Playin' a gig while tired

[ye olde fretmonkey]

I find it hard to play a decent gig if I'm tired...I don't have the mental acuity to think of anything really *good* to play so I stick to my guns, try to keep it in the pocket and go with what I know.

It was that way last weekend...dead on my feet, yawning onstage. I thought my playing was really pedestrian that night. I even threw out a couple of clams when I tried to get adventurous.

Talked to the bandleader later and he told me, 'Man, you always play well with us, but I thought you sounded extra good the other night. Extra good! I guarantee, yes sir!!'

Hmm. Maybe I should play while exhausted more often.

[lenny]

hehe.
you should say
"thanks, i felt really good!"

[bo]

I know exactly what yer saying! It also proves that we are all probably our own worst critics. You never know who will like what...

[Geyser]

I played one last night. I've got a 1-month old son at home, plus I started working a four 10-hour day schedule (7 am-6 pm) a couple weeks ago. So for the last 30 days, I've been a complete zombie! I sing in my band too and I was so zonked last night that I had nothing to say to the crowd in between songs, didn't hardly move around, and messed up some of the chords on one of my oldest tunes. I normally like to get hyper-caffeinated before a gig but I was just worthless last night. But truth be told, I actually didn't play too bad overall. I was also told that my voice was right on. Minneapolis just instituted a smoking ban in all the bars so the clean air may have had something to do with that. But I am just dead tired today. That's probably why I'm posting on the forum instead of working...

[1612112]

Originally Posted by ye olde fretmonkey

I find it hard to play a decent gig if I'm tired...I don't have the mental acuity to think of anything really *good* to play so I stick to my guns, try to keep it in the pocket and go with what I know.

It was that way last weekend...dead on my feet, yawning onstage. I thought my playing was really pedestrian that night. I even threw out a couple of clams when I tried to get adventurous.

Talked to the bandleader later and he told me, 'Man, you always play well with us, but I thought you sounded extra good the other night. Extra good! I guarantee, yes sir!!'

Hmm. Maybe I should play while exhausted more often.

I do so many gigs and get so tired... what with working a day job too, that I can't play now without a couple of Red Bulls or a monster. That stuff just lights me up. I hate to suggest taking up bad habits but it's better than heroine! I view this as a serious problem for me... I'm a bit older...

[TheGoodTexan]

A couple of years ago I was playing with an original country band, and we would rehearse till way past my bed-time. Add to that, that I sometimes enjoy a beer or two (no more) during musical ventures...

The later we went...the less I had to give. I would often find myself sitting on my amp (4x10 combo), with the amp leaning against the wall...my back on the wall, my legs drapped over the front of the amp....

As we went even later, I would close my eyes while playing (while sitting on my amp).

I can gig through all hours of the night....but rehearsal is another thing....

Actually, with that band, it was more like rehashal.

[alotas123]

I've played many gigs while tired. Latest was the third gig of the evening, third of three 2-hour gigs, when I had to set up the sound system. When I'm tired I seem to be able to "dial back" my playing so it stays decent if safe but I can't seem to interact with the audience well. People said I looked like a zombie but I sounded OK, just a little less aggressive than usual.

[gls500]

I have a 3-week old at home, and have my 2nd gig tomorrow since she was born.

I just try to eat well that day, exercise in the morning, take a nap, and push through it. What makes it extra tough tomorrow is the 1.5hr drive to the gig. I'm most worried about the ride home.

[1612112]

Originally Posted by gls500

I have a 3-week old at home, and have my 2nd gig tomorrow since she was born.

I just try to eat well that day, exercise in the morning, take a nap, and push through it. What makes it extra tough tomorrow is the 1.5hr drive to the gig. I'm most worried about the ride home.

Dude... the drive home is the most dangerous part of the gig... Ihate waking up on the ruts on the shoulder...

[TG]

Our gig last night finished at 2:30. One of my favorite guitar numbers towards the end was a washout simply because my brain and my hands were just too tired. Felt like I was wearing tight gloves. Nobody cared as they were dancing (and drunk), but I found it frustrating.

