Let's talk New Year's gigs........

TC2112 · #1 12-09-2010, 09:00 AM

whatcha got coming up this year, and have you ever had any stellar, or horrible experiences with a end of year gig.

I personally don't have any horror stories from a new years gig, they have always been great fun and great money for me. This year my country / southern rock band goes country club.

Oak Grove Country Club in Oxford Indiana with a sweet little 10 to 1 slot for about 1500.00 split 5 ways, w/ free food, free beer a set and champagne toast at midnight. It will probably be an older crowd, but hell - I'm 40 this year myself, so it all seems relative to me.

HeadyVan Halen · #2 12-09-2010, 09:07 AM

Private party gig..those are the best to me. $1,000 for a Trio (know somebody that knows somebody) 7 pm..until....usually 10-10:30. And here's the best part: Told us to play what we wanted (as long as it's not Death Rock or too loud)

Free BBQ
and Beer until someone says "are you guys gonna play anymore..?"

I like rich white drunk people. The tip to drunkness ratio is exponential

SeaBassSteve · #3 12-09-2010, 09:17 AM

We are getting around 500us for 8-11 (3x45) with free dinner beer an a disco until 4. Just a random pub but rather play than not! Will be good I hope

jgroh · #4 12-09-2010, 09:17 AM

Our band is made up of mostly divorced people with kids that they don't get to see all the time, (except me, I'm happily married with two young kids) so this year it seems like everyone's schedule didn't mesh for most of November & December. So we are actually playing Sat Jan 1st...New Years Day, not New Years Eve. Im not sure how much of a crowd we will get with everyone hungover, but we are getting paid either way so its all good.

Medford Bassman · #5 12-09-2010, 09:20 AM

We're booked at a wedding New Year's Eve. Very good $$ and a meal and drinks.

Had to pass on several other offers after we booked it.

Can't complain though, built in audience who wants to have fun

Phalex · #6 12-09-2010, 09:24 AM

No NYE for us! Nobodies wife seems to like it when their mens are away, and it's amateur night on the roads afterward. So we impose a pretty stiff convenience fee to make up for the inconvenience. We had several places interested, but none wanted to pony up the cash. So, I'm staying in, building a fire in the fireplace, and getting it on........

pasta4lnch · #7 12-09-2010, 09:25 AM

I just learned I got bumped from my bands line up for NYE.

guess I'm on the market for a new band . . .

CapnSev · #8 12-09-2010, 09:28 AM

We've got a $200 per man gig at a popular Irish pub/club. My band has 8 people in it, so the money is great considering.

This place is always packed on weekends, I can't even imagine the chaos it will be on NYE. I'm pretty pumped.

pharmakon · #9 12-09-2010, 09:30 AM

There's a good chance we're going to host a Fetish Ball at our NYE show. Can you say CAS pictures galore?!

DRafalske · #10 12-09-2010, 09:30 AM

We're booked at a little bar about 20 minutes south of Cincy. Twice our normal rate and free beer. Should be a good time... this will actually be my first NYE gig. Really looking forward to it.

D

BrickBatMansion · #11 12-09-2010, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

No NYE for us! Nobodies wife seems to like it when their mens are away, and it's amateur night on the roads afterward. So we impose a pretty stiff convenience fee to make up for the inconvenience. We had several places interested, but none wanted to pony up the cash. So, I'm staying in, building a fire in the fireplace, and getting it on........

Awesome. If all bands had this attitude, there would be LOTS of money to be made.

pasta4lnch · #12 12-09-2010, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRafalske

Twice our normal rate and free beer.

those are the words that dreams are made of!!

jwbassman · #13 12-09-2010, 09:37 AM

Looks like I'll be playing a blues gig at Wachusett Mt. Ski Area in the bar. 9PM to 12AM. I may hit the slopes until five, change grab some dinner at the bar and plays some blues.

scottbass · #14 12-09-2010, 09:38 AM

NYE gigs are one of the two best gigs of the year (the other being Halloween, of course).

One of my ex-bands has a nice NYE gig lined up in one of their regular biker bars. I wish I was playing with them that evening - we typically charged double to triple our usual rate for NYE.

The band I'm in now is trying to score a NYE gig - staying available for the likely event that an already-booked band will be canceling due to breakup, incarceration, etc. However my current band plays too many originals (about 50%) to be in high demand for the typical NYE gig.

If YOUR band has to cancel a NYE gig in southern MN, central MN, Twin Cities, western WI, northern IA or eastern SD, please pass it on to my band!!! You know where to find me.

prokfrog · #15 12-09-2010, 09:43 AM

Ramada Inn. $2500 between five guys. We can each bring a guest. Food & drink covered.

tooloudalex · #16 12-09-2010, 09:47 AM

Battle of the bands

should be fun!

DWBass · #17 12-09-2010, 09:56 AM

Our band just booked one. However, I'm pissed because our soundman raised his usual fee by $200 and this gig is not a particularly high paying one. We also have a New Years Day gig which actually pay better than New Years Eve!

**rhino333** · #18 12-09-2010, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWBass

Our band just booked one. However, I'm pissed because our soundman raised his usual fee by $200 and this gig is not a particularly high paying one. We also have a New Years Day gig which actually pay better than New Years Eve!

Yeah, I've seen that happen on holiday gigs. The sound guy bumps up his price because more bands are playing out that night and sound is in high demand. The people I've worked with have bumped up in accordance with the bump the band got, though.

I'm not sure what house sound will charge. That usually gets paid by the house. The one time the house sound guy wanted more from us, we told him to "stick it". If I didn't pay the house sound initially, I'm not paying a "tip".

mid_life_crisis · #19 12-09-2010, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWBass

Our band just booked one. However, I'm pissed because our soundman raised his usual fee by $200 and this gig is not a particularly high paying one. We also have a New Years Day gig which actually pay better than New Years Eve!

I think I'd be checking out new soundmen and remembering this when hiring for future gigs.

DanNowhere · #20 12-09-2010, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgroh

Our band is made up of mostly divorced people with kids that they don't get to see all the time, (except me, I'm happily married with two young kids) so this year it seems like everyone's schedule didn't mesh for most of November & December. So we are actually playing Sat Jan 1st...New Years Day, not New Years Eve. Im not sure how much of a crowd we will get with everyone hungover, but we are getting paid either way so its all good.

Played a New Year's Day gig years ago. It suh-diddley-ucked. There may have been ten people in the place at its most crowded, and Ohio State was playing in a bowl game that night, so we were ordered to wait until the game was over before we could start (not to mention we had to set up our gear around the old console big screen TV in the middle of the stage that was placed there for the big game). Of course, the game went into overtime. I don't think we even started playing until 12:30. We did get paid the full amount, though.