We survived the Gig

We played our first Gig last Thursday. What a riot. I had a great time. The band, Still Breathing, has been together for about 2 months. I play lead guitar on most tunes and also some bass. Anyways the night before the gig, I trashed my thumb loading my gear into the truck. So I was worried that I wouldn't be able to play, then I realized I'm not that good anyway so it probably wasn't a big deal.

We got to the venue at about 7:00PM to set up and do our sound check, which consisted of a blues jam. After that we started the most important part of the warm up -- the Beer Drinking. Our drummer then changed into his leathers and we were ready to go. 50 year old guys shouldn't wear leather.

We hit the stage with a crowd of around 50 people, mostly my friends and neighbors. The first tune was All Right Now by Free. This is one of my favorites. We followed that with Mississippi Queen. After that we played Sweet Home Alabama, where I was fairly certain that I butchered the solo. Although upon further review of the video it wasn't as bad as I thought. Switched to Bass for Bad Moon Rising, Rebel Rebel and Green River. My guitar teacher sent over a shot of goldschlager, which was very tasty. Switched back to Guitar for Let it Bleed, followed by 30 Days in the Hole. Rocky Mountain way was supposed to be my big solo, with the Wah pedal and all that. I thought it went pretty well and got a decent ovation, although like I said most of the crowd were my friends so they may have just been being nice. We finished with Livin After Midnight, which was going well until I completely forgot the middle third of the solo. What was surprising is that it is one of the shortest and easiest solos I was supposed to play. I guess I covered OK, something can be said for ending the solo on the right note at the right time.

We played a screwy blues jam for an encore and finished the night with some high fives and more shots. Since I wasn't really in good shape to drive home I hung out at the bar until about 1am and didn't end up going to bed until 4am and up at 6am to go to work.

I had never played in front of anybody before and I have to tell you it was a blast. The best comment of the night was overheard by Momma Musky. Somebody said (I wonder if it was Khyle?) "wow I thought this was going to be a joke but they can actually play." I would love to know who it was, but unless Khyle fesses up, I will never know.

I was asked by two different guys if I was interested in joining another band, so I guess I couldn't have been to bad. So now we are trying to figure out what songs to play to add another set.

Khyle, how about a review?

Pics to follow.