Opening for big names

[HighwayStar]

Hey guys, I know many people on TB have opened for well known bands but how did you organize that?

[recreate.me]

My band hasn't opened for really big names, but we have played with popular names haha
The way we did it was to approach the show promoter, in our case it was the owner of the venue. We asked if we could open for <insert name> and he said he didnt mind and would ask the band. A few days later he came back and said they didn't mind that we open for them, and we had 25 minutes.

I would say your best bet is to find out who organized the show and see if theres room in the line up.

[uglyrumor]

Originally Posted by recreate.me

My band hasn't opened for really big names, but we have played with popular names haha
The way we did it was to approach the show promoter, in our case it was the owner of the venue. We asked if we could open for <insert name> and he said he didnt mind and would ask the band. A few days later he came back and said they didn't mind that we open for them, and we had 25 minutes.

I would say your best bet is to find out who organized the show and see if theres room in the line up.

+1

[Jonyak]

we found out who the promoter was that brought the bigger names into town. Played a few shows for him, and then he started adding us to the bigger shows.

[wetzelman1]

Originally Posted by Jonyak

we found out who the promoter was that brought the bigger names into town. Played a few shows for him, and then he started adding us to the bigger shows.

that ^

also, around the Boston area, it's really more about if you can sell tickets, AKA "Pay to Play". Big festival type deals are about 150 @ $30 ($4500) while indoor national acts are usually 100 @ $15-20 ($1500). Even a small club we previously played at that has very little draw is now requiring 50 @ $10 with no national acts.

[robotbraineater]

there are local festivals, (in my town its called bearstock) where locally known bands get to play all day, and its headlined by bigger bands. (we the kings, the maine, cartel, and jeremih this year)