Have done this before the same weekend! Friday night public gig and the same venue Saturday night for a private event who rented the space. The best part was no load out after night one!
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What would you do? (same venue back2back)
- Thread starter gregoire1
- Start date
I did the cover band/house band thing in my earlier days. Classic rock/country. Same venue, same set list, same crowd, for several years. 2-3 great paying weekends per month when we weren’t playing other venues. Never had a problem with the crowd dancing and enjoying. If the music is what they like and it’s performed well, all is good. Go for it!
Open the second show with the Happy Birthday song, then inform the audience you forgot to sing it at the show last week so you came back. Thank the crowd, say goodnight see you all next year then walk off the stage. Once you hear the chanting for an encore, return to the stage and give them what they want, namely, that same set you played the week before.
Also, remember to bring band merchandise to sell at the birthday party. Sometimes guests forget to bring a gift or they bring something cheap or tasteless that makes them feel embarrassed all night. Band t-shirts, coffee mugs and cd’s make a nice gift. Also use the opportunity to sell some gear that you are not using. Can’t speak for everyone, but I’d love getting a used Rickenbacker for my birthday.
In any event, enjoy the show. If you are going to sell gear, please post the time and location of the event.
Thanks.
Also, remember to bring band merchandise to sell at the birthday party. Sometimes guests forget to bring a gift or they bring something cheap or tasteless that makes them feel embarrassed all night. Band t-shirts, coffee mugs and cd’s make a nice gift. Also use the opportunity to sell some gear that you are not using. Can’t speak for everyone, but I’d love getting a used Rickenbacker for my birthday.
In any event, enjoy the show. If you are going to sell gear, please post the time and location of the event.
Thanks.
I worked (for 41 years) at a company, and I went to the same place 5 times a week most weeks. You've got a job where they want you to show up 2 weeks in a row, but only once per week. Sounds like a great gig to me. Yeah, play slightly different sets, it'll be fine.
If patrons want a different experience, they can choose different mood altering substances for Friday and Saturday nights. Grateful Dead patrons have known this for decades.
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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heck yeah, this isn't your problem. Otherwise learn another 5-10 different tunes to throw in. The various bands I play in do this all the time. Just know your parts and listen.
Yep!
Years ago, friends of mine (husband/wife, rode Harleys together every weekend) owned a larger bar, only opened on weekends, had to ditch their house band, and started getting bands from an agency which wasn't working out to their satisfaction. I talked to some buddies of mine, they put together a great house band for them, and I ended up riding faders on the house system for a few months.
Management (my friends) had a formula- x% Country, x% Oldies, x% Classic rock, etc.
Same band, three weekends (Fri and Sat) per month,
just added a new song or two maybe every month.
No they didn't have to make a new setlists, add a bunch of songs every weekend, mix it up, or wear different clothes,
and of course the place was packed every weekend.
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Yep!
Years ago, friends of mine (husband/wife, rode Harleys together every weekend) owned a larger bar, only opened on weekends, had to ditch their house band, and started getting bands from an agency which wasn't working out to their satisfaction. I talked to some buddies of mine, they put together a great house band for them, and I ended up riding faders on the house system for a few months.
Management (my friends) had a formula- x% Country, x% Oldies, x% Classic rock, etc.
Same band, three weekends (Fri and Sat) per month,
just added a new song or two maybe every month.
No they didn't have to make a new setlists, add a bunch of songs every weekend, mix it up, or wear different clothes,
and of course the place was packed every weekend.
This was in the mid-90s for me. But even now, where I now live, exact same scenario is true with a couple cover bands in town.
"Back in the day" bands played at the same venue 6 nights a week, often for months, if not years, with essentially the same crowd every night.
I can just see the ads:
"This Friday Night at O'Malleys...METH NIGHT!!!"
Funny thing, in that time period VFWs across the country where the site of many a D.I.Y. punk/hardcore/goth/new wave show; in my midwest hometown one of the most intense gigs I ever saw was the Rollins/Kira era Black Flag, in ‘84, later the Dead Kennedys, then a little something different, Jah Wobble, and a bunch of other stuff, plus playing there with the artsy synthpop band I was in at the time. The “locals” just stayed in the basement bar, drinking, bemused. They would ask the kids if they were hippies, and the kids would answer, “no, we hate hippies”, to which they would respond, “you’re OK then, we hate hippies too”.
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