Our MOST Embarrassing Gig DISASTERS w/ Tim Pierce

In this episode my good friend Tim Pierce and I discuss our most embarrassing gig disasters.
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[@audibletapehiss3764]

Turning up for a gig and there's no kick drum pedal, so a 12 year old audience member literally runs home to bring you his, and it's... a toy. Turning up for a gig and there's no lights, so a couple of good ol boys point their trucks at you and flip on the brights in your face. Breaking a bass strap and there's not one cm of gaffer's tape in the house, so you do the gig on one knee. Backing up a "legacy" artist from the 60's who comes up 5 mins before curtain to tell you to play the drum intro different, and as he walks away his son comes up to tell you dad was wrong it goes like this, and then the MD comes up and says no they're both wrong, it goes like this. So you ignore all 3 of them and play it the same way you were already doing it, and afterwards, they all think you did what they said!

[@marcelhaik8035]

Those are awesome stories!

[@williestyle35]

I was actually once an "audience member" for my brother-in-law's band 'Carnieval' doing a music "video" shoot - nearly exactly like you describe in the second story. A couple of trucks and a couple of sports cars pointing their headlights for extra "lighting" for the camera. A couple of rice burner motorcycles provided the "spotlights"... lul, good times man, good times. heh. (:

[@ukestudio3002]

Great stuff !😂 been there..

[@quicklicks5963]

Forgot my kick too, and another time my snare

[@TwangTown]

Happened to us once. So I grabbed an sm58. Plugged it in, rolled off all the mids boosted all the low eq and about 3 o'clock on the highs... and pumped it through the PA. Greg just stepped on the mic for the kick. It sounded 100% better than his actual kick!

[@stephenbrown4211]

I remember seeing a band in England called the Notting Hillbillies, fronted by one Mark Knopfler. After one guitar change, Mark went to play the intro but couldn't get anything out of it. He twiddled the knobs, tapped a couple of pedals then went to check the amp. Still nothing. Just as he was was about to give up and change the guitar, fellow bandmate, Brendan Croker said, "Mark, it might play if you plug it in". Mark di looked rather sheepish. Even the guitar greats can make mistakes

[@stephenbrown4211]

@Ian L12 yes. They formed in ‘86 but only made one album in 1990, Missing....Presumed Having A Good Time.

[@stvolo]

yaya where's the vidseo?

[@stephenbrown4211]

@@stvolo You must be a millennial so why should there be a video? It was 1990, smartphones were only a dream then and we were still in the age of the VHS camcorder. As it was a small venue in Cambridge I doubt anyone would have got a camcorder past security. But 1200 people witnessed it.

[@bordershader]

@@stvolo it's well-known. It happened.

[@stephenbrown4211]

@@bordershader I didn’t realise it had become legend

[@1MuscleShoals]

I was playing bass with a major Nashville act in one of the big rooms in Las Vegas. Started strutting across the stage during a tempo to pose with the lead player. I somehow caught my boot tip in the snake that was halfway taped down, lost my balance and went down. I didn't have straplocks so my bass fell off, made a hellacious sound and slid into the monitor console. In a last ditch effort to save myself, I grabbed the lead players belt while he's playing a solo and pulled him down on top of me. The band ground to a halt and I had to help him up and walk over to retrieve the bass. By far the most humiliating moment I've ever had and I've had a bunch of them. 😊

[@cinders302]

That's an ugly one! 😅

[@1MuscleShoals]

Oh, you have no idea. 😊

[@ukestudio3002]

I’m picturing it all laughing my head off at each scene ..sorry .🤷🏽

[@crocholiday]

Even that could have been worse. When I read "grabbed the lead players belt" the lead player is not what I thought was going down lol.

[@unclemick8713]

Yep I thought the lead guys pants were coming down😂​@@crocholiday

[@jakemitchell1671]

I've had many, but one that still haunts me is the time I got to sit in with my favorite band. They were a power trio and had 2-3 hits, esp on local radio. The guy who played lead guitar and sang lead vocals is my musical hero to this day. He'd asked me to bring my guitar and perform their signature hit in the first set of a big gig near my home. I was absolutely THRILLED!! The song started with just guitar, hitting a massive open G chord. So I got ready, nervous but excited, looked at the bass player and drummer and then slammed down on that big overdriven G chord......and when I did my G-string broke, immediately sending the guitar badly out of tune!! I had nowhere to go from there. The opening calls for 3 more big power chords before the band kicked in. I stopped playing, then the band stopped. I unplugged my guitar and left the stage - embarrassed and demoralized.

[@spencergwin9454]

That is rotten luck, man

[@kerrycanfield332]

I've had a moment or three like that ...

[@stoneysdead689]

You should've banged on that guitar 3 more times, in time - and let the band kick in and save it. You never stop- even if all you can do is slap the guitar in time- get to slappin"- the show must go on.

[@mrstu377]

Rick, you should do an entire series dedicated to this topic with various artists! Hilarious!

[@williestyle35]

This is a great idea! Rick should revisit this and make a series of these videos! 😊

[@stephenjohnston7545]

This so reminds me of times with my old band mates no longer with us. This is EXACTLY what it was like when we talked and belly-laughed. Thank you. This was very therapeutic for me. I miss those guys.

[@trevorbayfield4006]

I had a restaurant full of customers in Cornwall on a country estate, forty odd people, tickets sold, food included with a Jazz trio, all paying customers. The band just started and the lights and power went off. We had to borrow a petrol generator from the local farmer, who just happened to be in the audience. So we managed to get power for the two amps, luckily the bass was a stand up, turned into a fantastic evening, by candlelight.

[@jacquesd5781]

These "nightmare" gigs are often the ones that audiences remember and treasure the most. Cool story!

[@brahmburgers]

I played solo guitar at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was all about woks. A friend came in while I was playing 'Walking the Dog'. He quipped, 'woking the dog,' ....I laughed so hard, I had to stop playing.

[@kerrycanfield332]

@@trevorbayfield4006 That’s what it takes! As another famous band sang, “No matter what we get out of this, I know we will never forget…”

[@kerrycanfield332]

@@trevorbayfield4006 Had a similar gig! Evening’s entertainment for a ham radio operators’ org, IIRC. Power went out, so my trio of upright, guitar, and mandolin went table to table playing our set. Awkward as hell but lots of fun.

