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Typical Set - breaks during 3&4 hour gigs???

#21
Munjibunga said:
For four-hour gigs, I like to play a full hour in the first or second set and 45-minute sets for the rest, with 15-minute breaks. The reason is so you're not stuck with a one-hour set at the end when you're all tired and the crowd is smaller.
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Yup. As a rule, if you have to play a long set to make the timing work out right, it's better (for both the band and the audience) if the long set comes earlier in the night.

I've had quite a few gigs where the party is rolling so good early on that we'll go a full hour on each of the first two sets... and then the last set only winds up being a half-hour but I've never run into any trouble with bar owners or clients when that happens. It seems like especially now with DUI enforcement really ramping up, people aren't staying in clubs much past midnite no matter how much they're into the band... so it makes sense to "front load" your show and get your best stuff out there relatively early in the night when you have the most people there to enjoy it. A lot of venues will give you latitude on this (especially if you've got a good sized crowd and you're working them well), however on things like casino jobs they can be VERY picky about sticking to prescribed on- and off-times.

To answer the immediate question at hand, 15-minute breaks are pretty standard, and you would take two of them in a 3-hour show or three of them on a 4-hour job. Sometimes you can push the breaks to 20 mins but never more than that or the client will feel gypped and you may start losing your crowd.
 
#23
And by the way...

When your break time is up that means you are "go" with the full band onstage and playing. It's not two guys up on stage chatting with the crowd while the guitarist tunes up and the drummer is still in the john. That should go without saying but I've seen (and been in) too many bands that aren't professional enough to roll that way and it's really a pet peeve of mine.
 
#25
Bradass said:
On a 3.5/4hr show, it's almost always 2 sets, split by a 5 minute break that we take for 15 minutes and usually get back to playing within half an hour. But we always throw some upbeat dance/EDM/Hiphop from an ipod during the break to keep the place hopping. Always works like a charm
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You take a 5 minute break for 15 minutes that lasts half an hour?

You guys are accountants by day, right? Unionized ones, maybe?
 
#26
Toddbass65 said:
Bass Pounder -you're checking up on me :)
It's cool, glad somebody read my thread!
We actually are doing shows with 2 other bands coming up in different venues.
Just looking to see how we should organize the sets between 2 bands over a 3 or 4
Hour period. Our first gig is a 4 hour job, with a couple 3 hour ones in the works.
Based on the responses and what my band mates are thinking this is our idea of a plan.
4 hour job:
1st band 60 min. Set
30 minute break to switch bands.
2nd band 60 min. Set
Break 30 min.
2nd band last set 60 min.
Done

3 hour job:
1st band 45 min. Set
Break 30 min. To switch bands.
2nd band 45 min. Set
15 min. Break
2nd band last 45 min. Set
Done

Does the plan seem reasonable?

We're up to doing a 60 minute set now.
By end of summer we hope to be up to 120 minutes based
On finishing the rest of the songs we have music set for and with a couple
New ones we just started working on.
We'll be band #2 at that time and get 2/3rds of pay instead of 1/3. :)
Don't really do it for the money anyway....cause there isn't much of THAT!
Opinions???
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Unfortunately, none of what guys are posting will apply, since this a multi-band issue, which makes more sense since a) you guys don't have enough material for a full night, and b) No one that's not completely medicated will probably sit thru a 1 hour, much less a 4 hour prog rock show...:eek:

Your breaks between bands seem long enough to switch bands, provided you're sharing most of the backline. If you aren't, forget any pre-planned schedules because changeovers with complete backline changes will NEVER go as smooth as you want them to. I play in a cover band that has enough material to do a full night(i.e. 4 hour show), but I've been part of enough multi-band shows to know that they almost always end up an hour or four behind schedule. Fewer bands will obviously, make it less complicated, but be prepared for the worst.

I'm not wanting to knock your choice music, I love prog, but that's not a genre of music that people, in a bar drinking and partying, will want to hang out for. You guys might wanna learn some popular covers AND have an iPod/Mp3/something playing some cool, popular, DANCEABLE break music between sets...that has worked for a billions years. Good luck! :bassist:
 
#27
Thanks for all the replies guys!!!
I think I might say we are hard rock/progressive more so than
just a prog band. We have a new facebook page to check us out:
give it a listen and see what you think.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Defy-The-Past/352930074806711?ref=hl
As far as our switchover, the drummers are friends so they are sharing the 2nd drummer's kit with just a change of snare and bass pedal. Amps will already be set up side by side, so just slide the mic over to the other guy's cab and go for it. Sound guy doing check before we both play to get levels for each player stored before we start as a reference. Thanks again to everyone for replying.
This is why TB is such a great place!!!
PS:I'm on the right in the pic. And yes our singer is a sweetheart - single too!!! We're all married so she's safe!
 
#30
For my bands, set length depends on the crowd. Most bar gigs are 9-1:30. We will usually take 3 breaks. If we have a good crowd around midnight we might play an extra long set. If we take a break at midnight alot of people will wind up leaving so we play until 12:30 or so and do a 30 minute final set.
 
#32
I'm in WI ,but what we do for gigs are 4hrs ie 8-12/9/1 etc. We play about 1 1/2 for the first set. The reason being are the DUI laws and the most people are out early in the evening. so our night breaks down to 1.5 on 20min off 1.5 on 10 off 30 min on. Our thought is to play the most music to the most people. so an 8-12 gig people can leave by 11:30 and miss all the police action at bar close, but still hear a good show.
 
#33
Mainly 40/20 or 45/15 in these parts.

But there are always exceptions, so we stay flexible. One club had a bad time crunch scheduling snafu issue so we agreed to play two sets back to back, about 90 minutes of music with no break. Not the end of the world, it was good for relations.

We've also had our last set cut short many times as the staff desperately tries to round up open containers and get people out the door on time.
 
#35
We usually do 4 hour gigs the set list length can differ some songs we jam out if someone is sitting in like the harmonica player. Also we have taken shorten breaks if the house is jumping and we want to keep the vibe alive. So it depends on a lot of things happen on any given night. And then there are the situations where you sign a contract that states what the venue expects.
 
#37
For my covers band, we play blocks of anything between 1 and 1 and a half hours. Standard breaks are around 15 minutes, but can be longer if gig is very long (think six hour wedding party).

4 hours is too long for 2 sets, so it should be 3 of them. What combinations - depends on crowd habits, but we usualy start with a one hour medium length block (easier music), 15 minutes, than brutal 1 and a half block (climax of the gig, people dancing), 15 min. break, than last hour (starting strong and sliding down to couple of balads towards the end).
 
#40
Modern country band. Shows generally run 9:30 till 1 or 1:30 depending on the crowd. We started out doing 3 sets and now we just do 2 long ones (20+ songs per set)
I'm not exactly sure how long our break is between sets but I think its about 20 minutes or so.
 

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