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Another gig where we quit early because the crowd left.
- Thread starter 51PRI
- Start date
It wasn't a problem: we didn't expect a large audience, we didn't expect to earn any money, and we weren't disappointed.
My point is that you can actually have a satisfying musical life, playing what you want when you want, just don't expect to make money doing it.
Truth.
These should be rules:
1. If they are dancing, band ain't breaking.
2. If they are dancing, next song - needs to be a dance tune. Rinse and repeat.
Period.
I was in a reggae band and we would play straight through until the dancers would tire out then take a break. Because once we went on break, it could take a few minutes to get back
And as an original band, you actually spend money for the honor of playing to a dozen people
Could mean it’s an off night at the venue in general, or it could mean your songs aren’t danceable.
I've been in two originals bands that played to several hundred people who seemed to quite like what we were doing, and made a small amount of money doing so.
It happened again. We played last weekend at a venue that's become a regular spot for us. It was a new spot the first time we played there and we had a good crowd. The place is no longer new and I think the crowd has just naturally dwindled as most places do. Anyway we played Dec. 22nd which I expected to be slow, being so close to Christmas, and it was. Very slim crowd when we started pllaying.
The band leader had decided to play 3 piece, because of our lead guitar players heart surgery, instead of getting another piece, for the extra money. And we played okay. That BL actually played some things on guitar that I had never heard him play and really didn't think he could play. So that part was allright. Despite that, by the end of the second set there was nobody there. When we were getting ready to go back for the third set the bar manager asked us if we wanted to check out early. The BL said "yeah, there's no sense in playing to nobody."
But again the point, MY point is, WHY are we losing the crowd that we DO have? Not drawing a crowd is one thing but not being able to hold the crowd that you get is another. My point has been, if you're read any of my threads here, that we're doing too much I-IV-V blues based music with too many guitar solos, and frankly, now that I think about it, just too much of the BL. The BL is good but I think he believes his own publicity and thinks he's all that and I don't think the listeners feel the same way. In a typical night I might sing two songs, the lead guitarist one or two. All of the other songs are sung by the BL. At the gig discussed above in two sets I didn't' sing any songs, and I don't know that I would have in a third set either.
So, anyway, i have to decide whether or not to see if the band wants to do what I think we need to do to fix the problems and I think we have. Our LG is out for 6 weeks and that's about when our next gig is. I think we need a lot of work, REAL rehearsals and learning songs that have parts, not just guitar jamming over yet another 12bar song by some unknown blues artist. Real songs that people might know and actually want to hear.
Would I just be wasting my time? Or am I wrong about the whole thing? Or, should I just ride it out till the horse totally collapses?
The band leader had decided to play 3 piece, because of our lead guitar players heart surgery, instead of getting another piece, for the extra money. And we played okay. That BL actually played some things on guitar that I had never heard him play and really didn't think he could play. So that part was allright. Despite that, by the end of the second set there was nobody there. When we were getting ready to go back for the third set the bar manager asked us if we wanted to check out early. The BL said "yeah, there's no sense in playing to nobody."
But again the point, MY point is, WHY are we losing the crowd that we DO have? Not drawing a crowd is one thing but not being able to hold the crowd that you get is another. My point has been, if you're read any of my threads here, that we're doing too much I-IV-V blues based music with too many guitar solos, and frankly, now that I think about it, just too much of the BL. The BL is good but I think he believes his own publicity and thinks he's all that and I don't think the listeners feel the same way. In a typical night I might sing two songs, the lead guitarist one or two. All of the other songs are sung by the BL. At the gig discussed above in two sets I didn't' sing any songs, and I don't know that I would have in a third set either.
So, anyway, i have to decide whether or not to see if the band wants to do what I think we need to do to fix the problems and I think we have. Our LG is out for 6 weeks and that's about when our next gig is. I think we need a lot of work, REAL rehearsals and learning songs that have parts, not just guitar jamming over yet another 12bar song by some unknown blues artist. Real songs that people might know and actually want to hear.
Would I just be wasting my time? Or am I wrong about the whole thing? Or, should I just ride it out till the horse totally collapses?
is the venue a bar/restaurant or a dedicated music venue? the problem could be as much the business you are playing at as the band itself. if the business itself can't draw in fresh customers throughout the night, then you get this result, unless as you mentioned the band has a killer draw which many don't.
with that said, it never hurts to improve the quality of the music/performance if you feel like something is amiss. i will say, even as a blues fan, that a night of standard blues all night will be a problem. Now the cool thing about blues guitar is you can play it over many styles of music that are not exact blues, like soul/RnB/funk. stuff that actually grooves and might get people dancing or singing along. or at the very least tapping a foot.