[@Username89039]

The way Tim talks and tells an anecdote is like the way he plays guitar. Precise, measured, thinking ahead, controlled and brilliant. My brain is not really any of those things, but at least I can appreciate his amazing talents.

[@HawkMcDork]

This reinforces one thing i've learned from others much wiser and experienced than me. These moments, while dreadful and embarassing in the moment, ultimately gift you with fantastic stories and are such a great means of bonding deeper with your fellow music makers further on down the road and that is truly priceless because that's what it's really all about in my opinion. thanks for sharing these Tim and Rick!!!!

[@eckesdelicious]

My most embarrassing story about a gig is that we missed it. Everyone in the band was sure that we were booked for Saturday. Until the promoter ringed through on Friday night and asked desperately where the hell we are. That was a very expensive experience.

[@mightyV444]

Oh wow! Sorry to hear about that mishap! 😬 One of my own bands once got booked to do an opening gig for a New Year's Eve event, in the early 90's, which would've been our very first bigger gig; And then the PA didn't work!! And the hire company's sound guy wasn't able to fix it (At least not for us)! So we never actually played and were very, very disappointed, of course. I've had recurring dreams of that experience ever since!

[@trecchannel4205]

Who dropped the ball? Was it your manager?

[@eckesdelicious]

@@trecchannel4205 It was our singer who managed the bookings at that time too.

[@trecchannel4205]

@@eckesdelicious Ugh! That sucks. I’m sure you learned from that.

[@bluesguitar1973]

I've always wondered if that happened to anyone.

[@thekeezee8079]

Isn't it the best how Rick just cracks up before, during and after Tim is telling his stories?? So contagious, thank you!!

[@a.j.porter5601]

My favorite gig disaster story for me is a dance we played for many many years ago. We won a battle of the bands contest to play a high school spring dance. They moved the venue and the place we ended up at, we were on the same level with the dancers. About half way through the second set, we were rocking out pretty good, and one of the female dancers started twirling around and getting closer and closer to the band area. On her last revolution, she collided with my boom stand and drove the mic into my mouth. So I am bleeding onto my keyboard and in quite a bit of pain. I finished the song and told my guitar player "I think I need to take a quick beak". Without hesitation, his response was "Be a trouper and finish the set"! I did, on break I cleaned up the keys and we finished the gig with my sore, now swollen lip and still bleeding a little. The school was so impressed, they asked us back for their graduation party. I have had many more disasters in the years that followed, but this one is still my fave.

[@kerrycanfield332]

Well it's good that you can use a word like "favorite" to describe it ...

[@davidrobinson5180]

"There was nothing to see except smoke. LOL that is absolutely hilarious. Rick: "Did stonehenge come down?" Oh man...that was good.

[@danieldomachowske9871]

I almost wet my pants watching Rick’s face.😂😂😂

[@brunobailly7013]

That was my favorite too. Especially when Tim said he couldn't even see his guitar because of the smoke 😅. I remembered the Spinal Tap reference as well 🤣

[@DHarri9977]

It would have been funny if the band played a few bars of Smoke on the Water after the 2nd song.

[@errbt]

Playing at a small venue years ago, the foot activated button for our fog machine became stuck in the ON position for what seemed like forever. The entire stage and dance floor was filled with smoke. We couldn't see the crowd and they couldn't see us. Our singer kept stomping on the button...nothing. Finally one of the other members unplugged it. We were recording the show on video and all you could see was the smoke and then the venue owner rushing toward the stage waving his arms frantically in a washout motion: "TURN IT OFF!!!", LOL.

[@terrystowers6085]

@@errbt, I can relate to that! Played a casino in Morton, MN. and the house tech fogged the entire stage into a whiteout. This was a pretty big stage, and the fogger was right behind my drums, which were on a riser and isolated behind four tall panels of plexiglass. I thought I was going to completely lose my composure from coughing, maybe even pass out. The fog was so thick I could feel it’s weight on my shirt. My drumheads were starting to feel sluggish and sounding like crap! You know what fog juice smells like, and to this day I can remember the taste, which lingered in my mouth for hours afterwards!! That was one for the books....😬🙄

[@joedesimone1444]

I could listen to these kind's of stories for hours. A very engaging 22 minutes. Thanks guys.

[@skintslots]

Tim's a great storyteller as well as a great musician. I could listen to him tell stories for hours.

[@nickyfarrell3024]

I like when Rick and Tim get together. Tim has great stories. I love Rick’s laughter, it is contagious.

[@rawkinj6609]

1. We were playing ''Another Brick in the Wall part 2'' at an outdoor show for kids and parents when we we're teenagers. Bassist thought he had his wireless but didn't and wound up pulling his amp head off the speaker cab by jumping off the stage whilst being plugged in... literally stopped in mid-air while his Traynor fell to the ground... 2. Hired a friend keyboardist for a gig and he had to Tune down to Eb to play our first song but someone turned his keyboard on and off before the gig....The songs starts then the Keys kick in with the drums....Eb over E. that's all i gotta say Eb over E. We eventually modulated all the chords up a half step to match the keys...then came my solo .....

[@dgwachtel]

On a night off I visited a club in which a couple of my friend's band was playing. I was invited to sit in on an song. Suddenly, in the middle of the song, it sounded terrible. Two chords later I realized that they had changed the key a half step IIRC. I adjusted and it sounded OK until the end. I was furious though, it was a nasty prank, and they were no longer my friends. -dave

[@tookmyjob]

My friends and I would play Sunshine of Your Love in practice, but one guitar would play a semi tone higher and the riff sounded hilarious. Then they’d play the chorus the right way. We’d do that for 30 minutes or until I felt off the drum throne from laughing.

[@peejay1981]

I did similar to myself once on keys - I was starting the gig, nervous as heck, and somehow I got the B and E keys mixed up and placed each hand in the appropriate starting position, not realising my left hand was on B not E!! I started playing (from muscle memory) and to my utter confusion it just didn't sound right. I stoped after 3 bars cause I realised this plane has already crashed, then I realised my mistake! Thankfully everyone else thought it was hilarious.

