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Suggestions for Helloween Gig?

We are booked for our first ever Helloween gig this year. We plan on doing a \"Rock and Roll Freak Show\" type of event with costumes and party atmosphere. I know some of you here have probably already done this in the past, so I am asking for your suggestions on how to pull this off successfully.

The questions I have right now are what kind of songs fit that Helloween theme. I was thinking of Black Magic Woman and a few others, but would love to hear your suggestions.

Any costume suggestions for the band?

Any suggestions for party favours and/or treats for the audience. We are willing to spend a little out of pocket money from the band's take to make this a successful night.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. We have 2 months to prep for this gig, so we still have time to learn new songs and gather our supplies. Any help?

Comments

  • Absolutely, you MUST play Monster Mash. Easy song, cute vox, totally theme-compatible.

    And the band should wear costumes too, to be part of the atmosphere. 8)

    Party favors? Maybe those glow sticks, in orange??

    And if it's going to be \"Helloween\" instead of \"Halloween\", consider playing lots of headbanging ultra-depressing goth Satan-worshipping metal. :roll:
  • \shredd\ wrote:
    ...And if it's going to be \"Helloween\" instead of \"Halloween\", consider playing lots of headbanging ultra-depressing goth Satan-worshipping metal. :roll:

    Yeah, we are playing around with the spelling to get a darker theme. We are not into Satan-worshipping, but a healthy bit of mockery on Halloween does seem appropriate.

    We do plan on dressing up for the band. However, some things I have been concerned about are making sure the costume does not affect my ability to play, and that the costume is not too hot that it makes playing uncomfortable. After all, we are talking about 4 hours on stage.

    Monster Mash is a great song suggestion. I'll be looking up the tab tonight. Just thought of a song with the lyrics \"she's just a devil woman, with evil on her mind....\" I don't remember if the song was \"Devil Woman\" or who wrote it. Any help?

    Please keep those suggestions coming. Thanks guys.
  • You should have a body with no head(like just clothes) hang from the guitar neck and put a mask on the headstock or something. or put invisible ink on your guitar and write something weird so you can see it in a blacklight.
  • \gtaus\ wrote:
    Monster Mash is a great song suggestion. I'll be looking up the tab tonight. Just thought of a song with the lyrics \"she's just a devil woman, with evil on her mind....\" I don't remember if the song was \"Devil Woman\" or who wrote it. Any help?
    \"Monster Mash\" is really easy. If you can get a recording, you won't even need a tab. Or vice versa.
    I have an MP3 of it, which I'll trade you for a setup with your wife's hott single friend. :twisted:

    Didn't the Eagles write a devil woman song? \"Witchy Woman\"? (great lyrics: \"Raven hair, and ruby lips...sparks fly from her fingertips...\")
  • I looked it up and i guess devil woman is a song by cliff richards. dont know him but he wrote what your thinkin of. good luck
  • Since shredd took my Eagles/Witchy Woman suggestion :lol: , what about Frankenstein/Edgar Winter Group?

    I download midi files onto floppy disks, and put them into my Yamaha keyboard for Halloween parties.

    Some of my favorites that I use, and can play (on keyboard and guitar):
    Midnight Express (instrumental)
    The Exorcist theme/Tubular Bells (Fact: Castle Walls/STYX was inspired by this themesong!)
    Werewolves of London/Warren Zevon
    Halloween (The Movie) Theme
    Living Dead Girl, More Human Than Human/Rob Zombie
    Bark at the Moon/Ozzy
    Hotel California/Eagles (reminds me of The Shining, the hotel that won't let you leave)

    So, you have Witchy Woman, Devil Woman, Black Magic Woman, and don't forget Evil Woman/ELO...

    Just a few ideas, hope it gives you a good start! 8)
  • You should have a body with no head(like just clothes) hang from the guitar neck and put a mask on the headstock or something. or put invisible ink on your guitar and write something weird so you can see it in a blacklight.

    That's something I never thought of. I wonder if there is some kind of invisible black light ink that we could temporarily put on our guitars and stuff that would only show up with a black light. That would be cool. I imagine that we would have to have a pretty strong black light in order to light the stage. But we could hit the black light and all those crazy things would be jumping off our guitars/gear. Sounds cool.
  • edited September 2008
    I looked it up and i guess devil woman is a song by cliff richards. dont know him but he wrote what your thinkin of. good luck

    That sounds right. I think I have a cassette of Cliff Richards greatest hits in my collection. I'll have to dig out the cassettes to see if I still have it. I remembered that song from way back in the day....long before CD's and mp3 files. Thanks for the help.
  • I looked it up and i guess devil woman is a song by cliff richards. dont know him but he wrote what your thinkin of. good luck

    That sounds right. I think I have a cassette of Cliff Richards greatest hits in my collection. I'll have to dig out the cassettes to see if I still have it. I remembered that song from way back in the day....long before CD's and mp3 files. Thanks for the help.
  • I'm loving the suggestions. I'm going to start getting mp3 files of the songs mentioned here and start seeing what our band can pull off. For the songs we can't perform, I'll just use those as our break music. Also, I'm thinking that I will mix in some Halloween sound effects for the break music, and maybe even for our show..... I knew that you guys would jump start my imagination. That's what I love about this forum.
  • Bad moon rising by credence clearwater revival......its the theme from An American Werewolf in London.......Thriller by Michael Jackson if you have keyboards and a tidy bass player......... zombie costumes are always easy just basically cut some old clothes with a scissors and put lots of dark coloured make up on your face.
  • Ask the venue if foggers- hazers are permitted. Great for the mood!

    Song choices given are really good. Munsters theme is fun for fillers, but add a few songs in to your regular sets. We once went crazy with a whole set of Halloween type songs and our audience was sort of ummmm, yeah about it.

    Sabbath tunes, Kiss, those work too.

    Costumes- worried about a hot stage? Just wear ripped up shorts and an old shirt. Get some of that fake cut stuff and bloody up the legs arms etc. Hockey masks, other masks can work. If you are in a club, great. Last year we did a Halloween gig in a horse stable. It was around 38 degrees at start time. None of the instruments stayed in tune as it dropped to 31 !

    Props work. Get some plastic pumpkins around the stage, maybe put a skeleton off the drums. Prop some ghoulish creatures on stage monitors. Get the wives, gf's and kids involved with that part. Sometimes they are a little more creative.
  • maybe put a skeleton off the drums. .

    I have seen where they rigged up a skeleton off the Hi hat so everytime it was used the skeleton moved/jumped.

    And I just want to add. That whatever costume you go with if it isn't super simple and definitely know it won't be a problem, you may want to do the last practice before the gig in full dress. Just to make sure it won't interfear with your playing or the instrument.
  • Okay, helloween. Here are some suggestions

    FRANKENSTEIN-EDGAR WINTER GROUP
    RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL-VAN HALEN
    CREATURES OF THE NIGHT-KISS
    LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT-JUDAS PRIEST
    DREAM WARRIORS-DOKKEN(THEME TO NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST.)
    NIGHT CRAWLER-JUDAS PRIEST
  • \"Night Prowler\", by AC/DC? 8)
  • Add in some Alice Cooper also.
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