How to come back from a bad show?

[Greentone]

Sometimes bad gigs are just bound to happen. But, one way to recover is to get rescued.

About 20 years ago, or so, the bassist from my trio and I were slotted to entertain a whole bunch of classical musicians at the end of a music festival they had. I remember Toby Appel, Viola faculty at Julliard coming into the room with a friend in tow that I didn't know. He turned out to be the concert master of the NY Philharmonic. Anyway, these guys wanted to know if they could stash their "fiddles" behind my amp. Ah...sure. I looked and one case was leaning against one side of my Polytone, the other was leaning against the other side. I had to ask: "what's in the cases?" Answer: a Stradivarius and a Guarnerius. Geez...the sweat started popping from my brow as I contemplated instruments falling over from the sympathetic vibrations from my amp.

The room filled up with students, faculty, and invited guests. My bassist and I gamely worked through our set--quietly. All the while I wondered if anybody gave a toot about the polite, Great American Songbook stuff we were working through. (Appel did mention that he had recorded with Chick Corea. Very cool.) I don't know how my bassist felt, but my confidence level was in the basement somewhere, playing for _serious_ musicians, when all of a sudden my archtop picked a fine time to do a low string feedback howl during a Jobim piece that we probably shouldn't have played. (My bad--I had twisted the volume knob up to solo. Doubly bad because it sounded crummy when the chordal basis of the song dropped out and it was single-line and bass.) No exaggeration, one young classical musician made a noise like she'd been poked in the ribs by surprise. Of course, all I could think about was the "fiddles" up against my amp are going to fall over from the feedback.

I guess we could have just finished the song and sneaked off into a set break. However, a very perceptive guy with Bruce Lee piano chops sat down at the piano we were working near. He said "you look like you guys could use a lift, right now." He gently eased into the song and gave it a nudge. When we finished, he had actually salvaged some applause for "us." He called out "Blue Monk." Well, we got back on track.

I would still give the night about a C-, and I would shoulder the blame, myself...not my night. Weird stuff can just happen--Stradivarius violins piled up on your amplifier? WTF? If the people had been anonymous, I think I could have handled it. As it was, having two big guns walk right up and offload their instruments on yours...I don't know...it just spooked me. However, we got rescued by a very thoughtful, giving musician. It didn't have to work that way. I can surely recall earlier days when I just got blown off the stage by less caring, more competitive musicians. It can be pretty Darwinian out there.

[marcwhy]

KillBill,
You're wondering if anyone else has ever played a bad show? Hmm, nope. Never. I'm always 110% in my zone. Top o' my game. Perfect. Always.

And then I wake up!

Jeez, everyone here, and all of the payers we idolize and admire, have had bad nights (and yes, me, too!). It's called "being human."

I'm kinda curious about your gig, though: a seven-tune set of originals? Was this a jazz gig?! Were you opening for some bigger star/group? Coffeehouse gig shared with other bands? I haven't played many one-set jazz gigs (unless my band was opening for someone). And with originals, unless you really bombed them, no one probably knew what they were "supposed" to sound like! [and if you did bomb them, oh well ..]

The Kenny Werner reference above is excellent, so check it out. If you're extremely nervous when performing, there are other calming/relaxation/mindfulness strategies you could learn (self-help or with a professional) to help with that.

[Old story: when I was a classical guitar student in college, a good friend of mine, who was an older, better player than I was, would come backstage right before I went on for a recital, and would say, "Hey, Marc, don't f*ck up!" Very calming ..]

Enjoy,

Marc