Different kinda "gig" report thread (w/pix of course)

This last Saturday I drove through the Ocala National Forest, down to a Marriott hotel in the small town of Lake Mary north of Orlando, to play a church related High School Youth Gathering. There was recorded music I was to play along with, plus two live pieces with me and the singer from my church band. After I got there and loaded in, had to sit around for hours until a rehearsal for a "show" (the DJ/PA people referred to it as such despite the God element) preceding our service was done. Then we got about an hour quick run-through. I didn't have sheet music (don't read anyhow) or even lead sheets. I made up this for the service:

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Here's a pic of the room, I'm guessing there were 300-400 people in it, probably the most I've ever played to:

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In the first song my strap broke, I caught the guitar and kept playing, then switched to a backup. Here's me playing my original #1 for the evening, my LP:

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My singer had been goading me all week to play behind my head at this. During the first song, before the actual start of the service, the DJ was cranking a very dance-oriented mix and they got the kids up on a catwalk to dance around, so I figured that would be as good a time as any to do that. I'd been playing on the same catwalk, jumped over to an empty seat in the first row seats (the seats were about the same height as the catwalk), and standing on the chair did the behind-head thing. The kids seemed to like that.

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The rest of the service went pretty flawlessly, though it was almost all extemporaneous on my part. Here's a shot showing the kids up dancing on the catwalk, taken from the DJ platform/booth:

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After the service the kids had a dance, so I didn't get to sleep until about 12:30, crashed in our vicar's room, along with the youth pastor from the Tallahassee group.

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Woke up at 6:20, loaded out, drove back to Gainesville and went directly to church and played the 11 o'clock service Sunday. (Watched the Gators get beat in b-ball and vegged the rest of the day.)

Questions, and comments on my poseritude or otherwise, welcomed as always. ;)

Sounds like a lot of fun! I'm 17 and I know that usually when there are church related shows the music/bands are usually fairly lame. I would love to see someone getting into the music ie. playing behind their head. But it sounds like you guys did an awesome job!

Sounds like a lot of fun! I'm 17 and I know that usually when there are church related shows the music/bands are usually fairly lame. I would love to see someone getting into the music ie. playing behind their head. But it sounds like you guys did an awesome job!

Thanks Trow. No reason these kind of things can't be fun and high-energy. Fortunately the youth minister for our church (he's in the last crowd shot, the tall guy behind my shoulder dancing with the kids on the catwalk) actually encouraged me to go over the top for this. I had a lot of fun and I think the kids did too.

Looks like a lot of fun, and you look great playing.

Looks like a lot of fun, and you look great playing.

Thanks Matthew!

And welcome to tdpri.