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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You read that right: \u00a0\u201cGigs in the Round\u201d, not \u201cGetting Around to Gigs\u201d. \u00a0Transportation to and from gigs is a different chapter. \u00a0This one will discuss gigs where the band is not on a traditional stage but literally surrounded by the crowd they are playing for. \u00a0The name more than likely is a play on the old \u201cTheater in the Round\u201d concept that has been around as long as thespians have staged plays. \u00a0My first live experience of a \u201cGig in the Round\u201d (GitR for short) came courtesy of Ron Phillips and his band Sweat Equity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I had met Ron several years earlier when my next door neighbor took me to a Sweat Equity rehearsal on the second floor of an old building off South Front Street in Marquette. \u00a0I drive past that old store every now and then. \u00a0It is located across the street from the statue of Father Marquette that stands in the park dedicated to him. \u00a0I am not sure why the statue triggers this memory, but in my mind, Sweat Equity is paired with Father Marquette. \u00a0\u00a0It was quite a haul from our neighborhood on the north end of Norway Avenue, but Harold said, \u201cCome on, we are going to a band rehearsal\u201d and I wasn\u2019t going to say no to that. \u00a0Harold was always loaning me his sister\u2019s 45 RPM records to play along with. \u00a0Maybe he had a vested interest in me learning to play the drums because this was the second time he had taken me to see a band of his friends rehearse (they first went by the name of Independence if that rings a bell for anyone). \u00a0After reading Woody Woodmansey\u2019s book <\/span>Spider from Mars: \u00a0My Life with Bowie <\/span><\/i>(FTV May 10, 2017), I realize that this is how many musicians have been introduced to live music.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ron\u2019s drummer \u201clost his drum set\u201d along the way and somewhere near the end of my eighth \u00a0grade school career, he called me and asked if I wanted to audition for the band. \u00a0I was a bit nervous about the prospect of auditioning for a real band but I asked, \u201cWhat do I have to do?\u201d \u00a0He gave me a date and time that he would come over to check me out. \u00a0He did not mention that he was bringing the whole band and their amps and guitars. \u00a0Ron was a great role model of how a good band leader should carry on as he was always punctual and professional. \u00a0They showed up right on time, set up their stuff and proceeded to throw songs at me to play. \u00a0I did okay, but their body language told me that I wasn\u2019t exactly killing it. \u00a0Eventually, Ron asked the band, \u201cAnything else we should go over?\u201d and I suggested Tommy James\u2019 song <\/span>Hanky Panky<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0Apparently they were already sick of this song as a general groan went through the band, but they humored me and played through it. \u00a0\u201cHow about <\/span>Wipe Out<\/span><\/i>?\u201d \u00a0Ron asked. \u00a0I knew of the song but had never tried to play it so Ron said, \u201cLet me show it to you.\u201d \u00a0This was kind of a surprise because their old drummer was still their lead singer, but it was Ron the guitar player who sat down and taught me the iconic tom rolls and bass drum beats that are the heart of the song. \u00a0At least they stopped rolling their eyes when I sat down and played it on the first take.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As they were packing up, the rhythm guitar player said, \u201cHey, I hear there is a State bull (meaning State Policeman) that lives in this neighborhood. \u00a0Do you know where?\u201d \u00a0I wasn\u2019t totally sure why this came up, so I simply pointed my drum stick toward the ceiling and said, \u201cYeah, he is upstairs watching TV.\u201d \u00a0They left, but I already knew I wasn\u2019t getting the gig. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t ready and I will assume that was a bigger reason than having a \u201cState bull\u201d for a father. \u00a0I never did ask why the guitar player showed me how to play <\/span>Wipe Out<\/span><\/i> nor did I learn how the drummer \u201clost his drums\u201d, but it was still a good experience. \u00a0\u00a0The Twig even got to play a two band dance with Sweat Equity a couple of years later and I figured, \u201cIf Ron Phillips thought we were good enough to play on the same bill with them, then we must be doing okay.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Exactly what does this have to do with bands playing GitRs? \u00a0Sweat Equity was the first band I ever saw play a gig like this. \u00a0It took place in the Quad One dining hall which just happened to be across the street from my house. \u00a0There was a large open recreation area in the basement of the quad dining hall and one side featured a sunken pit with a fireplace at one end. \u00a0It resembled an inverted pyramid with step like levels leading down to a flat area that was just big enough for the band to set up side by side with the drummer in the middle. \u00a0By the time I got there, they were already rocking pretty good and I had to squeeze my way through the crowd to get close enough to look down on them in the bottom of this pit. They were surrounded by a large throng of listeners and nobody was dancing because there wasn\u2019t any room to dance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My initial reaction to seeing them in this setting? \u00a0\u201cThat is the coolest thing I have ever seen!