[@joekurtz8303]

We had a local band doing The Wall album live and had local HS Kids on strings& horns etc, This one kid plays a young Pink opening the show,& his wireless headset Mike boom is Dead,💀 he's horrified & frantic..... show pauses till they find a regular wired 🎙. Apology from Band leader & start All over & the Kid gets wild applause, and Nails it. Great show BTW 🧱🧱🧱🧱 The Show Must Go On 🎼🎵

[@welikerosafloyd]

@Luka Meah Would it be expected from them to realize that you were doing in Eb and adapt? And is it a standard to instead play it in E minor? Sorry I'm curious about how the pros handle this kind of thing

[@ianwynne764]

This reminds me of when I was professional photographer and I made most of my money from weddings. After a wedding, the wedding reception was held on large cruise boat on Sydney Harbor, which is huge. The couple wanted me to take a photo of the wedding certificate. While I was trying to take a photo of the wedding certificate, a gust of wind caught and blew it into Sydney Harbor. I told the crew of the cruise boat and they lowered a small rowing boat into the water and rowed over and retrieved the wedding certificate. I then had to continue on taking photos of the all of the guests, while sweating profusely.

[@Jenavee26]

Bruuuh 😆 I felt nervous for you! Haha

[@ianwynne764]

@@Jenavee26 Thank you. Have a lovely weekend. Stay well and safe.

[@NautilusGuitars]

A good friend of mine was a photographer and did a lot of weddings. One of his last photography gigs was a wedding he did, which he lost all of the photos and video of after a catastrophic hard drive failure before he could make a backup. He sent the drive to a recovery facility but it was so damaged that nothing was recoverable. The armature came loose and scraped most of the coating off of the platter. He never explained to me how he broke the news to the couple, but I'm not sure I could tolerate the story. He sweats even mentioning the situation. I can't begin to imagine what it felt like to have to tell them.

[@ianwynne764]

@@NautilusGuitars Thank you. Please give my regards to your friend. Stay safe and well.

[@Jenavee26]

@@NautilusGuitars yooo y'all making me nervous 😫 years after these all happened lol

[@emills6525]

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Season 15: Episode 67

[@tetrahedrontri]

No real recording of it i can find for free - but its available on showbox

[@johncardinali]

Great stuff, without a doubt!😆

[@Lymanization]

Ricks reactions are genuine and priceless! Laughter is the best medicine!

[@hannahpumpkins4359]

I was giving bass lessons to a young woman named Libby. She was naturally talented, and within 3 months she was ready to join a band. So, I introduced her to a few friends of mine who were working on forming a new group, one that was mainly playing their originals. I went to a number of their rehearsals and a few of their shows, and they were surprisingly quite good. Then Libby got pregnant, and at around 8 months along she decided to take leave and asked me if I could fill in for her until she had the baby and got settled. I agreed and began learning all their songs and practicing with them 5x/week. So, it turned out the group had a number of gigs on the calendar - most were block parties and small clubs, but one in particular, a Saturday night at the Thirsty Whale, was a genuine opportunity to play what was then a premiere venue for nearly any Heavy Metal band that was going through Chicago. We played a bunch of shows before our soon-to-be-fateful night at 'The Whale' and all of those went quite well. When we took the stage at the Thirsty Whale the entire place was packed; completely sold-out, most likely because it was a Saturday rather than anyone really knowing who our band was. The first few songs went well, and the audience loved us. Then, the guitarist, John, started making some small mistakes that rapidly became bigger ones. Around 1/2-way into our set John could barely get through a song, and our drummer, a bad-ass young man from London named Dane (who that night wore a killer red leather biker jacket) was starting to become frustrated, as he was constantly having to adjust to keep all of us in rhythm. Regardless, at times I was getting completely lost in the songs, and I had no idea how to compensate for John's mistakes, since they were so profound. I looked back at Dane who was clearly losing his patience with John when all of a sudden he threw both of his drum sticks at John, and they hit the strings on his guitar resulting in a monstrous growl coming out of his amplifier. At that, John, with his guitar still over his shoulder, ran towards Dane and jumped on top of him. The drums fell over as they fought, and even the cymbals crashed to the ground and one cracked into pieces. They were both wrestling and throwing punches at one another - I could see several bouncers trying to get to the stage, but they were hampered by the audience since the crowd were completely packed in and focused on the madness going on with us, and besides, there was hardly an inch between people. A friend of mine, Len, a musician as well, was in the audience at the edge of the stage right in front of me. I looked at him, and he mouthed 'keep playing; keep playing the song' to me. I kept the bassline going, and our vocalist, Bradley (who had stopped singing when the fight broke out), looked over at me and caught the hint and started singing again. By this time John and Dane were starting to get tired and were more-or-less just attempting to pin one another on the floor amidst the drum carnage. We finished the song to massive applause - people were screaming and looking at Brad and me shouting, oh yeah!" while Len was yelling, "that was great"! Our set was over for he evening, but I felt good that I was able to help turn the disaster into a memorable experience for the audience. Len then said to me, "you need to go to the bar, because a lot of people are buying you shots". I put my bass away and headed over to the bar where sure enough, a large number of drinks were waiting for me. I sat there with Len and a few new friends drinking for the rest of the night... I knew the rift between John and Dane was going to be too great for them to overcome, so for all intents and purposes the band was finished. Besides, I'd heard that John had terrible stage fright and never wanted to play guitar again anyway. I'm not sure what happened with John and Dane after that show, as I never spoke to either one of them ever again, despite the fact that I called them both and left messages a few times. The day after the show I called Libby to tell her what happened; our conversation was short, and she hardly said a word. I never heard from her ever again either. Bradley and I though had fun writing songs together, but we'd never share the same stage again either.

[@konroh2]

Who are you? Great story, and great to speak of John and Dane as if we know them. May you truly connect with God.

[@in2livinit]

Amazing but sad also

[@greenerdays]

Unfortunate, but a great story.

