first "gig" this weekend!

[Badkarma05]

Hey guys, I'm planning a big party for a friend of mine, it's his b-day this Friday. And my band and I, Life Sentence decided to play a short set of cover songs(we dont have any original songs finished). but it's our first time playing ever. Needless to say I'm nervous as all hell, we start practice today, I hope we'll be ready but it's hard to tell. I'm playing with a pretty small setup, snare, bass, FT, HH, ride, and two splashes. We're playing songs that most people know:
Flake by Jack Johnson
Under the Bridge by RHCP
Running Blind by Godsmack
Stare at the Sun by Thrice

Do you veterans have any advice how I can better prepare myself? I've been studying the songs for the past few days and will continue to do so.

Thanks,
Ryan

[Phototropic]

Hey man, sounds good

First of all make sure the music is pretty damn flowing, its the main thing that counts

Its your first gig so don't worry about stage presence, and try to make sure your band mates(who walk about) don't try anything gimmicky as usually it will look silly

Play some ****ing music!!! and play it well :D

Write down the structures of the songs and look at them quite a bit, even rest them on your bass drum in the gig if your not sure, I did it in my first :)

Good luck, you'll have a blast

PS

If you start to feel stressed, take deep breaths and make sure you get the song tempos right, if the song is too fast the rest of the band will struggle

Also...don't improvise too much, try to play what you've been practising...I wouldn't suggest throwing a fill in on the spot since they don't always work

:thumb:

Tell us how it went

[blacksorrows]

my bands first gig is in two weeks, and like wise, im too damned nervous but i know if i keep a cool head and stick to practicing it should run well.
we're playing with a friends band, and they've had their fair share of gigs, needless to say they suck at songs that we're pretty damn amazing at :p but im going to try and enjoy it.

one tip though, i have played in front of small crowds of friends, nerve wracking at first, but i find if you soak up the atmosphere and get involved and have a good joke about before you go on, your energy will just let you go with it :D

[Phototropic]

my bands first gig is in two weeks, and like wise, im too damned nervous but i know if i keep a cool head and stick to practicing it should run well.
we're playing with a friends band, and they've had their fair share of gigs, needless to say they suck at songs that we're pretty damn amazing at :p but im going to try and enjoy it.

one tip though, i have played in front of small crowds of friends, nerve wracking at first, but i find if you soak up the atmosphere and get involved and have a good joke about before you go on, your energy will just let you go with it :D

I keep attempting to get my band to hang out before gigs so we can have a laugh but they wont

Damn them :angry:

[FL3P]

make music not noise. It is unbelievably annoying (to people in the crowd) when you mess around too much before, after or in between songs. Even tough its a party its still a god time to practice being professional and get a flow going. Good luck!

[dairyairman]

that sounds good for a first gig. just a party with your friends so there's not too much pressure. that's what my first gig was and we all had a blast.

[Loyton]

Hey my band plays under the bridge, let me know if you need any help with it!

(i can pretty much play it exactly hit for hit, its the "feel" that you need to have when playing chads stuff)

[aznriceball]

relax, and i dont recommend drinking during playing