\u201d \u00a0At the break, I talked to Ted Thomas, the drummer they hired after my failed audition. \u00a0I said, \u201cHey Ted, how\u2019s it going?\u201d \u00a0He proved to me that drummers must all think alike because he hollered over the noise of the crowd, \u201cThis is the coolest place we have ever played!\u201d \u00a0Ted was somewhat of a ladies man and sans his shirt (it was a tad on the hot side with all of those people crowded together), he also had his fair share of female admirers crowding around which no doubt factored into his \u201ccoolest place ever\u201d statement. \u00a0The Twig didn\u2019t have a name yet and we were still rehearsing and playing parties, but in the back of my mind, I knew that I wanted to play a gig like this sometime.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Flash forward to my senior year in high school and The Twig is now a working band. \u00a0The old Bishop Baraga High School had closed and it was being developed as a youth center. \u00a0Two of our classmates were deeply involved in the project and asked us if we would play a dance to help them raise funds for the renovation work. \u00a0What they didn\u2019t tell us is that they put up the money to hire us for the dance. \u00a0From the size of the crowd, I am pretty sure they got their investment back, but it was such a cool gig, we probably would have done it for free had we known this at the time. \u00a0The central commons of this beautiful old school was arranged with several levels leading down to the main floor of a rotunda at the core of the building. \u00a0We set up on the second or third level down from the top and by the time we started to play, I realized that our equipment \u00a0looked like an island in a sea of bodies that stretched in front of, around, and behind us. \u00a0Had I swiveled my drum stool around with my arms out like propellers, I would have poked out a few eyes in the crowd behind me. \u00a0It sounds a bit claustrophobic but I can only go back to what Ted and I had thought about the Sweat Equity gig years before: \u201cThis is the coolest gig ever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remembering one gig forty five years ago sometimes makes me pause and consider if I am remembering events or manufacturing remembrances. \u00a0In this case, I turned to my old Sledgehammer bandmate Barry and asked him to tell me what he remembers about this gig. \u00a0Here is what he returned to me: \u00a0\u201c<\/span>What would be notable about your Twig gig at Baraga? \u00a0\u00a0It was the first time I’d ever seen a rock band play live. It was very exciting, but I can’t say I have a memorable anecdote about the experience. \u00a0I saw you guys play and I thought it was cool. \u00a0I seem to recall you played <\/span>Midnight Special<\/span><\/i>, \u00a0plus a Creedence Clearwater Revival tune.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A small nugget of information, but Barry\u2019s observations unleashed \u00a0yet another memory cascade. \u00a0Yes indeed, we played a few CCR tunes including <\/span>Midnight Special <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Fortunate Son<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0We had been working on <\/span>Heard it Through the Grapevine <\/span><\/i>\u00a0for quite a long time but it would not click. \u00a0We had previously ditched <\/span>Traveling Band<\/span><\/i> because we could not generate the same energy CCR did, but for some reason we kept trying to work up their version of <\/span>Heard it Through the Grapevine<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0We never got it polished enough to try it out at a gig until this night. \u00a0\u00a0We were a little stoked by the different feel of playing a GitR, so I am sure Mike forged ahead with the bass intro to <\/span>Grapevine<\/span><\/i> figuring it was now or never. \u00a0I joined in with a tribal tom beat and Gene followed with a tremolo laced guitar line. \u00a0With the pressure on, we finally nailed a song we never thought we would be able to pull off live. \u00a0The whole gig was fun, but looking out at a sea of heads bobbing in time with the bass and drums on what would be the first public performance of a song we had previously struggled with is something that always brings me back to that moment in time. \u00a0Maybe that is why I always enjoyed the singing California Raisins ad featuring the same tune!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Throughout the years, many bands have done memorable gigs in the round. \u00a0One of the first widely seen was Elvis in his big comeback tour where he spent at least part of the show out in the audience with his guitar player surrounded by his adoring fans. \u00a0Def Leppard\u2019s massive tour in the round made them a lot of money, and the shenanigans that happened beneath the stage will no doubt be fodder for some future tell all books that should let them collect big bucks for the experience again. \u00a0Playing in the round isn\u2019t something that happens very often because there are technical issues galore, but it is such a unique event, even after all these years, it is hard to forget how much fun it was to play in a sea of people.<\/span><\/p>\n TOP PIECE VIDEO – Def Leppard showing how the big boys do Gigs in the Round on their 1988 tour.<\/p>\n