CMS Author David Himes Posted December 6, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 The new 'Gig Kahuna' for December 5th just dropped. Read about some of the realities of opening for nationals. As always, let me know what you think. Cheers! http://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/technique-gig-kahuna-opening-for-national-acts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Iamthesky Posted December 9, 2014 Members Share Posted December 9, 2014 The closest my last band came to this was opening for Chappo at one of the mid-size venues around here. That was organized through the venue itself rather than their tour managers, and it was pretty smooth and straightforward. It was just like opening for any other local band, except without that awful wait to set up while the other band argued with the sound guy. I love sharing a bill with pros. Sure, there are compromises, but we were able to talk with them during setup to get our not-small stage footprint to work around theirs, which was our main concern. Really, it was delightful to work with them. A very pleasant change from some of the World-Revolves-Around-Me-So-I'll-Make-It-Hard-For-You locals I've encountered; fortunately those are rare, but from what I've seen and heard my impression that working with pros is so much easier is borne up by others' experiences too. Of course, that assumes you aren't the local a-hole yourself... But really, what you describe in your article -- backlining and so on -- is something that non-headline originals bands have to handle around here for pretty much every single show. The only real difference is that the local headliners have to move and set up gear too. If you don't have setup and tear down to an art, your audience will have walked outside by the time you get your set started, and the venue will be annoyed at you too. Even with my massive synth rig, I have it to the point where (if no-one gets in my way) I can have the whole thing torn down, boxed up, and off stage within 10 minutes. That kind of hassle is just par for the course. I've never experienced buy-in, and I'll be interested to read your upcoming column on that. But if you're selling tickets you are doing pay-to-play regardless of whether they're tickets for Dads In Rock or for the Rolling Stones -- at that point you have to make an unemotional business decision about whether you're getting value for money at a promotional level (taking your time into account), and base your choices around that. If you can get better value for time/money by buying a couple of column inches in the local about-town rag, then don't play the show. Like you say in another thread, 95% of business (and bands) fail, and the reason they do so is they don't operate on sound business principles. Opening for national acts doesn't change the rules of that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted December 16, 2014 Members Share Posted December 16, 2014 One thing not mentioned in the article is that the fan doesn't know the terms of the agreement. To the fan, if you open for X band, you are on their level, until your performance either confirms or denies it. How many times have you gone to a show and liked the opener more than the headliner? It happens. Your status gets a boost when you open for famous artists, no matter how much you might feel you are getting screwed.The terms are often not open to negotiation, but sometimes they are. They need someone to open........I've never been denied a sound check, and almost all paid about what a club gig pays. Most bands struggle to get in front of a large audience. If you are opening for a band whose music is in line with your own, it's a really good way to rate your effectiveness as a band. There they are-thousands of folks who came out to see and hear live music. They want to like you. Assuming you didn't get totally compromised by sound and light issues(hopefully you have some support people to help with this), if you didn't tear the place down, some soul searching is in order. Personally, I have had the whole range of reaction, from realizing a band was going nowhere based on how the gig was handled, to realizing I could in fact do very well at the level of the gig. The latter was an amazing experience that will stay with me the rest of my life. Live by the sword, or die by it. If you get a chance to open for majors, at least you have a chance to pull the sword from the sheath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted December 16, 2014 Members Share Posted December 16, 2014 The biggest opening concert-type gig I ever did was opening for Blue Oyster Cult in 1988. There was another act (I can't remember who now) in between us and BOC. We didn't get paid and yes, we had to cram our gear into whatever space was left in front of the other two bands' stage gear. We got a super short soundcheck, but we got one. We played to a few hundred people who were mostly walking in and getting seated in a place that held a couple thousand. Nothing grander came of it for us, but it certainly didn't hurt anything except the time we put in. And it didn't hurt to have that on our resume at all. All in all I'd call it a "take it or leave it" experience, but I'd still say that doing it was the better call than not. Did a bunch of nightclub shows with on-their-up and on-their-way down big names over the years as well. Mostly just because we were the there-for-the-week band when a bigger act would come through for a concert performance so we'd automatically get the opening slot. Those were sometimes fun, but also a bit of an extra pain because we'd have to strike