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02 Jul 08 - 05:03 PM (#2379486) Subject: First gig From: Leadbelly Thinking about your first gig ever: please tell us about your feelings, songs played, acceptance aso. I started in Danny's Pan in Hamburg/Germany, got 3 bottles of beer for playing 3 songs (Nobody knows you, when you're down and out, Backwater Blues and It's a lesson too late) and got a little bit of applause by about 20 people. Was a thrilling experience. So I went on doing this kind of music (blues and folk) for some years without any intention to become a professional. Did it just for fun. Manfred |
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02 Jul 08 - 05:55 PM (#2379520) Subject: RE: First gig From: Genie My first paid gig (I was paid a whopping $10) was in 1963, at the Clay County Coon Hunters' Association dinner in Clay Co., MO. First we ate dinner -- including raccoon, which tasted a bit like burnt rubber smells -- and THEN I was given the option of singing right away or performing after a 30-min. film on fishing. While I hate having to sing right after eating, I knew I'd totally lose my audience if I waited till after the fishing movie, so I chose to sing first. At the time, I was totally into folk music, such as Copper Kettle, Shady Grove, East Virginia and other songs I'd learned from Joan Baez, Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan, Bob Gibson, Carolyn Hester, etc. I can't remember my whole song list (about 6 songs), but I know it included Old Blue and Copper Kettle and others like that. I thought, these being country folks, they'd appreciate and relate to songs like that. WRONG! It went over like a pregnant pole vaulter. Looking back, I realized I'd have been better off doing Grand Ol' Opry type songs, but I didn't know a lot of those back then. Anyway, it was definitely a learning experience. Genie |
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02 Jul 08 - 05:56 PM (#2379521) Subject: RE: First gig From: Richard Bridge It's easy. Sing loud and they'll pay me to go away. |
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02 Jul 08 - 08:38 PM (#2379622) Subject: RE: First gig From: Leadfingers My first paid gig was the Royal Tournament , Earls Court , London ,when I was just sixteen and a learner piper with the RAF Locking Apprentice Pipe and Trumpet band . Something I still remember VERY clearly after fifty Years . |
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03 Jul 08 - 03:47 AM (#2379775) Subject: RE: First gig From: Fidjit Midlesborough folk club. back in '67. I'd turned up to do a floor singing spot. The place was packed to the ceiling. John Foreman had canceled so they asked me to be the guest. Paid me a fiver ! Wow! Big time here we come. Never happened. Still can't make a living singing folk songs. It was good though. Still is. Chas |
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03 Jul 08 - 05:29 AM (#2379826) Subject: RE: First gig From: The Sandman my first gig was the Fighting Cocks Kingston,may 1976,got paid 14 pounds,there must have been fifty people there,sang totally unaccompanied,must have been booked back there ten times,so that first gig must have been alright. I sang Roll Alabama Roll,Cunning cobbler,Butter and cheese and all,and lots of others,but cant find the list at the moment.Dick Miles |
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03 Jul 08 - 05:49 AM (#2379839) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine My first paid gig was with the surf instrumental band I played in at college. We'd played at a few parties and open mics with varying degrees of success, this time we were booked to play the student's union bar during RAG week. The bar was packed with all our friends, and others, everyone had had a few drinks and danced like loons. We played everything we knew and when we ran out of tunes, we played them all again. They gave us a couple of crates of beer and we got paid £10 each. I spent mine on a pair of sunglasses and a packet of cigarettes. |
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03 Jul 08 - 06:52 AM (#2379876) Subject: RE: First gig From: scouse I think mine was "The Chandlers Ford Folk Club." near Southampton back in the 60's and I do remember singin' "Now is the Hour." to the sound of Cows Mooing in the background as it was held in a Barn. Is there anyone out there who remembers the place??? As Aye, Phil. |
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03 Jul 08 - 09:00 AM (#2379981) Subject: RE: First gig From: Big Al Whittle My first paid gig was at The Roebuck in Erdington. I was supporting Tony Capstick. Sometime in the 1970's. I don't think I went down very well. There weren't many people there. And Waterfall turned up did a floorspot and blew me offstage - they were smashing. Capstick had just brought out his Punch and judy man LP, and I bought a copy, (which I still have!) Capstick as always was brilliant and he didn't drive, so he was very merry indeed at the end of the evening. I asked him to sign my album, at which he burst into insane laughter and said indeed, and signed it MERRY CHRISTMAS FUCKPIG! Can't remember what I played but I bet it was rubbish. I got £3. |