[@Geezer-yf8hv]

OMG! That is a great story, and I can believe it 100% because this is how musicians are in my experience. Never had a breakdown this epic, but I can relate! Libby was probably pissed and thought you ruined her band gig!

[@Geezer-yf8hv]

If you gotta have a band meltdown and breakup, at least do it with great style and public drama! Those people there will always remember that night!!! More than they would ever remember a “perfect” show! Damn! This is an idea for an act! Do this every week!

[@trafyknits9222]

I was at a Steely Dan live show when Donald Fagen literally forgot the words to Kid Charlemagne and just blanked out for the entire first verse; he got it back and went on. Even the greats make mistakes, but WAY fewer than the rest of us.

[@dairyairman]

And they can recover from mistakes a lot more seamlessly!

[@TheLateBoyScout]

I was the absolute GOAT at forgetting my lyrics mid-song.

[@ffggddss]

@@dairyairman That comes from lots of experience. At making mistakes, that is. So yeah, they may do 100x the gigs, while making only 10x as many mistakes. But that gives them 10x the experience recovering from them. Fred

[@ffggddss]

@@Barklord Joni? Yeah, that sounds like her - cool as a cucumber. And more musical intuition in her little finger than in almost anyone else's entire being. Fred

[@bishlap]

I love when things screw up live temporarily, it's LIVE, I don't need a clone...how'd the rest of the show go?

[@jeffro.]

Rick, i love it when you and Tim get together! You start giggling when he starts telling a story, your face gets so red from laughing, Tim's face gets red from embarrassment... He tells his stories so well, too! Laughing like that is SO GOOD for your health, your disposition, it's just fun and good for you! I'll start laughing along with you guys--and i haven't even heard the story yet! Those first two stories Tim told are great! Something you always remember, as one of those times you just don't recover from! It's devastating at the time, but it'll make s good story someday....

[@cameranmanner4701]

Aaron Neville was thinking, I'm taking that guitar and shove it where there ain't no sunshine.

[@chuck1804]

This SHOULD be top comment.

[@kerrycanfield332]

I tell you *I* would not want to be confronted by an angry Aaron Neville!

[@jeradatherton]

Rick’s laughing face during the story is priceless.

[@danieldomachowske9871]

I almost pissed my pants watching him.😂

[@kilgoretrout321]

yeah he's great at performing! He can make any story seem highly entertaining. I'd suggest NBC replace Fallon with Beato

[@mattiemclean9882]

even tho he has heard it many times

[@CeeStyleDj]

@@kilgoretrout321 he's not performing. It's his friend and he can relate - and that's why he finds it so funny.

[@duffbaker9554]

A generous helping of hearty, fake laughter thrown in for good measure as well-loving it!

[@krisfrederick5001]

My most embarrassing gig was our first, it builds character. The venue promised a PA that was non existent...it went downhill from there. PS I had to race down dirt roads driven by a great old friend Cassie to the (2nd) guitarists house that we had just kicked out of the band to ask if we could use his PA. Yep, that happened.

[@arnesl929]

🤣

[@claramercier7924]

What's a PA?

[@hl6816]

@@claramercier7924 A Public Address system is what allows the audience to hear what the band is playing and is made up of microphones, amplifiers, and loud speakers.

[@claramercier7924]

@@hl6816 seems like they had a bit of a situation 😄

[@citizensnips2348]

Classic. So many shitty gigs, "do you not have your own PA?" No, I don't run a venue, that was your job.

[@garycitro1674]

Spinal Tap-ish moment: I was in a band around '78-'83 that played rock and roll and new wave covers in bars, but our original goal was to promote our progressive rock originals. Our agent booked a "showcase" for us at a local catering hall. We were under the impression that there would be talent scouts there to see our set and sets of other bands. It turned out it was actually for couples who were looking to book a wedding band, but we didn't know that. So all these other bands were playing "Fame" and "I've Had the Time of My Life..." etc. We got up there and I remember playing "My Sharona," but then we went in to our 8- part magnum instrumental prog opus "Onto the Shore" which had all these disjointed tempo and time signature changes and dissonances all over the place. The couples at the tables were horrified, because who the hell would want that garbage at their WEDDING reception? (Present company excepted perhaps...) But we were completely clueless. Didn't get great feedback from the agent the next day either as I recall...

[@kerrycanfield332]

But ya know ... somebody even besides you probably secretly really liked it. Hold that thought.

[@bostonvair]

KZbin This was highly entertaining. I've had a few of my own "gig moments," though none quite as consequential as Tim's, though, as a professional, he's had more opportunities. One of my favorites was a gig at a local jazz series in my neighborhood of Boston. It was a very cold evening in January or February. I play both upright and electric basses. I was playing upright bass on a 3/4 arrangement of the standard "Day Dream." Throughout the gig, I could hear my bass going flat and adjusted the tuners. I figured the reason for needing frequent adjustment was the extreme weather. Just as we were coming to the bridge, the cable that holds the tail piece to the end pin (and thus holds tension on the strings) let loose and the bridge fell out and the strings all went limp. I was playing with a 10 piece band so there was plenty of sound to carry the song. The band kept playing. Without stopping to think, I laid my bass on the floor, picked up my electric bass and connected its amp to the speaker cabinet (I use different amps for acoustic vs electric bass). I listened to the song and figured out where the band was and jumped in, playing the electric bass for the rest of the gig. The guy who organized the concert series watched the whole thing. I played in anothet, 5-piece band and wanted to play in this series with that band, but the organizer required all prospective bands send a demo before giving them a gig. We hadn't gotten around to making one yet. After watching me respond to the catastrophe so smoothly, he was so impressed that he gave my other band a gig in the series without a demo recording.

[@anthonyjanairo4434]

Since the pandemic and life without live music, my music writing has morphed into short stories. Now I’m inspired to write about all the misadventures I’ve had on stage, in studio and the times getting to one or the other.

[@FatherAndTeacherTV]

That "Adele story" was definitely a good one! But that one (in this video) where the driver didn't take him to the right gig is pretty funny too.

[@MarkusLeander]

Can we please have another one of these with Tim? Every time I need a good laugh I play this video 😂 We need more funny stories!

