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[westwing audio]

Seems to depend on the location but, around here, what little there is of the "music scene" is constantly fighting to stay just above abysmal, especially if you're an all-originals band.  Got tired of lugging equipment to shows to play for mostly empty tables with 3 or 4 other bands, no sound checks and not getting paid for it.  The ocassional exceptions to this weren't enough to warrant the effort any longer.  

Parenthood also figured prominently in my decision to exit playing live.  There just weren't enough hours in the day to hold down a day job, be a decent parent, and try to pursue an active gigging schedule.  My health and my marriage were beginning to suffer so it was time to call it quits.  The studio thing is far more satisfying and I'm actually making a little money with it.

[Gary Flanigan]

I think that there are only two valid motivations for a rocker to perform-lust and greed.

I find myself very much in love with my wife and there is no money in playing live unless you are famous.

That and the fact that I am old and a bit round keep me off the stage.

[maxdimario]

music in public needs a more sophisticated public than dj music.

musicians are a dying breed, but not for long...

I'm out of it, but the next generation must NOT listen to the hype ..if music is to live.

turn OFF those tv's, turn OFF those home-studios and write songs!

arranging can be bought!

[Greg Youngman]

Gary Flanigan wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 14:26

and there is no money in playing live unless you are famous.

Isn't that the truth.  I have much more fun and profit in the studio.  That stage attention can do some weird things to people.

[maxim]

gary wrote:

'two valid motivations for a rocker to perform-lust and greed."

you say it like it's a bad thing

max dm wrote:

"I'm out of it.."

i hope you haven't bought into all that agist propaganda

[Trumpetman2]

Greg Youngman wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 18:24

Gary Flanigan wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 14:26  and there is no money in playing live unless you are famous. Isn't that the truth.  I have much more fun and profit in the studio.  That stage attention can do some weird things to people.

Not only that, but for many years I played on stage in various jazz, salsa, etc. bands and have no lasting documentation of it....when I do a "trumpet jazz creation" in my studio...it lasts a long time and people are now asking me for a "reissue" of something I did 8 years ago!!!!!  In short, recordings last for posterity (or infamy...) live performances blow in the wind.....

[Tidewater]

Wow, I am just worn out, and 'have been played', but alot of you guys are just plain anti-social!

There really isn't a feeling in the World like hearing your vocal warble off the back of Tampa stadium! I like big crowds, on the other side of a retainer, thank you very much!

I loved to throw my guitar across the stage. I love Miller Genuine Draft!

Nothing really measures up.. nothing.. a kick ass band, kicking ass. Fact is, they don't make us like they used to.

The World SUCKS! (*but when I was there, it rocked!)


M

*come on! not because of me, but FOR ME! Woohoo! I am old!

[John Ivan]

Yep.. It's a blast. I still love it a lot. Thankfully, it still pays in the clubs around here,,,just not as many. The bigger shows I do are a blast!! I never want to stop doin' it live.

"What??" "I said More kick in the fill's please"

Ivan.............................................

[Dave Martin]

And I think that there's no feeling at all like standing on a stage with a bunch of musicans, creating something that is, by its very nature, ephemeral. That's part of what I love about it - you play it, you're done. If you wanna hear it again, you play it again the next night, when it'll be different.

The moments that I remember are usually little things - playing with a second line band in front of a few thousand people at a street festival, and at some point, tossing a cowbell and a beater to the burnt out monitor guy, who'd been on stage for 3 days. And having him wake up and start rockin' along with us. it wasn't about what I did, but about how HE reacted. or seeing some little old lady get all teary eyed when the singer did "Embraceable You" at a retirement home - obviously a story there - one that I'll never know. Playing with a full orchestra - nothing else is like it. Or even the night that the guitarist and I both ended up with feedback a third apart (I had to have been using some sort of really obnixous distortion box to even get my bass to feed back) - and letting it sustain for minutes while the singer scatted around around what we were playing, creating all sorts of interesting chords...

