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Whaddaya do when the gig is going really great?

bassicmike

bassicmike

Feb 12, 2009
2,024
8,334
Our Fair City, MA
#1
I mean incredibly great!

The band is sizzling, the dance floor is full. And you've been playing an hour+ (actually 90 minutes when I first checked).

Do you stop and take a break, or ride the energy and keep it going?

We played a wedding last night and went with the 'keep it going' option. Played another 60+ minutes and wrapped it up. Crowd loved us. They. Never. Stopped. Dancing.

I think if we had taken a break, it would have been hard to get the energy back up to where it was. Absolutely amazing show.
 
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#5
bassicmike said:
I mean incredibly great!

The band is sizzling, the dance floor is full. And you've been playing an hour+ (actually 90 minutes when I first checked).

Do you stop and take a break, or ride the energy and keep it going?

We played a wedding last night and went with the 'keep it going' option. Played another 60+ minutes and wrapped it up. Crowd loved us. They. Never. Stopped. Dancing.

I think if we had taken a break, it would have been hard to get the energy back up to where it was. Absolutely amazing show.
Click to expand...
Keep it going! A couple of months ago we were playing a gig, we got to our last song - Ain't No Stopping Us Now - the crowd were up and dancing, they made us play it for about 15 minutes straight. Isn't that why we play bass?
 
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#9
bassicmike said:
We played a wedding last night and went with the 'keep it going' option. Played another 60+ minutes and wrapped it up. Crowd loved us. They. Never. Stopped. Dancing.
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:thumbsup:
 
#12
bassicmike said:
I mean incredibly great!

The band is sizzling, the dance floor is full. And you've been playing an hour+ (actually 90 minutes when I first checked).

Do you stop and take a break, or ride the energy and keep it going?

We played a wedding last night and went with the 'keep it going' option. Played another 60+ minutes and wrapped it up. Crowd loved us. They. Never. Stopped. Dancing.

I think if we had taken a break, it would have been hard to get the energy back up to where it was. Absolutely amazing show.
Click to expand...


I used to do some corporate band work. The service was usually jazz trio followed by a short break; then dance music. On occasion we played through the break straight into the dance set and got into the same dilemma. Sometimes we would wind up playing for 2 1/2 hours non-stop.

I totally get the idea of keeping the momentum going, but some consideration for the toll this takes on the human body is in order as well. After such a long set my elbow and fingers would go numb on my plucking side. At first I could play for about 90 minutes without a problems, but it steadily got worse, so the damage was apparently cumulative. I was in my late 30s at the time and my band sometimes played four or more 45 minute sets in day and I never had any problems.
 
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#17
Wasnex said:
I used to do some corporate band work. The service was usually jazz trio followed by a short break; then dance music. On occasion we played through the break straight into the dance set and got into the same dilemma. Sometimes we would wind up playing for 2 1/2 hours non-stop.

I totally get the idea of keeping the momentum going, but some consideration for the toll this takes on the human body is in order as well. After such a long set my elbow and fingers would go numb on my plucking side. At first I could play for about 90 minutes without a problems, but it steadily got worse, so the damage was apparently cumulative. I was in my late 30s at the time and my band sometimes played four or more 45 minute sets in day and I never had any problems.
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I weathered the long gig alright last night. Stayed well hydrated throughout the evening.
But, jeez, this morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck.
 
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#18
bassicmike said:
I mean incredibly great!

The band is sizzling, the dance floor is full. And you've been playing an hour+ (actually 90 minutes when I first checked).

Do you stop and take a break, or ride the energy and keep it going?

We played a wedding last night and went with the 'keep it going' option. Played another 60+ minutes and wrapped it up. Crowd loved us. They. Never. Stopped. Dancing.

I think if we had taken a break, it would have been hard to get the energy back up to where it was. Absolutely amazing show.
Click to expand...
In my last bar band we only did 2 sets. The first set was the normal length and the second set runs until the end of the gig. It was kind of tough to do but that really worked for that particular crowd.
 
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