[@simonharrison1319]

I loved this, mostly because I can relate to virtually everything the two of you describe here. This is gold and, yes, it's always the moments like these that make the best memories. We love road stories!

[@GaryBook]

The two superstars of KZbin! When are we getting the Tim and Rick show?

[@Ron4885]

Yeah. I love hearing these kind of stories.

[@soulscanner66]

You just got it!

[@38Hz]

Rick & Mor-Tim...?

[@RogerBarraud]

0dBm is True Level...

[@PacoLipsNow]

They should do a Name that Tune segment

[@daltonlove204]

ricks laugh makes these story’s even better

[@erickorte2552]

First bar gig 16 year old sax player. Tons of college girls. Two were smiling and pointing at me. Dreams coming true. I finally figured out why they were pointing at me. Fly wide open!!!

[@fukhue8226]

No problem. You were giving them the "full show!"

[@EricGranata]

Story of my life.

[@stephanpayne9647]

LOL I did the same thing at a gay salon (not the hairdresser type) I got more applause then Ginger Baker.

[@audibletapehiss3764]

Ripped my pants in the front (who does that?) squatting down to change a pedal setting. Had to go into the mens room and patch them from the inside with black gaffers tape. It looked horrible, so I did the last 2 sets turned sideways to the audience, facing the drummer.

[@MAgaSUXX]

Amazing how you guys make us feel like we are all right there with you.....really special.. thank you.

[@vitorweber3237]

On a very small scale, my Spinal Tap moment was playing at a bar and the sign by the road said "Friday: All You Can Eat Fish Fry and ". I still laugh thinking about it

[@ffggddss]

Does your band's name make that even more hilarious? Like, were you "The Stomach Pumps," or "Shark Attack," or "Bite Me, Doughboy," or "Belch," or anything like that? Fred

[@joekurtz8303]

Had an old vet homeless guy working w/me for a summer, I told him : "We'll make you famous" Then a large picture of him looking pathetic w/ a coffee cup & a cig appeared on the Side of a Bus advertising for the holiday homeless shelter fundraiser,& then the local mailer post card. I called him up,told him about it, he Ran to a bus stop, & waited , sure enough, he saw it. We both laughed so much about it....., Make you Famous!! RIP Ray. 🙏🏼☕🚬 🚎

[@ffggddss]

... Lobster Stomp?

[@paulerickson5804]

Happens to classical guys, too. I was playing horn for Brahms 1st, and moments before a key entrance, I emptied the horn (we do that a lot.) But then I dropped my main tuning slide, and it fell under the riser. Comes the entrance, and I'm on my hands and knees under the riser trying to retrieve the slide. Live performance. You get one chance . . .

[@bluesdjben]

Never been in a band, but these stories bring back all the anxieties of managing a team or staffing a live event and having to fly by the seat of your pants when totally outrageous stuff happens.

[@jannelarsson]

These moments of total well-being and good mood are absolutely priceless. I could sit all evening just enjoying your company.

[@LodvarDude]

Rick dying with laughter is the greatest. Made my week!

[@ZigbertD]

In the late 80's I had an ADA MP-1 preamp that I ran into the power amp section of a Fender Dual Showman. My band was playing a music and art festival with a bunch of other bands, and it wasn't a very big stage so I didn't really have my guitar in the monitor mix because my cab was plenty loud up there. About midway through the gig I stepped up to the very lip of the stage to pose out a big guitar solo moment, and heard my guitar through the mains, it sounded like a kazoo with the tissue paper shredded. I walked back to take a look at my rig and realized the "sound engineer" had no mic on my cab and had run a line from the MP-1 headphone out direct into the board. I just yanked the cable out, went over to the vocal mic and started yelling for the sound guy to get another mic up there immediately. It turned out all the bands before us had only one guitarist and he hadn't wanted to get out another mic and cable, so he had the bright idea to run me direct from a headphone out.

[@axe2grind911a]

1975, playing Stairway to Heaven in front of a medium sized audience at a summer camp. (Yes, STH was still on the ok list in '75) We were killing it, all the parts sounded great, 2 guitars, keys, drums, bass. We get the the famous lead, which I play note for note perfectly, until... I get the the crescendo which involves a series of unison bends up to the final lead note in the song. I got my fingers out of position on the 2nd unison bend, hitting a wrong note flat, then tried to recover hitting the next bend wrong sharp, on and on each note more sour and dissonant the last! Talk about the WORST ending in rock history... complete train wreck!!!

[@nakadai8609]

I truly feel your pain man! Especially when it goes from "oh so good" to "oh so bad" "oh so fast! ." There's nowhere to hide on stage and then time stops and your big decision is where is it less painful to look... at the 500 people in front of you or the four wounded people behind you. Maybe it's just best to work up the biggest smile you can , take three directional grandiose operatic bows (from tilt head way back to nose to the knees), pass the hat and say "THANK YOU, Thank you very very much! We'll be here all week! " 🤟🤪👌

[@rahjr4017]

Different song but yeah, been there done that. 😅

[@kerrycanfield332]

OUCH!

[@jorgeleyton1474]

In Chile in mid 70's we had a gig at a school out in the country side where one of the locals broke into the hall riding his horse. He thought the local girls were giggling too much to the musicians and wanted to teach us a lesson. Lucky for us his teacher was able to convince him and saved us from getting whipped.

[@Eric_K_Sr]

"And at a certain point, the gig came and went, and we were out there lost." I almost spit out my coffee when Tim said that so deadpan...🤣🤣

[@Barb.....]

Ouch! Just had abdominal surgery, and you guys are making me belly laugh. Love when you guys hang out and tell stories.

[@jacobpittman1996]

Everybody has bad gigs; it is nice to hear from some totally competent musicians about the not-so-glorious days of rock-and-roll. Thank you Rick and Tim.

[@Bildad1976]

All Rick had to say was "We arrived to do a gig and the regular sound guy was out sick, so we had this substitute sound guy..." I began laughing hysterically at that precise point! - Former Sound Guy

[@GuitarWithDofka]

Your most important bandmember, your sound guy, have your own engineer.

