my first real show ever on saturday

[SeasonOfTheMad]

so i was in a band after a few months of playing, i opened at a big local house show in front of the 15 people that had showed up at that point, i sucked, we sucked.
3 years later, ive been practicing a lot, gotten pretty good, and joined up with some really talented musicians and formed a funk band "solar powered squirrel and the brotherhood of funk"

our first show is saturday, in front of 500+ people, were pretty unprepared, and im nervous.

to make me feel better, tell me stories about your first show, how bad you f'ed up, and wish me luck. ill give you all an update on how we did, and how many times i dropped my sticks.

oh yeah i have a drum solo in the middle of a 10 minute song.... haha uh oh

[alexmonty12]

uhhh... get prepared!

Make sure you know exactly what you're doing. Don't talk negative, because then you'll be more worried about it and the posibility of something ****ing up. Make sure you soundcheck and all your guitarists are in tune. nothing worse than being out of tune :-/

[Drum Phil]

First show, there was like 30 people, if that there. I went to play and froze. Just froze up and panicked. Then decided i didnt care what they thought so long as i enjoyed it.

[SparBZ]

Well my first show was pretty impromptu. Im 15, so it wasn't too long ago, about a few months. At the time, my new friend, Kevin, just moved here from a town called Morristown. He's a killer bassist.

Back to the story. So it was "earth day" where the whole school decides to care about the enviorment, for one day in the whole year, and everyone goes outside on the one nice day of the month and listens to all of the local bands play. Of course, me being my typical freshman self, I didn't know it was going to occur, and no one told me about it, so I walk into the library 3rd period to see a Pearl Masters Series Kit set up with Sabian HHX Cymbals stacked around it and some noob guitarist trying to play "Scotty Doesn't Know".

So through 3rd and 4th period, I'm doing nothing but kicking myself because of not knowing about this day. I could have got this killer band together and these chicks sucking my wang while I was playing and had a jolly good time. But no, it wasn't going to work that way.

So 5th period I cut class and watched the band play. The singer screamed it's heart out while the drummer couldn't keep time, rode on the HHX 8" Splash, and played 16th note double bass, and the bass player just played quarter note Es, As, and Bs.

There had to be one good band out of 5 or 6 I saw in two hours.

Me and kevin just chilled there.

And then suddenly the stage was free. There were only 30 kids in the courtyard, mostly drinking beer behind the supervisor's backs and playing hackysack. So instead of the typical "ROCK YOU ****ING SOCKS OUT", we just slowly kept a steady beat on a B# Blues. And then my friend Evan came into site, picked up his Epi Les Paul, and started to play Lead, and we had ourself a quality jam session, on a stage.

But you know typical kids these days. They want Rock, not a Stevie Ray Vaughan Jam Session, so of course, we got booed, and we cut it short after Evan's improv. To the regular musician, we were the best, but to the average hippie smoking pot and drinking beer in 2006, meh.

So that was my first "show" if you want to call it that. Just a funny story of how a quality jam got booed for 30 kids.

[ThugsRook]

keep the drum solo short.

[pitchfork]

Yeah unless your band is playing at the same time.

Who cares what the audience thinks? if you enjoy it thats fine.
They aren't the one up there playing drums, you are.

[Drummer300btx]

Before having any shows, my band played mostly in my basement in front of friends and other people. Alot of times I barely knew the people and at first i was nervous. After awhile you gain confidence. After that we played a small show and alot of the nervous-ness was bearable. Soon upcoming we have the biggest show ever, and we're gunna have to be good so yeah im kinda nervous.

big thing:

KEEP A STICK HANDY IN CASE YOU DROP ONE

when im nervous i tend to drop my sticks a billion times more than usual so having one handy is a lifesaver. better than crawling on the floor mid-song looking for a stick.

[Bonham#1!]

Ya I think you should be more prepared. Even if you suck make sure you enjoy yourself or else you wouldnt wanna do it again. Keep a positive attitude and I hope you guys kick anus.

[moogoogaipan]

to add to the excitement, I got my first paying gig yesterday.

$50 bucks to play some jazz standards during a University Award Ceremony.
We played about 4 songs and then we got free food and left.
Easiest coin I ever did receive!

[Win A Rabbit]

i got kind of eased into playing infront of people. first it was just me and my band in a basement. then one of our friends would be over and want to hear us. we'd play for them. then we'd play for 2 people. up to 10 people at my friend's house. then we played at a couple house parties with like 50 people there, only half of which actually came into the garage to watch us. then the next house party there were like 40-50 people watching us. then our first battle of the bands, and then we opened for a few bands. the most we've played for has been 150 people.