I'm lucky since I don't have a 'day' job so I can rest and even have a sleep in the afternoon before a late gig, but I still struggle if we play past 1AM. I try to avoid coffee usually, but I do find that a cup and a bite to eat around midnite will generally give me my second wind. I didn't have any last night, which is probably why I flagged towards the end.

But having coffee that late means that I'm wired after the gig and can't sleep until around 3 or 4AM.
Many of my TDPRI posts have been submitted in the middle of the night after gigs.

[StratDal]

Especially those that are recent parents (my son is almost 7 months old now and sleeps through the night; it does get better!).

Having to play gigs after working etc. through out the day has got to be real tough sometimes; worse if you have some dorks in the audience. I don't gig but I like to see bands play at some of the local joints. You are all appreciated. I love to rock and there's nothing better than watching a band get into a "zone" during a song.

Keep up the good work and as they say, "the show must go on!"

[Joel66]

I've played many times when I was absolutely beat. I hated it. I felt like I wasn't really into it and just going through the motions. I honestly felt like a zombie. That feeling usually lasts for the first set. After that, I generally 'come to life' either from feeding off the audience or by "forcing" myself to wake up some. I'll go out to the truck and crank up some KISS, Ted Nugent, Sabbath, G 'n R, or anything that pumps me up some.

We play from 8-12 every Sat. night. I honestly wish it was from 8-1 or even 2.

After saying all that though, I have been known to over do it in the past and would never go through that again. In the 80's, I was playing 5-7 nights a week and working in a factory (we started at 6 am). That was too much, and it really took it's toll on me. It, combined with the "live fast" lifestyle I was living, almost killed me. I was in my early 20's though and didn't think about it.....until one night I met this girl at a club.


Skipping the details.......the next morning we're talking and she admits that she'd never been "with an older man before". Older man?? I asked her how old she thought I was and she replied "about 44." Needless to say I told her my age.





I wonder what ever happened to her............


Joel

[Paul in Colorado]

One time I was mixing sound for Robby Basho in a little coffeehouse in Berkeley, CA. I was so tired that I actually fell asleep during the songs. As soon as he stopped playing I'd bolt awake, look at the stage, look at the board and make sure everything was OK. Robbie would start to play and I'd drift off again. I think I spent the rest of the show in that state.

As for gigging, I usually have so much energy going that I don't notice how tired I am. And it takes me a couple of hours to come down.

[Scotland]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

As for gigging, I usually have so much energy going that I don't notice how tired I am. And it takes me a couple of hours to come down.

Me too, no matter how tired I am, when I get on that stage I come alive and just want to play forever. As soon as we stop, I am shattered but I wouldn't change that "high" for anything else in the world !!

[TB72]

Usually, no matter how tired I am, I can somehow muster the adrenalin to get through a gig. The drive home can be difficult, but the gig itself is usually no problem.

However, a couple of months ago, I had to do a few gigs while fighting mononucleosis. I'd pretty much be sleeping all the time. I'd wake up to get ready for the gig, sleep on the drive to the gig (it's the first time in ages where I couldn't drive myself), sleep on our breaks, and sleep on the way home. By then, it would be bedtime. I was a total zombie. Thinking back, I really have no clue how I got through it. I'm glad I'm over it though.

Later...

[petebradt]

Originally Posted by gls500

I have a 3-week old at home, and have my 2nd gig tomorrow since she was born.

I just try to eat well that day, exercise in the morning, take a nap, and push through it. What makes it extra tough tomorrow is the 1.5hr drive to the gig. I'm most worried about the ride home.

Do not be afraid to find a grocery store parking lot (or similar place) and catch a little snooze (as long as it's in a neighborhood where you won't be attacked), I've done the same thing MANY times on the way home from a gig. I've also done it when I indulged a bit too much during the gig. A bad wreck or a DUI isn't going to do your little one any good at all.

[blue water girl]

Originally Posted by 1612112

Dude... the drive home is the most dangerous part of the gig... Ihate waking up on the ruts on the shoulder...