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03 Jul 08 - 09:08 AM (#2379994) Subject: RE: First gig From: Surreysinger Mine was only four years ago (after years and years of singing for my own pleasure, and about ten years or so of doing the very occasional floor spot) in January 2004 in the Cafe Bar at the Electric Theatre in Guildford for Electric Voices - putting on a show with Mike Bosworth from Cornwall on Lucy Broadwood and Sabine Baring-Gould. We ended up with about fifty bums on seats and got just over £100 each share of the takings. The first time I ever used a microphone, too. Since then I've had three or four more occasions - three unpaid, one paid (another show on those two) just slightly less. And now I've got another one coming up in September - another show on Lucy Broadwood ... hooray!!! |
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03 Jul 08 - 09:18 AM (#2380009) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Betsy at work Fidjit how did do come to Middlesbrough ? Do you remember the name of the Pub / Folk Club ( Can't PM at work ) |
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03 Jul 08 - 09:44 AM (#2380039) Subject: RE: First gig From: Vixen First time I played in front of strangers I was 39, cold sober and solo, at a college open mic. I played Leavin' on a Jet Plane and Long Black Veil. Between the 2nd and 3rd verses of LoaJP, I "woke up" and said, "what am I doing?". The audience (all 15 of 'em, who had been singing along) yelled "Keep Going!!!!". So I did. Playing solo was always terrifying--shaky knees, dry mouth, heart pounding. The only way to get through it was to compare it to equestrian cross-country, where I felt *exactly* the same way, but that was sheer exhilaration and excitement and an incredible high. First paid gig was about a year later, with Reynaud (and his quarter-century of gigging experience) keeping me steady. It's SOOOO much easier being half a duo!!! Thanks for refreshing the memories! V |
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03 Jul 08 - 09:53 AM (#2380048) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Padre- who really must remember to reinstall August 1960 - with my Stella tenor guitar - for a swim party at Lake Chaweva. I was paid $7.50 (collection taken up by the girl I was dating at the time, and who invited me to play). Padre |
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03 Jul 08 - 09:57 AM (#2380053) Subject: RE: First gig From: Big Al Whittle 'shaky knees, dry mouth, heart pounding. ' my first floorspot was like that. I never felt like that ever again though. I was lucky I met some wonderful people that first night - one of whom was the 17 year old kid who was running the folk club very confidently! The Station Hotel, sutton coldfield, 1975 - I was 26. a late starter! |
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03 Jul 08 - 10:01 AM (#2380056) Subject: RE: First gig From: jacqui.c First sort of paid gig was as part of a benefit for Utah Phillips this last April. Kendall and I did Miner's Lullaby and Phoebe Snow. He played guitar for both and did the spoken part of Phoebe Snow and I sang the rest. I was a bit nervous about following the likes of Scott Alaric on stage but the audience applauded loudly so we must have been OK. SINSULL was selling Kendall's CD in the interval and was asked by one person if I was on it! I think that I was walking on air for about a week after that! |
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03 Jul 08 - 10:52 AM (#2380107) Subject: RE: First gig From: Colin Randall Before I made the wise and, if I am to be honest, public-spirited decision not to pursue a career as a folk singer, I played a solitary professional gig at a grim folk club in Guisborough, N Yorks. Phil Steele was the talented half of our duo. We both remember doing San Francisco Bay Blues and I recall the Story of Isaac and possibly Ralph McTell's Last Train and, since we were great fans of the Johnstons, either Bitter Green or Spanish Lady.It would have been 1971. If we were bad, the audience was worse. No interest in the folk club's existence, bitter resentment at the juke box being turned off (before we started, so no one could be sure we'd be lousy) and generally hostile. One local hard case pushed past me to a seat in the same row (again,. before we had played a note) saying: "Mind your feet.....and mind your f------ guitar." We left at half time, gratefully pocketing half our fee (four pounds). Apologies to those who may have seen this sorry tale before (it cropped up in an earlier thread, and is told more fully in this posting at Salut! Live Phil later added a comment at my site, admitting to a worrying streak of masochism that later took him back to the same place as part of a blues band. |
