How many gigs did you play in 2017?

[hrodbert696]

Zero. Woulda been 48 if you hadn’t excluded non-paying church gigs. Don’t know what difference it makes but you made the rules.

Yeah, to some extent it's arbitrary, of course. I intend these polls as a snapshot of how we're doing as working musicians and bands, and how the live music scenes are in our markets. For me the paradigm "gig" means your band has to pound the pavement and market itself to get booked into a venue. Some churches have rigorous music programs with auditions and all, others (like mine) anyone who wants to answer an email can be up front on a given Sunday. I play a few dozen times a year in my church but it doesn't represent anything like the task of getting my band booked somewhere. I know that's not everyone's experience but I had to make some executive decisions to keep the poll apples-to-apples.

 

[bigboy_78]

67. Probably too many for my liking. It really started to feel like any other job by the end of the year. New Years was fun though.

This year we're concentrating on some higher paying gigs. Put a bit more work into polishing the act and go for quality over quantity.

 

[MLC_BassPlayer]

39 gigs with the outlaw country band...

 

[geoff_in_nc]

Played only a handful. Cancer struck for the 4th time (and then took) a band member's spouse and we've been on hiatus.

 

[Luciferiad]

Played only a handful. Cancer struck for the 4th time (and then took) a band member's spouse and we've been on hiatus.

I feel you. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2012. I played a New Year's gig as a fill-in NYE that year, but outside of that music got shelved until last spring. Just gotta keep on keepin' on though

 

[nixdad]

Only 5 in 2017.

I'm in a 7 member group, and all of my bandmates play in multiple bands (one of our members played 200+ gigs this past year between group and solo work.) Finding dates when everyone was available was a challenge, and 2 members took extended vacations which didn't help.

We could have had a lot more as we tried Gigmasters this past year, and landed 1 out of 24 opportunities. I was hoping for good gig opportunities, but 99% were parties where it seemed like the goal was to find the cheapest Beatles band possible. Such gigs were not our goal, so we didn't bother. Needless to say, we're not continuing with Gigmasters in 2018.

On a good note, we did start booking better quality, better paying gigs.

 

[CaseyVancouver]

77 with many different groups.

Not bad for an old guy who does not hussle
There were months in the '80s where I played more than 30 casuals in a month.
THAT was busy.

 

[bassbully]

Not enough this year. I really hope 2018 has me allot busier...I need the money.

 

[Spidey2112]

Zero... but I hope to double that, this year...

 

[Paul Corrosion]

82 gigs across five bands - my busiest year. If you chuck in open mic/jam nights/showcases, it's well over 100.

2018 looks good. Just come back from #1 and 31 booked for the year so far.

 

[PJMustangFreak]

This year was fairly busy. Classic rock/oldies weekend warrior-type bands can keep ya busy. Especially summers. Winters are pretty slow, though. Like, no gigs in February slow. But hey, you can nail like 20 gigs in June, 20 in July, 20 in Aug. Never knew there were so many car shows in Western Pa!

I'd like to get some more gigs this year. We are gonna hit about 50-60 this year, but again, it'll be all weekend work. 1 Friday night, 2 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday-kinda weekends can be decent. What can I do on weekday nights?

I've chatted with some musicians who have racked up over 1000 gigs in their lifetime. Some hit the 3000+ mark! Here's my question... how??? Granted, I'm only 29, but I'm nowhere near that number! I think 1000 is my lifetime goal.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

53 with Redhead, 4 with Jim-Joe Greedy and the '61 Ramblers. One with Jimi Photon. I'm thinking about retiring. Just thinking.

 

[mikew31]

12 last year with 5 different bands, 2 originals and 3 cover bands. I thought it would be a bit more, but I quit one of the originals bands and the main cover band I've been in for 7 years only played 1 show instead of the normal 4 or 5 we do. Still had a ton of fun. All the groups are great people and I thoroughly enjoy playing music with them!

 

[AaronVonRock]

8 gigs with our original band. Got to open for some semi-well-known international bands which was fun. Guitarist had a baby in April and I traveled for 2+ months for my vacation, so that cut gigs and practice time down considerably. But we did release a 3 song EP on Bandcamp and make two videos, so we were still productive.

Hopefully we will be a bit more active in 2018. 20-25 gigs is optimal for me in a year.

 

[AdamR]

2. Its time to find a new band.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

Not much for me this year, more like almost a what's a gig situation... Happy new year to every one...

 

[Macch5]

149. Probably the busiest year for me ever! Played jazz, rock, funk, country, balkin, blues, originals, covers,....

 

[4SG]

About 30 paying gigs, a promo or two, a few gigs for beer and a couple more for friends' parties. Which suited me fine.

 

[smogg]

Absolute abysmal year. I think I only played like 6 shows all year. Partly because the band I'd been in for the previous 4.5 years dissolved at the end of Q1 (2017) and I've made no real attempt to join another band. No longer have the patience to deal with drunken slop monger hacks. It's going to take something pretty special to catch my interest, so I'm just gonna wait and see what 2018 brings my way.

 

[JGbassman]

I'm guessing around 150 as a part timer. I ran with two bands last year, but am down to just one this year, for now... I played three gigs over the last weekend, so I've got one in the can already for this year.

Playing a heavy schedule has been a pretty consistent thing for me over the years.

I toured with a national country act/artist pushing a single and we had a brutal touring schedule. 2015-2016 I played 340 shows a year. That's close to 700 in two years...

I finally got off the crazy train before I got to the point of hating music and forgetting what my home and girl looked like. Playing part time is letting me reconnect with the joy of playing again.

I think we already have 70 shows booked so far this year, adding more weekly. Some gigs are great, others not the best, but for me being on stage is what I live my life for. I don't think I'd last too long without my gigs. Creating music and connecting with others on stage and the audience is my happy place and choice of drug. This year I've stepped up to running sound (well learning as I go) and will be singing lead vocals for at least a third of a night's worth of music, so I've found myself saddled with new and exciting challenges. This is what I love.