Members stratotastic Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Hey folks, We've been invited to be part of a 4-band wedding showcase in March through this fledgling management company that we're starting to work with. We've never done this before. We have 25 minutes to play with 5 minutes of crossover between bands. Looking for any pearls of wisdom from you guys. We know about the dress nice, act professional, etc stuff, and are mainly looking for insights about the music. My initial thought is to have 3 medleys/mashups: 1) Dance stuff (Dynamite/Billie Jean/Raise Your Glass/F-you/etc)2) Ballads (mash a few traditional wedding dance songs)3) Edgy Rock (80s stuff/Katy Perry/Tonight Tonight/American Girl/etc) #1 and 2 are our attempts to be somewhat traditional. #3 is there because it's our wheel house and will separate us from the more traditional/musacky sounds of the other bands that are in this. Thing is, we don't have the repertoire or lineup to compete with most of the stuff that they do (yet), so rather than trying to fake it by cramming a bunch more wedding tunes, we just want to lay out exactly what we are and do best and hope there's someone out there looking for our type of energy for their reception. I'd appreciate any thoughts. I'm willing to scrap the whole plan and start over if it's stupid. Thanks,Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Sounds good to me. I've never played a wedding showcase before, but that's probably exactly what I'd want to play as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Hit as much variety as you can, do a verse/chorus or so of each, play as many songs as you can and blend them together in one long medley. When we did one of these for an agent, we played around 16 songs in 30 minutes. Some songs we started with a chorus, hit a bridge, then to the guitar solo or something like that. We rehearsed the medley several times so it was flawless when we played. The agent was blown away but we consequently didn't go with them because the 1st thing they wanted us to do was add more players to the lineup to fit their model of what they offered to clients. We tried finding a male front person, had no luck and decided we were better off where we were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 generally I think vocals sell wedding bands. You have to play a big variety , but you also have to be able to nail the vocals. Its the common thing among top tier bands that play these kind of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 We're doing our first "Wedding Faire" in a few weeks as well. We were given the option of performing for free, or renting a booth for a few hundred dollars and just being another vendor selling our stuff with our promo package. We opted for the 2nd option. Not sure if its the right one. We went back and forth a bit on whether it would be better to play in such a sterile environment or not. I guess it will depend on if we book any gigs from the booth. Anyone else ever done the "booth" routine before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 We're doing our first "Wedding Faire" in a few weeks as well. We were given the option of performing for free, or renting a booth for a few hundred dollars and just being another vendor selling our stuff with our promo package.We opted for the 2nd option. Not sure if its the right one. We went back and forth a bit on whether it would be better to play in such a sterile environment or not. I guess it will depend on if we book any gigs from the booth.Anyone else ever done the "booth" routine before? Yup ,, helped the wife with one ,,, she was a corp manager for a big travel comany. Personally I would have done both ,, play and had a booth. double team the event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Yup ,, helped the wife with one ,,, she was a corp manager for a big travel comany. Personally I would have done both ,, play and had a booth. double team the event. Well, if we play we essentially get a free booth. I'm just worried we won't be presenting ourselves in the best possible light. Our whole schtick is the energy, crowd involvement, running the event, etc. Yeah, we're a good band to just sit and watch/listen to, but at 11AM when everyone is fully sober at a super low volume in a bright room with no stage----not that the environment will necessarily be THAT sterile, but it might be. I just hate ever doing the "well, you should see us when were...." making-excuses thing. Not the best sales pitch. OTHO...we can do the sales pitch over the internet. This might be their one chance to see us perform before they hire us. So...we made a call. Hope it's the right one. Basically we're paying for the opportunity to present ourselves to 250-300 brides who might not hear of us otherwise. If we can't book at least ONE gig from that and make the $400 we're spending on the booth worth it, then we might be in the wrong business... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Extremely controlled volume while exuding high energy is the key to these things. As David mention your crowd is there at eleven AM and sober as can be. You could show case the talent of the band by performing some lighter engaging songs with great harmonies and have a high energy video playing at the booth, if that's the kind of band you are. Brushing up on booth etiquette wouldn't be a bad idea either. You should be "on" the whole time you're at that thing. You'll probabaly get more gigs performing off stage than on, so always keep the personality bright, positive and damn glad to be there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'd bail. Hate to go negative, but I'd consider this a waste of time unless they are paying you to be there and play. Free gigs beget more free gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tele-vania65000 Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'd bail. Hate to go negative, but I'd consider this a waste of time unless they are paying you to be there and play. Free gigs beget more free gigs. I did one of these a few years ago. It was a joke. We did 4-5 songs at a ridiculously low volume while they continued to play piped in music through the auditorium. It was embarassing to do and ZERO weddings came from the experience! Stay away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 I did one of these a few years ago. It was a joke. We did 4-5 songs at a ridiculously low volume while they continued to play piped in music through the auditorium. It was embarassing to do and ZERO weddings came from the experience! Stay away. what sort of event was this? Something set up by a booking agent especially concerning bands? Or something with all sorts of wedding vendors involved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 The agent that we had auditioned for does those showcases all the time, with the other vendors like photographers, cateres, florists, wedding planner types there as well. The band is put on a big stage in a room that was a former dinner theater in a nice hotel, with a good sound system, lighting, and the bands are the focus of the event and are playing at full volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratotastic Posted January 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Thanks for the advice so far. Medley, slick vocals, controlled volume, shmoozy persona all noted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tele-vania65000 Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 what sort of event was this? Something set up by a booking agent especially concerning bands? Or something with all sorts of wedding vendors involved? It was a wedding expo. We were the only band. Everyone else was shilling catering, limos, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 It was a wedding expo. We were the only band. Everyone else was shilling catering, limos, etc. Well, I'm willing take our chances on one and see how it goes. I'll report back if we get any gigs from it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 I did one with a duo. We were paid our regualr rate, but were essentially background. It was a bore. No gigs came out of it. It was set up by an agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jayare Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Did one a long time ago---There are a LOT of potential brides/brides-moms/and their girlfriends there.They are all walking around,gathering free samples from EVERY vendor (10% off flowers,$50 off limo service,etc).The problem is...if you are playing...you cant connect with a prospective client.If you are not playing...they dont hear you.So there needs to be someone dedicated to talking to people.Everyone has a cellphone camera...make sure your website/contact info is visible from the back of the room--they can snap a pic and have your info.We had brides-to-be fill out a FREE raffle ticket---winner got $100 discount on a booking.Make sure they fill out name,date of wedding,and phone/email..You will at least get a couple hundred prospects.Then when you get home youve gotta start callin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jayare Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 PS...The "winner of the $100 discount was about 70...with no plans to be married...she was just scarfin ' up freebies........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Our plan is to handle it like any other vendor. There will be three of us manning a booth with our demo video playing on a screen behind us. We'll hand out promo and business cards and chat people up. I believe that if we are able to talk face-to-face with a couple of hundred brides we should be able to score a few dates. Maybe even talk one or two out of hiring a DJ. We're pretty good at the face-to-face sales thing. But we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.