Festival Question

[mellowinman]

How could you not be capable of this?

I don't understand. What section do you cut, and have it make sense, musically? There's an 8 bar intro. A verse. An 8 bar break. A second verse. and then that jam.

Each section of the jam is eight bars, (four times through the chord structure of G, Bb, C,) and is referred to as the 4x4 jam. Straight once, emphasis on "one and" once, straight once, emphasis on "and four and" once, straight once, double time on drums twice with guitar and bass climbing, once with "C, Bb" for "four and" (with the guitar jumping out of the climb and resolving,) straight once, bombastic ending on the one once, and then military beat once. How can you leave any of that out, and claim you are actually playing the song? This is not the 14 minute extended version they played live from around "One More From the Road" through the plane crash; this is the standard version of the song with the eight bar live ending tacked on.

Playing an abbreviated version of such a finely structured song would be pointless.

45 is 45. If you're not the boss, then let the boss make this decision.

The "boss" would be the two members who said, "no big deal if we go over." The guitar player doesn't care either way, and my vote was NOT to go over.

There is no boss in this band. You would hate being in this band, because the "boss" is my wife and I, and we could argue about what color the fricking sky is.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Every minute you go over it takes time from the last band playing (unless the time is made up by compromising somewhere else). Now think about how you'd feel if you were the last band, all the other bands went over, and there was no way to get the time back.
You would have to cut a whole song to end on time (at only 2 minutes per band)
Wouldn't that suck?

 

[Space Pickle]

the minimum set you can play is 0 minutes

 

[Mark Nye]

Does Freebird HAVE to be ten minutes long, I would like it better if it was shorter anyway

This.

Is it absolutely essential to all parties involved that Freebird be 10 minutes instead of 8? It seems silly to split hairs over something like that.

 

[Kryptos]

I had to beg for two years to even get in.

Playing an abbreviated version of such a finely structured song would be pointless.

If you had to beg for two years to get in I would think asking immediately for special treatment might not be the most judicious means to show your appreciation for the opportunity.

I think you may be taking yourself a bit too seriously and overestimating the sensitivity of your audience to dropping a few bars of Freebird.

 

[hdracer]

Is Freebird really 10 minutes long?


I have always been out the door by the time "If I leave here" hits.

 

[BobWestbrook]

I would say that even asking the stage manager the question if you can go over the limit, especially since you yourself characterized your band as one of the lesser acts of the festival, would result in your band being characterized as jerks who don't have a clue. They have the limits for a reason, and asking if you can violate them would be rather insulting.

 

[mellowinman]

I would say that even asking the stage manager the question if you can go over the limit, especially since you yourself characterized your band as one of the lesser acts of the festival, would result in your band being characterized as jerks who don't have a clue. They have the limits for a reason, and asking if you can violate them would be rather insulting.

OK, I've had some pretty constructive and useful posts up until now, but I am almost fifty, and have played quite a few festivals.

Some have very tight limits, and some don't. Asking which kind we are playing is now INSULTING?

I posted the thread because I wanted to get some feedback, but some of you are missing the obvious here.

At every multi-band show I've ever played, some bands started late, and the times became more fluid as the day or evening went along. Even big ones like Three Rivers Fest don't just start each act on the dot.

I was hoping for feedback from people who have actual EXPERIENCE in playing these types of festivals, and I'm starting to notice a lot of posts from people who sound like they don't have any.

Again, to be clear, I am talking about the POSSIBILITY of going TWO minutes over. If we start right on time, and tear down quickly, that should NOT take time away from other acts, and none of you seem to be looking at the flip side of this:

If we promise 45 minutes, and then play 42, didn't we shortchange them by 3 minutes?

As to the whole "taking Freebird too seriously" thing, you either care about a song enough to play it right, or you leave it off the setlist.

We're proud of how well we play a song that most bands won't touch.

I think maybe we'll work up the definitive versions of Brown Eyed Girl and Mustang Sally too, while we're at it.

 

[BobWestbrook]

I'm saying you indicated there is a known time limit, and knowing this to ask if you can go over, would make your band appear difficult to work with.