our gear and then set it up again to accommodate the other band for one show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author David Himes Posted December 22, 2014 Author CMS Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 One thing not mentioned in the article is that the fan doesn't know the terms of the agreement. To the fan, if you open for X band, you are on their level, until your performance either confirms or denies it. How many times have you gone to a show and liked the opener more than the headliner? It happens. Your status gets a boost when you open for famous artists, no matter how much you might feel you are getting screwed. The terms are often not open to negotiation, but sometimes they are. They need someone to open........I've never been denied a sound check, and almost all paid about what a club gig pays. Most bands struggle to get in front of a large audience. If you are opening for a band whose music is in line with your own, it's a really good way to rate your effectiveness as a band. There they are-thousands of folks who came out to see and hear live music. They want to like you. Assuming you didn't get totally compromised by sound and light issues(hopefully you have some support people to help with this), if you didn't tear the place down, some soul searching is in order. Personally, I have had the whole range of reaction, from realizing a band was going nowhere based on how the gig was handled, to realizing I could in fact do very well at the level of the gig. The latter was an amazing experience that will stay with me the rest of my life. Live by the sword, or die by it. If you get a chance to open for majors, at least you have a chance to pull the sword from the sheath. I'd like to comment on this, but as I always say, different things work for different bands. So to avoid putting my foot in my mouth (LOL), I'd like to know a little about you. What band is this? Are you still together? What touring band did you open for? What city/market are you in? When did this gig take place? Any links to any vids or anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted December 24, 2014 Members Share Posted December 24, 2014 The best gig opening for a major I ever did was playing solo supporting the gipsy kings at the Fillmore in SF on 12/6/88. I know the date because I still have the poster. I don't sing-I played flamenco. I had an incredible night and it led to doing a lot of other gigs. I gave the sound man a cassette to record my set but he said he forgot to press the record button. I made 100.00 playing in front of a sold out audience. Another solo gig I opened for Tim Finn who had Tony Levin playing bass at the DNA lounge in SF in 1989 or so.With latin rock band Bandido( I just sat in at their 35th anniversary gig at the Great American Music hall this year) we opened for Santana at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Linda Ronstat at the Galleria in SF, Los Lobos at a huge festival right in front of City Hall, Malo, and several other names I can't think of at the moment. I'm looking forward to playing with them next month at this gig:http://www.yelp.com/events/san-franc...enefit-concertMy group, Guitarras y Congas, opened for Sammy Hagar and Greg Rollie and others at the Bone Bash at the Shoreline. When I say we opened the show, we really did, We played as they opened the gates on a stage right by the entrance. Super fun gig. Made 200. a man. My bandmates have played with Santana, Malo, Bo Diddly, Ray Charles, the SF Symphony, and many others. Members of Santana, War, Malo, and others have sat in, done gigs, and/or recorded with us. Bandido. Malo, and Guitarras y Congas are all still together. I'm 56, and been doing gigs since I was 17. My dad's cousins have owned a big label and managed and recorded bands in London since I was a kid. They showed me what their business was about when I was 18. It was eye opening. I've lived in SF all my life. I have no idea what it's like to live/gig in other markets. Outside of a couple tours in Italy back in the 80's with an Italian singer, and top 40 road gigs in the Pacific Northwest, I've never gigged outside the bay area. Although I've been fortunate enough to work with full time pros, I've always owned a small business, which prevented pursuing more touring opportunities. Here are some of the tunes on the cd I produced with my band:http://ourstage.com/profile/guitarrasycongas I can say, in my case, that those opening gigs were very positive experiences. When approaching agents or other booking folks, including those names on a resume doesn't hurt either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author David Himes Posted December 30, 2014 Author CMS Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 The best gig opening for a major I ever did was playing solo supporting the gipsy kings at the Fillmore in SF on 12/6/88. I know the date because I still have the poster. I don't sing-I played flamenco. I had an incredible night and it led to doing a lot of other gigs. I gave the sound man a cassette to record my set but he said he forgot to press the record button. I made 100.00 playing in front of a sold out audience. Another solo gig I opened for Tim Finn who had Tony Levin playing bass at the DNA lounge in SF in 1989 or so. With latin rock band Bandido( I just sat in at their 35th anniversary gig at the Great American Music hall this year) we opened for Santana at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Linda Ronstat at the Galleria in SF, Los Lobos at a huge festival right in front of City Hall, Malo, and several other names I can't think of at the