You said a mouthful there. When Brent does those late night shows at Third and Lindsley that don't start until 10pm he doesn't get to leave the venue until 1:30 or 2am since alot of folks have driven a long way to meet him and talk to him after the show. The drive home takes 25 min. When he gets home and goes to bed he keeps leaping up with this panicked look gasping for breath about every five minutes because he thinks he is still driving home and has gone to sleep at the wheel. He will do this for about an hour before he finally stops. It's terrible. Then he has to be back in the studio by 9:30am ready to create for someone's album.

He is also always tired when he starts to play those shows. He isn't finished at the studio until 9pm and has to rush over to the venue wearing whatever he wore to work that day. He will either be like some of you guys and get a huge burst of energy and have a great time and play like he's possessed. Or he will just drag through it hating himself and hating everything he is playing, wishing he was anyplace else in the world, with no energy to do the type of solos he knows everyone expects him to crank out. But ALWAYS after those shows people will tell him it's the best he has every played! It's crazy!

[ashtray]

Well, I haven't been in a band in the past 6-7 years, and even then we had a rare gig out of town but.... something blue water girl said reminded me of me! I make a lot of 4+ hour road trips - average about 2 per month (well, 4 if you count each direction). After a long road trip, usually ending at night, I am exhausted, eyes too sore to close, too sore to keep open. I have to force myself to stay awake for the next hour or two though, otherwise when I fall asleep, I will wake up hyperventilating, thinking I fell asleep while driving.

I've been so tired behind the wheel, I tried to convince myself the road was straight, and that I could close my eyes for a good 30 seconds before I'd need to turn the wheel any. Needless to say, when I started using that logic, I opened my eyes and drove to the nearest exit to rest my eyes while stopped.

Now = on to the thread topic. Well, again, lack of recent gigging, but when I teach guitar lessons, and work tax season hours (60 hrs/week for 4 months), my lessons are in the evenings, and sometimes I am so tired, trying to explain something even simple can be difficult! (their blank stares back at me are priceless! hahaha)

[jpkusa]

How about going on at 1:30 AM, doing two sets, and finishing up at 4:45 AM? After having worked an 8 hour day-job, then driven four hours? That's what I did a couple weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There's no last-call there on Friday nights, so the bars can serve as late as they want. This particular club waits until the various local fraternity parties are over after midnight before they let the band start playing. At that particular gig, the latest I've ever played, I was dead on my feet, and you could certainly tell it from my playing. I was terrible. By the second set I had a migrane that neither aspirin nor alcohol could cure, so I just coasted through. Got to bed (I mean couch) as the sun was coming up.

We played the same place last weekend and I took a nap in the truck for an hour or two after soundcheck. Woke up feeling great and had a good gig; didn't have to play quite as late, either (3:30 or so).

But the latest gig I've ever seen was some friends of mine in Birmingham, who WENT ON one night at the Nick at 3 AM! I had to split before they ever started. It was one of those 4-band bills that starts at 11 and runs behind schedule all night.

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Nightmarish.

Of course the other side of this is trying to practice when you're tired.

I was trying to figure out the chords to 'Satin Doll', then the intro to 'Cry Me A River' and finally gave up. I'm like a chimp with a guitar right now (hence the moniker).

Time to just work on some finger drills or something.

[gls500]

Originally Posted by petebradt

Do not be afraid to find a grocery store parking lot (or similar place) and catch a little snooze (as long as it's in a neighborhood where you won't be attacked), I've done the same thing MANY times on the way home from a gig. I've also done it when I indulged a bit too much during the gig. A bad wreck or a DUI isn't going to do your little one any good at all.

This is the truth. I actually don't have more than one drink when the gig is more than 20min from home, and usually just drink water.

Luckily, there are two tollway oasis stops between Rockford and Chicago, and I make it a point to stop at both and take a 5 minute walk. I drink cold iced tea with no sugar to give me caffeine w/o the sugar high and subsequent dropoff. Chewing on ice cubes also seems to wake you up, especially in December in Chicago :D.

And if I'm way too tired, I always have the option to stay at my drummer's place, which is in Rockford. However, there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed, and this is why I try to make it home.

During the gigs, it's never a problem. We usually don't go on until 11 to 11:30 at this place and play for 2.5hrs, sometimes with a break, sometimes not. Adrenaline is too strong to let me stay tired.