Gang Gang Dance last night in SF. What happened?

Maybe that's their gimmick?

http://www.darrenandrewsphotography.co.uk/decor/largepics/mark-e-smith.jpg

you should all get refunds from the bicycle film festival for not supplying the band with proper backline-the reason they agreed to play the show in the first place.
by the way, ggd would never turn off the amps of other members. you're probably thinking of the band excepter.

Also - these 'incidents' tend to get really out of hand in messageboard land. I've been a victim of this kinda thing too - when there are 'technical difficulties' - everything from drunken soundmen to belligerant promoters - the only one who comes off looking bad is the band. The audience doesn't know (or care) that the band was promised a soundcheck and didn't get it, or the guy who put on the show is 'out of town' and the guy who IS there knows NOTHING of any "guarantee" etc etc etc.

I've definitely walked off in disgust before too, and until you've dealt with the nonsense that comes along with touring, don't be so quick to judge. A lot of smoke gets blown and a lot of promises get made when a tour is being planned, but when you arrive, a lot of times, it's a very different story.

are they above proper equipment rental?

I wish you were right about people being able to tell the difference, but you don't usually hear "Well, it sucked, because the sound was terrible, but the band were AWESOME!" Usually it's just "They sucked."

6 years and 5 days afterward, I am going back to the scene of the crime. Wish me luck.

gang gang dance (tentative)
― amon (eman), Monday, October 10, 2005 6:32 PM (6 years ago)

what exactly is their backline requirement?
are they above proper equipment rental?

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, October 10, 2005 6:35 PM (6 years ago)

Haha I didn't notice the year til the "6 years pass..' and thought the upcoming show had already happened resulting in abject failure as I kind of expected. I would have gone to the original show to see Tussle though, pretty sure that's around the time they opened for Out Hud at BOTH. That was far from a failure.

bummed I'm missing this, oh well. still really like eye contact

It was a good show, GREAT compared to 6 years ago lmbo.

I haven't seen them for a while, since the WBAR-B-Q in 2009 I think so I was stoked to hear all the new material live.

Gang Gang Dance Last Night topic posted Thu, October 6, 2005 - 11:23 AM by Unsubscribed

I went to see Gang Gang Dance @ The Indie last night.
What a HUGE let down that was! The keyboard player threw a
tantrum cuz he was having technical issues.

They barely made it through one song,when he started angrily screaming "IT'S A COMEDY SHOW IT'S A COMEDY SHOW!" into his mic which just looped his voice into a wall of sound. Then they all grabbed their shit and left! THEY FUCKING LEFT!! If it wasn't for the amazing set by local act TUSSLE, I woulda burned the place down!

gang gang dance topic posted Thu, October 6, 2005 - 1:50 PM by Unsubscribed

anyone go to the show at the independent...what was that??

tussle rocked, but ggd threw a little tantrum...."comedy show comedy show"...shut up, go home. i gotta say, the crowd wasnt helping much either. patience people.

Re: gang gang dance Fri, October 7, 2005 - 8:50 AM
I was REALLY disappointed!

While I understand that technical difficulties can happen,I was left wondering why the keyboard player didn't think to bring an extra cable?
It seemed that a faulty cable was the problem. Perhaps they should have figured that out at the soundcheck earlier that day? (or maybe there wasn't one?) I was pretty patient but after they all left the stage and the house lights came on,I was fuming! If it wasn't for an amazing set by Tussle I would have demanded my $$ back!

Re: gang gang dance Fri, October 7, 2005 - 10:35 AM
shore shore...(read sure) yeah, problems can happen...but fucking stick it out to try to find out what the prob is and dont cry and blow the mic and make an ass out of yourself and the rest of your band...the fucking guitarist looked all embarrased and like what??? and the girl...she seemed really sorry...keys boy uffed it all. blegh blegh blegh....you going to the von iva show tonight at bottom of the hill?

Re: gang gang dance Fri, October 7, 2005 - 10:26 PM
I agree whole heartedly!
I was really feelin the noodling that the guitar player
was doin. Did they REALLY need the keyboards? ( He looked like one of the guys who back Nena back in the 80's.)
It looked like the drummer was pretty pissed at how stoopid
the keyboardist was acting.

