People just don't seem to dance here any more. They're mostly older and seem to just like to sit and listen.
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Another gig where we quit early because the crowd left.
- Thread starter 51PRI
- Start date
Then you need to give them stuff that is listenable.
I think dancey or listenable is quite a key demarcation when discussing the booking.
Sure, if you can change the set on the gig then fine, but you need to be able to recognise whats required. You cant just pile on along the same track obliviously.
I think dancey or listenable is quite a key demarcation when discussing the booking.
Sure, if you can change the set on the gig then fine, but you need to be able to recognise whats required. You cant just pile on along the same track obliviously.
Any band I've worked with as a grownup, someone in the band, BL, MD or myself, would have had a short discussion with the drummer by now. Something along the lines of. "Just learn your ____ing parts or we'll find someone who will." Then, the drummer would either adapt, quit or be fired, and the band would either find a reasonable replacement or breakup.
Point being, there'd be an adaptive evolution of some kind.
OTOH, this is a band where we've repeatedly been given front row seats to the kind of non-adaptive, stereotyped behavior that fiction writers only reserve for tertiary/background characters.
Please help me understand - Is this real or some kind of long-running troll?
It's a fair question.
It's real.
And, just to clarify things, and I've posted most of this before, at one time I was in 5 bands. Although THIS band was my #1 money maker it was my least favorite/important, as weird as that might sound. Back then if something stupid happened in this band, which it did, I would just think "whatever" and move on, with the knowledge that THIS band wasn't where my heart was. Now that I'm only in this band (I'm not counting the one we're trying to get started) I'm open to seeing what we COULD be if we tried more, and being frustrated by my bandmates seeming lack of interest in doing that. I think they think we're doing okay as we are. I just have to accept that, and that I'm in the minority about this, and just let it go. We have had a lot of bookings this year so that's a positive.
We have two gigs this weekend at two different venues in town and I'm interested to see how they go and I may be back here to report.
On another note, the drummer won't be fired since he is an original member of the band.
Hmmm...
I live and play in an area of Washington known to be mostly retiree's, the Olympic Peninsula. We play from Port Angeles to Port Townsend and never have a problem getting folks dancing, a good portion of them older than me and I'm 56.
A carefully curated setlist will get 'em moving...
Same here and I'm in the NYC suburbs to the north. If they aren't dancing, it's the music.Hmmm...
I live and play in an area of Washington known to be mostly retiree's, the Olympic Peninsula. We play from Port Angeles to Port Townsend and never have a problem getting folks dancing, a good portion of them older than me and I'm 56.
A carefully curated setlist will get 'em moving...
5 bands down to one...??
And you are left with one you arent happy with?
Do you see similarities with the other bands you left, with this one?
And you are left with one you arent happy with?
Do you see similarities with the other bands you left, with this one?
There's at least one common denominator and we keep feeding it.
Not really.
One was (is) a blues based band, one was all originals, another was acoustic singer/songwriter type, one was a mix of originals and covers, and one was modern pop. The events of the break-up of those bands was different in each case. The one left standing so to speak is the one that was the busiest booking wise but also the easiest. I played my first three gigs with them before we even had a rehearsal.
Right. Almost like it’s made up. Or. Something.
UPDATE:
Friday night gig. Started out great. Room was packed. We were playing okay but by the end of the first set about 2/3 of the crowd was gone. At this point I don't know if we're too loud or if we just suck. I really mean that. So I suggested that we play (rehearse actually) some of our originals songs, ones that we don't regularly play, since we have an originals show coming up, so that's what we did. Then later we had a couple of groups of people come in and we ended up having an okay night with even a few dancers. Not ground breaking or even memorable by any means but not dismal, either.
Saturday night gig. Not very many people starting out and people came and went through the night. We never had a crowd at all. If all of the people that came and went all night had been there all night we would have had a good crowd. It was really cold in the room. Most people came in and never took their coats off. At the end of the night, while we were packing up the owners came up to talk to us. (Our BL had already left at this point). They were quizzing us about our gig on Friday night and how the crowd was. The more we talked and the more questions they asked t became apparent that they were having trouble establishing a crowd. The bar side of the venue was dead all night, and they serve food (Mexican food) and I don't think the food part had been doing that well, either. They said that they had checked out some of the other places in town and they were dead Friday night, too. Then later we found out that a friend's band played there recently and at the end of the night they didn't have enough money to pay them.
My point is that maybe, despite our internal problems, it's not us. Maybe bars here are just struggling.
