Playing for "kids"

manwiththedogs · #1 08-22-2005, 12:58 AM

Right off the bat I wanna say that I`m not looking to offend anyone with this post, and that I know that members ages vary widely in this forum.
My band played a gig last night, 8/22, that our drummer booked. Sort of a double bill with his sons band, all of whom are in their early 20`s.
The bar was one that the younger guy`s play often, and while we all had a good night, I felt a lil` out of place, what with myself and my bandmates all being in our late 30`s early 40`s. The crowd seemed to dig our stuff - classic rock, country and Blues - but the overall reaction was a mite reserved.
I guess my question is, has anyone else here had a similar experience? And if so, how did you deal?

Any help/advice would be great, since it seems that we may be doing this sort of thing on a regular basis...

JimmyM · #2 08-22-2005, 01:29 AM

I'm offended.

Not really. Nothing offensive there. I have been there a couple times, and you think maybe they're not going to dig it, but then you go out there with confidence and a little bit of humor, and if you're confident and sound good together, you're going to go over. Hell, some of those kids probably like your songs better than the younger bands!

Microbass · #3 08-22-2005, 02:26 AM

been on the other end of the stick (playing with much older bands) and never had any troubles.

If it was your first gig there, or not many from the crowd was form your following, that's probably why you got the feeling of the crowd being in reserve... not knowing what you guys would be throwing at them, and /or saving themselves for the other band(s )

personally i dont think age has anything to do with it on the local scene. people want music, you give it to em. you'll probably get some people commenting on you from time to time, but they are probably idiots anyway.

Aj* · #4 08-22-2005, 05:57 AM

Heck I went to a Whole Lotta Led (Uk Led Zep tribute) gig locally, there were about 500 people there, I was probably the youngest by quite some way but I didn't care, classic rock is great. The guitarist and bassist from Whole Lotta Led have played 1000 gigs together, gives you an idea of the age, I had no problem with that, with music like that you can't argue.

Rat · #5 08-22-2005, 11:13 AM

I have been there....we played a bar/club with my Blues/Oldies Band where for the first set all you heard was *crickets*.......
in between sets they start playing Rage, Metallica ETC on the PA..which was lucky for me I have played a ton metal/hardcore in my last band...so I start playing along and bam Place lit up...of course the rest of the band didn't know any of those tunes but it was enuff to break the ice a bit...

rest of the sets went well.......it's like culture shock

in retrospec we should have researched the place alot better befor booking the gig..

**baba** · #6 08-22-2005, 11:48 AM

We played a gig where everyone was reserved (and young) until the between sets DJ came on. The floor filled to the hiphop and disco grooves as we hung our heads and found solace in the bar. Finally we decided to pick up the instruments while the dj was spinning and picked up the groove. We morphed in and out of the jams while the dj peeled back the volume and eventually morphed into our last set. It kicked ass and many of the bodies stayed on the floor.