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How many gigs did you play in 2016?

How many gigs in 2016?

  • What's a gig?

    Votes: 21 7.1%
  • 1-12 (once a month or less)

    Votes: 75 25.5%
  • 13-26 (one or two a month, on average)

    Votes: 64 21.8%
  • 27-52 (up to once a week)

    Votes: 67 22.8%
  • 53-104 (my weekends are pretty full)

    Votes: 33 11.2%
  • 105-208 (up to four gigs a week)

    Votes: 20 6.8%
  • 209+ (i'm a nonstop music machine)

    Votes: 5 1.7%
  • I gig carrots

    Votes: 9 3.1%

  • Total voters
    294
I think I filled in at a paying gig one time this year.

But I played at my church at least 100 times. Not gigs, obviously, more of a volunteer position.
I'd like to play in a band outside of the church bands I'm in, but between learning a couple new songs in those bands per month and a demanding job, plus a few other reasons, I'm just not in a position for it. Maybe I will again some day. At least I can say I'm very happy where I'm at.
 
4 songs. Is that considered a gig? Maybe half a gig

If you left your house, played music of some kind, and money changed hands, I'm calling it a gig.

This has been a year of practice and rebirth for me, I joined a new band in may and we're still producing originals.
I recently came in contact with another band and a guy who has a project, so 2017 could be my back to gig year.

Anyway. i had this very special gig

I am the green t shirt on the left at 0.40


OK, that's amazing. The logistics that must have been involved boggle my mind.
 
i'm not sure, but i think about every 7-10 days on average: estimate maybe 35-40 (playing bass). i do PA gigs with others, but that's not what the OP was looking for. i'd rather play than do PA, but like both for different reasons.

i could play more, i think. when i was doing this for a living: i got to the point where gigs all ran together and i didn't always like the busy aspect: but had to do 'busy' for the paycheck. now i don't need the paycheck so much, but would like the busy part....it's retirement....who knew? ;)
 
we did about 18 and for a bunch of geezers playing classic rock, that's pretty good (imho)
Here's one of our posters from our November gig....
 

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I voted the 13-26 category, but just barely. I think I counted 12 so far, with a NYE gig still on tap. I probably missed one or 2 other ones in there, as well.

After some starts & sputters at the beginning of the year, my current band had our first gig in May. Basically 2 a month is all I really want to do, preferably one Saturday. Weeknights or Sundays are fine. Saturday is generally "date night" for me so I don't want to make the boss too angry.

I think we already have one booked for January, 3 in February, and a high-profile (and lucrative) Memorial Day gig on the schedule. We'll be nailing down some outdoor street festivals shortly to look forward to once the weather warms up.
 
We definetly don't gig as much as we used to. The band is staying pretty busy though considering our jobs and families. Time with the band has shifted away from gigging so much and more to writing, recording, making music videos and pushing the band online. the gigs we've done in the last few months have been a lot of fun because we're excited to be playing fresh material again after getting kind of burned out on playing old stuff.

Plans for 2017 are to make a bunch of music videos to push the new album online. We plan to do the bulk of our shows over the summer, even talking using some paid vacation time to go on tour in the summer. Record an acoustic album which is something we've been kicking around for years. But we won't be doing much writing in 2017 other than maybe a couple new songs for the acoustic album and kind of reworking some old songs for acoustic. I'm sure we'll continue to at least gig once a month. Shows keep everyone in the band motivated.
 
I have done 49 (and 3 left to go) non-church gigs.
3 were funerals, 4 were weddings, 1 as a sound guy, and 1 political rally. the rest were mostly jazz ensemble, with a few cover band sub dates thrown in. Once a week average is a very slow year for me. To be fair, my "regular" day gig (police) and my family life has been extremely busy this year, so I turned down as many gigs as I took (still lower volume than years past.

If you include church, I have also done 219 services this year (all paid), and have about a dozen left.

I'm so blessed to be playing that much and with killer musicians and good money all the time. It is literally my sanity.
 
Roughly 55 gigs, so just barely into the 53-105 category. I have a job and 2 kids 8 or under, so really, that's about good for me-- significantly less and I'd feel like I wasn't playing much; significantly more, and I'd be wishing I had more time at home. LONG gone are the days I'd play 300 gigs in a year, constant travel. Gave that up when I got married 13 years ago.
 
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Posted this first under 2015, unconscious desire to turn back the hands of time...

Including this past Friday night and NYE, 56 with Redhead, 4 with Jim-Joe Greedy & The Sixty-One Ramblers. Already 34 on the books for 2017.

Jamvan: With Redhead, our BL books us. After two years, she is tight with a dozen-plus club owners in our area; she sat down in September with each of them, got out her iPad calendar, and said: Here are the dates for next year, which ones do you want? Here's what we're charging this year." When you've done all the hard work of relationship-building, this is how you get things done. I suspect that this approach is not scalable. ;)

The Sixty-One Ramblers is a terrific band that plays '50s and '60s country music. Unfortunately, this appears to be, at least in our neck of the woods, a genre that appeals to a very small audience; smaller still because they're mostly older and not exactly into the club scene.:rollno:
 
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The Sixty-One Ramblers is a terrific band that plays '50s and '60s country music. Unfortunately, this appears to be, at least in our neck of the woods, a genre that appeals to a very small audience; smaller still because they're mostly older and not exactly into the club scene.:rollno:
We're aiming for the same demographic, and find that earlier gigs (afternoons and evenings) and careful selection of venues will bring 'em out. Our trio of bass, acoustic guitar, and either pedal steel or dobro (different guys) does well in wineries, and after dinner in restaurants (BBQ seem to work best). No, we don't get 100+ ... but we will fill the seats in any winery or restaurant bar/lounge.
 
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