 

[Renaissance]

The simplest and most professional solution would be to come in under 45 minutes. You could cut a song or trim Freebird down (I like Freebird but cutting a couple minutes out ain't the same as making it the 9 Commandments).

Act like you've been there before.

 

[Kryptos]

If we promise 45 minutes, and then play 42, didn't we shortchange them by 3 minutes?

Does your audience clock your performances?

 

[AaronVonRock]

OK, let's make sure the parameters are set here. Our last song is Freebird. It takes 10 minutes. We have one song before it. When I get to that song, I will look at my watch. If we were going to go 4 or 5 minutes over, I would cut the song, and go directly to Freebird.

Here is the setlist:

1. We Will Rock You - Queen
2. Tie Your Mother Down - Queen
3. Beast of Burden - Our version of Bette Midler's version of the Stones
4. I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett
5. Use Me - Bill Withers
6. Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young
7. Ten Inch Record - Aerosmith
8. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
9. Train, Train - Blackfoot
10. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Cut one of the Queen or Aerosmith songs. Which one is the shortest out of the four?

Do you play the album version of "We Will Rock You" or the fast, live version Queen used to open their shows? If you play the fast version, don't cut that one.

 

[jaywa]

We cut our festival set yesterday short by 15 minutes. Supposed to go 3:00 to 4:45 but we quit a 4:30. It started raining and our gear was getting soaked and the stage manager didnt call us off but we just said screw it and quit anyway. Considering the act before us not only quit early (in good weather) but took a break in their set (!) we figured we'd be OK. And we were.

 

[BobWestbrook]

No one is going to remember your glorious ten minutes of Freebird 'played right', but they will remember your band if you make an impression of being difficult.

 

[guy n. cognito]

OK, I've had some pretty constructive and useful posts up until now, but I am almost fifty, and have played quite a few festivals.

Some have very tight limits, and some don't. Asking which kind we are playing is now INSULTING?

I posted the thread because I wanted to get some feedback, but some of you are missing the obvious here.

At every multi-band show I've ever played, some bands started late, and the times became more fluid as the day or evening went along. Even big ones like Three Rivers Fest don't just start each act on the dot.

I was hoping for feedback from people who have actual EXPERIENCE in playing these types of festivals, and I'm starting to notice a lot of posts from people who sound like they don't have any.

Again, to be clear, I am talking about the POSSIBILITY of going TWO minutes over. If we start right on time, and tear down quickly, that should NOT take time away from other acts, and none of you seem to be looking at the flip side of this:

If we promise 45 minutes, and then play 42, didn't we shortchange them by 3 minutes?

As to the whole "taking Freebird too seriously" thing, you either care about a song enough to play it right, or you leave it off the setlist.

We're proud of how well we play a song that most bands won't touch.

I think maybe we'll work up the definitive versions of Brown Eyed Girl and Mustang Sally too, while we're at it.

Seems like you just want us to tell you it's ok to go over by two minutes..

Ok. Do whatever you want. Go over by two minutes, and tell them to **** off when they complain. You're a rock star.

Better?

 

[mellowinman]

Seems like you just want us to tell you it's ok to go over by two minutes..

Ok. Do whatever you want. Go over by two minutes, and tell them to **** off when they complain. You're a rock star.

Better?

That's more like it.

I still haven't decided what to do about this.

I probably shouldn't stress at all. If the band decides to misbehave, I should probably just do a Jim Morrison on them.

 

[jaywa]

IMO and IME festivals in general are just a tough nut.

Go short and the promoter thinks you're ripping them off. Go long and the promoter gets pissed again, as well as the stage crew and act(s) following you.

I realize that for originals bands festivals are a necessary evil because of the exposure angle. But for my cover band, they're pretty much more trouble than they're worth. We only play a couple of them a year and focus instead on getting gigs where most or all of the event is ours alone.

 

[onosson]

I always try to abide by the old saying

"Leave them wanting more"

 

[modulusman]

Since your the first band start 2 minutes early. You may be SOL anyway if the festival starts late. They may want you to play even less than 45 minutes.

 

[Mike N]

Does the 47 minute set time include time between songs to talk to the crowd or are you just going to play them all in a row with no downtime in between them? Perhaps you could adjust the amount of time the singer spends thanking so-and-so to cut out that extra two minutes?