Anyone else do live music for the entire gig?

[pkmoor]

First, let me say this is not a complaint about my current situaion - I'm just curious if anyone else is doing something similar. I'm in a wedding band and I generally take one 15-20 minute break per gig. We play up until the time the band is served dinner, then everyone leaves but the bandleader (keyboard) and a vocalist. They do a few tunes, then the vocalist goes to eat and the bandleader performs alone. After the guitar player is done he relieves the bandleader so he can eat. Once he's done we all go back onstage for the remainder of the reception. We usually do this at every gig regardless of the timeframe (even the 7 hour gig we did once). The band is mainly aged 20-30 with the bandleader in his upper 30's and me in my mid 40's.

[Febs]

Originally Posted by pkmoor

First, let me say this is not a complaint about my current situaion - I'm just curious if anyone else is doing something similar. I'm in a wedding band and I generally take one 15-20 minute break per gig. We play up until the time the band is served dinner, then everyone leaves but the bandleader (keyboard) and a vocalist. They do a few tunes, then the vocalist goes to eat and the bandleader performs alone. After the guitar player is done he relieves the bandleader so he can eat. Once he's done we all go back onstage for the remainder of the reception. We usually do this at every gig regardless of the timeframe (even the 7 hour gig we did once). The band is mainly aged 20-30 with the bandleader in his upper 30's and me in my mid 40's.

We have typically played 50 minute sets separated by 15 minute breaks during which we will provide recorded music (usually requests by the bride and groom that are outside of the band's repertoire). Our sound man is also a DJ, so the ability to provide DJ services during breaks is a selling point for us.

More recently, if the reception is a 4 hour total event (1 hour of cocktails plus 3 hours of dinner/dancing), we've been structuring it as cocktails plus two 75 minute sets separated by a half hour break. I've found that this works out a bit better in terms of helping us maintain the momentum of the event event, both for the live and DJ components of our service.

We can do continuous music if requested by the client, for an additional fee, but it is not our standard practice.

[brianrost]

In my experience that is unusual. I have done weddings where a subset of the full band played the cocktail hour, but never staggering the food break like that.

[electracoyote]

We play 45-50 minute sets with a 15 minute break, I DJ the breaks. We eat when the guests eat, and I put on pre-recorded jazz, classical, or client-requested set of music and put it on autoplay during dinner.

[pkmoor]

Originally Posted by brianrost

In my experience that is unusual. I have done weddings where a subset of the full band played the cocktail hour, but never staggering the food break like that.

I'll add that if the cocktail hour is in another room, then our guitarist and sax player usually handle it, otherwise it's the full band.

[jumbodbassman]

in the old days we called that a continous gig and got paid a premiun for that. otherwise 10 minute break per hour.

[DWBass]

That's a lot of doggone work! I hope the band got paid exceptionally well! For weddings, we do the typical 2 or 3 sets with breaks and of course the typical ceremony songs (father/daughter dance, mother/son dance, husband/wife first dance) and announcements deal! During breaks, we have the appropriate recorded music. We get all the info needed for the gig months in advance.

[jaywa]

Continuous music? On any gig over an hour and a half, that's never happened.

For our 4-hour bar gigs, though, there are gigs where my band only takes one proper break the whole night. If we've got the room jumping on the second set and the BL feels we might lose the crowd by stopping, we go straight through to the end. Although, in those situations he'll usually get on the piano about the time our 2nd break would usually be and do 2 or 3 songs solo so the rest of us can get a breather.

I'm still getting used to rolling that way. The band I was in before this one we always gave ourselves 15-20 minutes off (as a full band) between each set, and we usually took 3 breaks a night.

[fendersax]

Yes, my wedding band does 4 hour continous music straight through - a lot of bands in the Philadelphia area do. It can be tough to get used to but makes all the difference in the world!

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by fendersax

Yes, my wedding band does 4 hour continous music straight through - a lot of bands in the Philadelphia area do. It can be tough to get used to but makes all the difference in the world!

I hope the bands that do this are getting compensated accordingly. If you play through all the breaks that's essentially another full set of work you're doing.

[fendersax]

@jaywa:

Quite well! Only reason not to complain It can be a long night - but well worth it! Really is a fun gig - weddings are always great parties!