Nemo and the Headline Act

Every band likes to headline a venue, but to be honest with you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

We finally got a gig at one of the bigger underground venues in the city, and it turned out to be a total “music fest” with ten bands playing. The whole thing had been arranged by a shady local promoter who was desperate to pay off some debts. Anyway, we were given the dubious honour of playing last.

We showed up to play, but the event started really late. Every band wanted to fully indulge in the chance to perform on the big stage. The promoter was nowhere in sight, and nobody was enforcing the schedule. Finally, it was time for the ninth band to go on, but they refused to take the stage until they could go outside for a smoke. They decided everyone could wait for them and acted like real jerks. It was midnight when they finally went on and played their shitty set. To make matters worse, they ran over time and played much longer than they should have.

It was past 1 a.m. when my band and I were finally able to take the stage, only to be told that we could only play for 20 minutes. By that time, there was no point anyway, as the place was totally empty. As I said, it’s not always best to headline.