Wrong venue

jeffcrom · April 17, 2010

Okay, has anyone else showed up at the wrong place for a gig? I seem to do this every couple of years. Tonight I arrived way early at the club, only to sense the wrong vibe. I was right - I'm playing there tomorrow night. A quick call home, punctuated by my wife laughing at me, and I was on my way to the correct venue. I made it on time, but I was a nervous wreck. I think it came out in some particularly wild, intense solos.

I ain't too bright....

Edited April 17, 2010 by jeffcrom

JSngry · April 17, 2010

I was on a gig a few years ago where the trumpet player called up about 5 min before downbeat to say that he was going to be about an hour late becuase he had gone to the wrong town. With some guys you'd think they were just bullshitting, but with this guy, no, He really went to the wrong town.

Daniel A · April 17, 2010

I remember a strange incident from the time when I played in a student big band. Someone wanted to book the band for a private party. Just a quick phone call, and then everything was settled. Unfortunately quite a few of the regular members of the band couldn’t make it this particular night, so we had to hire six or seven would-be professionals from the Royal Academy of Music, to fill out the band.

When we got to the dining hall where the party was supposed to take place about an hour before we were scheduled to play, the place was completely empty. Not only weren’t there any guests, but also no staff, just a big, empty place which for some mysterious reason stood unlocked.

One of the hired guys - these days one of the better-known jazz trumpeters in the country - stepped out on the empty bandstand and looked out in the dark. And suddenly the floor is collapsing under his feet! It turned out that below the bandstand there was some kind of storage space, accessible through a number of top-hinged doors. All the doors had been left open, so the stage appeared to be a few feet wider than it in fact was. When he stepped on one of these doors it instantly collapsed, he dropped his trumpet - which was in a soft case - and almost in slow-motion we watched him land on the floor; on his feet, but also on his soft case. He opened it and took out the trumpet. The bell was completely flat. He panicked and started to try to bend it into shape. It didn’t look good at all.

Meanwhile, someone made a few phone calls to try to find out where the party was. It turned out there was in fact no party at all. The organizers disputed that there had been an agreement. They had realized that the concept was too expesive and had scrapped the whole thing.

So the hired guys got their 50 Euro each for turning up and everybody went away to have a lousy Friday night at home. Afterwards I learned that the trumpeter had his horned fixed, but somehow thought it was never the same and eventually got himself a new instrument.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Daniel A

jeffcrom · April 17, 2010

I remember a strange incident from the time when I played in a student big band.

What a bizarre series of events.

AllenLowe · April 17, 2010

well, I had a bass player show up, we're standing around, setting up, and I say - "Hey Morris, where's your bass?" He looks at me, says, "oh yeah, I think it's at my girlfriends's house." We get in the car and go pick it up.