Ok, good backstage question here-

[Kramerguy]

cool additions - thanks guys.

[newmaxnew]

thanks for all the feedback, it confirmed what I thought. And yeah, they did talk about playing dance songs for 30 mintues, but to me that's just crazy-talk: Why wouldn't the bar hire a DJ instead of us then? I used to do the 45 / 15 method in another band and as mentioned, both teh breaks and the sets seemed to FLY by.. I love playing which is why I like the 1:15 sets - I don't want to take a break lol! I agree mostly with Rhat and Blue though.. Gotta play to the crowd, if the dance floor is packed, why would anyone in their right mind go on break?? Also geo - true, midnight and 1am are "decision points" for a lot of hoppers, why give them a reason to leave, instead of a reason to stay. Planning ahead of time to be playing at those times sounds like a great idea!

 

 

The reason you want to take a break even when the crowd is jumpin, is because the bar sales go way up during breaks because people can be heard and it is just a natural time to go up and get a drink. Dancing people tend to drink a little more, but if they stay on the floor they aren't buying drinks.

 

Max

[Thrashy]

I have seen (and been in) many bands where the breaks are always longer than planned. If you want 15, call it 10, for some reason there is always a straggler that can't get it together. I have seen it be exponential to the break as well,

a 10 minute takes 15

a 15 minute takes 25

a 30 minute takes 45

[SeniorBlues]

Forgive an old man reminiscing. . . . .

1969. We played "The Intermission" in the combat zone in Boston for two weeks. Six sets a night, seven nights a week, plus three hours Saturday afternoon. 45-15. The guy's standing by the juke box and pulls the plug at EXACTLY fifteen minutes . . . and you'd better be ready to count it off.

Good for working in new band member(s) . . . . .

[Nobody Told Me]

Since the smoking ban went into effect, it's a little harder for me to gauge if people are really leaving, or if they're just going outside for a smoke. Everyone uses the break as a cue to go outside and light up. The first few times I saw the mass exodus I was alarmed, then I realized most of them would be back in 4.7 minutes.

30 minutes breaks would raise the eyebrows ( & ire) of many a bar owner around here. We shoot for 10 - 15 minutes, but sometimes they stretch into 20.

[Zeromus-X]

30 minutes for us, crank up the bass, kick the lights on sound active mode, and play what will get the girls on the dance floor who haven't been on the dance floor in band mode.

[newmaxnew]

30 minute breaks will get you fired in some venues around here, and probably just not get asked back at many others. These owners want the band performing and no amount of DJ tomfoolery if going to appease them.

The venues that seem to do well around here usually have a guy watching that band that will start tapping his watch after 15 minutes and giving the band the look.

Max

[Remedy]

Forgive an old man reminiscing. . . . . 1969. We played "The Intermission" in the combat zone in Boston for two weeks. Six sets a night, seven nights a week, plus three hours Saturday afternoon. 45-15. The guy's standing by the juke box and pulls the plug at EXACTLY fifteen minutes . . . and you'd better be ready to count it off. Good for working in new band member(s) . . . . .

wow thats hardcore!

we play 45-15 for 4 hours. varies if ppl are dancing etc

[Hegmatronicon]

I think on average those 30 minute breaks are too long. Like you say I would not be surprised if people start leaving after 15 or so minutes of no music. It's also a good idea to stick with the 15 minutes because much longer and it's easy to start losing focus. Interesting time to bring this up, the last few bands I have seen have all been taking close to 30 minutes and it's interesting to watch the place wind down. And not in a good way. :poke:

 

 

Yeah our band likes to take long breaks. I'd be fine with 15 mins but they usually dont even think about getting up again for 25 mins or so....make it back on stage after 30 and start playing.

We play a 45 min set, then a 55 ish then an hour or so.

Most gigs around here are booked for 3 or 3.5 hours (ie 8:30 -12/12:30 or some variant).

I do notice some ppl leaving during the breaks - and it bothers me - but i still cant get the rest of the guys back on stage quickly enough.

[Chicken Monkey]

I get supremely frustrated with band members who dawdle during breaks. Get a refill, take a leak, pass out a few cards/sell a cd, then get back on stage. 45/15 or 60/20, with some flexibility in place to read the room.

[cooterbrown]

We almost always do 60 on/20 off.

If the crowd is hot, then we'll just keep playing until we feel a lull.

We've gone 2.5 hours straight, before, and will often do 90 minute sets at the casinos.

[tlbonehead]

I've been playing four jobs in country cover bands for over thirty years. Four 45 minute sets with three 20 minute breaks is pretty standard around here.

 

 

Standard around here too and I always hated it. We're doing three sets of maybe 1:15 and try to keep the breaks at or a hair less than 10 minutes. 45 minutes is just insanely short amd I'm usually bored within 5 minutes of taking my break.

[jeff42]

Our sets usually range from 1 hour- 1hour 20 minutes. and we take 15-20 minute breaks. No longer than that.

[jimivaughnking]

We've sold almost all our venues on a 3 hour NO BREAK show. We figure its 3 hours of music actual music either way. We just prefer to take the stage and play 1 set and not give crowds any chance to leave. We did take this idea from the top band in our area but have seen a few more bands in the area start doing the same thing. We allow venues to set our start time accordingly when they want and let them know it will be 3 straight hours from that start time. We have been doing it now for almost 2 years and we don't even notice it as being long. We played 80 shows last year which means lots of Fri/Sat weekends. It is very doable and the crowds and owners really appreciate it. We still get comments from new people amazed that we don't take breaks and how great they think it is.

