Sports and popular music have a long, intertwined history, from Super Bowl halftime shows to the Beatles playing Shea Stadium, longtime home of the New York Mets and the New York Jets. (And who can forget the “Jock Jams” phenomenon?”) On a local level, the relationship tends to be one of competing for audience attention, as the screens in the bars got bigger and the stages got smaller. Being in a college town like Columbia makes it especially challenging for bands booking gigs on game days. On one hand, the venues are full of customers, drinking, eating, and a captive audience for the lucky band on the calendar. On the other hand, that audience is there for the game, not the music, usually, and that can present challenges that make it a less than great experience for the musicians just trying to do their job.
Kevin Pettit, currently of the band 48 Fables, has been around the local scene for years and originally gained some notoriety as a member of Celtic rockers Loch Ness Johnny, where he had his own memorable sports vs. music moment.
“We were playing at the Flying Saucer in Columbia on a college bowl game weekend, and it was packed–I think it was Florida playing someone I can’t recall,” He says. “The big screen television in the bar was facing us on the other side of the room from the stage, and somehow we were able to time several song endings to coincide with a touchdown being scored in the game. So, when the crowd went crazy because someone scored, we took a bow and thanked ‘the great audience.’ It was good, silly fun.”
Not much has changed, according to Chris Reed, who plays both cover gigs and original music with his band The Bad Kids. “I played during the last Clemson-Carolina football game,” He says. “There was definitely a lot of oddly timed applause, which is awkward as hell but in the end it’s all just part of the job.”
It isn’t just football fans who can initiate some great sports-related gig stories, though. Bassist and guitarist Darren Woodlief, who has played around town with numerous acts, remembers an early gig with his rock band Pocket Buddha as an especially memorable evening.
“The band was me, Dave Britt, and Zack Jones, and this was our first sort of out of town gig over in Camden for the Carolina Cup steeplechase race day,” he says. “We were at a bar downtown that was a welcome respite for many very drunk folks who'd been out in the sun all day, a good number of whom may not have actually seen a horse. We played all the cover songs we knew and at the end of our 3 hours a small group of equine enthusiasts were not ready for the party to be over. After some negotiation, we agreed to play another 30 minutes for $50 bucks each. Rejuvenated by the bonus and the chance to again play the songs we knew best, we did our thing and left feeling exhausted but grateful.”
Just like not every game can end in a win for your team, not every gig on a game day turns out great. Josh Roberts, who has toured with his band The Hinges for years throughout the southeast and beyond, can attest to how bad timing can ruin a gig.
“The Hinges were playing Tasty World in Athens, Georgia on the night of the Carolina/Georgia game, maybe 2008 or 2009. It was a solid lineup, all the other bands were from Athens, and everyone was having a good time, hanging around the venue all evening, excited about the show. Then, what wasn’t supposed to happen did, and the Gamecocks beat Georgia in an ugly game. We watched it at the venue, and at the end you could feel all the air let out of the town. It felt bad everywhere. The show was totally deflated. Hardly anyone came, and that strange feeling in the air just stuck around.”
The Hinges’ bad luck followed them home in 2010, he adds.
“During the 2010 SEC championship with Auburn and Cam Newton vs. the Gamecocks, the same thing happened in Columbia. We were playing The Five Points Pub, which we had been reliably packing full of folks. We sound checked early because of the game, went elsewhere to watch it, and when it was over we could just feel it then, too. City deflation. Very small turnout and a strange feeling over everything.”
It wasn’t all bad for the band in either case, however, as non-football fans who are fans of a band don’t really care who won or lost, they just want to see their favorite band play, Roberts notes. “I will say that in both those cases a bunch of serious music fans came late and had a good time. I got the feeling a lot of those folks were anti-sports in general, and were pointedly not going to let something like that mess with their show.”
And then there are the experiences that have nothing to do with the game outcome or the distracting televisions. Sometimes it’s just professional musicians trying to get things done, and they wind up improvising.
Fiddler Jim Graddick remembers a 2013 incident where he was invited to play the Carolina/Clemson halftime show at Williams-Brice Stadium with banjo legend Randy Lucas.
“It was Dick Goodwin’s idea to have a bluegrass band play ‘Dueling Banjos’ with the Carolina band,” Graddick says. “They let us in without tickets since we were with the marching band, and when I went out to use the restroom about halfway through the second quarter, security wouldn’t let me back in since I had no ticket. I explained that I was playing the halftime show, to which the guard flatly responded, ‘Yeah, sure–me too.’”
Of course, there are many musicians who are also big sports fans–who can forget the famous line in Hootie & the Blowfish’s hit song “Only Wanna Be With You” where Darius Rucker namechecks his favorite NFL team with the line “You wonder why I’m such a baby, ‘cause the Dolphins make me cry.”
Patrick Davis is a well-known Gamecock supporter, writing and releasing several classic song tributes to USC sports teams. His sound and production crew lead of choice, local audio engineer Wayne Munn, remembers how they would sometimes have to make allowances for those gigs that clashed with USC game times. “We did a show at (NASCAR driver) Michael Waltrip’s house the day of a Carolina/Clemson football game with Patrick and the band,” Munn says. “We set up iPads behind the edge of the two front walls of the stage, so the band could watch the game as they were performing.”
So, wherever you choose to watch the Super Bowl this week, or any other major sporting event, if there is a local band playing there at the same time you should at least try to applaud at the right time–and drop in an extra tip, as the musicians are working a little harder than usual to have a good gig.