Ever do a show, and nobody came?

[mlr_pa]

Greetings people!

Well, last night performance here in Pottstown was a blast! My partner and I had a ball, got to drink some wine, and got paid, for playing around like we always do in the living room. Except that it was a bit more intense. We were both feeding off of each other, and with each riff, played a bit to out do the other. Completely friendly competition, with whispered phrases of "Gee, that was cute" and "oh yea?" to "Discovered the "H" note have we?" and "F*** You A**hole!" With giggling and downright laughter going on between us.

If only the audience showed up to enjoy it as much as we did.

A whopping total of 10 people showed up for the Artist who asked us to play there. 5 of them stayed thru, and enjoyed us, but sadly, did not purchase any of the artist's wares. I actually felt badly taking payment for this, but.... business is business.

And sadly, we weren't able to capture the magic in recordings, since the laptop we were using decided at that moment to finally die with a small puff of smoke. Sigh....

So, has that happened to any of you kind readers? Do a show, with the barest of people there? And if so, how did it turn out?

(Oh, I will be posting a couple of pics shortly. Be sure to check my page if interested.)

Thanks for listening. We'll be here all week, and try the veal, it's great! Don't forget to tip the wait staff!

[SamDrummerBoy]

My band did a show about 1992. We were an opening act for another band. We had a grand total of ZERO people there. We had done a little advertising had been anounced on a locals radio show and told everyone that we knew. We showed up and played to about 12 total people. (All of them fans of the other band that was playing.) We recorded the show from the board. Turned out to be a huge learning expeirience.(Not only that you have to do some serious advertising to get people to your show, but also learned a lot about what to do and not to do at a show. (NEVER APOLOGIZE for anything!!! People probably didn't even know that there was a problem with equipment or remembering your part ..... Whatever ... Don't let them in on the secret! )) All I can say is that you have to look on the bright side. At least something good came from that disaster. It sounds like there was a lot of good that came from your show too.


Sam

[rodfatha]

hey what's up? I've been performing for 20 plus years and yes it has happened.You and your partner showed nothing less than professionalism.There is nothing to be ashamed of when things like that happen.The fact that your talking about it to the world shows that you have the confidence that is needed to succeed in the biz! Yeah I had a few with low numbers looking back but the good news is because we chose to play our heart out anyway We were reccommended by one of the few people out there to Jamm records in Hollywood,Ca.(1993) Grant it the contract offer pretty much sucked for us but the experience of going to hollywood and sitting at a record company was great. They flew me out there,wined&dined me for three days and I got to see alot of things including how seedy the business can be,a very good lesson at the time.So I guess the moral is who cares about the ones that don't show up,It's the"1" that does that may be able to get you to the next level,whether it's a contact,a booking,or even maybe the missing link for your group! worse things have happened to folks live, I know I'm one of them.For example in 1995 My light rack came crasing down wiping out my entire electical box at the beggining of a show with about 400 drunken college kids! Thank God I went by a different stage name then

[Kotrof_Wizzard]

Welcome to my world Mr. Pla, I had a little inward laugh, as I was reading your post...It brought to mind of a gig I played a few years ago, it was sombody`s birthday party, and evidently he had very few friends...lol. 4 guys sitting at a bar, and 2 middle aged chicks with no teeth, and about 60lbs overweight, and wearing spandex. A couple of the guys that had been the best of friends 5 minutes earlier, decided to fight over one of the toothless chicks...so as the fight started I adlibed them their very own fight song, which turns out now to be "Rip The Highway", (I have it listed on my playlist)...while the two guys were wailing on each other, the chick they were fighting over, went to the bar, and started kissing on both of the remaining guys that weren`t fighting, and the other toothless chick started this horrifying dirty dance directly in front of me...lol...it was an awesome gig...I played for an hour and a half, and wrote 2 new songs that night...peace out...Drop The Sun

[BluesBro]

I was listening to the Musicians Cooler Podcast last week and they were talking about a similar situation and how they turned it into a positive by really engaged the 15 or so people there and asing them what sort of music and songs they wanted to listen to. They said it ended up being a real fun gig.

