Repeating songs at a paying gig? Thoughts?

[Joe Louvar]

I've read a lot of responces and yes, I get the gist of everyone feelings.

For me, it's more of a pride thing. I really don't want to be thought of as someone who short-changes anyone. I'm just playing with these guys to keep up on live playing until something comes along that blows my skirt up. So, while I feel bad about taking the gig, take the gig I will. And I'll give it my very bet.

Hmm bummer - but okay, and thanks for the update.

 

[Itzayana]

Dude, it's a farmers market.

I have never played at a farmers market but I shop at them and never stand to listen to a group for more than two songs. I doubt that anyone else does either.
IMO repeating six songs would be just fine in that situation.

 

[klyph]

I was in a similar situation, musically, with a group of guys at various skill levels. I played one gig with them that I knew was a one-off. They kept pressureing me to book the act with some clubs where I have a relationship. I declined because the sax player ran out of steam after a chorus, sometimes before (I didn't state this). I eventually found other things to do. If you think this won't hurt you, then do it. But keep in mind that doing it repeatedly WILL hurt you. Don't make a habit of it.

In my experience the bar at farmers markets is pretty low. When the local folkies play two originals in a row, I start wishing they would repeat the tunes somebody else wrote.

The biggest crowd I ever played in front of was at a Christmas day parade. Three songs in rotation for two hours. Biggest challenge was keeping warm/not getting TOO drunk.We were voted best float in the parade, and were asked back every year. We declined.


Just some random thoughts.

 

[rtslinger]

We do it sometimes if a person requests it and it is a special situation like Sat night we did Simple man twice but not in the same set. Guys old lady came to us and requested it for boyfriend's BD his favorite song in the 3rd set we did it in the first so we did it again. went over great both times

 

[sean_on_bass]

Been in this situation, but we opted to throw some improv jams between the songs to round out the time. If you are jazz guys this shouldn't be too tough....

But for real, you all have 6 songs. Some jazz standards are ridiculously easy. If you need suggestions let me know.

 

[pushbuttonfour]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I find jazz repetitive in the first place. At this particular gig, there's no problem with playing the same songs twice. But if this were a different situation and genre, that definitely wouldn't be OK. For example, at a graduation party for my school, a couple students played for a while, and when they were done people encored them. Apparently they weren't prepared for an encore, so they just repeated the first song. In my opinion, this really takes away from most shows.

 

[Stumbo]

Hate to break it to you friend, but if you are playing in a bar, the ONLY goal is to sell alcohol. They don't care if you play the same Tiny Tim song over and over all night long so long as alcohol sales increase enough to cover the additional cash outlay required to pay you, plus some profit on top. ALL the bar owner cares about when they book a band, or a DJ, or a traveling dog and pony show, is selling alcohol. They don't care what you wear, what gear you bring, how you sound, or how you look, EXCEPT how any or all of that relates to YOUR ability to increase their alcohol sales. If you approach a bar gig with any other expectations you will always be disappointed. The crowd is not coming to see you, they are coming to drink and hopefully score some sex. You could be the greatest undiscovered bass player on this planet and the people showing up could care less about that than the bar owner does. You could be a full fledged assclown and the crowd and bar owner wouldn't notice. They want an excuse to buy someone a drink and hopefully get in their pants, you just provide the background music. You are no more than a live version of elevator music. If that's too much for you to deal with, avoid the disappointment and forget playing in bar bands, because if you have expectations beyond being a beer sales person, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Granted, there will be exceptions to this rule, but in this day and age when a band can put themselves on the world stage with no more effort than uploading a silly kitty vid to You Tube, being "discovered" playing a bar gig is more nostalgic fantasy from the past than a reality of today's situation regards music and making the big time.

My brother and I played in bar bands for many years and he stayed frustrated because he suffered from the misconception that musical talent was why people were showing up where we played. Back then it had something to do with it, but when we'd play dance tunes the floor was full, when we got into extended wanks which would only impress the musicians in the audience, the drinking crowd would put up with for a few minutes then they'd get up and go some place where they could hear Brown Eyed Girl and Mustang Sally while they danced and bought their (hopeful) score for the evening another drink hoping that would be the one that would loosen their drawers enough to allow them in.

People might say they are going to a bar for the band, but those same people claim they buy Playboy for the articles.

Hate to break it to you but crappy bands like the Beatles played up to 8 hour sets in bars for years. They cared about being pro musicians regardless of the setting. Guess they did okay.

Sure it's different now but how else do you get better experience as an entertainer and performer? Posting a video on YT is easy, having great content is still as difficult as it used to be.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

With six songs and two hours to fill (let's assume each song is five minutes) they'd have to repeat each song twice per set. Set up and break down do not factor into the two-hour playing time.