[@calderonugaldesalvador1662]

Never expected to see Dofka here

[@billwalsh388]

Also, have monitors!

[@GuitarWithDofka]

@@calderonugaldesalvador1662 I love hearing these stories. Survival techniques are great to learn about. And also I’m familiar with Wintersun 🤘! Amazing band. CHEERS

[@Projacked1]

hear hear! There is always, something....

[@unenslaver1333]

I'm one of those guys who has been appreciated by many serious bands. My reward was my word of mouth reviews and the business that IT generated.

[@IonicMunk]

It's great seeing how happy they both are sharing some of their scariest moments

[@ukestudio3002]

I’ve only had strings break and batteries out on amps (for gigs without electric). The stories here in comment section though are great .! Thank you !👏🏽👏🏽

[@marklandrum233]

Thank you Tim for putting your pride aside and telling us about those real life incidents. It says a lot about someone who can laugh at their own hiccups in life. Rick, your laugh is hilarious.

[@danieldomachowske9871]

OMG. Funny stories. The funniest thing I ever witnessed was my own daughter on first violin with an orchestra of 20+ members. She’s front stage right next to the conductor. 5 seconds before the music, she decided to tuck her hair behind her ear with her bow hand. Her hair got stuck in the bow. She panicked and yanked the bow out of her hair and just as the song started, there was a LOUD TWANG-THWANG as the bow came crashing into her music stand. It was her way of saying, “Let the music begin.”😂😂😂

[@randallphillips8285]

Awesome!

[@marions.120]

Rock show!✌️🤪🎸🎶🎵🎶

[@justinaskins2156]

My piano teacher in college broke his wrist like a month before we were gonna do Rhapsody in Blue and he basically played that with 1.5 hands. It was amazing

[@climbthatmountain]

These interviews...instant classic, pure gold!

[@Mattcallaway86]

This should be a whole series! Every musician I know has a gig horror story, I’d love to hear more of these!

[@eljison]

I once considered changing my band name to 'The Technical Difficulties."

[@Jenavee26]

That is hilarious! Genius idea, even lol

[@Zenarchist]

Ahahaha classic, if that's not already taken someone has to do it. Might as well be you

[@epremeaux]

unrelated but a friend of mine wanted to form a band and call it "Various Artists" so they could claim every mix album as part of their "extensive back catalog".

[@NetanyahooWarCriminal]

"If you give us just a minute to get everything just exactly perfect..on account of our new name is gonna be the Just Exactly Perfect Brothers Band.."

[@andrejz8954]

An album by Racer X

[@dunn1052]

The stories were funny from Tim- he can tell them, your enjoyment Rick, your laugh was infectious, i was laughing with you. Thank you!

[@jeff4310]

I love Rick's contageous laughter throughout the entire episode. Priceless!

[@eliteteamkiller319]

"Ain't No Sunshine!" "Woah!" Okay that was one of those great moments of life.

[@TKD4Free]

I played rhythm guitar in a band and bumped my headstock as we were going on stage for a charity event at a university and somehow messed up the g-string tuner. Had to play through the gig muting the g-string (after nearly crashing and burning out opening song-black magic woman). Good times

[@sirstashalot7441]

"Too much smoke, couldn't see the guitar." - mayhe Willie Nelson was there... 😂

[@ffggddss]

Except then he couldn't have seen the guitar, and he wouldn't have cared. Fred

[@aplusatlanta1]

As a musician these stories always make you feel better because we all go through it. I’ve always said I hate equipment but I love music.

[@guitarfreak585]

Ricks monitor story had me cringing the whole time. The other guitar player in my band used to never want a monitor for anything. "I just want to hear my amp". Usually it's kind of whatever, we deal with it. And one day we played a festival, on a large stage, he gets put off by himself, and today he decides he wants to sing a few songs, and of course he has no monitor. Right off the bat, he can't hear my amp at all, or my vocals. Then his song comes up and he's so lost, as are we all. It was awful. He always has a monitor now.

[@vrandle]

2 people sent me this today. I’m glad I could be of some assistance ha ha ha. Sorry you suffered. Aaron is swole but he’s a gentle giant, a very sweet man. Cheers

[@kingjill7182]

Hey Vicki, LOVE your band, Skip the Needle...you are one helluva bass player! Lucky you were there to help stave off Tim's impending disaster...what a thing to have happen!

[@amg_0302]

This was great. Our brains are designed to remember all the bad sh*t so that we don’t make the same mistakes again in the future 😬

[@Durwood71]

Either that or we simply find it boring when everything goes right.

[@kerrycanfield332]

Well, the really mortifying ones we probably won't repeat. Some of the little ones, not so sure. One I just happened to remember: getting used to the bass guitar and enjoying sitting in with fiddlers. One tune, I heard myself miss the chord change and thought "OK, next time around." But of course, next time around I missed the change again. The third time I missed it the fiddler sitting in front of me turned around and glared at me, plainly annoyed. I may have bowed out at that point of the session. I'm getting better.

[@sjfamilomusic]

I bet this video brought back many funny gig stories for a lot of us. This content made my entire day, thanks Rick!

[@denissmith9772]

Early 70's, I was bassist in a funk show band. Leaving for gig, I'm driving a 60 ford falcon wagon with the ignition switch located far left on the dash next to the door. I jump in, keys in left hand, reach for switch, drop keys as I'm pulling door shut with my right hand. My first finger tip found the gap between door and dash and was crushed! No time for anything but napkins and tape! I soldiered on, made it through 5 sets of misery on a tape wound jazz bass covered in soulsap... Mine! It was a great gig and excuse to be comfortably numb!

[@dfbhsdfh4399]

The purple reflection on Tim's glasses is makes the whole thing even funnier

[@kimberlyjacobsen4148]

Reminds me of StarGåte 😅

[@mwyatt222]

weird. When l met Joni at UCLA in the late 90s she played a Parker Fly thru the Roland VG system b/c her back wasnt good and the Neville bro.s drummer played that gig. She blew away Van Morrison and Dylan that night. She opened with Night Ride Home and the Parker or the VG systems sounded like a great acoustic and l noticed she was seamlessly switching thru various tunings w/ the set up. Love both of you's guy's channels.

