In our last blog we asked “What was your BEST gig?”.  To start the ball rolling, here is mine:

My top 40 rock band, (but really an original band in disguise), obtained a gig at an expensive lobster restaurant looking over the harbor.  It was for the district attorney’s office, and all of the lawyers and their wives were much older than us.  We had played many dances and weddings so we knew we had to start off playing our lowest volume laid back tunes.

After our first quiet song the bar manager rushed over and said “You guys sound great but you’ve got to turn it DOWN”.  We noticed that a few of the folks had left.  We lowered the volume knobs another notch or two and played our second song.  Once again he told us “I’m sorry but you’re still too loud – lower it please”.  By now half of the crowd was gone.

At this point I believe we actually turned OFF the amps and I sang without using my mic, and our drummer tapped his drums using his fingers.  After this third song he approached us again and said “I’m sorry, you’ll have to leave, you are just too loud, but I will still pay you your full price, no problem”.  By this time there was no one left except the ONLY young couple who wanted to dance, so we played one last Rolling Stones tune at normal volume just for them, packed up and left.

Why was this our BEST gig?  Because we got paid over THREE times more than any other 4 or 5 set job we had ever played, simply for performing FOUR songs.  And, this was the only gig we ever played that was booked through an agent – all the rest we had gotten on our own.  Needless to say, that agent never booked us again.  Obviously he should have used an acoustic solo act – but that may have been too loud!

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