Who knows, maybe they are doing jazz renditions of Temple of Syrinx by Rush, Pupoopie by Tool, and Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, and various Led Zeppelin tunes with some bass solos peppered in to stretch it out...there's your set, my friend

Same problem as the people reaming the OP about repeating songs...taking something that is NOT that important and blowing it way outta proportion lol.

 

[pipFunk]

about repeating songs...taking something that is NOT that important and blowing it way outta proportion lol.

Yeah, you're right, first world problems. But, there are as many who say it IS important as say it ISN'T. And, as far as that goes, everyone's opinion is valid. In the greater scheme of things it probably doesn't matter too much...

BUT, the one thing that seems to be missing from a lot of posts is this: What is the opinion of the GUY WHO IS BOOKING YOU? If he thinks he's getting a band that can play one song a hundred times or he thinks he's getting a band that can play 30-40 songs over 2 hours, he needs to know what you can actually deliver.

Amazed at the number of posts that imply: "Yeah, we'll take your money to play, but, hey, we'll play what we want and not what your customers like, and if they make a request we'll tell them to screw themselves..."

And, you guys wonder why bar owners only want to know how many people you'll bring? Seriously...

 

[troy mcclure]

I read the 1st page.... it was a farmers market no one will care but the vendors around you...
However most of us would hate to play the same songs over and over.

I just got back from a 7 day cruise and the reggae band played the same 30 songs each day I sat by the pool. I wondered how bored they must be...

 

[podiumboy]

During U2's early days in clubs, when they only had 1 album and a couple b-sides to draw from, they would play some of their A-game material again in the encore (stuff like "I will follow" or "out of control", for example). They then did this again on the Vertigo tour, when they would both open AND close with the song Vertigo. I'd have been pissed if I were at one of those shows.

We had an original song called "Insane". At a gig about 10 years ago, we played it early in our set. Then later, some guy shouted for the song, and our singer told him "we already did that one". The guy shouted back "I wasn't here yet!!" So we played it again and said "this is for that guy!" Nobody batted an eye.

 

[millsbass5]

"Repeating songs at a paying gig? Thoughts?"-OP

It depends. Does the crowd SPECIFICALLY want the band to play those songs again? Or, does the band not have at least 40 songs in the bag to play on any given night?
Hey, the way our band looks at it, "the client is payin', so, we're playin'"..... What THEY WANNA HEAR. If it's one song ten times in a row? Hey, just show me the money........

IT'S ALL ABOUT SATISFYING THE CLIENT. PERIOD. Remember, playing in a band CAN BE/WILL BE a bitch, just like a "real" job, from time, to time. It all comes with the territory. It's not all about bangin' broads n' gettin' high. Sorry, I've just always wanted to say that.......

 

[lfmn16]

One way to look at this is, if you were hiring a band and they only knew six songs, would you feel like you were getting your money's worth? Or would you rather hire a band that knew two hours of material?

Unless the OP disclosed the fact that they only knew six songs, it's really unethical to take the gig. I don't think anyone would assume that a band was going to repeat the same six songs over and over. When you are hiring a band and paying them money, the assumption is that they know enough material to cover the gig. The person that hired them probably never even though about whether they had enough material to cover the gig.

 

[MegaSwing]

I suppose a question I've been sneaking up to is: What kind of band only knows six songs? Seems like quite a musical vacuum, having faked through entire nights of improvised tunes and sounding pretty good.

 

[jeffbrown]

Yes - how old is the OP? And the rest of his band? A lack of willingness to learn only a few new tunes smack of immaturity, IMHO. OP, where are you looking for sax and keys? Classmates? Is the drummer somehow connected to the market people?

There are more questions I could ask, but these top the list. I'm hoping the sparsity of responses from the OP means he and his band are woodshedding like crazy.

C'mon, man, more details before it's totally too late.

 

[Feral Feline]

...
As far as "giving your all" every gig, while I don't take such a cavalier attitude as TwoFingers does, I do agree that not every gig is the same. I've been known to climb up on subs during a performance, to throw my bass behind my head and play it, to do spinning jumps off the drum riser, and all kinds of other hammy stuff. I don't do any of that during my outside acoustic gigs where my drummer's playing a cajon box and the audience is comprised of sober people who sit quietly and clap politely after every song. Those are two different venues and they necessitate two different types of performances. If I hammed it up with rock star poses during the second type of gig, I'd probably actually turn off a lot of people.

Now, I don't act any less professional or take a more lackadaisical approach to my performance or playing during the latter type of gigs, but I'm not giving the same kind of performance that I do in front of a bunch of screaming people in a night club. If you say you give the same type of performance at every gig, either you pretty much play the same type of gig every time or you don't have the situational intelligence to differentiate how a wedding gig, an acoustic gig, a church/praise gig, and a bar gig require different approaches to performing.

