Worst. Gig. Ever.

I never want to have an experience like Saturday night again. It's the kind of show that makes you quit performing music.

No crowd, middle of nowhere, wrong band for the venue, sequestered in the un-air-conditioned outside part of the venue where no one wanted to go because it was too fucking hot and humid, plus the owner wasn't pleased with us because of hearsay and ignorance (she didn't know that when we were sounding unrehearsed it was to make her customers who were outside with us happy by playing their requests).

Look - I know we suck sometimes. I have limits as a singer and I own them. My voice doesn't always do what I want it to do. When it's humid and moldy outside, I sometimes have no idea what my voice will do. But that's not most of the time...it's occasionally. For the most part, we didn't suck on Saturday, and we're not a band that ignores our crowd and just does "our show". We asked them what they wanted to hear, then tried to give it to them. I even learned a song between sets just for a couple of guys in the crowd who wanted to hear it. It just happens that some ignorant assholes inside didn't like that, and didn't understand what was going on, so they verbalized their frustration with us to the management who was then looking for any moment devoid of perfection which colored their opinion of us. And the tactless way the owner approached us with her concerns is one for the ages, flying off half-cocked with basically no understanding of what was happening. Sad.

We had a small, strong group of people who loved us and stayed the whole show, even though they hung out in the inside portion most of the time. On most nights, that would have made it worth it, but Saturday was not like most nights.

We are a PLEASER band. We do whatever we can to please the people we're playing to...and it went and bit us in the ass on Saturday night.

Might be time to reconsider that and start just doing whatever WE want to do...or time to give up and move on to something else in music.

The gig is probably tied with one I played in Slaphappy (South Street) for my worst gig ever. I'm glad it took seven years for it to happen again, and I hope it's at least another seven before I have to go through a night like Saturday, if ever.

Love to all,
TMS