[Corkofski]

hmm
theres 2 ways to play it

if the audience are pissed and happy, joke with them, laugh with them, have fun

if they seem hostile, they dont exist, its a band practise with the lights low and big lights shining in your face

[Corkofski]

and ive performed in choirs since i was like 5, including a sold out royal albert hall, so im not afraid of the stage

[VTDS_xx]

Um get prepared for one.
Play comfortably, make sure you're setup is correct.
Don't worry about what you look like, just play what you need to play.
Don't try to be flashy or add in fills where you didn't have them before.
Have fun.

[Win A Rabbit]

the most nervous i've ever been while playing was at a school band performance at a festival. when you're with your buddies playing in a band, it's just fun and games, but when you stand on a stage infront of 10 other schools and a bunch of pro's who are about to critique everything you do, it gets quite nerve wracking.

so i guess just remember that it's just for fun. don't let yourself get nervous about it, and you'll do fine.

[DJMastahFreddie]

My first real gig was on thursday for the school battle of the bands. I only dropped my stick once, and it flew behind me and I had to dive back and grab it, if you watch the video, its pretty funny. Anyway, just relax about it and after your first song, you should be more relaxed and into the music.

[Drumass]

i dropped my stick for a few seconds at battle of the bands this month.

[Elmo McCheese]

Keep in mind that the average audience member knows nothing about drums and 95% of people won't realize if you screw up.

[BigTrav415]

Keep in mind that the average audience member knows nothing about drums and 95% of people won't realize if you screw up.
A very good point :lol: If I were you I'd just breakdown in the middle of the song and have a Keith moon freakout session and hit every drum or cymbal you can reach as fast as possible. I promise it will impress most people :lol:

[nonsense!]

A very good point :lol: If I were you I'd just breakdown in the middle of the song and have a Keith moon freakout session and hit every drum or cymbal you can reach as fast as possible. I promise it will impress most people :lol:

Except fellow drummers.

[GhostGrooveMike]

umm my first show i didnt f up and it was infront of 300 people. I was really calm. I kinda just didnt look at the crowd.

[moogoogaipan]

the most nervous i've ever been while playing was at a school band performance at a festival. when you're with your buddies playing in a band, it's just fun and games, but when you stand on a stage infront of 10 other schools and a bunch of pro's who are about to critique everything you do, it gets quite nerve wracking.


That's what performing is all about. Doing a great job in front of professionals who will notice what a good job you've done. Performing in front of untrained ears is fun, cause they don't catch mistakes, but performing well in front of professional musicians is great.

The only reason anyone should ever be nervous is if they haven't prepared well enough or they are in a group that hasn't prepared well enough.

[Win A Rabbit]

i was prepared and all, but the acoustics in our band room at school are terrible. we got to the new place, and just in the practice room, my forte's were drowning out everyone else. so to make up for that, i had to play all my parts at what would normally be a mezzo piano level, which i wasn't used to, all while keeping a nice flowing triplet line in the first song. i had to watch the conductor (teacher) at every dynamic shift for him to tell me whether it was too loud or quiet.

and afterwards, i was the only one in the class who got complimented. :lol:

[Seafroggys]

including a sold out royal albert hall

you bastard

[The Feeding]

my fist show was my gutarist, his dad and his friend playing classic rock cover songs at some benefit gig. It was easy but i diddn't really have fun, i was doing it as a favor because their drummer diddn't show. Had i known that this was going to happen, i would have suggested some songs that my guitarist and i like to play and know (system of a down, pantera, and such) but it was too short notice for that. I have yet to play my first gig as a metal drummer and it will be hell when i actually do.......

[Corkofski]

you bastard
there were over 1000 of us performing, and i was in the chorus. still amazing...

[Inkstar]

My first actual performance with my band was infront of about 600 people. Pretty scary stuff for a first time.

It went pretty bad. I couldn't hear anything on stage except for about 1/10th of the rhythm guitar. So pretty much I just played along hoping I was in the same spot of the song as everyone else.

After the show most people said that the guitars were pretty meh, except everyone said I was great! (H) I feel so loved.

Just have fun man. Don't take it too seriously.

[The Philosopher]

I just had the audition for my school talent show Monday. We were playing in front of like 6 people and I was still nervous as hell. In the middle of the song I choked up and dropped a stick, but luckily I only missed like 4 seconds of playing. Besides that, we did pretty good.

[Seafroggys]

there were over 1000 of us performing, and i was in the chorus. still amazing...

my dream is to sell out Madison Square Garden, which if you don't know is like *the* arena to play at in the US.