[@AndrewLynchMusic]

12:31 The noises with the wah pedal had me laughing out loud...Tim is such a great story teller (Rick you are as well!)

[@scottstevens5481]

OMG! The “Spinal Tap” moment at 17:47 runtime!!! I love Tim Pierce… such a sweet and real sincere person! ❤️🙌🏻👍🏻

[@bluenotesharp]

As a pro recording engineer , I was tracking a very long piece (5 music stands) for Gerald Veasley bassist for Grover Washington Jr. when a small school tour visited our facility around noon. As a precaution, I put the 24 Track 2” Tape machine into safe mode. ( For those who don’t know this is basically a practice setting to play your part or overdubs without actually committing to Record) now Safe Mode looks identical on the board and meters as actual record except for for one small light and and small switch. So we get back to work and I hit Record and Gerald nails ten pages of sheet music into an amazing medly. Well ... Ooooops !! .....Still in safe mode. So I go to playback and finally realize and Shazam!!! I was instantly transformed into.....”The Incredible Shrinking Engineer” Gerald was amazingly humble about the bumble and said don’t worry Dave, I got a better one in me. And so he did. But I remained 2 inches tall for the rest of the session.

[@tomcoryell]

At least you didn’t erase the take by mistake after everyone was gone like I did......

[@funqsta]

@@tomcoryell oh, boy… definitely did that, and it was sax (Larry Scheider,) tho i was "cleaning up" the track, erasing with the reels flipped, so, backwards,) from the end of the tune to the solo section, and stopped watching the counter - oh Crrrrrrap - had to bring him back for another solo on my dime. Took a while to get that egg off my mug…

[@whoarethebrainpigs]

at least you didnt erase 80% of a Steely Dan song...possibly one. of the worst engineering accidents ever....simply back- erasing (WHY??)and not knowing whether he was tails or heads...I would've just gone home and looked for another job,,

[@LAstudio8]

I could have listened to these gig stories for hours. More please.🎸

[@universalmeditation8631]

You’re absolutely right! It’s the terrible hillarious stuff that makes the tour memorable and fun!

[@TiedoGroeneveld]

I forgot to bring my guitar once. To a television show. Because me and my band had to leave pretty early in the morning and my mind hadn’t woken up yet. Luckily somebody from the crew helped me out. She had a friend whose acoustic guitar I could borrow so we drove up there and it was settled on time.

[@ap7498]

Thank you very much for this episode!! I’ve been waiting for these kind of stories and we got 2 for 1

[@JVW1225]

I was in a band in high school and a little after. We played a benefit show at a school opening for Great White. One song my bandmate had to tune his guitar and I needed to entertain a little. I decided to tell a joke and I was so nervous that I forgot the punchline. stood there in lights going "uh..uh...um". I did get it out eventually but no one laughed. The joke was "how many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb? 2. One to change the light bulb and another to complain about how much better the old one was."

[@keithmills778]

Alternate answer is that one folk singer changes the bulb and the other complains that it's electric.

[@alex0589]

Yikes

[@kerrycanfield332]

You're right, timing is (at least almost) everything.

[@johnabbottphotography]

The best part of this is Rick's laughter. He's not laughing because he hasn't been there. He's laughing because he knows EXACTLY how it feels, and how helpless you are at that time, and how you're genuinely glad this particular disaster wasn't his. Its funnier when you've been there.

[@davidlouis2354]

I couldn't say it better!

[@jimstrain9230]

My favorite video you've done . Watching professionals at your level swap disaster stories makes me feel better about my experiences !

[@grungemusicfan]

Ooh, a dual simultaneous “senior moment”, forgetting Ain’t No Sunshine. Am beginning to know the feeling. I keep in touch with a high school friend, and we always forget something,. Used to be, we could help each other out. Now, it’s like, “Don’t look at me I dont remember the name or title either! “

[@kerrycanfield332]

Or you have a band mate who's constantly saying, "I really wish you didn't have to have a music stand in front of you all night." We're all in our seventies, and of course also don't have roadies just when we really need them ...

[@TheLateBoyScout]

I can think of a couple awful gigs. Once, very early on, where we played at a high school dance. There was no microphones for the drums, and just one mic for vocals. We were woefully unprepared, the sound was terrible, and that audience of high schoolers voiced their disapproval enthusiastically! There was another where our sound guy couldn't make it, so he let me borrow the PA, but I had no clue how to run it. We finally got just the stage monitors working, and ended up pointing those out to the audience so we could get SOME sound going. It was bad, but thankfully the turnout was very small. Then one time we played in a parking garage. Everything echoed so horribly, there was no way to make it sound good. On top of that, the guitarist broke a string on his Strat and pretty much had a panic attack over it. Also the bassist had put new strings on just before the show and didn't break them in-and of course he had no tuner. We were an off-pitch, garbled, echoing mess that night.

[@haywoodyoudome]

"the bassist had put new strings on..." Not saying you're lying but that last part never happens.

[@larryhall2805]

I know a guy who had just graduated High School. Talented guitarist. He had an audition at a renowned college for Classical guitar. To celebrate, his brother took him out to dinner the night before the recital. So after a huge Mexican dinner the night before....you know.

[@danieldomachowske9871]

That’s awesome!😂

[@brazspangler79]

hi mate I know your pain I played in loadsa bands and we were never gonna be rock stars but we made a few quid

[@Dave_Moore_Malin-Music]

@@larryhall2805 “the rectal” 🤣

[@telecastersRthebest]

Tim has the most interesting stories and Rick’s laughter is so infectious! Wah pedals should really have LED lights to indicate if they’re engaged or not.

[@Durwood71]

Yes, but I love that he didn't own up to it, just said, "Oh, hey, now it's working!" Sounds like something I would have done. Ha ha!

[@Trashpanda_404]

Loved this video

[@cinders302]

I've listened to this before and still had to chuckle at those two recounting days gone by

[@joeewing9364]

I filled in for a country band opening for Sam Grow. Packed house. I sit behind the drums, get through about 3 songs no issues, then one of the drum throne legs goes off the back of the drum riser. I had to play the entire 4th song balancing on 2 seat legs 😂😂 I probably looked terrified because I didn’t want to fall 7 feet off the back of the stage

[@danieldomachowske9871]

😂😂

[@randallphillips8285]

Wow! How terrifying.

