!! The guy continues to fall, hitting a tall bar stool that is supporting a fairly large PA speaker. This falls backward and the speaker hits the floor with a crash. I don't know exactly what happened in this instant, but the house bass player had his bass laying in the case behind this speaker. Somewhere in the mess, the case got hit by the speaker, slamming it shut.
My first response was to see if the guy was OK, which he was. We helped him up and the bar owner promptly threw him out. He appeared to be indigent so getting any money out of him to cover damages would be a waste of time.
Everyone was scrambling to clean up the mess and figure out if any damage had been done. Fortunately, my precious Avenger appears to be fine. I played out the set with it and it sounded great. The only noticeable damage was to the house bass player's bass. It got a pretty nice gouge in the otherwise pristine body and he said the case has a crack in it. I was amazed that the PA speaker still worked.
Lesson learned...keep drunks away from the stage.
When I get home from work today, I'll go over the amp in better light to make sure I didn't miss something in the fray.
Hi Dan: sorry to hear about that. Playing clubs is seeped in this stuff. If you play enough gigs so many stupid things like this will happen due to people being loaded that it becomes part of the package. You have to come to the realization that whatever you take to a gig may not come back. Stolen gear is another thing that lurks in the shadows. Watching for drunks as you play will keep your soul off playing. Play honestly from your soul and that will keep most off this crap off the stage. If I am traveling I bring my fender guitar not the tokai copy of a 335 I prefer because gibson necks bust when knocked over and fenders will never break. Putting amps up in the air is a red flag as you found out. I put mine on the floor for that reason. If you need to keep it up high, be ok with it getting knocked over. Setting up/bring gear to a club is like having a 3 year old and setting your house up accordingly for safety....... Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
we did a gig at a farmers market this past summer.we set up in a bank's driveway; open on all sides. i guess they were used to a more easy-listening, acoustic duos and such and my 7 piece blues band was not what they were expecting. folks were really getting into it. beer and wine were flowing. twice we had someone try to negotiate the cables and amps and stands to talk to us. this is one of the reasons i prefer to be wireless. i was able to cut both of them off before they got tangled and tripped. both were harmless and just wanted to thank us, DURING SONGS, but all i could see was catastrophes!
The lead singer that fronted my last band was blind and played piano (great player!) and had a lot of drunks get mad at him for ignoring them when they wanted to talk to him/request tunes. I would try to intervene but It's not easy during a tune. It was pretty crazy how many people didn't believe he was blind.
I have seen drunks stumble during gigs and knock things over on many occasions.
My gear case holding harps, gear, lyrics, and my drink was knocked off the table, soaking the harps in Guinness. Luckily they were plastic bodied and I rinsed them without damage. It all just missed my vintage amp!
A friend of mine was singing at a gig, and a drunk knocked the mic stand, ramming the mic into his mouth. Luckily, no dental damage. If you don't have a stage separating you from the crowd, try to arrange gear safely and stay alert! ----------
I was at an open mic one night. The hosts had one of those tall speakers that sit on top of a pole. They'd been complaining the last couple shows that the bolt on the bottom was damaged. My friend, who's kind of good at repair stuff, kept telling them he'd bring some washers and a wrench and fix it for them.
Well, part way through the show a cord got pulled tight and the bolt went. The speaker slid down the pole and it ripped all the guts out. So, in addition to avoiding drunks, I'd add, 'Do preventative maintenance as soon as the issue comes up.' ---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
i've seen some crazy stuff. drunks are a different breed even though they comprise a good part of the paying public. we had a drunk couple try to dance and end up falling UP onto the stage, barely missing Jolene as she sat and played. had a guy come up and start yelling at us to "slow down, that couple over there is trying to get a slow dance in and go get laid!". had a drunk come barreling on stage to talk to the guitarist at an electric jam and knock a mic into the guitarist and me, shocking us, and scaring the hell out of my wife. at that point i got loud and rude and was ready to knock a sucka OUT. stage manager was all smooth and conciliatory, but he missed the guy heading for the stage in the first place. had a guest lead guitarist sitting in at an outdoor marina gig once. great player but he kept trailing off on his accents and leads. i finally caught why. a gal in a second story window at this marina restaurant was flashing him every few minutes and he would totally lose his attention to the music! AND no he didn't get laid.
had the whole crowd in a place in dallas drag a guy out the door once after he tried to make a fuss that we wouldn't play a request. gee, we did not KNOW the damn SONG. SORRY! but that was a good bunch, they got the guy out the door and averted a problem. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
We have had our fair share of drunk incidents. Have had guy climb up on stage and try to sing, want to make fun of the band, blah blah.
At a recent gig we had one drunk guy come up to shake on of the guys hands but he slammed into the mic stand which then slammed said mic right into our guys mouth nearly breaking teeth. Guy was lucky he got out of the bar at the point haha.
its also a fun time when they try to take stuff off the stage. We had that one happen recently too at an outside gig. After security walked him off he apparently tried to get wild with them... that did not turn out well :)
Outside gigs also have weather to contend with as well as drunks. Was watching a friends band play and was sitting in front of the PA speaker, the wind caught the speaker and it nearly end up in my lap haha. They were like are you alright? and I was like... forget me how is the speaker? which turned out to be fine. Peavey gear is tough stuff.
Ah - The joys of playing bars. Standard line "the drunker you get- the better we sound". New follow up I heard last gig from our bass player - "the drunker we get - the better you look".
Now will somebody tell me again - why booze is legal and pot ain't? ----------
