Was this unprofessional by the gig organizer?

[Jacknotjohnbass]

Two weekends ago, my band played for a Music Education fundraiser at a resturant in our hometown. This is great for us considering we're in high school. But because of our age it seems as though we got pushed aside for other adult friends of the gig organizer. Pretty ironic considering this was supposed to be for giving young people gig and learning experience...

Anyways, this goes back a while. My band was the first to email the organizer about the event. This is also our third year playing it. For this, the gig organizer promised he would give us a great spot since we were on our game and are "veterans" of the event. We check a couple weeks later at the slots. We were placed at 3:30 in the afternoon while other adult bands and friends of the organizer were placed at prime time spots for eating dinner like 6:30, 7, and 7:30. This seemed a little bogus with the promise he made. Also the fact this is a fundraiser for students. My drummer emails him back asking why we didn't get a better spot like he told us. This was kind of sketchy to me. He did make us a promise and 3:30 isn't that great of a spot. I don't know if it was worthy of a complaint by my drummer. But I also can't decide if we're right to complain.

I guess this turned him off from us because there's some more to the story. The next part needs some context. Our last song was fairly long and at the end had a psychedelic breakdown and drum solo, which we worked on for quite a long time. This will be important.

We get to the gig and find out it's running late which is no big deal. We go on and do our thing and we start to get into the breakdown. My guitar player pulls out a violin bow and starts playing with it.

Suddenly, the organizer comes on stage and says our band name and "let's give them a hand" signaling we're getting kicked off. We all end the song and start packing up. In a very annoyed voice the organizer says, "pack up fast guys".

Now, we weren't running late. Since the gig was running late before us, the organizer cut off five minutes of our set without telling us beforehand. That sucked. It seems like he blatantly did not want us to play. I wasn't too concerned because this type of stuff happens when you're in a local band, but my drummer was furious.

In general, was the organizer a professional guy? Is this just local band craziness or really unprofessional?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the person after us was one girl playing a ukulele and singing. The mics were already ready and all she did was plug in the monitor. We stood there and counted it took nearly a minute to do. My drummer is further pissed that we could've finished the song because she didn't need that much time to set up


EDIT 2: It seems as though many people presumed I think this was unprofessional. If I did have one answer I wouldn't have even put this thread up and instead been wallowing away whining. The reason I put this up is because I'm SPLIT about the situation. I see sides for both cases and wanted to see if anyone else could add to the debate. And the psychedelic drum solo seemed to get a lot of hate...respectively. It wasn't my idea to begin with just saying


EDIT 3 (lol): if you see the video of us, the first song "Somehow" is an original I wrote just in case you were wondering *wink wink*

 

[lfmn16]

Welcome to the music business. It's not how good you are, it's who you know.

 

[74hc]

I wouldn't be surprise to learn that it get the best slots, one has to pay the promoter.

The music business is about dollars. The more you have, and/or the more you control, the more friends you have.

 

[TNCreature]

It was somewhat unprofessional, but also typical. And maybe necessary.
I would suggest your performance was a factor, except this is your 3rd time playing at this event.
However, band sets get cut for time often. I would choose to not take it personally, and maintain a classy reputation to keep these relationships going for your future.
Good luck!

 

[CaseyVancouver]

Don't sweat the small stuff. You won't believe the crap involved with playing weddings and corporate gigs.

Keep an open mind and smile on...

 

[BassWaffle]

Yeah, i would just take this as a lesson to stay skeptical about promoters, especially when they're making promises.

 

[Wanker_Joe]

Getting a crappy slot while the friends get a great one is completely typical and in-line with my experiences. In no way is this exceptional behavior. I can't count the number of times my groups and solo stuff has been relegated to less-than-ideal slots, while those in the right circles score the best ones.

However, he shouldn't have just cut you guys off. What he should have done is if he wanted to move on with the show you should have been asked to cut your set short, so that you could decide how to end it. The way it was handled sounds incredibly disrespectful.

 

[lfmn16]

Yeah, i would just take this as a lesson to stay skeptical about promoters, especially when they're making promises.

You mean when their lips are moving.

 

[DeathSlanger]

I'm not sure which to be more offended by! Both moves were super douchey and I bet he would not have done that to an "adult" band.

I think you could decide to talk to him, tell him how you feel (about his slot lie and cutting you off) and see what he says. If he's evasive and discursive, well, just avoid him in the future.

 

[Bodeanly]

Welcome to the music business. It's not how good you are, it's who you know.

It's not just the music business. It's life. On the bright side, anger and resentment write their own songs.

 

[LBS-bass]

It's not highly professional, but small-time fundraisers in venues like that are rarely run by true pros. It's fairly typical. A couple of things I see are that your definition of a good slot and the organizer's definition might not be the same. The last place I want to be on a bill is smack dab in the middle of dinner hour if it's a food establishment because the patrons that came there to eat and not hear the music will be complaining. So maybe the organizer gave you an earlier slot to avoid you having to deal with that?

