You must be flexible.

I was in a meeting today with the Magnettes and we got a gig opportunity on the spot. A gig that happens on Thursday. Even the whole band is not in Stockholm for the moment, Tomas who does some of the tracks and percussion in in Luleå up north in Sweden and can’t really be down on Thursday.

But here is the great by working with a professional group like The Magnettes. They handle that and will fix so they can do the show. It’s not optimal but they do it and the audience will have a blast.

In today’s music market this is a must. Your set up needs to be altered with. If you are six people in your band and there must be a certain equipment and certain light, floor space etc. Well you will miss out so much things that you will never really make it.

Just last week when I saw On-The-Go from Russia and they lost all their gear on the airplane. Well they just borrowed things and did a show (see it on yesterdays post I linked the video). Normally they are very electric with synthesizers. Here was a full acoustic gig. And this was in a showcase situation they have flew over five hours from Moscow to Tel Aviv to play this gig in front of several important buyers from the music industry. I was impressed that they just changed and you could hear how well the songs where in acoustic mode. So even it was not the right show, they convinced me by just not cancel it and not complaining about it.

You can’t expect to have perfect conditions every time when you are a smaller band. Well not even prefect when you have large tours. I got a story when Peter Tosh played for thousands of people in Italy and the power went out. He just took up a guitar and got the audience very silent and kept on playing. It’s a must to be able to do that.

This is the point also when many new artists fall off. I don’t know how many stupid reasons I have heard from bands not taking a gig. I guess the worst one was when the drummer had decided to make laundry with his girlfriend on a Saturday so the band couldn’t take the gig even it was a month notice. In a case like this if the band really want going on, get a substitute drummer. Yes if AC/DC can replace their singer several times you can get a substitute for someone.

Other stupid things has been: Are running a marathon! The place is too small! It’s not a cool venue! We are past playing small events like that! We have lost our electric adapter! The monitors was not loud enough!

Yes I have heard them all during the years. And the only thing that the artists got out of it was that you thought, well they will never make it. And you start to make interest in another artist to bring forward.