Ahhh sounds like you do "give it your all".

As you yourself said, what you do depends on the situation, but you give it your (appropriate) all based on that situation!

_________________________________


One of the best bands I've seen was a little punk band of 30-somethings that gave it there all at a tiny empty hole in the wall bar. They had this, for lack of a better term, schtick of wriggling and jiggling while they played and they did it from the get go. I would need time to warm up, to get the audience warmed up, before I could wriggle and jiggle like that.

As for Farmers' Markets. I saw a blues duo (guitar & bassist from a local full band) at St. Albert's Farmers Market and liked them enough to hang around and listen and to buy the CD of the full band. I was not disappointed by the live show at the Farmers Market (no repeats, btw) nor the recording, which sounded great with the full band.



As for attitudes... I'd pay to see/hear anyone who always gives it their all, but I couldn't be bothered to listen to players who figure they can slack off just 'cause they're playing a Farmer's Market and not a packed auditorium – even if it is free.

OP, glad to hear you're doing the gig, and have already increased the set list from 6 to 8 songs. Keep adding songs and play to the best of your abilities...

 

[podiumboy]

I have never played at a farmers market but I shop at them and never stand to listen to a group for more than two songs. I doubt that anyone else does either.
IMO repeating six songs would be just fine in that situation.

We have 2 gigs scheduled at a Farmer's Market next summer! We played there twice this summer as well. This farmer's market also sells beer, wine and pizza, and becomes quite the party on the weekends. There was probably 100 people there, and it was just a nice, chill environment. Most people were sitting at tables, outdoors, drinking, eating, smoking, talking, and watching us. Had to tone it down to a semi-acoustic set, but definitely a good gig, look forward to doing it again.

 

[tspallone]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I find jazz repetitive in the first place. At this particular gig, there's no problem with playing the same songs twice. But if this were a different situation and genre, that definitely wouldn't be OK. For example, at a graduation party for my school, a couple students played for a while, and when they were done people encored them. Apparently they weren't prepared for an encore, so they just repeated the first song. In my opinion, this really takes away from most shows.

aha, you may have just hit it on the head; these songs that I'm playing (jazz standards - Angel eyes, Autumn leaves, Black Orpheus, Bags Groove etc) are, to me, repetative in themselves. "We'll do section A, then B, then A with a solo, then B, then A again and finish".....so, to repeat that is just, a little strange to me. And we throw in some blues with, to me gets boreing after about 3 minutes. Maybe it's my ADD!

 

[tspallone]

Yes - how old is the OP? And the rest of his band? A lack of willingness to learn only a few new tunes smack of immaturity, IMHO. OP, where are you looking for sax and keys? Classmates? Is the drummer somehow connected to the market people?

There are more questions I could ask, but these top the list. I'm hoping the sparsity of responses from the OP means he and his band are woodshedding like crazy.

C'mon, man, more details before it's totally too late.

Sorry, busy at work and kids but; to answer your questions, I might be the youngest member at 51!!!!

I think the lack of willingness is the song suggestions themselves. I feel that the guitar player only wants to play jazz standards and maybe play them in a different style. Fine. When I first met him, he claimed to want to play smooth jazz which, I'm ALL OVER, but, after suggesting some things, I haven't seen any smooth jazz yet. I dunno.

Listen, I cowboy up every time I go to work to earn a paycheck, I'll do the same but, I'd kinda rather want to be THRILLED at doing it. That's why we got into this, no?

 

[tspallone]

Yeah, you're right, first world problems. But, there are as many who say it IS important as say it ISN'T. And, as far as that goes, everyone's opinion is valid. In the greater scheme of things it probably doesn't matter too much...

BUT, the one thing that seems to be missing from a lot of posts is this: What is the opinion of the GUY WHO IS BOOKING YOU? If he thinks he's getting a band that can play one song a hundred times or he thinks he's getting a band that can play 30-40 songs over 2 hours, he needs to know what you can actually deliver.

Amazed at the number of posts that imply: "Yeah, we'll take your money to play, but, hey, we'll play what we want and not what your customers like, and if they make a request we'll tell them to screw themselves..."

And, you guys wonder why bar owners only want to know how many people you'll bring? Seriously...

Again, I'm just the bass player but, from what I hear, the drummer knows the person who schedules talent at the ongoing Farmers Market and he just hooked it up. I don't know what he told her. But, I DO know that this person won't even be around that day. Still, regardardless...I KNOW what's enternaining and, what we're doing, I don't think is. Or, as much as it could be.

I guess the size of this thread shows the defiding line of this issue and probably won't find a majority rule hear.

I'll get back as to how it all went. Rehearsal Thursday night with the sax player for the 2nd time. Maybe. let's watch.