| Almost Pro: 8 Days, 8 Gigs
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Well I’m just coming off a stretch where I played 8 gigs (7 paying) in 8 days. Here’s the quick and dirty:
Saturday – Small town bar gig, outdoors. Beautiful night, nice stage, decent attendance but an absolutely dead crowd. No matter what we did or played they would not engage with the band, or dance. Just sat there a ways off from the stage getting really drunk. Energy level of the band was really low but I don’t know if that was the result of the bad crowd, or the cause. The bar owner was happy with the till and we got paid quite well, but not one of our more fun gigs.
Sunday – Unpaid gig with my church worship band.
Monday through Thursday: 4-night house band gig at one of the major biker campgrounds for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Decent pay, excellent treatment (comped rooms, food and beer), huge stage with nice lights and P.A. and a good soundman. The band went over well but our performances were very inconsistent. Biggest challenge there was being only one act in (literally) a three-ring circus which made it very hard for us to focus on the music, and our playing suffered. I won’t go into details (what happens in Sturgis stays in Sturgis), but a small hot-bodied female bullrider, bananas, body paint, a studded belt and bubble wrap all made their way onto the stage at various points thoughout the week.
Friday – Beer garden gig at my local fair. Best gig of the stretch for us by far, in both performance and crowd engagement. The vendor told us they sold more beer during our show than they had sold the whole rest of the week to that point. Big crowd pressing right up to the stage, dancing and singing along even to our originals. Not the highest paying gig we’ve ever played but possibly the most fun. Was especially gratifying considering we had to make a 6-hour drive back from Sturgis the day of the show and go immediately to the venue to set up all our lights and P.A.
Saturday – Outdoor dance at the town where I went to high school. A great P.A. and light show were provided along with a pro-quality stage the promoter had built himself. We played pretty well and the promoter was happy with the turnout even though I thought it could (and should) have been more. Had a chance to schmooze the editor of the hometown paper during break and then gave a follow-up phone interview that hopefully should result in some good coverage for the band. | 
