Members Vito Corleone Posted August 11, 2013 Members Share Posted August 11, 2013 Two words:Open Bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tacdryver Posted August 11, 2013 Members Share Posted August 11, 2013 I've joked to the audience that the more they drink the better I sound. I really think there is something to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 11, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 11, 2013 tacdryver wrote: I've joked to the audience that the more they drink the better I sound. I really think there is something to this. That's an old joke we've told on stage for years. Always gets a laugh though.But yesterday we were playing a wedding and hanging out backstage finishing up our dinner when these two young hotties, half-blasted out of their minds, wander back and start rambling on about "hey, are you guys any good? what sort of stuff are you going to play? Can I sing with you guys? You all look like a lot of fun! I love your pink shirt, will you let me try that on later? Your glasses look empty, do you guys need some more wine?...." and we all looked at each other to say "yeah, this is gonna be an easy crowd...."...and then I remembered a conversation I was having with another musician who was complaining that he hates playing weddings because they are always so boring, and I was telling him that my experience is completely different. Virtually every one we play ends up being like little mini-rock concerts. Energized, fun crowds. Packed dance floors. Young hotties bumping and grinding with the band onstage. 2-3 hours of playing. Easy, fun gig. $5-600 in my pocket at the end of the night. What's not to like? Then I realized my friend always plays more low-dollar gigs. Which, on some level you might think should be MORE fun, but then it dawned on me: I can't remember the last time we played a wedding with a cash bar. The higher-dollar affairs always have open bars. By the time we go on, a good portion of the audience is already sloshed. Not that we still don't have to do our work at making the event go well, but all that lubrication sure does make the work a lot easier.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SLScott86 Posted August 12, 2013 Members Share Posted August 12, 2013 In our little pocket of the market, there is almost no such thing as a cash bar. All you can drink Busch Light and 7&7's, and usually one other mixed drink. The downside is there is very rarely a band, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted August 12, 2013 Members Share Posted August 12, 2013 SLScott86 wrote: In our little pocket of the market, there is almost no such thing as a cash bar..... Same here. I've seen "dry" weddings, weddings where alcohol was limited to beer and wine, weddings where the liquor selection was extremely limited - however, I've NEVER seen a wedding with a cash bar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted August 13, 2013 Members Share Posted August 13, 2013 SLScott86 wrote: In our little pocket of the market, there is almost no such thing as a cash bar. All you can drink Busch Light and 7&7's, and usually one other mixed drink. The downside is there is very rarely a band, either. I can fully vouch for that. My wife is from his farm community in michigan. The weddings are not fancy but all that home cooked food at what are pretty well all german weddings is amazing. Trust me they can still get a good buzz on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yer Blues Posted August 13, 2013 Members Share Posted August 13, 2013 The mood at weddings is also usually upbeat and happy. You can't say the same thing for some dive bars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted August 14, 2013 Members Share Posted August 14, 2013 Yer Blues wrote: The mood at weddings is also usually upbeat and happy. You can't say the same thing for some dive bars. at the same time, many weddings are stiff and stuffy. Bars/clubs have more of a real atmosphere many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 15, 2013 Members Share Posted August 15, 2013 We played this one wedding, and there was this one old guy, had to be 80, dancing along, with someone or by himself, air guitaring with his cane, just having a helluva time!! I made sure to chat him up during the break, he said he hasn't had this much fun in years! It was awesome to see. There were a few older couples that stuck around for quite awhile. There were 2 grey-hairs at another happily 2-stepping to the country songs we played as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 15, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 15, 2013 StratGuy22 wrote: We played this one wedding, and there was this one old guy, had to be 80, dancing along, with someone or by himself, air guitaring with his cane, just having a helluva time!! I made sure to chat him up during the break, he said he hasn't had this much fun in years! It was awesome to see. There were a few older couples that stuck around for quite awhile. There were 2 grey-hairs at another happily 2-stepping to the country songs we played as well! The biggest hits at these things are often the old folks (we have a special bit for them if there's enough of them in attendance) and the young kids. Gig before last, we start playing "Billie Jean" and this young kid---couldn't have been more than 7 or 8---in a suit and tie and a fedora comes out and starts break dancing out on the floor. Whole crowd circles around him and cheers him on. Everyone loved it. Of course, that's not the same as drunk guys at the bar yelling for "Free Bird", but hey...we can't all have that kind of fun every night, now can we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 21, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 21, 2013 Oh yeah. The bass player, drummer and myself all sing some leads and have our own vocal niches and the band gets a lot of compliments for that diversity. And we'd probably continue to sing some stuff. But what we'd like to find someone with a good R&B voice who can rap a bit. And take over the harmony stuff. I'd like to have 3 strong good looking vocalists across the front and us old guys just hang in the back playing the music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted August 21, 2013 Members Share Posted August 21, 2013 guido61 wrote: But what we'd like to find someone with a good R&B voice who can rap a bit. And take over the harmony stuff. I'd like to have 3 strong good looking vocalists across the front and us old guys just hang in the back playing the music. Wow! That would be pretty cool. You should find some male eye-candy for your female fans. It would be another thing for people (women) to talk about when speaking about your band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted August 22, 2013 Members Share Posted August 22, 2013 guido61 wrote: Two words: Open Bar. That helps, for sure. My problem, well, not really MY problem, with wedding reception gigs is that the band I play with that typically can get those kinds of gigs is not set up to be the kind of band that can be successful at those gigs. The frontman/band leader is a well known local guy and can book good gigs but he really doesn't do the right kind of show for wedding reception gigs.....however, the modern rock/top 40 band that I also play with has two wedding receptions in September, so hopefully those will work out much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reino Tulonen Posted August 25, 2013 Members Share Posted August 25, 2013 Another option is to play somewhere, where it's allowed to bring your own drinks. On weekend I was checking out this band in a bar and the guitarist had his own can and the bartender came to take it away. The guitarist told me that they only got 3 free drinks for the salary/person and he couldn't afford to buy anything from the bar so he had to take something from his own fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted August 26, 2013 Members Share Posted August 26, 2013 Reino Tulonen wrote: On weekend I was checking out this band in a bar and the guitarist had his own can and the bartender came to take it away. The guitarist told me that they only got 3 free drinks for the salary/person and he couldn't afford to buy anything from the bar so he had to take something from his own fridge. That's pretty stupid on the part of the guitarist ... his actions of bringing his own drinks into a bar puts the venue's liquer license in jeopardy. Regardless of whether or not he feels he can't afford to purchase from the bar - he still can't bring drink into a bar. If he truly can't afford it - a bottle in the vehicle and a discrete trip to the parking lot is his best bet. But bringing in drinks? Plan on NOT getting a return booking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.