Top 5 Worst Gigs: No 5

(Whilst I’m on Eurobusk I’ve prepared these posts so even when I’m away I don’t miss a day of blogging.)

When you start getting lots of gigs coming in and you’ve not got a lot of experience you have to do a lot of crap before you realise what is reasonable and what is unreasonable. Over the next few days my posts will be about these situations.

Whilst you read them I know most experienced musicians will think why didn’t he just leave. Because that’s what I think. But until your there and you’ve gone through it and vowed never to go through that again you just get on with the job.

I’ve tried my best to recall my Top 5 Worst Gigs but out of the hundreds I’ve done there may me worse ones that I’ve either forgotten about or purposely blanked form my memory.

Here’s a short and easy story to start off with. (Oh, and something I’ve noticed is that the worst gigs are usually the ones where your getting picked up. I don’t know why this is the case but it’s perhaps because the events are out of your control and your more inclined to go along with it).

I was getting picked up from Birmingham with a peer from college who played the sax. We had got up and walked into the City Centre for 6 o’clock on a Saturday Morning.

We waited for 30 mins before I started to get a little annoyed at missing out on the extra half an hour in bed when we got a phone call. It turns out that the guy who was picking us up had overslept but his mate was on the way to get us.

(Alarm bells should be ringing at this point.)

Another half hour later a transit van turns up… with one spare place.

I was brought up to do things like hold doors open for people and let ladies go first etc. So I let Paul go in the front –mental note, never have manners. I spent the next 45 minutes sliding around( with a bunch of tools and my trumpet) around the back of this van. You really don’t appreciate seat belts and… well… seats until you are in this position. Especially on roundabouts.

The rest of the gig was standard but that’s a start that’s scarred my memory for ever.