How It Should Be Done
After the fairly miserable rant that was my last post I have been hoping to have something positive to write about. After all, one of the reasons for starting this site was to make me feel better about my life choices. As well as having somewhere to vent frustrations of course.
After looking through some photos from a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded that our private gig on the shores of Lake Como was actually pretty good. It makes a change to recent happenings to play on a gig where not only the pay was great but everything around it went smoothly too. Or at least almost smoothly.
View from the Airbnb.
In my previous article, I mentioned that acquiring private bookings from our regular contract in Monaco was getting more difficult. On one rare occasion however, a passing request for a business card from a guest turned quickly into a real offer. The gig was a 60th birthday at a five star hotel by Lake Como. That was nice enough but it quickly got better. After discussing pay and equipment, we were then asked if we would want accommodation for an extra day after the gig to explore the area. Obviously we said yes. Things were looking good for a change.
When the time to fly to Italy finally came around, like any gig abroad I expected something to go wrong. When I landed I met with two of the other guys before we found our taxi already waiting for us. That made a change. Obviously with it being Italy we nearly died at least three times on the short journey to our Airbnb but made it in one piece.
Then it was time for what I’m guessing is every musician’s least favourite part of the job. Setting up and sound checking. Fortunately, this was one of those events with a full team of guys just for the stage so we only needed to play a couple of songs. As a band, we love a super short sound check. I’d like to say it’s because we’re really experienced, which we are I guess. But it’s more because we just can’t be bothered anymore. As long as the levels are pretty much there for the first song it’ll be fine right?
The Venue. No expense spared. Not sure how guests were supposed to talk to the person opposite them through the wall of flowers though.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get much easier, we learned that a drag show, that was also part of the evening’s entertainment, might run over into our sets. Plus there were speeches and a DJ set to fit in somewhere. It was over dinner that we were told our planned 3 x 45 minute sets would be cut to just one hour! This was the best gig ever! And the food was good too. Served with champagne. Big difference from our normal contracts of late.
The gig itself was played whilst the guests were eating. Not the most fun but we had them up dancing for the last few. After that we had a couple of beers backstage before heading back to the Airbnb, not believing how much we were to be paid for such an easy time.
The next day it was time to check out Laglio. Only it was during this year’s European heatwave. So we didn’t leave the apartment until 5PM. It was way too hot. Also by the time it gets to 2pm, everything is closed for siesta. In fact there was only one restaurant/bar that was open all day. It was like a butchers that served meat and cheese platters and drinks by the lake. It was great and we ended up eating lunch there both days. We ate at a fish restaurant at night which was shite. One of our dishes came served with cling film still attached. Microwave fresh. At least the views were nice though.
Bottega Da Luciano. Great place for meat, cheese and cocktails. Think I ate enough of this stuff to fuel three heart attacks.
Osteria Vecchio Molo. Nice views. Shame about the food.
Laglio is a weird place. I still don’t know why visitors flock here. It’s beautiful for sure, but there’s not a lot to do. Apart from spying on George Clooney’s villa. That gets old quick though and not having our own car meant we couldn’t travel the fairly modest distances to experience a bit more liveliness. So after dinner there was no choice but to head back to the apartment and get drunk, before flying home the next day. Which involved more drinking. And a Ryanair curry which after three glasses of prosecco, two negronis and a gin and tonic tasted fantastic.
Very picturesque. Just not a lot going on in Laglio.
So all in all, a great and easy gig. Only it wasn’t that straightforward because we didn’t get paid. It took our singer three emails, the last one being fairly assertive, to get the birthday girl to finally pay up about six weeks late. So I doubt we’ll be hired by her again. I really don’t understand some of these wealthy people though. It can’t be out of laziness that she didn’t pay. She was great at organizing everything else, including last minute changes of plan. And this was very much a no expense spared kind of event. She loved our performance too and couldn’t stop praising it. But never mind I guess, we got the money in the end. I just hope that the next event we get is as well payed and straightforward as this. Not sure it’s possible though.
If any of the above was helpful in anyway, feel free to repay me by visiting my Clickasnap page here! Look at as many of my photos as possible as I get a very, very small cut of the ad revenue per view that’s longer than 5 seconds. Thanks!
