How a Last Minute Gig Vastly Exceeded My Expectations

Whether we realize it or not, we all form expectations around everything. We may not consciously think about it, but our mind has already decided in advance how we think something will go. Then after the event is over, our perception of “how it went” isn’t so much about how it actually went. It’s more about “were our expectations met?” This is totally true with gigs.

A few years ago I was called last-minute for a gig with some people I’d never met. This was going to be a simple three-piece setup with just drums, bass, and electric guitar - plus a singer. I was booked for the gig two days in advance, but I didn’t know the setlist until a few hours before. As I listened through the songs, I discovered that the opening tune was an original by this artist. Great…I’ve got an hour to learn and perfect a song that happens to be an original. Better not mess this up…

The bass player was the one person in the band I knew, so that gave me some reassurance that everything would be fine. However, the last minute communication (or lack thereof) still made me a little nervous. Will this artist be nit-picky about playing the exact parts on the record? Will they keep pausing the rehearsal to make abstract comments about vibe-related things they want the drummer to do…but that they can’t clearly articulate? When you’re playing for someone new for the first time, you want to make a good impression and you want to make them happy. As long as you can do really well within the first few moments of playing, you’re mostly in the clear. With my clear strategy in mind, I prepared my best to nail the songs.

I arrived for the pre-gig rehearsal and soundcheck, and I met the new musicians. Since there hadn’t been enough last minute preparations already (wink-wink), the artist tossed me a thumb drive with a track they wanted to use on their original tune. Yay tracks…Let’s hope they work. Thankfully I was prepared to load up a track since I was running click from Ableton on my laptop anyways. Hopefully everything would sync up and be fine, but this did add to my apprehension about playing this artist’s song for the first time and wanting to get it perfect.

Pretty soon everything was up and running, and we were smoothly progressing through rehearsal. We played through each song no more than once, and we all felt well-prepared and ready to roll. Well that was the easiest rehearsal ever.

If the rehearsal was an 8/10 on the musical greatness scale, the actual gig was well OVER a ten. There were countless moments throughout the night where I was just sitting back thinking, This feels GREAT! I can’t believe it’s actually going this well. I love playing with these people. This was one of those musical moments where everything was so fluid, so natural, and so relaxingly musical that it quickly flew by. By the end of it I was left going - “What just happened??”

I want to say that this gig was flawless. However, I know better than to claim that it was perfection when I haven’t heard a recording from the night. BUT…When all the musicians are listening to each other, making music at the highest quality level possible, AND having a blast doing it… great things happen. This was one of those nights.

My point in telling this story is this: This gig exceeded all expectations I had formed in my mind.

I’ve played other gigs where I’ve had weeks to think about it and days to listen to recordings and practice to perfection. Then when it comes gig time I realize that the whole thing isn’t as magical and perfect as I’ve built it up in my mind thinking about it every day. It’s interesting how that works. Sometimes a short notice gig can surprise you with how much fun it ends up being, simply because you didn’t have time to play it out in your head beforehand. And sometimes last minute preparation forces your brain to forego the nervousness or anxiety that might normally build up over a few week’s time.

Be careful with the expectations you allow to form, but more importantly be flexible in dealing with things that don’t go as planned. As long as you can break free from “how you think things ought to be” and go with whatever happens…you’ll be fine. I could tell more stories of times I’ve learned this the hard way, but I’ll save those for future emails.

God Bless,

Stephen