Played an open mic last night at the Canadian Legion in St. George, Ontario. This was right after the FHF that we had that day, so theres was lots of playing crammed into that period of time.
Showed up with all my stuff, hoping I wouldn't have to set up the Fishman....but had to 'cause there were no monitors, just fronts ...shucks...I really need to hear myself. So I set up the Fishman and turned it up....loud.....take that bitches, I snickered to myself as I put my pinky to my lower lip in a Dr. Evil kind of way.

Turns out there was just the dude that ran the show and me playing (and I thought I would just bang off 3 tunes). So the open mic kinda turned into a gig, where we traded off for 3 hours. I got the opportunity to play about an hour and twenty minutes of stuff I've worked up for the last 4 years, basically everything I know minus Black Hole Sun, 'cause that don't go over well with that crowd. High point...just as I was about to play Brain Damage, someone comes up and asks me if I can play any Floyd...."Well sir,,,...let me see if I can come up with something"...eheheh.

DOODS, Let me tell you....Folks were frickin BLOWN AWAY by the Stick, ....they'd never heard anything like it before...it was unreal for me. Folks asked questions "all night long "(....Lionel Ritchie) and were basically gobsmacked by the method...and the sound, which of course I drenched in POD HD500 goodness...

I was nervous to start, but smoothed out after song two, then things went pretty well for the rest of the night, dropped a few clams here and there but no train wrecks, which was my biggest fear.

Folks asked me for cards (sorry, got none) phone number, etc. Owner asked me to come back and play for money.....MONEY! .....HELLO! Some other folks asked me to do some charity BBQ's, backyard parties........WTF!

It was a pretty stellar night for me, and for the Stick in general.....I'm pretty stoked and its 2am.

Thanks for listening,

cheers,
kev

Kev, good on ya! They were probably blown away by you as well as the Stick! Looks like it may be time to hang up dem "wings" and pick up the Stick!!
Ps... the gigs with free BBQ are the best!! (you want your baby back, baby back, baby back ribs!!)

Awesome Kev! Sounds like a fun and productive night as well! I envy your ability to have enough tunes available to play that amount of time.... Whew! I can feel your 'high' !
Check out Hayes Carll's "I Got a Gig".
If I can ever play one song without a clam I'll try an open mic. I have material but I'm no where near being ready yet. Still, I love hearing about everyone doing the open mics and this one sounded like it was "da bomb"
When I was drumming with my last band we played a few of those charity bbq gigs... Hundreds of people with nothing to do but eat, drink and listen/dance to music....and I agree with rclere, ain't nothin better...yeeeeeehaaaaaah!

Kev-C.
Kudos and Congrats! Wow-Weeeeeee! This is what it is all about. I am so proud of you, and Gene's FHF show was like swinging a golf club with weights and then taking them off and playing the gig.

The Floyd request was classic, and once in awhile the stars all line up like that ! You should be Loving Every Minute Of It! ( fellow Canadians Loverboy! )

There will always be nerves- it shows you care to do a good show and don't want to let anyone down, especially yourself down. But it eases out. Always start with an easy song, hopefully recognizable so the audience can get a feel for you, accept and you and kick back. Don't start with "Knots" by Gentle Giant!

The open mikes are a great way to get out and play. The Stick has a halo effect way over every other guitarist that comes up and plays "Wonderwall", "Im Yours" Jason Mraz, or "Peaceful Easy Feeling"[ in my college days.] I am again so proud of you! You made it over the plateau, and now are well on your way on your musical journey.

Kudos and welcome to the wild world of live playing!
Dave B "DBro"

Wish I could have been there to witness history. (And your awesome stick playing) let me know when you are going back cause it sounds like you will be and soon. Keep it up man

Kev, I knew this would be a badass event for you when you told me about it, and I knew that you would kick some ass at it because you are really good. Your tunes and playing are awesome, maybe next time some video footage? As I write this I am basically in a slave labour camp wishing for a jam...

I guess the moral of the story here is to go to an open mic with exactly 15x as much material as you need "just in case" lol

Awesome thread, I love reading these...

Thanks for reading guys, I appreciate it and really wanted to share the experience when it was fresh in my mind.
Randy, I'd love to hang up my skates and do this full time.......gotta pay the bills though.....crap.

Really, after seeing Bruces success doing this, I felt I had to go out and try myself. So thanks Bruce for unknowingly pushing me through the gates, Gene too for always pumping me to get out and play. .....and if it wasn't for DAVID TIPTON.. ....I would have had about 10 less tunes....I really can't thank David enough.

Although I play mostly recognizable hits from the past, guess what tune blew the roof off?........

Tom Griesgrabers El Prado......this tune garnered the most response and kudos....6.5 minutes of pure Stick gold and one of my fave tunes to listen to and play....

Lots of peeps coming up close and taping with their phones.....maybe it will make it to the YouTubes.....

thanks again guys!

cheers,
Sally Field

That's awesome! Glad it went well

Goes to show, at some point, you just gotta get yourself out there.

That's fantastic, what a great boost. It sounds like the stars were aligned, those times are very special.

Try and run with it if you can. Any regular public playing will do wonders for your technique and especially your mindset - learning what is important and not so important in a live setting.

I took my Stick to the gig yesterday but was too scared to rip it out, maybe today....