AC DC tickets

[64Guitars]

Yea, you tell 'em, 64.... . Now, when are you gonna own up to being a member of Grand Funk Railroad?

Nah.  I was their agent.  

[AndyR]

Yeah, I'm with Henny and 64G on this one.

Yes, I would rather see folks in a smaller venue, but it's just not practical for them or for us.

Gigging takes a hell of a lot out of you. Most people aren't like, say, Lemmy of Motorhead who lives for the road and the rock and roll party (and has survived it! One of my big heroes who did it that way, Rory Gallagher, didn't. He's dead and I can't see him at all now).

Most of them have got wives, families. They like fishing, golf, they've grown into pipes and slippers.

Aside from being away from home, which to many of them is terrible, doing a gig takes a lot of emotional energy out of you - for an hour or two you spend, I dunno, it felt like 6 months of yourself to me. You get a lot back as well, but if you keep spending 6 months of yourself every night, very soon there isn't very much left.

And that's before you even consider the physical toll that a gig takes on the lead-vocalist. When I was younger, I found that 3 gigs in a week was about the limit. I could do the 4th gig fine, but the audience had to do the singing, I couldn't. Can you charge punters if the singer's voice can't be present?

Most of the big guys (and the smaller guys probably), can manage 4 or 5 gigs on a visit to the UK. They could do 4 or 5 "big" gigs, or they could do 4 or 5 small club gigs. Which would you prefer (bearing in mind that you wouldn't be getting a ticket at all for the latter)?

[thetworegs]

I stand corrected.....

[Rata-tat-tat]

Yeah, I'm with Henny and 64G on this one.

Yes, I would rather see folks in a smaller venue, but it's just not practical for them or for us.

Gigging takes a hell of a lot out of you. Most people aren't like, say, Lemmy of Motorhead who lives for the road and the rock and roll party (and has survived it! One of my big heroes who did it that way, Rory Gallagher, didn't. He's dead and I can't see him at all now).

Most of them have got wives, families. They like fishing, golf, they've grown into pipes and slippers.

Aside from being away from home, which to many of them is terrible, doing a gig takes a lot of emotional energy out of you - for an hour or two you spend, I dunno, it felt like 6 months of yourself to me. You get a lot back as well, but if you keep spending 6 months of yourself every night, very soon there isn't very much left.

And that's before you even consider the physical toll that a gig takes on the lead-vocalist. When I was younger, I found that 3 gigs in a week was about the limit. I could do the 4th gig fine, but the audience had to do the singing, I couldn't. Can you charge punters if the singer's voice can't be present?

Most of the big guys (and the smaller guys probably), can manage 4 or 5 gigs on a visit to the UK. They could do 4 or 5 "big" gigs, or they could do 4 or 5 small club gigs. Which would you prefer (bearing in mind that you wouldn't be getting a ticket at all for the latter)?

About the time I started playin in bands Dire Straights was on every radio station "I Want My MTV"... Money for nuthin and chicks for free... I think everyone who didn't play music adopted this mentallity that musicians make an easy living... I was guilty of thinking the same thing until I got out there and did it for myself...

People typically view musicians as party hounds... especially rockers... They don't understand what most musicians have had to endure to get there... Yes there is some partying that goes with it... but for me... lugging gear around (Bar Bands dont get roadies)... setting it up tearing it down... and playing for 4 hours straight... takes its toll. And yes... let's not forget about the singer who has to belt out ACDC as well as many other "Screamers"... If you've ever been to a sporting event and yelled at the top of your lungs for a couple of hours... You've only been given a sample of what it's like to be a singer in a rock band... It takes stamina... and not a lot of people have this... I don't anymore!!!

I don't believe ACDC would agree with the pricing either... I'm sure at this point they just let them money grubbing agents do what they are gonna do!!! A huge oversight IMO... there are a lot of youngsters that love ACDC... do you think mom and dad are gonna pay that much for Junior to go see ACDC... I think not... Junior your stayin home... Mom and Dad are gonna go see their favorite rock band. Lower prices means more people... more opportunity to sell T-shirts/Hat's/ Posters and such... Plus an opportunity to create more security jobs.

[ODH]

...mind you saying that the greedy Bastards are F&;:/-,&g good live....

  i don't think they are greedy at all. they've earnt the right. it's all the other fuckers who take all the money. they are the greedy ones. agents, labels, promoters, pluggers, blah, blah, blah....

"and the guitar man got famous, the business man got rich". They called it...

[Flash Harry]

I love gigging. I just love it. The unloading of the van, the rigging of the PA, the panic of nothing coming out of the speakers, the balance of the monitoring, the sound check, the pint before going on, the first set - starting too fast 'cause you're buzzing, calming down and settling into the groove, getting the audience going, half time tweaks, drying out your shirt, second half crowd pleasers and the big finish, being asked for more and playing it. Packing up, getting paid and going home for a rest. Four or five hours of really living, feeling purposeful and alive, watching people enjoying what you do and getting a kick out of it. Beats keeping computers ticking over any day.

I love it. If I could do it for a living, I'd do it.