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03 Jul 08 - 11:49 AM (#2380159) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Betsy at Work Hi Colin I'm sure that you are refering to the Globe simply because the Organiser was a great,civilised schoolteacher called Horace and he wouldn't have dreamed of giving you the bums rush, for lack of talent or any performance. He regarded it as a nursery for up and coming performers Sadly in the last few months the Globe has shut - the Landlord and the Landlady (Dave and Clare) being avid fans of folk and acoustic music and contributors to these threads. |
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03 Jul 08 - 12:16 PM (#2380189) Subject: RE: First gig From: Colin Randall Betsy at Work I am sorry to say that it was the Globe, but now that you mention it, I do remember the organiser as a gentle and decent man. And in restrospect, it was us choosing to leave at the interval so he probably didn't have any obligation to pay us a penny. But I stand by what I said about the club. It was not so much the menace of one man as the general mixture of indifference, disdain and hostility. I don't suppose anyone even noticed that we'd left . |
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03 Jul 08 - 02:56 PM (#2380332) Subject: RE: First gig From: Willie-O 33 York St in Ottawa--that being the clever name of the place, as well as the address. It has since become much better known as the long-running strip club Bare Fax. About 1977. I was supposed to play two nights for $25/night. I have no recollection of what I played, probably some Steve Goodman, some Grateful Dead and maybe an original or two. After one night the manager called me and said they decided to drop me the second night because it was hockey playoffs season and that had definitely been the main interest of the patrons on Friday. I went several times to get the $25 he owed me, think I got $5 and a vague promise (coupled with a threat that I should stop being so pushy) each time I went. Learned some life lessons from that gig: 1. Do not take a gig in a sports-bar during playoffs. 2. Do not trust shifty bar managers who make promises, the only true measure of them is how they behave when you request your agreed-on fee. W-O |
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04 Jul 08 - 04:44 AM (#2380786) Subject: RE: First gig From: Fidjit Betsy In '68 I was working on merchant ships as electrician. We were unloading in Middlesbrough. Can't remember the pub. Just that it was packed and I mean Standing on the furniture PACKED! Chas |
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04 Jul 08 - 07:44 AM (#2380867) Subject: RE: First gig From: kendall 1952 at a meeting of the Knights of Pytheus. spelling? I sang three songs and I don't remember how much I was paid, maybe a dollar each? I was into country music back then, before I learned two more chords. |
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13 Aug 08 - 02:26 PM (#2412708) Subject: RE: First gig From: Leadbelly refresh... Would be great to read about the experiences of others... Manfred |
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13 Aug 08 - 02:51 PM (#2412740) Subject: RE: First gig From: Mark Ross I had been working the basket houses in Greenwich Village for a couple of months when I got the Opening Act/MC gig at Gerdes Folk City. Headlining were Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry. Mike Porco paid me 5 bucks, a bottle of beer and a sandwich each night. I think I'm the only performer not listed in the book on Folk City, I didn't make the T-shirt either! Mark Ross |
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14 Aug 08 - 09:43 AM (#2413469) Subject: RE: First gig From: Roger in Baltimore I remember getting paid for the first time. I performed at the St. John's Carnival in my home town. I was 16 years old. Two friends and I doing Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul, and Mary covers and some other stuff thrown in. The day before the gig, I opened my guitar case and found all of the strings were slack. I had put steel strings on a Gibson classical and the bridge finally lifted. I played the gig with a borrowed archtop guitar. Don't remember feeling nervous, but based on later history I suppose I was (because I always am at the start), or maybe I was too young to have enough sense to be concerned. It was our group's only gig. Easy come, easy go. Roger in Baltimore |
