My adventures in the Land of Faraway Gigs

Well, last night, my first gig as an electric guitarist finally rolled around... as you might be able to tell, I am rather tired and delirious, and still replaying it in my head.

The Band: The Guitar Ensemble of the Music Society of the University of New South Wales - ie. one other guitarist, two bassists (stuck with one bass and one amp between them), a hired singer, and me (still longing for an amp larger than an ottoman)

The Venue: A party in a large and terrifyingly clean apartment in Coogee (a beachfront suburb of Sydney populated equally by le noveau riche and los borrachos viejos)

And the challenge? For me, it was to get there. A bit of free advice for all gigging musicians - if the gig is further away than a walk or a short bus/train trip, TRY TO HAVE ACCESS TO A CAR, whether you're driving it or getting a lift with somebody. I learned this the hard way last night - with my heavy-ass hard case in my hand, my bulky laptop bag slung over my shoulder, and my amp, effects unit, leads and powerboard in a travel backpack the size of a small fridge on my back, I navigated the Sydney public transport system for two and a half hours just to get within trekking distance of my destination. On the way, I squeezed through train and bus doors and ticket turnstiles, fumbled with my wallet whilst simultaneously juggling an electric guitar, caught the wrong bus and ended up three suburbs south of my destination, slogged up ski-slope-worthy inclines (*curses all snooty beachside suburbs and their specially-constructed view-gazing hilly streets*), negotiated with transit police who saw the huge backpack on my back and thus assumed I was a tourist who spoke no English, and was attacked by a miniscule fluffy white dog which thought it was a Rottweiler. All the while, I couldn't stop picturing the comfortable interior of a car and the luxury of a large trunk. So have access to a car, unless you want to relive my wild adventures.

Anyway, despite all this, I arrived at the house at almost the same time as the others, and the MUSOCUNSW Guitar Ensemble went in and kicked out the jams. It went extremely well - we made few mistakes, perfectly executed a couple of songs that we'd never been able to nail up until now, managed to get a good overall tone from our mostly Spartan set up (our singer was singing through a guitar amp and I was playing through my fifteen-watt bass amp and RP80 - but our first guitarist made up for it with his 50-watt Engl tube amp and Fender Strat), and generally had a great time. The event was a party, so much of the crowd wasn't paying attention for most of the set, but we had a hardcore audience of about four people who listened to every song and enjoyed each, and when, on occasion, the majority did pay attention, they seemed to like it. But that's what you do at a party gig - you provide background music, and if the audience gets into it, it's a bonus.

We played about fifteen tracks all told - a bunch of Jeff Buckley songs ("Miss You Love", "So Real", "Dream Brother" and "Grace" were included - I don't remember the others, I didn't play on these tracks), "My Hero" and "Best of You" by the Foo Fighters (the crowd liked these), "Under the Bridge" by the Chillis (this was probably the best-received), "Still Got the Blues" by Gary Moore, "For the Love of God" by Vai (our first guitarist did an awesome job of the lead, and I played the rhythm pattern a little differently, with repeating-bass-note arpeggiation), "Starlight" by Muse (with a trippy intro solo at the beginning), "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet (the other guitarist and I busted out some solos in the bridge), and, to go out with a bang, an extended free-form blues rock jam, with trade-off leads between guitarists and a solo from one of the bassists.

I brought my laptop to record the set with me, but caught up in the process of setting up, I forgot to get it recording... so you'll have to take my word for it all, I suppose :p. But we have another gig coming up within the month - I'll record that one (and yes, it will be audible :o - the mike on my laptop is good quality, I've been testing it at rehearsals).

So, first gig complete and a success. Moral of the story: get a car.

Sorry for the rave. I'm going back to bed.

Very cool man. That would indeed suck having to take public transit with all your gear. I had a large back pack once hopping onto the rush hour subway in NYC, and that was a pain...I realized that when the train doors closed around my bag, everyone got pissed, then a hoodlem standing on the platform kicked my bag and I popped in the door. Him and his friends laughed, the doors closed, and we were off. No way in hell I'd wanna be caught in that with all my guitar shtuff.

Sounds like you enjoyed the gig though. Glad it went well. :)

Buses are crazy, man. I certainly don't envy that massive load you had to take.

I'm glad the show went well, though. I look forward to hearing your guys' stuff.

:( haulin all that stuff bites

Man. I moan about carrying my 60lb amp like 20ft to my basement. A few hrs.....now that sounds rough! :eek:

Well, it was only fifteen-watt solid state amp, so it wasn't so much the weight of the amp itself as of the bulky backpack, plus the guitar and the laptop. If I was taking a larger tube amp, I'd need a road case... :D

Originally Posted by: jiujitsu_jesus If I was taking a larger tube amp, I'd need a road case... :D

or......... a car. :rolleyes:

geez man thats anal...ive had enough problems when i first got my electric, had to lug it arnd in the train during rush hour...it was so bad...

i can imagine your pain