Friday night gig. Started out great. Room was packed. We were playing okay but by the end of the first set about 2/3 of the crowd was gone. At this point I don't know if we're too loud or if we just suck. I really mean that. So I suggested that we play (rehearse actually) some of our originals songs, ones that we don't regularly play, since we have an originals show coming up, so that's what we did. Then later we had a couple of groups of people come in and we ended up having an okay night with even a few dancers. Not ground breaking or even memorable by any means but not dismal, either.
Saturday night gig. Not very many people starting out and people came and went through the night. We never had a crowd at all. If all of the people that came and went all night had been there all night we would have had a good crowd. It was really cold in the room. Most people came in and never took their coats off. At the end of the night, while we were packing up the owners came up to talk to us. (Our BL had already left at this point). They were quizzing us about our gig on Friday night and how the crowd was. The more we talked and the more questions they asked t became apparent that they were having trouble establishing a crowd. The bar side of the venue was dead all night, and they serve food (Mexican food) and I don't think the food part had been doing that well, either. They said that they had checked out some of the other places in town and they were dead Friday night, too. Then later we found out that a friend's band played there recently and at the end of the night they didn't have enough money to pay them.
My point is that maybe, despite our internal problems, it's not us. Maybe bars here are just struggling.
Random patrons of venues that have live music are fickle, unpredictable, and generally unsympathetic. If you don't bring a loyal following that stays with you, then you're at the mercy of the unmerciful mob, and there's no explaining why or how the mob moves. I've had great gigs at places and times when I expected a flop, and horrible shows when I expected a hit. Lots of people on here will blame you for not "holding the crowd" but sometimes you just can't. Post-covid seems harder than pre-covid IME. Keep hanging in there and trying. GigHope... it's a thing.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
When I was playing bars, for the most part, we switched from 3 60 minute sets to 2 90 minute sets to avoid the post-set 2 departure.
Story time. Years ago had a dud gig too far out for our regulars, that seemed like a loser. Along comes a bachelorette party, half dozen or so hot drinkin' babes. We all perked up and thought, now we're rolling! Well, they were bar hopping so only stayed about a half hour, then it was back to the scattered handful of drunks. So it ended up being a dud after all.
Random patrons... they just don't care!!
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
When groups like that show up, talk to them - what do they want to hear?
Even if you already played it, even if you weren't planning on playing it, if you know it, you play it.
Even if you already played it, even if you weren't planning on playing it, if you know it, you play it.
Best bet is to find ways to never have the music completely stop. Having a keys player or guitarist with a looper who can do 2-3 songs on their own is great for this, but so can making sure the jukebox goes on immediately after you stop. Just need to keep the energy going.
In all honesty, I think it is the band...but also the venues do not help.
In my view, once bitten, twice shy so would seriously consider not playing there again.
A more regular occurence of late is this bar model which just tries to get people in without no thought or real reason to what they are trying to achieve.
Its really lazy promo..or lack of it...because the chain is centrally owned and lacks any emphathy with its 'clientèle'.
I try to avoid these type of gigs as they invaribly don't work, imv.
In my view, once bitten, twice shy so would seriously consider not playing there again.
A more regular occurence of late is this bar model which just tries to get people in without no thought or real reason to what they are trying to achieve.
Its really lazy promo..or lack of it...because the chain is centrally owned and lacks any emphathy with its 'clientèle'.
I try to avoid these type of gigs as they invaribly don't work, imv.
If you can't keep a crowd it is you. People have a million things to do with their time. You have to make them want to spend their time on you.
Maybe you're right.
Likewise, with all due respect, maybe you're wrong.
Saturday night sounds like the venue was at least partially to blame; There're plenty of venues that, for whatever reason, don't make music fans feel like they're being given an inviting place to hang and enjoy a band. Still, you admit that people trickled in; They trickled out just as quickly.
Friday night, losing two-thirds of a crowd during the first set points to a different cause, based on past posts where you talk about your two guitarists taking long, self-indulgent solos, both being too loud and a drummer who refuses to spend time learning parts.
My main band may not formerly rehearse, though we woodshed the material, don't do the self-indulgent electric-guitar thing and watch our volume. We climb out of our own heads and connect with the crowd one-on-one, executing a whole act with humor & dynamics. Most nights are successful, crowd-wise, and there's even a decent following. We play in decent-paying rooms.
Still, there are occasional challenging nights, even with us working our butts off.
This is all to say that if we don't focus on entertaining others, we may as well stay home.
Based on your descriptions, I'm just not sure that's at the top of your band's priority list.
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