PPT mouthpieces

What was your most dangerous music gig?

Unbeknownst to me at the time.....it was a PTA fundraiser at my daughter's elementary school.

Where between sets I'd leave my upright bass on its side behind the portable stage/risers...and at the end of the afternoon came to notice some kid had put their foot thru the bottom.....
 
I grew up in a small town in Wyoming and while I was still in high school I played weekends in a country western band in a cowboy bar. I played both my alto and C-melody saxes on some tunes and sang back up. I got away with being underage because the leader's husband was the county sheriff. :) One night a fight broke out and one of the participants fell backwards into the band set-up. I managed to get myself and my C-Melody out of the way, but my Mark VI alto resting on a stand didn't fare as well and sustained quite a bit of damage. The person responsible felt bad and paid for the repair, and I learned a valuable lesson.
 
A small festival in Far North Queensland (around 3,000 people). The stage was high, small and poorly built where you could feel it flexing like it was gong to break with every foot stomp. . The group I was playing with was large. I'm on the edge thinking more of my personal safety and my horn than the music. I never went back.
 
Many moons ago, some friends and I played at a friend's birthday / leaving school party. Basically all the people there were classmates and from our year at school. There were 5 of us on the stage. After about the third song, somebody threw a sandwich or cake at us and then the buffet table was promptly cleared and thrown in our direction! We soldiered on and completed the gig, much to our mates' amusement as they had free target practice at us, the proverbial sitting ducks! At the end of our set, we and our instruments were covered in food! Luckily I was laying a keyboard and not a sax.
 
I grew up in the East End and spent my formative years playing in some of the roughest pubs that area has to offer. I’ve seen a lot.
 
I grew up in the East End and spent my formative years playing in some of the roughest pubs that area has to offer. I’ve seen a lot.
Don't the bullies of this world often try to be pals with the band? This anecdote is somewhat related. (True autobiographical story).
 
I play in a pit band each year for an am dram group doing panto...they did a scene where one of the characters was catching eggs on a plate, the punchline was that one of the eggs shattered the plate - we got sprayed with shards of sharp crockery every night.

Also a stray spark from one of their pyros landed in the pit and set fire to some music, it was snuffed out very quickly though. Recently, I had to walk down a flight of stairs back into the band pit at the end of a scene, in complete darkness, playing careless whisper. For some reason the theatre were ok with all of that, but we weren't allowed to enter or exit the pit on our own for health and safety reasons....
 
The greatest danger I've ever been in on a gig was the danger of seriously damaging my back hefting all the PA gear. Terrified me.
 
Any 'dangerous experiences' I've witnessed playing Pubs have been pretty small scale. Some fisticuffs here and there, but nothing aimed towards the band.
We had one incident in a Southampton pub where a group of wiry Men took a slight offence of having to move from their Footie viewing position so we could set up the gear. The most wiry and psychotic of the group took to heckling us while we were getting ready. We were expecting a 'situation' at some point, but a couple of songs in (UB40 Food For Thought) he was in the palm of our hands. I'm a lover, not a fighter, so as front man, I was pleased..
 
Well I’ve drunk a lot of whiskey on other people’s tabs.
In that story I mentioned above, someone was buying the band drinks all evening. Then we came home to all our recording stuff and some instruments stolen from our house!
 
Must have been Notts racecourse a few years ago. One of the roadies got electrocuted and I didn’t make myself very popular with one fella for flirting with his wife/girlfriend/bit on the side.
 
The big gig I had several years ago in Symphony Hall Birmingham had pyro and fire balls. We'd been warned about them but they weren't tested during our rehearsal. When they went off, we were much too close and the heat was a bit intense...

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That looks like it was one hell of a performance. >:)
 

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