New club last night... Big win

[ckcondon]

Since there are so many nightmare stories around about playing new venues who "don't get it", I waned to share ours that had a happy ending (no, not that kind!)

Relatively new restaurant/bar began booking live acts earlier this year. One of our friends bands was playing one night and we stopped in. They had a decent crowd, and the room has a pretty good stage setup at the back of the room with an elevated corner stage. Big enough for a 4-piece.

We contacted them about an open weekend and booked a one-nighter for a bit less $$ than out normal fee at an established club with the understanding that it was a one-time deal to see how it worked out.

Early start time (9PM) and we expected to play our usual 3 set night. Before we start, the GM tells us "We've been really slow with the late night crowd, so just go til midnight and we have a DJ coming in to finish up the night." OK.... Whatever you want, we'll just do our thing. The GM said she was leaving early and her closing mgr would take care of us at the end of the night.

8:45 the place is empty. By the end of the first set, a couple hundred ppl were in there partying and dancing. We had a decent number of our fans come out, but most of them were bar regulars or walk-ins who saw us through the window. After the the first set, I asked the GM if eberything was cool and she was blown away. She had to stay because they weren't staffed for a busy night. BTW, Mumford & Sons GOTR festival was down the road in St Augustine and no one really thought Jax Beach would be going off.

We play an abbreviated show and finish up with the place packed and a bunch of girls on stage with us. As we say good night and power down, the DJ (who set up off the side of the stage) turns up basically the same dance music I was playing on my ipod during breaks. We turn off our stage lights and the bar pretty much empties out. They lost out on some serious ring by cutting us early. No substitute for a fun band who engages and entertains the crowd.

GM was stoked and can't wait to have us back for our full rate. Nice room, no smoke, earlier night and BTW, it's 8 blocks from my house!

Hope they keep building a stable of good bands so people will learn that it's a good option for live music!

Win-Win!

[Vito Corleone]

 

---

ckcondon wrote:

 

. No substitute for a fun band who engages and entertains the crowd.

 

 

---

 

Nice to hear some good news around here for a change!   And I think this is really the key here^^^^

Maybe I'm being overly-optimistic, but I really do think the live band thing MIGHT be turning a corner.  As more and more bands get over themselves and there is a returned focus to entertaining the crowd I think that a significant part of the public prefers live entertainment to a DJ.  

Somewhere along the way, bands forgot that the reason most people go out in the first place is to have fun.