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15 Aug 08 - 12:48 AM (#2414268) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Gerry My first (and probably last and only) paying gig was at the Australian National Folk Festival a few months ago in Canberra. My family and I have gone to that festival every year for over a decade, and we had seen some terrific acts, and some not-so-terrific acts that made us think, hey, we could do better than that. So this year my (20 year old) daughter called my bluff, and the two of us got on stage to do two half-hour sets of unaccompanied singing on themes associated with Passover. I was happy with the reception we got, and I don't think we were the worst thing on at the Festival, but I did get more of an appreciation of how much work (and talent) it takes to do the job right and do it on a regular basis. I doubt that I'll do it again --- back to floor spots at the local folk club. |
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15 Aug 08 - 02:11 AM (#2414292) Subject: RE: First gig From: Jayto My first paid gig was in a little place called the Hillside Opry in Powderly Kentucky (US). I had a Fender Squire Strat and it was not a very good one lol. A friend of mine called me and asked if I wanted to use his american standard strat. I jumped at the chance to play it. The guy who started the band had a rule you had to use his gear. He had a horrible Kustom amp that I could not pull a tone out of for anything. The building was an aluminum garage type building heated by a pot belly stove and a salamander blower type heater. I was so excited I couldn't wait. I showed up and the rest of the band was in the parking lot. The crowd was mainly family members and friends of the band. I was horrible and a nervous wreck. It was alright though because the band was pretty bad as well. We did covers of 70's rock and country songs. The bands name was Night Breeze lol man what a gig. |
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15 Aug 08 - 05:13 AM (#2414362) Subject: RE: First gig From: Sandra in Sydney different side of First Gig - I'd been running Gerry's local folk club for a couple of years with an excellent team before I felt I needed to say something about an act. I was painfully shy at school, & altho I've been on different committees over the years, had always refused a job that involved talking to the members as I hated standing up in front of people, so my team included several good MCs. This night my favourite group were performing, The Shiny Bum Singers, & I shakily said something to introduce them & ran off. Some time later I started MCing, explaining I wasn't very good at it & introduced the wrong act! They stared at me in horror, so all I could say was "well I said I wasn't good at MCing, so you lot (nodding at the other act) better get started". I'm still not at all polished, sometimes I remember to actually say something about the act, other times I use that old standby "Anyone here not seen ..." say a word or 2 if there are folks who don't know the act, otherwise welcome the artist & sit down. And I'm almost getting used to the camera we've had for the last few months as we now have a bloke who likes videoing concerts (with permission of artists) tho I haven't yet had a look at the club's archival copy of the concert yet. sandra |
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15 Aug 08 - 05:42 AM (#2414383) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Betsy at work Sorry Chas (Fidgit)I missed your reply in July . If in the centre of the 'Boro' the place to which you refer might have been the YCW Club. Young Christian Workers Club almost opposite the Dole office so in a sense a bit contradictory . YCW - scary sounding, but cheap beer, and consumed in copious amounts by all the punters. The Folk Club always packed was later run by a Mudcat contributor - Folkypaul. If on the outskirts possibly the Coronation pub . A long shot could have been the Rifle pub (unintended pun) but I think it had shut by then and the pub to which they moved - the Newport - didn't last too long either due to the heady days of Local Council Compulsory Purchase Orders and the desire to knockdown buildings and fill their spaces full of concrete. Thanks for getting my memory banks working !! and nice to know you started your career / music making in the 'Boro'- what a great pedigree. Regards to the Oslo gang . Betsy |
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15 Aug 08 - 05:53 AM (#2414391) Subject: RE: First gig From: Phil Edwards 'shaky knees, dry mouth, heart pounding. ' my first floorspot was like that. I never felt like that ever again though. A floorsinger writes: never felt like that, even the first time. What does get me while I'm waiting for the nod, even now, is the wrong-song gremlin (right, what am I going to do, I'll do this song and - oh my God no, I can't possibly do that song, what was I thinking of, quick, think of something else, think, think, how about other song, that always goes down well, oh no, I did that last week...) And repeat until I'm on - at which point I almost always do the songs I first thought of, and it goes... as well as it was going to go. I like floor spots. |
