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Making The Best 4 Hour Bar Gig

#161
richntiff,
I don't suck, my band doesn't suck, but my analogy may be offensive to you. A gig is a job, the 4 hr bar gig, like bluewine said is the bread and butter of most weekend warriors playing rock. I do take pride in my playing, my gear, how I write a setlist, the marketing, etc. however when it comes to the end of the day, we are paid to play songs drunk people want to dance to... If you have talented musicians, you can learn at home and play a tune. 7 years ago I would never attempted a tune unrehearsed.
I don't go to each gig with the mindset that it is a HS Battle of the Bands and we are going to show people how great we are.... Maybe I am jaded, I played too many gigs in the last 3 years to look at it differently than it is a part-time job. The grass is always greener. I do enjoy playing. I just think the business model for the 4 hr gig sucks.
Enough about what I think...back to more pic;s of bluewine and his basses. You look a helluva lot better than me and you got 10+ years on me God Bless....
 
#163
troy mcclure said:
richntiff,
I don't go to each gig with the mindset that it is a HS Battle of the Bands and we are going to show people how great we are.... Maybe I am jaded, I played too many gigs in the last 3 years to look at it differently than it is a part-time job. The grass is always greener. I do enjoy playing. I just think the business model for the 4 hr gig sucks.
Click to expand...

The 4 hour bar gig is tough, the thread is an exchange of ideas to make them a tad easier.

Attitude is a big part of it, don't let it get you down.

What else is there to do, big time tours and playing large venues isn't going to happen for most of us.

Blue
 
#171
We play 3 sets of 16 songs each for 48 songs a gig.

A 16 song set takes between 60 and 70 minutes. We take a 20 minute break between each set.

Here's the gig math:

66.67 mins. x 3 = 200.1 mins. + 40 mins. (2-breaks at 20 mins) = 240 mins, or 4-hours.

You guys that play less songs, (30!) must be playing longer songs. We do a lot of 60's and 70's stuff so they're 3-minute songs and we have very little down time between tunes. We also usually run a few songs together per set.

All four of us sing lead so we each sing 12 songs a night.
 
#172
Flashback Bass said:
We play 3 sets of 16 songs each for 48 songs a gig.

A 16 song set takes between 60 and 70 minutes. We take a 20 minute break between each set.

Here's the gig math:

66.67 mins. x 3 = 200.1 mins. + 40 mins. (2-breaks at 20 mins) = 240 mins, or 4-hours.

You guys that play less songs, (30!) must be playing longer songs. We do a lot of 60's and 70's stuff so they're 3-minute songs and we have very little down time between tunes. We also usually run a few songs together per set.

All four of us sing lead so we each sing 12 songs a night.
Click to expand...

If they are 3 minute songs then in a 70 minute set you would need at least 20 songs which would leave about 10 minutes of downtime or an eternity in band time.
 
#173
Our last show, we scheduled 35 songs, and only ended up playing 32. Quite a few songs are long. Lots of 4-5 minute songs, and two marathon songs, by bar band standards; Freebird at about 10 minutes, and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) at about 8. We take 10-15 minute breaks, and always start and end exactly on time.
 
#174
modulusman said:
If they are 3 minute songs then in a 70 minute set you would need at least 20 songs which would leave about 10 minutes of downtime or an eternity in band time.
Click to expand...

I said a lot of, not all! We also do Light My Fire, I'm Your Captain, Sympathy For The Devil, One Way Out and other songs that are much longer. I guess I should have said that since we do a lot of 3:00 songs we have found that 16 song sets work for us.
 
#175
we try to do 4 sets of about 10 songs. sometimes we play a set of 8 songs, sometimes we play a set of 12 songs. if we're due for a break, but have bar patrons desperate to hear more, we aren't about to tell them no. sometimes if it's dead, and we don't want to waste anymore material on 3 people who don't seem to care if we're playing or not, we'll take a break, then get back up there and try again. sometimes we'll play a set or two to an empty bar, then play two more sets to a packed house, in one night. if we stuck to a specific schedule, we would be halfway thru all our material before the largest part of the crowd got there. that situation is specific to our steady gig though.
 
#176
In my neck of the woods there are no 4 hour gigs..3 hours yes... never 4.

I like 2 hour gigs and we sometime have to play 3. The way I look at it my time and interests are valuable . By playing less for the same money I am making better use of my time and in that way making more..
 

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