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RAIN . . .


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Fathers Day trio gig at an oyster bar. It's converted gas station - picnic table with umbrellas and a stage tent set up in front of one of the bays. Oddly enough, I haven't played a lot of outdoor gigs and I'm wondering what sort of rainout policy to expect. 50% chance all day . . .

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Have you asked the owner or booking agent what the policy or backup plan is in the event of rain? I'd start there...

 

I did, but haven't heard back.

 

I'm finding that a lot of venues are new to all this, so this may not have happened to them yet.

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You have to start with what's safe... if you're going to be outside in the rain with amps and PA equipment, that's not safe... unless the tents are big enough to realistically keep you and all the gear dry...

 

I doubt many people will want to stand in the rain and eat / listen to music either...

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Not sure what it’s like where you are, but the weather here is almost always blazing sun or something very wet. Even in the winter, the bright sun is an issue.

 

So tents for outdoor shows are a standard part of our contract. And something that is double and triple checked on before we arrive.

 

MAYBE if it’s virtually 100% certain it won’t be raining and we are playing after dark. But otherwise? Need that cover

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They replaced the smallish tent with a seriously large one. No rain at all, as it turned out. Now, about those mosquitos at low tide . . . .

 

I just noticed that a gig we have next month says "weather permitting" It's a restaurant patio gig. It's rarely hot up here; we're more concerned about how long we can stretch the season into the fall before outdoor gigs won't work.

 

But my original question remains unanswered. Under what conditions do you expect to get paid? When can they cancel?

 

 

 

 

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They replaced the smallish tent with a seriously large one. No rain at all, as it turned out. Now, about those mosquitos at low tide . . . .

 

I just noticed that a gig we have next month says "weather permitting" It's a restaurant patio gig. It's rarely hot up here; we're more concerned about how long we can stretch the season into the fall before outdoor gigs won't work.

 

But my original question remains unanswered. Under what conditions do you expect to get paid? When can they cancel?

 

 

 

 

We used to play an outdoor beach venue fairly regularly. Sometimes they would cancel due to bad weather. Since there wasn't an actual contract, the general assumption was that as long as they called us to let us know it was cancelled before we started loading up to head out, it was usually good.

 

Usually on such days, we'd be calling the venue asking if they still wanted us to perform. Late afternoon thunderstorms are common here in the summer, but you can generally tell by noon or so if it's going to be one of those afternoons or not.

 

If the weather sucks, I'd rather not be playing outdoors anyway.

 

 

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Funny I just saw this thread. A couple weeks ago I opened for Toots and The Maytals. These gigs are part of a series of pretty serious shows from our “Party in the Park” series. The city sponsors it. When I got there they had a way of lowering the line arrays and stage to keep the rain out but when we went on it got clear out. The other opener got rained on. The main act still came on stage. Luckily the sound company has contingencies for this sort of thing with many employees. We still get paid. Because I know the promoter I don’t use a contract for this gig but I know people will for smaller shows. Contracts are good for smaller shows sometimes or one offs. The weather this summer has been really spotty and it remains to be seen what the rest of the summer will look like.

 

Jason Muskopf

 

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I just saw this too, and I come here almost daily.

 

If outdoors, my contract says the venue should supply a safe,sheltered environment.

 

If it rains, it depend for me.

 

If a commercial establishment that I haven't played for often, I might ask for half the contract fee or a reschedule date. After all, if it's outdoors, nobody will show up and the venue will lose money too.

 

If it's a regular customer, and they want to reschedule, I'm open for that, if not I'll just let them off the hook.

 

We've been doing an outdoor gig for 11 years now, once a week all season long. The owners leave it up to us. If we want to cancel, we cancel, if we want to play, we play. It's a small mom & pop operation, and we've been working with them so long, if we cancel, we don't ask for anything. We are the only band that has lasted there all 11 years, and we rarely miss more than 3 days per season (the tourist season is the dry season), so we definitely got the better end of the deal by both being cooperative and doing a good job.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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Bob it sounds like that is a good plan for a mom and pop type operation. Those types of relationships with a client base are important.

 

Yes, it's like we are in this together.Perhaps that is why we are the only band that was there when we started 11 years ago. In fact, we're the only band invited back next year. Everybody else gets rotated.

 

But we do pull a crowd in the season. It's a weekday afternoon, and in the winter, the retired folks come out to sit by the water, have lunch and drinks, and play with us.

 

Notes

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