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Tea Totaller Gigs..

#42
trevcda said:
]I don't drink much in general these days, but I like 40hz idea; only if there's something special or different worth tasting.
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Yup. When you don't drink in quantity you can afford to drink the really really good stuff. I've got a better quality list of drinkables at home than you'll get to choose from at most places. More recently, the menu has come to include some exceptional homebrew courtesy of a retired friend who has a delightful new hobby and is generous when it comes to sharing the results. Once you get used to that - and sharing your hospitality with a good friend or two over the course of a pleasent evening, it's kinda hard to start swilling the beverages you encounter at the usual venue. It's like drinking instant coffee out of a vending machine once you're used to drinking really good fresh brewed coffee.
 
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#44
I have, field days, family-friendly events. I think the differences were less due to the lack of alcohol and more due to the different context. At these events the music was not the prime attraction, so people did not pay a whole lot of attention to the band. Or I should say most people didn't, while a few did.

I do think more people will dance with a bit of alcohol to loosen their inhibitions, but some folks show up to dance no matter what.

I wouldn't get too hung up on dry vs alcohol events. There is a whole collection of other variables that have a bigger impact.
 
#45
I play for an original artist, and we have played a number of concerts in auditoriums where there was no alcohol. They weren't bar gigs; Just concerts for the sake of people showing up to listen intently to the music. That's my favorite type of gig. It's much more fulfilling and rewarding to me than bar gigs, where I feel like I'm just there to provide background noise while people do all the things that people do in bars.
 
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#47
I haven't touched much alcohol since about 6 months after my divorce from my ex was finalized (Alcohol wasn't an issue, she was, I drank a LOT to get away from her...

I play a lot of parties, and more than a few of them are for groups like AA, and more than a few Baptists. (We do some P&W stuff along with southern rock, classic rock, and country).

I must prefer sober audiences. Happy sober people are super easy to deal with, drunks, happy, sad, or angry generally speaking are no fun...
 
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#48
From 2005 - 2012 I lived in Park City Utah. Gigs in PC were cool, but not enough of them, so we did a fair amount of "dry" work in the Salt Lake/Provo area. Crowds were usually subdued, but not bad. I don't drink at performances, so whatever. What killed me were the ones where a moral authority would approach us before the show and inform us that no songs about sex, drugs, drinking, or other scandalous activities would be tolerated. I'd point out that since they hired a classic rock/psychedelic rock band there may be a bit of that in EVERY song.

At one memorable show a very old guy gave us the pre-show warning. A younger guy then came and offered me some lyric substitutions for his favourite songs, which were simply silly. Keep in mind we were doing radio-friendly classic rock like Cream and CCR and the like. We got talked to about "bad" lyrics twice in the first 4 or 5 songs. That was enough - we finished the set with a 20 minute instrumental surf guitar medley, then packed out and left.
 
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#50
We've played 'family friendly' gigs. We try to get the kids into things, and suck up to the parents. Our singer is good at making questionable lyrics kid friendly. Otherwise, we're ok with it - not as fun, but we still have our own pre-game :)

Bar gigs with only half of the people enebriated? Never heard of those.
 
#51
About a decade ago I ran sound for my coworker's rap group once. they were a bunch of high school kids who rented the local Grange hall. Obviously they weren't allowed to have any alcohol.
Some other guy who comes up onstage for a rap battle asked the whole crowd if anybody had any weed. So that's one thing you can do if you don't mind getting arrested.
 
#54
The worst gig I can recall playing was at a Sonoma Valley Winery for a gay wedding.
The band had no problem whatsoever with the reality of playing for a bunch of guys boozing it up and having fun.
(There were 2 women in the band).
The problem was the venue, the contract and the management would not permit the band to drink.
We were considered "vendors," not entertainers and were subject to specific rules - just like the catering staff (which sucked) cause god dammit these are not in any way the same roles.
Our job is entertain it takes the proper application of spirits to lift spirits.....

NorCal bands be warned: Never play at Arista Winery.
 
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#56
All my gigs so far have been alcohol free. (Volunteer work at St Vinnies).
I wanted to do the song "Duncan" by Slim Dusty (I like to have a beer with Duncan etc) - it's a simple sing a long for the crowd - but was not allowed to add it as it references alcohol too strongly.
I couldn't really argue seeing most of those that attend are homeless due to drink/drugs/gambling.

We have managed to slip in the odd song with a grog reference, generally if it is just a passing reference it is ok.

 
#57
We played a Clean and a Sober club one time. Every time we took a break the club would empty to just the band. We asked the host where everybody went and he pointed across the street and said, "the bar across the street". Sure enough, we walked over and there was our complete crowd.
 

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