We are playing on a fairly big stage at the Fete de la Musique in Berlin next month. Just got our time slot and noticed they are only planning for 15 minutes set up time between bands. Cool, I think, so there must be a backline provided, and we can just plug in and go. Just got an email back that no, they cannot provide a backline. The tech guys will be in contact with us.
We are a seven piece band - drums, bass, guitar, key, vox, sax and trumpet. Am I too pessimistic in thinking there is no way in hell we can set up all our gear and be ready to go within 15 minutes, minus the time the previous band takes to tear down? Maybe they expect us to share a backline among the four bands that are playing, but it doesn't strike me as that kind of gig, and no effort has been made to connect the bands with each other. They also just told the bands to be there "15 minutes before your playtime".
Very curious to find out how they want this to work.
It's doable but you must figure out the essential items you need on stage and eliminate the rest. In other words some compromise may be necessary. Also before it's your time to set up, all gear should be made ready. You should essentially roll your amp on stage with as many of the cables in place as possible. If you use a pedal board bring that out next. Finally bring out your bass and stand and make all of the final connections. You should be done in less than 5 minutes.
Band members with the least gear should help those with more gear. For example a vocalist or two could help the drummer carry his set out on stage, help carry a keyboard, or bring out the guitarists pedal board. Figure out how to make it work in advance, and consider doing a dry run.
Another possibility is to run off the monitors. Sometimes you get burned doing this, because running ampless takes most of the control you have over your stage volume and gives it to someone else.
Here is my sad little story:
Years ago, I played a huge festival stage in Brussels. I decided to run off my monitor, so I could help everyone else. I before I made the decisions, I called the sound company to make sure the equipment was suitable. The monitors were of the quality where it could have worked really well. I had a single 15 horn high-end JBL for my monitor. I brought out my bass on a stand and plugged into the DI. Then I went and helped other members with their gear. We got everything setup in plenty of time to do a monitor check.
During sound check, the monitor tech kept asking to put a bunch of stuff in the drum fills. I believe they had four double 15 subs along with a pair of 15 horn JBLs. We didn't normally use drum fills. Instead our drummer used a headphone amp with a monitor feed and his metronome.
At the end of soundcheck, my bass was dialed in and sounding nice, and there was a nice balanced mix on stage. I normally run my volume wide open, but for this gig I dialed it back a bit so I could turn up if necessary during the show.
As soon as we started playing the monitor tech cranked up the drum fills to the point where the bass drum was feeding back through them. Every time the bass drum hit, a low G rang out and totally covered up the sound of my bass, even though I was standing a significant distance from the drum set. I cranked the volume on my bass, but it was nowhere near enough. I tried to get the monitor tech's attention, but he ignored me. It was obvious he was doing this intentionally to serve his own desires, rather than giving us what we needed to be successful. He was having a blast and grooving to the beat with a big smile on is face.
The estimated audience for the gig was 10K. It should have been one of the best gigs of my life, but I remember it as one of the worst. The drummer enjoyed it immensely though.
At the end of our show, roll/carry your gear off as quickly as possible so the next band can get in place. The other band will be trying to setup while you are doing this. Tear down and pack off stage.
Good Luck!