No, I'm not goin to see Von Iva. I've got to work early tomorrow. :(
They put on a good show though! Ok... and yes the singer is hot! LOL!

Re: gang gang dance Sat, October 8, 2005 - 2:30 AM
ok...so im back from the von iva show...and i gotta say, why on earth do they always put on the lame, no energy band after the awesome high energy band??? even if they are a bigger name, who cares...von iva rocked harder than them. i also must say that i now have two penises...i grew one during their show...i couldnt help it. they have mad potential...plus, i think im in love with the keys girl...like petite like woah. argh.

Re: gang gang dance Thu, December 15, 2005 - 9:59 PM
unfortunately i feel the need to respond to this.
we(GGD) were flown to SF to play that one show, therefore we were gauranteed a backline and a soundcheck(not unreasonable considering that without a backline our instruments dont make any sound). we arrived at the venue four hours early on the day of the show just to take extra precautions........soundchecks often "magically" disappear from certain venues list of priorities. anyway.....we arrived to find the promised and necessary backline nowhere to be found.....waited two of our four precious hours for borrowed amps to arrive from the very gracious openers. we set up our equipment with a more than adequate amount of time left to soundcheck, but for some unknown reason the "soundperson" at the independent spent roughly 1hour and 45minutes of those two remaining hours running around on the phone, talking to me about his collection of music equipment, asking me if i listened to captain beefheart, and generally being an absolutely passive aggressive condescending prick. so we were left with fifteen minutes to check and during those fifteen minutes encountered more problems than we've ever had on a stage. the DI's that the prickman gave me were all fucked and cutting out, he wouldnt listen to a single thing we suggested, and he sat at the soundboard talking on the phone until finally he approached the stage and told us we had to "get things moving" and that he had to start soundchecking the other bands due to a "lack of time". i told him straight up that we werent going to be able to play if he didnt help us figure something out....that it actually technically was not going to work....and he pointed to his watch and began "helping" us move our useless gear off stage. come showtime.....we made a decision to just play in hopes that something would miraculously occur and the crappy amps and DI's would decide to work. what else could we do? when you have the majority of the staff at a venue yelling at you to get on stage, yelling at you to play when your onstage, yelling at you because your scowling at the fact that the sound is fucked(even though you had told them that before),etc,etc,etc....and your onstage in front of a roomful people whom you so very much want to play to and share your music with, and that very same audience begins yelling "play already!"....and no matter what you try you cannot get anything to work......well, emotions tend to run a little high and sometimes we cant all be so cool as to laugh it off and go with the flow and pretend that its a very comfortable and welcoming and patient situation and just try, as one of you put it, to" stick it out and figure out what the problem is". we stuck it out for four hours earlier in the day and we were completely disrespected by the alltime worst soundperson we've ever dealt with.
so.....while i am not trying to write this as a 'fuck you very much for your comments' type thing....i do wish you would be a little more understanding. had you been through the frustrations of our day you may very well have given up at that point as well. i apologise for the fact that so many people came to see us.....and didnt really see us at all, but it really was out of our hands by that time.
and if you are still unforgiving, then yes, fuck you very much.
------------------"keys boy" uffing it all---------BDG/GGD
join to post
m@r+y

Re: gang gang dance Fri, December 16, 2005 - 12:22 AM
that sucks.

Sorry dude.

the spockmorgue thread was even more ridiculous, but maybe more sympatico.

haha, i read this and thought what did happen last night?! but it was more an i-wish-i-was-on-mushrooms-for-the-show-last-night-what-happened because some dude was dancing around in robes on stage with a dead tumbleweed waving it around. visuals were also OTT and amazing, chakra and mushrooms and tribal masks. it was a veritable hippy hipster shitshow.

they were great the 2 times I saw em playing stuff from St. Dymphna, I'd like to see the new stuff

http://www.thefader.com/2011/05/25/taka-imamura-is-gang-gang-dance’s-spirit-guide/

eye contact was great, and they play a new track that is like... almost bollywood. they are really taking the world music/hippy vibe to the next level to some success. the crowd was crazy 100% of the time but the more manic moments turned me off...