I was wondering if last night was going to be like that for me. I was fronting an African drumming band at a Guy Fawkes party and bonfire. Started off with only a few people milling around, but ended up with a good crowd and lots of compliments which was nice. It's not easy starting a solo set with half a dozen people standing round chatting.

[mlr_pa]

I wish to thank all of you for your support!

This gig was a bit strange for me, since I have always been part of a band. Either as a bassist, or rhythm guitartist. (Which nobody pays attention to, unless you make a mistake, then EVERYONE notices you.) Being the cenmter of attention, as the feature of a small show, was really un-nerving. But it was fun.

Usually, it's me, sitting alone in front of the computer screen, with 1 or 3 cats in my lap, shedding all over a guitar, and starring into the screen. That's how make music. live? Well it was a blast for me, and the 5 people who were the audience.

And I want to say I hope my minimalistic audience story brought chuckles to all those who read it. Thanks a lot peoples!

[Reconsiderate]

[goosefish]

I've been playing in bands off and on since the early sixties. I can't even begin to count the times when less than 10 people were at a gig. Recently I was playing with my wife at a beautiful resort in the mountains of NC where only 6 sat and listened....but they were a very enthusiastic group and it was a lovely day....so it was a good practice session.

[mlr_pa]

[pleasantbud]

I once played a bar in Santa Barbara. Drove from Hollywood, no one NOT ONE person showed.
They said we could have food to take home. They were a rib joint. We were vegetarians. We brought home a 15 pound bag of PEANUTS!
True, I don't lie.

[LuLu]

[StephenDei]

This should be in the running for WORST GIG EVER!!!!!

About 7 years ago I was playing drums in this sort of progressive rock band. At the time I was 16 while the other guys were older so this BIG FESTIVAL we were booked at was supposed to be a great gig for me since A. my friends could come without me having to sneak them in and B. I didnt have to have my parents accompany me to the gig (which really hurts trying to pick up chicks! haha )

Anyway, this festival was called THUNDERFEST or something like that, and it was going to be 3 days of bands, bikes and babes..(keeping in mind that we werent much of a biker band, but a gig is a gig eh). The promoters had bought ads on the radio and their were signs and posters up all over town so at the time we were thinking, hey this could be a pretty big gig, since they had booked some national acts. Anyway our time was Saturday afternoon and since it was an hour or so drive to the fairgrounds where this gig was, we left early to check out the sites. Well when we get there to park in the "backstage" area, I was a little alarmed when I only saw a handfull of cars. I was told not to worry when the guy came with the golf cart to shuttle us to the staging area with our equipment. Well we set up and of course like NO ONE is there...and I mean NO ONE, keep in mind this is like a 5,000 seat county stadium type place and I tell you folks...it was EMPTY. So we sort of just shrug it off and start to play....well mid way through the first song, the rain and wind start to blow and knocks my 17-pc drum-kit completly over which then fell into the bass player who in turn knocked his entire rig over....oh yeah this REALLY happened. Once we set up again and started to play, the wind blew my ride cymbal over and cut the bass player's instrument cable in half. After our 3rd attemt at this catastrophe we finished the set and got laughed it off at the keyboard players house.


_SD

[mobilehomeboy]

My bad. I thought the forum was entitled "Ever done a HO and no one came".

Oopsie.

[artyjames]

yes, I have done shows to small crowds but the difference is if they are receptive... nothing like a small crowd that is having fun it almost becomes even more personal... got to say I prefer the bigger venues myself though

[Reconsiderate]

[quote="artyjames"]...small crowds... it almost becomes even more personal... [/quote
yeah, you can actually look people in the eyes and build up a sort of relationship, which you can use as fuel.