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15 Aug 08 - 10:04 AM (#2414557) Subject: RE: First gig From: Mooh Sang in church choirs since a boy, so I don't recollect my first "gig", but I do remember being terrified at piano and singing competitions and examinations where I had to fly solo. Ther's safety in numbers for me. Started gigging as a fledgling rock musician in the '70s, maybe '74 or so, but started my "pro" (swallow hard now) career in '77 backing a country and Elvis act on guitar, bass, and keyboards. I was often nervous but pumped with excitement...the response of youth I suppose. I'm still uncomfortable solo, though I don't mind so much as I once did. In my duos (one with fiddle, other with concertina), and various other bands, I rarely get nervous anymore...maybe I should and I'd stop datdreaming and forgetting things! First songs? No recollection. I stopped keeping records of my gigs years ago, though once in a while I stumble across an old set list...THAT can be enlightening! Peace, Mooh. |
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01 Mar 09 - 01:40 PM (#2578644) Subject: RE: First gig From: Leadbelly refresh. |
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01 Mar 09 - 02:20 PM (#2578666) Subject: RE: First gig From: Rafflesbear First gig from Norcsalordie was at the Bewicke Arms in Hallaton Leicestershire. Paul, Martin and their friend Tim were out for a drive and a jolly and found this pub running a karaoke so they thought they'd give it a shot. They went down so well that the landlady turned off the karaoke and asked them to play for the rest of the evening They had several paid gigs there before the pub changed hands and now it would appear from the Leicester CAMRA website that the pub has closed First 'gig' for Martin would have been a school talent show where he performed Eric Bogle's Nobody's Moggie solo in front of the entire school complete with toy cat as a prop. Please don't tell him I posted this !! :-) |
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01 Mar 09 - 02:22 PM (#2578668) Subject: RE: First gig From: Diva Good thread this. I'm wracking my brains. Paid for a floor spot at the Rverside Club Glasgow many moons ago 1984 ish (Thank you Cy) but first proper paid gig was either Coldream Border gathrein for a recital of Border Ballads or Annan Folk Club. Haud on......1981 got a cheque for £30 from BBC when they played me om Travelling Folk.....my first visit to Newcastleton Traditonal Folk Festival and I won the Woman's Novice Singing. I was getting £35 a week as a receptionist in a farm accountants at the time. Going of to the Aye Write Book Festival soon and have just had the fees in for that......am well chuffed..and for singing dirty songs too! |
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01 Mar 09 - 02:40 PM (#2578683) Subject: RE: First gig From: John MacKenzie I was paid £5 at a folk club on Uxbridge Road in Ealing in about 1967, I sang with a lovely lad called Les Hammond, who hails from Great Harwood in Lancs. I got £12 off the BBC, for a Folk Weave recording a few years later. They never did pay much! JM |
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01 Mar 09 - 03:03 PM (#2578704) Subject: RE: First gig From: Diva Ach but John did you sing the ballad that you sang at Whitby ...the one with Grace Jones in it? |
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01 Mar 09 - 04:07 PM (#2578730) Subject: RE: First gig From: Bobert Well, ya' kinda have to define gig... If it means a real audience, as opposed to party goers 'er freinds, then I guess mine was at a coffee house in Richmond, Va in or around '66... It was a makeshift deal in a Unitarian church and I think I played about 15 minutes or so... Probably did "Mr. Tamborine Man" and a couple originals... Can't really remember... B~ |
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01 Mar 09 - 04:37 PM (#2578744) Subject: RE: First gig From: Suegorgeous Backing vocals with a one-gig band with no name at a Bath charity gig, on Hallelujah, Fiddler and the drum, Salt of my tears. :) Was scarey but a brilliant thrill, which inspired me to keep going |
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01 Mar 09 - 04:53 PM (#2578760) Subject: RE: First gig From: Diva Bobert people/folk who are not relatives..people who are willing to pay to hear us sing |
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01 Mar 09 - 04:54 PM (#2578761) Subject: RE: First gig From: Diva and yes it is a HUGE THRILL |