moment. I'm looking forward to playing with them next month at this gig: http://www.yelp.com/events/san-franc...enefit-concert My group, Guitarras y Congas, opened for Sammy Hagar and Greg Rollie and others at the Bone Bash at the Shoreline. When I say we opened the show, we really did, We played as they opened the gates on a stage right by the entrance. Super fun gig. Made 200. a man. My bandmates have played with Santana, Malo, Bo Diddly, Ray Charles, the SF Symphony, and many others. Members of Santana, War, Malo, and others have sat in, done gigs, and/or recorded with us. Bandido. Malo, and Guitarras y Congas are all still together. I'm 56, and been doing gigs since I was 17. My dad's cousins have owned a big label and managed and recorded bands in London since I was a kid. They showed me what their business was about when I was 18. It was eye opening. I've lived in SF all my life. I have no idea what it's like to live/gig in other markets. Outside of a couple tours in Italy back in the 80's with an Italian singer, and top 40 road gigs in the Pacific Northwest, I've never gigged outside the bay area. Although I've been fortunate enough to work with full time pros, I've always owned a small business, which prevented pursuing more touring opportunities. Here are some of the tunes on the cd I produced with my band: http://ourstage.com/profile/guitarrasycongas I can say, in my case, that those opening gigs were very positive experiences. When approaching agents or other booking folks, including those names on a resume doesn't hurt either. The first point I'd like to make is there is absolutely nothing with being a big fish in a small pond. Sounds like you're in the upper level of your local scene. If so, you have made it farther than the vast majority of local bands. If your business prevents you from touring, nothing to cry about. You still get to do what you love (I hope), and that's all you really need to worry about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pinkfloydcramer61 Posted January 5, 2015 Members Share Posted January 5, 2015 4 years ago my band opened for country star Justin Moore at an outdoor show and it was pretty much a breeze. This was because we had worked with the sound reinforcement company on a regular basis and knew the techs personally and the setup and soundcheck, although limited in time, was not rushed. Also, our rigs were fairly simple, being a country/southern rock band- I used a digital piano with an organ stacked on top and the backline monitor. The headlining keyboard player had a pretty simple rig, too- 2 well-traveled Triton Extreme 88's, QSC K12 monitor, Radial DI. I was the hero of the gig because I just happened to have a bottle of Crown for the ceremonial group shot before going on stage. The other thing that stood out is being able to experience up close what a great, high energy band JM had. The keyboard player wore a tee, jeans and a baseball cap and looked like he could have been sitting on a John Deere tractor, which was the idea I guess. I was impressed by his FOH sound and by his playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted January 14, 2015 Members Share Posted January 14, 2015 It's funny how perceptions differ. I'm a very small fish in a very big pond. The San Francisco area is full of great and famous musicians. I'm an unknown by comparison. I really like your articles, but I usually find I look at things much differently. I'm more musician centric than band centric. For example, I read your article about bands overexposing themselves, and in general I agree that a band can burn out their following and their group playing too much locally. But as a musician, I think the worst thing you can do is sit home when you could be earning money playing gigs. Gigs lead to other gigs, and the more you play, not only will your skills improve, other musicians will see you and that will create other opportunities IME. The first point I'd like to make is there is absolutely nothing with being a big fish in a small pond. Sounds like you're in the upper level of your local scene. If so, you have made it farther than the vast majority of local bands. If your business prevents you from touring, nothing to cry about. You still get to do what you love (I hope), and that's all you really need to worry about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted January 16, 2015 Members Share Posted January 16, 2015 We opened for Headpins, April Wine and Lee Aaron. It was cool. Made $800 each time from what I recall. The Headpins liked our set and were impressed with how fast we cleared the stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author David Himes Posted February 6, 2015 Author CMS Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 We opened for Headpins, April Wine and Lee Aaron. It was cool. Made $800 each time from what I recall. The Headpins liked our set and were impressed with how fast we cleared the stage. Sounds like one of the more rare occasions of successful opening gigs with touring bands. If you got paid $800 per gig, that's doing pretty damn good. But then again, I guess in Cali, that might not be much. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 7, 2015 Members Share Posted February 7, 2015 Sounds like one of the more rare occasions of successful opening gigs with touring bands. If you got paid $800 per gig, that's doing pretty damn good. But then again, I guess in Cali, that might not be much. LOL If he was opening for those acts, I'm gonna guess it must have been in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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