Buddy of mine is a drummer. His band had a gig tonight from 9:30 to 1:30 at a dive college bar in a town about 20 min away and he asked me to come check out their show. The wife wasn't feeling well so I went with my daughter to see them play. We got there about 11:45 and settled in to enjoy the show. My daughter and I are both vocalists, and we agreed that the bands vocals were kind of weak and the levels were WAY off, but the band as a whole didn't sound too bad. After about 4 songs, the owner came up on stage, took a mic, and announced,
"Everybody thinks the band sucks, you guys are done. Pack up and get out"
WAY out of line and classless as far as I'm concerned.

I felt so bad for them

Holy shit I have seen some uber bad bands but never seen that

wow what an assbag

 

In a college bar? what a prick

Well, they must have really sucked.

Did they get their take off the door?

Shit... I wish MORE bar owners would do that... although in a more private manner. Doing it on stage is kinda wrong.

It's one thing to ask the band to leave. It's another to get up and announce they suck like that.

What was the name of the place?

Cover band or did they try to sing their own songs. The reason I ask is I've seen bands get shut down by the mysterious power outage or other difficulties. This local band " A Pimp named Jake " or some shit, they suck really really bad, and they were told to do covers or leave( off stage not infront of the crowd ) But never seen that before. How bad do they suck and what was the crowds reaction.

this, I guess. He did not pay for them to run off the customers.

I can't stand it when the levels are all goofed up and you can't hear a damned thing but the bass line/guitar/drums/keyboard/whatever and everything else is nearly muted. that usually makes me leave.

CYA if I have ever seen one.  Completely classless.  Never drink the piss-water they obviously serve in that bar again.

Flip the circuit breakers for the stage outlets, apologize profusely, and blame it all on crappy electrical wiring...

I'm assuming they got paid. I helped them pack there gear up and get it loaded then I took off.
They didn't suck bad enough to get humiliated like that. As I said before their vocals were weaksauce and the vocal levels were too high (I'm a really harsh vocals critic) , but instrumentally they were fine.
They are a cover band.
The name of the bar is "The Inner Circle" on University Drive in Coral Springs.

This! ^

I once left after 3 songs AND demanded my money back that I paid for the cover charge(and GOT it)..... that band really did suck. Was that happening to these guys?

I've seen some shitty bands and heard a lot of shitty mixes but that's pretty severe.
I'm not an audio engineer but I know a bunch and work around a lot of them.

Your average club dude has not a clue.
He'll drive the volume up and wreck the EQ to compensate for his own loss.
That will put your hearing at risk.

Walk over to his rack and look at the EQ.
If you see a "smiley face" or a uphill ramp, run.

I've seen horrible bands, but have always applauded those who had/have the balls to attempt to entertain for what amounts to a pittance in pay.

sometimes it's not the band,  the guy running the board can make or break ANY band.

I haven't seen a venue ever be that rude to a band.

He should have at least waited until they took a break and said something to them quietly.

Other than the vocals being not so hot (I have heard much worse) and the levels on the board needing some work, they sounded fine. I still cant get over what an assholish move the owner pulled.

With SO many better ways to go about getting a band off stage that your customers aren't happy with, I think he just wanted to puff up his ego by being a dick I was so taken aback that at first I thought he was joking, as I've seen some really shitty live bands and have never seen that before.

As I was helping them get their gear packed up and off stage, a number of patrons came up and were apologizing for the harsh treatment. I think the incedent was entirley spurred by one vocal minority of regulars at the bar

A bad mix will drive customers out the door without them even knowing why they are leaving. The guy WAS an ass though.

Probably a skank ass whore that the owner was trying to get with mouthed off and he pulled that stunt to pull in the tang.

Or the head bar maid shot HER mouth off. Same thing really.

True.

yeah Ill subscribe to that theory


trying to look powerful/badass to get some pie
 

My brother has played in cover bands since 1977. Some pretty damn good ones, too. And I don't say that because my brother was in the bands.

The current band he's in was hired to play a particular bar because the owner had seen them play in a public venue. He tracked down the band's business manager-the bass player-and talked to him about playing his bar. As ALWAYS, the bass player offered the owner their 'INTRODUCTORY OFFER". They do this with EVERY bar they play at, and they TELL the bar owner/manager that their first time they get a cut rate. To get their foot in the door.

SOOOOO......they play this bar, the place is packed, people are dancing from the first song first set to the last tune of the night. The bar owner tells them they're GREAT, best he's ever had in there. He wants to book more dates. The bass player tells him there are a few open dates, but that the rate will be a little higher for subsequent dates.

The bar owner tells him, "Fuck you guys. All I need in here is someone to make noise and I'm fine".

They say fine, no problem. They're a busy band.

Two months later the guy calls, wants them to play some special outdoor sand volleyball gig he's having at the bar.

The band manager's reply?

"Fuck you. Just get someone there to make noise and you'll be fine."