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01 Mar 09 - 05:20 PM (#2578796) Subject: RE: First gig From: Bobert Well, back then coffee house performers weren't actaully, ahhhhh, paid in Richmond... A couple years later I was in a band that was paid but I don't really want to talk about my band days 'cause I didn't enjoy my band days... I did perform coffee house until 1976 purdy regular but never paid... Fast forward.... Hmmmmmm??? Other than the band I reckon I didn't play solo for money until well into the 90's when I was paid to play at a joint in Leesburg, Va... Purdy anti-climatic... This was before I gave up my old music and became eclusively a blues player... Set list would have included: "Paradise" (John Prine) "Legend of the Captain's Daughter" (Paul Seibel "Lay Lady Lay" (Bob Dylan) "Did Hank Really Make it This Way" (Waylon Jennings) "Jack Knife Gypsy" (Paul Seibel) "Sin City" (Flying Burrito Brothers) "$1000 Car" (Bottle Rockets) "Belly Full of Tennesee" (John Stewart" and my originals: "Jesus Don't Make Housecalls Anymore" "Arthur and Sally" "Fill Your Soul" "Ginny Girl" "Amtrac Blues" Those were all staples back then... Don't do any of them anymore other than a bluesified version of John Prine's "Paradise"... B~ |
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01 Mar 09 - 06:27 PM (#2578847) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,Green My first gigs were when I was young (eldest child in a musical family) We did shows off and on at a jamboree, audience roughly around 150 or so. Our list would have been standard Old Songs and I think we must have gotten about $35 each in the mid-70s. |
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02 Mar 09 - 11:22 AM (#2579307) Subject: RE: First gig From: Jayto OMG I can't remember my first gig. What's that mean lol? I have been gigging over half my life but I am drawing a blank on my first one. Didn't even realize it until I saw this thread. Hmm you have got me thinking now. I am sure I was horrible maybe that is why I have blocked it from my memory lol. My first performance (not counting being pulled onstage by a guitarist who that I knew how to play when I didn't) actually my first 2 were contests. A talent show in Mortons Gap Ky (1st) and the next in Mt.View Arkansas (2nd). My first hired gig was with a band in Powderly Kentucky that was AWFUL but I was too so we balanced out lol. I had only been playing a few months and they hired me to play lead guitar. I was clueless about lead but acted like I knew what I was doing. I guess they thought I knew what I was doing as well they hired me. I stayed with them for about 5 months or so and then moved to another band. We stayed booked solid to be so bad. They also paid really good. I left them to go with a band to Florida basically because I wanted to do a swipe of Florida (it was January in Kentucky and cold I wanted to be paid and warm lol). It came to me finally. I may be wrong but I think that was my first gig. I have to think because it may have been a house band in Hopkinsville Kentucky at a music theater. They had open mic on Friday and a show on Saturday. I just don't remember which was first. cya JT |
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02 Mar 09 - 11:36 AM (#2579319) Subject: RE: First gig From: Jayto I had posted back in August the band in Powderly Kentucky was my first gig. I am just not sure though if it is. I was scared stiff I do remember that. Scared sums up my first few yrs of gigs though lol. I love performing now and still get the jitters some I just control them alot better now. I hope I never lose the jitters though that is part of the fun of performing. I used to get petrified though looking back I don't see how I even managed to play. I was over the top shy so playing out really scared me for a long time. Not to mention within 2 yrs of starting my band signed with Decca records and we were performing for crowds larger than the little speck in the road town I am from lol. I learned how to deal with anxiety of performing live but I still hope to never totally lose it. cya JT |
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02 Mar 09 - 11:44 AM (#2579324) Subject: RE: First gig From: GUEST,John from Elsie`s Band The first gig I did, in my teens, as a member of "Four Square Circle" was in 1964 at a Boy Scouts club in Orpington, Kent for the princely sum of about £7.50 between us. The audience were completely silent for the two 30 minutes sets. After the last number they were asked by their leader to show their appreciation and they clapped us to the rafters and came to talk to us and find out all about us. |
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03 Mar 09 - 08:30 AM (#2580180) Subject: RE: First gig From: Leadfingers A quiet audience is fine , unless they are moving slowly and purposefully towards you ! |
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04 Mar 09 - 07:57 AM (#2580966) Subject: RE: First gig From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler Mine was with Blind Panic in the early 1980s, and was at Tony Rose's club in Yeovil. That was in the days before we realised that it was much less effort and less stressful to do a ceilidh than a concert! |