Yes. Freeform jazz at an Air Force base.
To some extent it's impossible to stop people leaving. They plan to stay till X o'clock, maybe they work the next morning or are going on a trip and need to get up early, whatever. For those people, it doesn't matter what you do, they'll leave, even if they hate to do it.
But apart from that, it sounds like you know exactly what the issue is. People will stick around if they're having a good time and if they want to hear what you're going to do next. Most often, that means you've been playing songs they liked dancing to and they want you to play another song they can dance to. Another 12-bar blues with another drawn-out guitar solo is not likely to do the trick. Blues afficionados want to hear more creative exploration of the medium, and non-blues-afficionados get bored.
I play in a Blues Brothers tribute, and you may have heard the story of how the original Blues Bros. got started. Dan Akroyd was a real blues fan, into all the deep cuts, and he got John Belushi into it as well. When they got the band together (in real life), they had this song list of all these hardcore Delta and Chicago blues tunes. According to at least one writer, it was their bassist, Duck Dunn, who told them, "No one else wants to listen to this stuff, they want to hear music they can dance to." So they expanded the repertoire to a lot of more accessible soul and R&B stuff; Sam and Dave and acts like that. Akroyd would punctiliously introduce the band at live shows as a "Soul, Rhythm and Blues, and Blues review." He wasn't going to pretend that R&B was "real" blues! And ironically, precisely by playing the more party music, they probably got a lot of people interested in the blues stuff in turn.
Bottom line: give people a party. Be ruthless. Any song that the crowd is not visibly having fun, cut it from the list and replace it with something fun. If this band is unwilling to do that, find another. Or reconcile yourself to the empty rooms.
To play 12 bar and blues you need a killer gtr otherwise its really tough to keep people interested beyond a couple of those types imv.
You cant really do very well without this killer gtr unless you have someone else who brings something equally as good along.
Otherwise, what have you got at all?
3 blokes making noise...?
22nd Dec was the xmas eve around here...so that was Prime.
Ok, so you've recognised the problem but the BL hasnt or won't ..
Ditch the BL or ditch the band but some big ditching needs to happen, imv.
You cant really do very well without this killer gtr unless you have someone else who brings something equally as good along.
Otherwise, what have you got at all?
3 blokes making noise...?
22nd Dec was the xmas eve around here...so that was Prime.
Ok, so you've recognised the problem but the BL hasnt or won't ..
Ditch the BL or ditch the band but some big ditching needs to happen, imv.
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There's a couple of great comments already here. Sometimes it's the timing. Sometimes it's the band. Sometimes it's the venue. Sometimes it's a combination of all 3. Based on your description of this particular night, I think it's likely a combo. Personally, if I was the kinda guy who still was going to bars around Christmas, alone or not, I'd be pretty satisfied with leaving the place if after 2 hours of classic rock or blues (with a healthy large amount of guitar-heroing) I've heard a bunch of before was turning into a 3rd hour. Given that it's around Christmas, a weak crowd is expected. I'd hazard a weak crowd that close to Christmas that isn't exactly out there to tear up the town or relive the glory days either so it could be a mood thing. Not to say everyone in the bar at that time of year is crying into their mug, but they also probably ain't partying.
Re-read this and you might see you've already answered your question.
Too much I-IV-V, too many long guitar solos, too loud (got that from other posts) and a BL who takes himself too seriously = an incessant, amateur, cringe act.
Not sure I'd leave early if I were in the crowd only 'cause I'm not sure I'd even be in the crowd.
As far as being in the band goes, I'd go find someone to play with who's idea of fun involved making sure everyone's having fun.
BTW, we played a 12/22 gig with my regular band at one of our regular once-a-month spots - decent crowd throughout our 7:30-10:30 show. I played another venue with a different band on 12/23 - decent crowd from 9:00-1:00.
Both bands were honest & engaging, and presented a variety of music with short/pithy solos at a reasonable volume.
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did you go into the audience to see how loud the band was? do you play perky music that makes people want to dance?
btw, close to christmas we used to play some christmas songs mixed in with other songs. people seemed to really enjoy that, and often they'd sing along, smiling.
btw, close to christmas we used to play some christmas songs mixed in with other songs. people seemed to really enjoy that, and often they'd sing along, smiling.