[@circuitdesign]

Wow, that's worse than the old bass drum sliding away thing because you're playing on a cement floor. You have to keep pulling the bass drum back or you're playing the pedal with your leg totally straight!

[@Dethmeister]

@@circuitdesign Yes, that's happened to me but there was a thin rug on stage that didn't help. Singing without monitors sucks too.

[@openstagedenver6257]

once we showed up for a gig and the drummer forgot his snare stand. luckily the bar had these short 4 legged bar stool type chairs that fit his snare perfectly when turned upside down. it looked funny, but he made it through the whole gig. I bet he never forgot his snare stand again.

[@tarafernandes9382]

Love it - This could be a new series with all your guests Rick !! (Reminds me of an early college circuit gig when the stage platforms started separating and my 3 pedals disappeared through the crevice that was opening up mid solo !! LOL)

[@mjvicc1952]

The honesty and candid admissions of fear are hilarious but also refreshing that true professionals have their own embarrassing moments.😊

[@jeffsurtees847]

Been a player and a club level sound guy back in the day. Then a career as a litigation lawyer. I have NEVER felt greater stress than when I was standing behind the board, the lights come up, the drummer counts it in and you go “Oh f:#%{k, something’s wrong”.

[@jacobpittman1996]

“...what did they touch?!” I crawled on stage a few times to fix something that was out of whack.

[@fukhue8226]

All after having a flawless sound check. Been there and done that.

[@kerrycanfield332]

@@jacobpittman1996 Yes. What did they touch that they shouldn't have even known about?

[@ashl3yk3lly20]

I have a stupid big crush on Rick. Laughing Rick has me crying 🤣 I couldn’t imagine playing a guitar with no sound on the tonight show! Gosh, he’s a killer storyteller I’m totally sucked in! 😆

[@fredwerza3478]

Damn --- is that really your photo?

[@ashl3yk3lly20]

@@fredwerza3478 that's me, I presume you're not POTUS.

[@Waterinmenbenen]

Man, these stories are hilarious and painful at the same time. About twenty years ago, I was 18 and my band at the time had a gig in our hometown. It was kind of a big deal for us because the place was packed with around 500 people and many of our friends and family had shown up. About 2 minutes before the gig we were all set up and ready to go, I realised I forgot something in our dress room (don’t even remember what it was, doesn’t matter). I went out to get it and as I’m in the room I suddenly hear the door close and the lock being turned. Some janitor or whatever didn’t know I was in there and locked me up by mistake (to this day I’m still a little bit mad at the guy, lol). I started banging the door and shouting, but to no effect. Long story short: I was in there for an hour before they found me. Everybody had been looking for me and the guys in my band were mad because I left them hanging. Oh, and of course: no more gig. That ship had sailed.

[@mightyV444]

Holy cow! 😬 Similar to one of my own experiences, now 30 years ago, where my band was playing their first gig in front of a fairly big crowd, too - Well, we didn't actually play either, because the PA didn't work and the hire's sound guy wasn't able to fix it! Massive disappointment for us, and I've had recurring dreams about that experience ever since! The band we were opening for had a tech-savvy guitarist, and he eventually got the PA to work for himself and his mates 😏

[@toppjimi7776]

Played a metal gig where I plugged my amp in and for some reason a soft oldies radio station began playing thru my speaker. No matter what plug I used it was like the building was a radio receiver! I had to turn the amp off between every song until it eventually faded away.

[@mightyV444]

Bummer! I've only ever witnessed something like that during my Brother's band's rehearsal, now many years ago, when suddenly 'Take Me To The Top' by Loverboy was coming out of his bass amp's speaker; He reckoned the spiral cord he was using was the culprit.

[@audibletapehiss3764]

My band recorded an EP back in the 90's, and on one song, you can hear "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Stuck in Lodi Again" when the song gets quiet. Nobody noticed until we were mixing down, and we all thought oh cool, radio noise. If that song had been any good, we'd have had to pay songwriting royalties, over the amp and pedals being plugged into 2 different circuits!

[@randywollin5732]

Really love hearing these stories, makes the rest of us feel like even the greats can have a problem along the way.

[@simonhirstmusic]

These stories are amazing! So many funny stories but one that still makes me laugh to this day, and must have happened to many others, was when friends of mine asked me to sit in with their band for a night. It was just a simple covers type show at a fairly packed small venue. However, I didn’t know that they played tuned down to Eb. The drummer counted in the first song and the cacophony of that first chord still makes me laugh. A truely horrendous noise that basically rendered everyone onstage unable to play due to the laughing for the rest of the song.

[@brahmburgers]

Kiss tune their guitars a half step lower, also.

[@tookmyjob]

Did a church gig on guitar. Amp would cut out every few minutes or so. While choir is singing, you can hear me punching my amp. Glad it ended.

[@iLumberjack]

If it was a pentecostal church, you could have said that you were "laying on hands." You're welcome. LoL

[@joekurtz8303]

Forgiveness, &🎸Peace be with You⚡

[@bordershader]

I know a guy who needed lead, rhythm & bass for a gig... found out in the van on the way to the show, after picking each one up, he'd hired three bassists 🤣🤣

[@3340steve]

Big Bottom (a Spinal Tap tribute band ?)

[@kerrycanfield332]

@@3340steve I was gonna ask, well, did they know "Big Bottom"?

[@adams565]

So many hilarious band stories (on a much smaller scale). It's so great to hear other musicians talk about them because it brings my own memories back so strongly.

[@edge13429]

Great Chemistry between you two, I was laughing so hard at your stories! Hope to see more of you guys together!

[@mrhandyhandssr7839]

Rick’s worst disaster is better than my best performance lol. Much love Rick!

[@DARKLYLIT]

Worth watching just to see you laughing Rick. Hilarious!🤣

[@jjsc4396]

As my mom says, “makin’ memories” - it’s far more the unusual, funny and amusing stuff ups one remembers than the smooth no worries events.