[Zeromus-X]

One thing I always thought would work well was a band that took no breaks, but each individual musician took a break. Such as, for the first hour the whole band would play, then the band would do 2-3 acoustic songs to let the drummer rest, someone else would sing and let the main singer rest, the keyboardist could cover the bassline and let the bassist rest, we do a few songs without keys to let the keyboardist rest, and we do a few single-guitar songs while the lead guitarist rests. Theoretically, we could do the whole night rotating things like that, and the musician who's not playing could be out checking out the sound, chatting with the crowd, etc.

 

Logistically it'd be difficult to make work, and one band member being late for their return could royally screw things up, but I think it'd be neat.

[Christhee68]

I work in a club that has a band and DJ every night. This is how it is for every band, every night:

8:00-9:30 -- DJ
9:30-10:30 --SHOWTIME!
10:30-11:30 SECOND SET
11:30-12:30 --DJ
12:30-1:00 THIRD SET
1:00-1:30 DJ

It seems to work. The DJ plays pretty much the same type of music (if not the exact same songs) as the band, so the dancing situation doesn't change much.

[BlueStrat]

 

One thing I always thought would work well was a band that took no breaks, but each individual musician took a break. Such as, for the first hour the whole band would play, then the band would do 2-3 acoustic songs to let the drummer rest, someone else would sing and let the main singer rest, the keyboardist could cover the bassline and let the bassist rest, we do a few songs without keys to let the keyboardist rest, and we do a few single-guitar songs while the lead guitarist rests. Theoretically, we could do the whole night rotating things like that, and the musician who's not playing could be out checking out the sound, chatting with the crowd, etc. Logistically it'd be difficult to make work, and one band member being late for their return could royally screw things up, but I think it'd be neat.

 

 

This is what Molly Hatchett used to do back when they were doing clubs in the late 70s. They had 3 guitar players, all of whom could play bass and one could play drums somewhat, enough so that they could all get a quick break without the band stopping.

[BlueStrat]

 

I work in a club that has a band and DJ every night. This is how it is for every band, every night: 8:00-9:30 -- DJ 9:30-10:30 --SHOWTIME! 10:30-11:30 SECOND SET 11:30-12:30 --DJ 12:30-1:00 THIRD SET 1:00-1:30 DJ It seems to work. The DJ plays pretty much the same type of music (if not the exact same songs) as the band, so the dancing situation doesn't change much.

 

 

An hour break in the middle of the night? I'd shoot myself in the face. I wouldn't be able to work the energy up again after an hour off.

[theAntihero]

It really depends on the gig, most bar gigs we try to do 45min or so with 15-20 min breaks, that way it gives people time to get a new drink and talk with their friends or whoever. We are a rock band though, so you really cant talk over us as you could softer acoustic music.

We play Bloomsday in spokane every year and have gone a little over 4 hours straight at one time. After a 15 min break it was horrible to get up and play again.

[BlueStrat]

 

It really depends on the gig, most bar gigs we try to do 45min or so with 15-20 min breaks, that way it gives people time to get a new drink and talk with their friends or whoever. We are a rock band though, so you really cant talk over us as you could softer acoustic music. We play Bloomsday in spokane every year and have gone a little over 4 hours straight at one time. After a 15 min break it was horrible to get up and play again.

 

 

 

I did Bloomsday once- we played on Sunday morning at 9 AM after gigging the night before.

 

We kept asking everyone "Hey, where ya goin'? Tough crowd!":lol:

[Christhee68]

An hour break in the middle of the night? I'd shoot myself in the face. I wouldn't be able to work the energy up again after an hour off.

 

 

Ooops. Typo. It's getting late. I'm going to beD now.

 

It was supposed to say:

 

8:00-9:30 -- DJ

9:30-10:30 --SHOWTIME!

10:30-11:00 DJ

11:00-12:00 SECOND SET

12:00-12:30 DJ

12:30-1:00 THIRD SET

1:00 --close DJ

[BlueStrat]

Ooops. Typo. It's getting late. I'm going to beD now. It was supposed to say: 8:00-9:30 -- DJ 9:30-10:30 --SHOWTIME! 10:30-11:00 DJ 11:00-12:00 SECOND SET 12:00-12:30 DJ 12:30-1:00 THIRD SET 1:00 --close DJ

 

That's more like it!

[theAntihero]

I did Bloomsday once- we played on Sunday morning at 9 AM after gigging the night before. We kept asking everyone "Hey, where ya goin'? Tough crowd!":lol:

But how often can you say" i just played to 50,000 people"

...sure they are all running away but......

[Zeromus-X]

An hour break in the middle of the night? I'd shoot myself in the face. I wouldn't be able to work the energy up again after an hour off.

One of the biggest clubs in this area has the band play 9:30-10:30, then the DJ runs 10:30-11:30, band 11:30-12:30, DJ 12:30-close. The DJ plays video mashups at about 140dB, which is awesome if you're into the music.

I've played there in a few different bands, and it works out pretty well. It's like putting on two separate shows. An hour break either gives you plenty of time to mingle with the crowd, or it gives you a chance to head out to the car/van/trailer and take a short nap, depending on how the night's going.

[3shiftgtr]

45 and 15. Nothing too long and nothing too short. 45 and 15. Keeps it moving. 45 and 15. We play all dance stuff during the breaks. 45 and 15.