I'm a couple of weeks away from finishing a blues/R&B/blues rock project in the studio - and then we're gonna go out and play; we're not too old to rock, though I admit that we MIGHT be too old for people to pay to see us rock.

[PookyNMR]

I still play live all the time.  I think it helps me keep my edge musically.  I also agree that the synergy of the band members is of critical importance.  I also think that it helps me to stay connected to audiences and lets me know what moves them and what doesn't.  

[scott volthause]

I play live several times a month in an original band. I love it. It really is where it's at... for me personally.

[Primear]

I have played in bands and/or have done solo gigs since I was 16 years old. Im now 39 and havent gigged since I moved to the Carolinas. I was in a store today asking where people might play music. I got the low down on a few coffee shops and a few other places. Seems Bluegrass is big here so Ill just brush up on those chops.

I enjoy playing out. I dont need the money for living but for gear sluttage. Its nice to use that little bit o cash for a new pedal or mic or whatever.

Ill be playing live till I die. My great aunt has just quit her band in NYC. She is in her 90's and does the chord melody jazz show tune bebop thing. Like her Ill be doing the same. As I get older the style may change (although Im pretty pleased to play any style now) but Ill continue to play for folks...

Playing music is breathing...

[Coco]

I really enjoy playing live and I get cranky when my band does not do a show for a while. I feel an itch coming on and I tend to bug out a bit until we get a show. I have been playing live locally since I was about 15 years old in an old hardcore/punk thing and now am in a band doing an alt/indie rock thing. Now at age 34 I am one of the "old guys" in the local alt/indie scene but who cares. I get real satisfaction openning up for a younger band full of white belt wearing hipsters and freaking them out because the old guys can still kick ass. I have been in a zillion bands but none of them have ever toured, which is basically bad luck. The bands I have been in seem to self destruct once the ball gets rolling and it is time to book shows out of town, and someone always flakes out. That usually means I am stuck holding the bag on owing a studio money because we were half way through a recording once things caved in. That has happened more than once, so I got sick of that and bought my own recording gear. I am always the band mother and that tends to piss me off. Nothing like having to tell your guitar player to make sure he has an extra set of strings before a gig. Thank God those days are over and the band I am in now has their shit together. The fact that I am a drummer, I have a large amount of stuff to move, which is no big deal except when all the other guys are sitting around drinking beer while I strike my gear and 9 times out of 10, I end up humping their gear as well because they are out in the parking lot smoking a joint when it comes time to do load our gear. I am really getting sick of moving someone elses Ampeg 8 x 10" cabinet, but it is all worth while just to see the reaction of the crowd when they dig your tunes.

[Spiritwalkerpro]

Dave Martin wrote on Fri, 27 January 2006 10:33

Fibes wrote on Fri, 27 January 2006 09:11 Most bands that carry B3s and leslies have hernias. We were in worse shape than that - back in the day, the organist in the band had a C3. And we didn't know anything about dollies; all the guys inthe band would just grab hold of part of the Hammond. And run towards the stage with it... it WAS silly, and yes, the wheel HAD been invented by then.

Ha! I remember when I was 14 trying to carry an M3 up the stairs at the local Elks club.  Had to be 30 stairs.  I remember the guitar player, who was on the bottom, about a 3rd of the way up yelling "I can't hold it"  I tried to slow it down but holy smoke did that unit go down fast and hard.  The pedals were ruined and we were scared for life!  Do I miss moving furniture? no.  Do I miss gigging live? oh yah.  Sad but hardly any gigs here for an old guy of 46.

Norm

[Trumpetman2]

  Very interesting...but NOT suprising- the thread is divided by young(er) rockers who "must" play to a large audience, and older musicians (like myself) who have been there/done that and are somewhat tired of it!  Do I miss being on stage?  Hell yeah, but I'm having a ball in my studio!!!!!  The studio gives me the ability to do what I want, how and when I want....can't do that with a live venue; things are usually controlled by whomever is paying for the venue....