As far as getting cut off, that's pretty much what you can expect to happen if a show, overall, is running late. We work for them; they're not there to work for us or make sure we play everything we prepared. They'll cut every band short until they get back on schedule. He told you to hurry up and get your gear off because he needs to get back on schedule. Some bands act like they're clueless and dawdle around, and his main concern at that point is to keep things moving and he wanted to make sure you all didn't do that.

Where he perhaps could have done a better job would have been to tell you beforehand that he wanted you to shave five minutes off your performance time. Part of the job of being a musician in these situations includes being accommodating with regard to scheduling issues.

Overall I wouldn't take any of it personally. The organizer has a job to do and it sounds like he was just doing what he had to do to keep the show running smoothly.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Perhaps somewhat unprofessional, but you were not promised any particular slot (or even a time frame). Maybe he thought older musicians would draw more people later on in the event, and younger musicians would work during the day (who knows?). As to the time cut, events like this often has time issues, and people can get cut off. I doubt he did this with the intent of denying you of your climax (or probably even knew of it). He also have seen the song getting a little out of hand (long psychedelic breakdown with drum solo and guitar using a violin bow).

Sorry, but I don't see any major foul here - not without being there and seeing what happened in person.

 

[br1qbat]

Cutting a band off by jumping on-stage is IMO a dickmove. If they needed the set to be cut down, it should be communicated to the band before it hits the stage.

 

[Lava]

Not cool at all. But I'll reiterate by saying "welcome to the music biz". It's time to move on to bigger and better gigs, where you will someday be in the position to bump someone else for the better time slot. Just don't be a jerk like these guys.

 

[MCS4]

Now, we weren't running late. Since the gig was running late before us, the organizer cut off five minutes of our set without telling us beforehand.

When you say you "weren't running late" and the organizer "cut off five minutes of our set" do you mean:

(1) You got cut off five minutes before the original scheduled end time for your set, i.e. you were scheduled to end at say 2:30 and you got cut off at 2:25; or

(2) You were playing beyond your original scheduled end time (due to the prior delays in the event) and you got cut off before you had played the full number of minutes you had expected to play.

Given your references to the delays, I'm guessing it is option 2. If it is, then IMO the blame lies on both sides or even is skewed toward your band's side. If your set was going to start late, you should have asked the organizers whether you should still play your full set or if you should cut it short, particularly given that you knew that your last song was particularly long and therefore it would not be easy to regulate your set time without advance notice. They probably would have told you to cut the set short and the whole issue could have been avoided. Playing a shorter set to compensate for delays in the show is incredibly common and you will want to learn not to get upset about it.

In fairness, someone from the event at minimum should have tried to give you a head's up during your set that you were running out of time (a quick note that you only have time for one more is reasonably common) to avoid their running onstage (which looks bad no matter the reason), but this probably was made more difficult by the fact that they likely did not know that your last song was long and contained an extended jam.

Edit: After a second read through the above, I want to be clear that I think the organizers were lame and should not have jumped on stage to cut you off unless there was a very dire need to do so. I just think that the problem should have been avoided beforehand. One fairly simple rule of thumb is that if you know your last song is particularly long, be extra cautious about confirming that you have time for it.

 

[RiffwRiter]

I play in bands and organize a few events. I have to act as stage manager and sometimes tell people to cut their set short. I try to tell them before they start as well as between songs when they have about 5 minutes time left. "5 more minutes" or "One more song." I have never cut anybody off before a song finished and would never unless it was some emergency. I just live with it and keep trying to get back on schedule and explain to everybody I'm trying to be fair to everyone. A televised event could be different, but that's not what were talking about.
Just move on though and kill your song at the next gig. Or make a good video of it. Or both.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Lame on the promoter's part, but I do wonder if the other bands of adults were also donors? That's where rubber meets the road sometimes. It might have been best for the outcome of fundraising. Not making any excuses for Douchey McDouchebag, of course.

 

[Mushroo]

You're a high school kid, not a professional musician. Demanding to be "treated professionally" is an unrealistic expectation. (I'm not saying that to be mean; just an observation that minors vs. adults is not a level playing field.)

I will say though, that "professional musicians" understand that a fundraiser event is first and foremost about raising money for a good cause.

 

[40Hz]

It happens. I saw Debbie Davies and her band have their set at a CT blues fundraiser cut short with no warning after only playing three songs so the festival people could bring out and introduce the winners and runner ups of the kid's pie eating contest that was held earlier that afternoon. Good thing they didn't try pulling that with Pappa Chubby's band who took the stage afterwards.

So it's not just young people or unknowns that get bumped for arbitrary reasons at these things. It goes the other way too.

Chalk it up to experience. It's all part of a musician's life.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

You're a high school kid, not a professional musician. Demanding to be "treated professionally" is an unrealistic expectation. (I'm not saying that to be mean; just an observation that children vs. adults is not a level playing field.)

I will say though, that "professional musicians" understand that a fundraiser event is first and foremost about raising money for a good cause.

Not sure what you are on about, I was getting paid to play professionally in high school. Ageism is B.S. and professionalism is how you act. Seems to me the OP handled it like a pro, unlike the promoter.