Retirement home gig - one k10

[jdthaddeus]

For the last year I've been playing with a group called Ginny and the Tonics. We have 4 vocals and different influences so we're doing stuff from Etta James and Bill Haley to Deep Purple, Waylon and Willie, Oasis, Kings of Leon, Brad Paisley and Colbie Caillat.

Yesterday we played at a local retirement community so it was mostly oldies. They had us at the end of the main entrance hall with most of the folks seated in the dining area to our left. Knowing they wouldn't want loud volume we ran the whole band through one k10 on a stand, 4 vocal mics, bass directly into the mixer, electric guitar had a fly rig. Brushes on the drums and the acoustic guitar was already plugged into his fishman mini so he used that.


Ginny's a trooper. Singing for two now and ready to pop.

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I love to see the young heart overcome the old body.

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The staff got in on the fun. Lately I've noticed young people seem to enjoy the 50's rock and roll.

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Some leftover dessert for the road.

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Arrived at 5:10, finished setup at 5:25, sound check done by 5:40. Start at 6, finish at 7, in my car driving away at 7:20. Same pay as a typical 4 hour late night bar gig. I'm thinking about only playing retirement homes from here on out.

Some of our easiest and best paying gigs right now are in retirement communities. Cool pictures, thank you!

 

[mwbonsall]

What PA configuration did you use for that room? How many people were in the hall?

It looks like the mains are behind the band. How did you avoid feedback, esp. with those tall ceilings?

Wow! That was about 7 years ago when I just joined this group. We upgraded our sound since then. Those were the mains on stage behind us and doubled as our monitors, surprisingly little feedback. This was minimal at best.

That is Gold Canyon RV Resort. The dance hall is 10K square feet and usually around 350 people.

We now use a pair of Yamaha DX115 subs with a pair of EV115 mains and some powered speakers for monitors. Here is a more recent photo of the stage and gear. We now set the mains on the stage in front of the band.

 

[Michedelic]

Sounds great.

I was doing gigs like that in psychiatric wards a little over a decade ago. We did about 2 a month, they were afternoon gigs, and they paid us at the time $70 a person. We were in and out in about 2 hours, and it was a super relaxed setting. The singer guitar player loved it so much he started working for the company HAI (Hospital Audiences Inc.) full time. If you really like that work, you might want to check them out. Not sure if it's just a NY thing - I don't think so though. Actually, I'm not even sure if they're still around .

Well... congrats. Glad you had an easy gig, fun time, and pay!

The Cramps did that over 40 years ago…


I’d call that serendipity.

 

[dadglasser]

It does appear to be a NY thing Hospital Audiences, Inc. - NYC-ARTS but looks very cool. We could start up a redneck version down here.

Redneck retirement home:

 

[Ignatius]

A retired friend of mine (late 70s) started doing these gigs as a solo act recently. He spent some time learning songs from the 30s-50s, assuming that was the music the retirement home folks would like. He said the audience was polite but not really into it.

After he realized that he was older than some of the residents, it occurred to him that they may like the same music he does, so he updated his repertoire to songs from the 60s-70s and got a much better response.

He said it was the first time he thought of himself as "old."

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

A retired friend of mine (late 70s) started doing these gigs as a solo act recently. He spent some time learning songs from the 30s-50s, assuming that was the music the retirement home folks would like. He said the audience was polite but not really into it.

After he realized that he was older than some of the residents, it occurred to him that they may like the same music he does, so he updated his repertoire to songs from the 60s-70s and got a much better response.

He said it was the first time he thought of himself as "old."

If you want to gig this audience, match their ages to the music they listened to. There is a whole range of venues so "retirement homes" is a bit vague. For example, if it's an assisted living facility or nursing home, where most residents are 85-100 years old, add about fifteen years to their birth date and that will point you to pop charts that will be "their" music. Most people are at the peak of music listening focus as teenagers. Research shows they stop looking for new music by age 24. So for this group, their hits start mid-1930s through the 1940s and 50s. Rock 'n Roll was just developing in the mid-50s and as much as we love it today, it was not the most popular music in the charts then. The big hits swung hard and were often vocals-based by the crooners. There were novelty songs, doo-woppers, and other music that didn't rock at all. Some of the TV theme songs were great! Many in this target audience live with various stages of dementia. Unlock their distant memories and bring them happiness with the gift of hearing their favorite songs -- played live and played well!

P.S. I've been thinking a lot about this as I'm starting a band to perform at assisted living centers and nursing homes. I put together a Spotify public play list of 125 candidate songs for recruiting musicians. It illustrates what I described above. Songs start in the late 30s and end in 1970.

 

[One_Dude]

For many, many years I played in wedding bands, party bands, corporate event bands, Bluegrass bands, festival bands, and church praise bands. In 2019 I joined a band that plays mostly retirement, senior centers, and nursing homes. That band broke up when the BL quit, and some of the members formed another band playing the same venues. We play a circuit of 10 to 12 senior venues, and play 2 to 4 times a month. We don't look for other gigs, but will play for private parties and events if asked. All current band members are retired so we schedule our dates in the afternoon, and play for about an hour or a little more. We concentrate on 50's, 60's, and 70's music in a variety of genres. We are always well received and usually asked when we are coming back.

Our reformed band has four members, but one member has a chronic health issue that sidelines him at times. Another member is currently recovering from surgery, so for the last 6 weeks we decided to continue as a duo and that's going well. We should be back to a trio soon, and hopefully to a four piece again eventually.

Thump on,

One_Dude

 

[nutdog]

For many, many years I played in wedding bands, party bands, corporate event bands, Bluegrass bands, festival bands, and church praise bands. In 2019 I joined a band that plays mostly retirement, senior centers, and nursing homes. That band broke up when the BL quit, and some of the members formed another band playing the same venues. We play a circuit of 10 to 12 senior venues, and play 2 to 4 times a month. We don't look for other gigs, but will play for private parties and events if asked. All current band members are retired so we schedule our dates in the afternoon, and play for about an hour or a little more. We concentrate on 50's, 60's, and 70's music in a variety of genres. We are always well received and usually asked when we are coming back.

Our reformed band has four members, but one member has a chronic health issue that sidelines him at times. Another member is currently recovering from surgery, so for the last 6 weeks we decided to continue as a duo and that's going well. We should be back to a trio soon, and hopefully to a four piece again eventually.

Thump on,

One_Dude

Way to keep thumpin. Hope you’re all back at it soon.