[chip]

I love gigging. I just love it. The unloading of the van, the rigging of the PA, the panic of nothing coming out of the speakers, the balance of the monitoring, the sound check, the pint before going on, the first set - starting too fast 'cause you're buzzing, calming down and settling into the groove, getting the audience going, half time tweaks, drying out your shirt, second half crowd pleasers and the big finish, being asked for more and playing it. Packing up, getting paid and going home for a rest. Four or five hours of really living, feeling purposeful and alive, watching people enjoying what you do and getting a kick out of it. Beats keeping computers ticking over any day.

I love it. If I could do it for a living, I'd do it.

I love it too, nothing like it. Made me laugh there Flash Harry about the PA and nothing coming out. Happened the other night, solder iron out, screwdrivers out, the lot. Once, in another band I checked the synth and it wasn't working, the drummer and myself panicked..... took the fuse out replaced it, still nothing.... keyboard player has a look.... the extension socket is not plugged in . There have been many moments like that one.

The PA is always the one though, bloomin wires everywhere, where do they all go to, help. And coming on and starting to fast, that's always something that happens, it takes some time to settle down.... I change guitars 4 times now and that can be a blind panick situation too.. Still like you say, it's great, it's a rush, it's crazy but there is nothing like it and if I could do it for a living, I would be the happiest bloke alive... right on.

[Farrell Jackson]

I love gigging. I just love it. The unloading of the van, the rigging of the PA, the panic of nothing coming out of the speakers, the balance of the monitoring, the sound check, the pint before going on, the first set - starting too fast 'cause you're buzzing, calming down and settling into the groove, getting the audience going, half time tweaks, drying out your shirt, second half crowd pleasers and the big finish, being asked for more and playing it. Packing up, getting paid and going home for a rest. Four or five hours of really living, feeling purposeful and alive, watching people enjoying what you do and getting a kick out of it. Beats keeping computers ticking over any day.

I love it. If I could do it for a living, I'd do it.

I love it too, nothing like it. Made me laugh there Flash Harry about the PA and nothing coming out. Happened the other night, solder iron out, screwdrivers out, the lot. Once, in another band I checked the synth and it wasn't working, the drummer and myself panicked..... took the fuse out replaced it, still nothing.... keyboard player has a look.... the extension socket is not plugged in . There have been many moments like that one.

The PA is always the one though, bloomin wires everywhere, where do they all go to, help. And coming on and starting to fast, that's always something that happens, it takes some time to settle down.... I change guitars 4 times now and that can be a blind panick situation too.. Still like you say, it's great, it's a rush, it's crazy but there is nothing like it and if I could do it for a living, I would be the happiest bloke alive... right on.

This is a great twist to the thread....sorry but too much fun to avoid commenting, lol. I've gigged for a lot of years and I mean a lot of years. From the age of 16 until I finally retired in 2010 but I do miss it and all the things Flash Harry and Chip have mentioned.

Here's my story about the Sound System that doesn't fire up. My job during set up was to connect and line out the whole sound system. We were setting up for a gig and I followed the same procedure I've done time and time again. Well it all fired up except no sound was coming out of the mains or the monitors. So I went through the normal basic trouble shooting by process of elimination to no avail and the start time was quickly approaching. The system was acting weird with some components turning on and some not. All the electrical power was coming from the single box with no others available. I finally narrowed it down to the mixer. Luckily it was an evening gig and there was a local music store still open a few blocks away. I hurriedly got there and rented a powered mixer which was less power and channels but in a pinch you use what you have. To make a long story short, I hooked the replacement mixer up and got the same thing! It turned out to be one of the outlets in the box that wasn't giving the full 120 volt AC power. It was putting out about half the volts required and blew some internal components in our mixer. Luckily I unplugged the new mixer before any damage was done. So from that point on I carried a power and ground tester in my gig bag. So the gig money went for a new mixer and lesson learned.

Flash Harry will appreciate this.....I got a call two weeks ago to play a gig with some musical friends that have never played together. They needed a bass player. I'm not a real bass player......just in the studio but it sounded like fun so I agreed to do it. The only problem was the gig was two weeks away (last night) and I had never played with these guys and gals before and didn't know any of the songs but they did give me the lyric/chord charts. Let alone the bass not being my primary instrument. The songs ranged from Jerry Lee Lewis rockabilly to Herbie Hancock jazz. So I've been cramming for the last two weeks and we had two rehearsals but with less than the full 10 member band there, lol. I met some members last night for the first time. The band consisted of piano, organ, guitar, sax, trumpet, two female vocalists, bass, drums, and congas. Somehow it all worked out, the sound was good, and the 300 plus crowd like it.

It was great only having to set up my bass rig and mic/stand last night. The sound man was having trouble getting power on one side of the stage so he started unplugging and replacing power chords. I reached into my gig bag, got his attention, and tossed him my power tester. It was just a bad power chord....the tester saved some time finding it but there was that moment of panic on the guys face that I've felt or seen many times, lol.

Reading your posts and doing this gig just brought it all back. Chip and Flash Harry you nailed the reasons we do this....it's a short moment of really feeling alive. I'm a bit long winded because I'm still feeling the rush from last nights performance......It doesn't get better than that!

Farrell

[Migs]

Loved AC/DC when I saw them last tour in Aus ... even if it was overpriced and in a mega-stadium.

Would like to see them in a small intimate stadium but that will never happen now.  It is like anyone really good I guess.  You have to catch them while they are small and still lugging their own gear on to a stage at your local pub - then in 20 years time you get to say, "I remember when ...".  That is why I try to get out and see lots of live gigs.