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No shorts in gig contract

When the bass player in arguably the world's biggest rock band decides to wear shorts, doesn't that make it ok for all rock bass players?

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Played a gig in a ritzy hotel once for an exclusive group - can't remember exactly who they were. The contract contained a lot of conditions - strict dress code, we couldn't imbibe (even though the guests were drinking), no cursing, blue humor or discussing religion or politics on stage, no mingling with the guests, where we could and couldn't go during breaks, etc. We felt like lepers, but as I recall the gig payed well.

That's not all that uncommon for high class wedding or corporate bash gigs. I've done a lot of them and I have no issue with "the rules of the game". It's less problematic than the load in and out via the freight elevator, through the kitchen, and down a long hall way 100 yards or more to where you set up to play.

Of course for $$$$ I can handle some inconvenience. Those are some of the easiest gig I've ever played and they often end early but you get paid the full tariff.
 
Doesn't seem that strange. I can totally see a contract being constructed to encourage professional appearance. I've seen lots of crazy things in contracts and we always laugh to each other and try to imagine what someone could've done beyond the realm of common sense that led to the specific issue being added to future contracts. Once saw a contract that specified no one was to have toothpicks. We laughed, assuming maybe someone had thrown them at the crowd or something. Turned out, the venue owner's mom (or maybe grandma? it's been a long time) choked on one and died years before, and he was now irrationally terrified of toothpicks. Most quirky things in contracts come from anomalies that people don't want to see repeated.

As for shorts, any professional band I've ever been in has adhered to a no-shorts policy. They look amateur on stage, in my opinion. But maybe someone in the past had an offensive tattoo or something, and it was added to the contract to make sure that doesn't become an issue again. Who knows?
 
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Not gonna lie, I follow a no-shorts policy on stage. Except for specific venues (eg; beach boardwalk festival, back yard bbq) I think shorts look sloppy. And not shorts in general, but the people that generally wear shorts on stage like to wear stuff that's sloppy-looking. Depends on situation I suppose. If you're playing biker bars with an older crowd then I guess your camo cargos and muscle tee fit right in. I'm in a top-40 cover band that plays for 20/30-somethings. Can't show up looking like I was just cleaning the garage.
My band is pretty much the same Way. We mainly wear pants but especially playing outdoors in the summer when it’s over a hundred degrees outside or inside venues that don’t have the best AC we start breaking out the shorts.
 
Not gonna lie, I follow a no-shorts policy on stage. Except for specific venues (eg; beach boardwalk festival, back yard bbq) I think shorts look sloppy. And not shorts in general, but the people that generally wear shorts on stage like to wear stuff that's sloppy-looking. Depends on situation I suppose. If you're playing biker bars with an older crowd then I guess your camo cargos and muscle tee fit right in. I'm in a top-40 cover band that plays for 20/30-somethings. Can't show up looking like I was just cleaning the garage.

Shorts work for vulfpeck all day. Whats up with all this dressing policy anyways?

I get it for certain occasions, weddings, casinos etc.

I haven’t caught myself playing better because I didn’t wear shorts.

This is yet another arbitrary useless social rule that makes life for musicians that much harder during summer time.

Even more interesting, it is more than perfect for a woman to show up on stage in a short dress but completely sloppy for a man to show up in shorts.

Talk about sexism?
 
Not that I like dudes legs, but seeing the pic, they may have wanted to do a "no short" dress contract as well. I am sure she is a nice person, but she doesn't have the body to dress like that...

Why would you post this comment? Body shaming is always wrong. What if she reads it? That was a total jerk move, man. Nothing wrong with that lady's body. NOTHING. Got it?
 
I practically live in shorts during summer (offstage).

When I play with a reggae band in a surf bar where 90% of the male audience wear (board)shorts,
I'm in shorts, too. I don't like flipflops on stage because they tend to get slippery when I sweat, so I prefer sneakers then - but anyone wearing long pants would practically stick out then.

If I played a wedding with a top 40 band in the blistering afternoon sun on a hot summer day, I'd pray that the dresscode did not specify black pants. Because that's no place for shorts.
 
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