recent booking experience and advice

[greenonion]

Well, Ive recently had a string of great and what may be not so great experiences but I don`t think the bad experiences are a result of my playing.

 

I did a benefit at a local library and out of that launched a solo act. I ended up getting two immediate gigs. One every friday night at the bar side of a mexican resturaunt and the other at an Irish pub. I`ll go over each experience .

 

First, the Mexican rest. Right around the corner from my house. Started out he asked me to play 9-1 but after the first 2 nights, after the restaurant crowd cleared, the place was empty by 12:00 So he the manager suggested and I agreed to start playing at around 7:30 and maybe more restaurant people would come over to the bar side. And in my opinion it worked. I attracted people over, plus local people that new me hung around a while but, still, by midnight the place was empty. At this point, I honestly felt I was doing my job, keeping customers entertained, playing longer than I signed up for and attracting the locals I knew. Well, one night the place cleared out early and I stayed there during the time I was committed to although there were no patrons. The next week, I rounded up a bunch of people to come into the restaurant and have dinner and stay for the gig. That same week on Friday, the manager called and said not to come in. I told him I had people coming to buy dinner and spend money so he said OK. I played and it all went well. Again, by midnight it was empty. He then informs me he wants to try something else. I said OK just let me know if you need me in the future.

 

I did not push for more gigs but new he did not want me. He said there was one night the owner came in and the bar was empty and I was not bringing in people. I honestly felt that since we moved up the time my job was not to bring in people to stay until 1 AM or even midnight, It is a resaurant, a mexican restaurant with a small cantina. Needless to say I was disappointed about losing the gig and started questioning if it was my fault. I don`t think it was, however, I think it may have been better to set the gig up once or twice a month rather than every friday. You can`t expect all of your friends and fans to come out to the same mexican reataurant every friday so, the lack of people was not my fault. The gig was $150.00 and free drinks although I might dring one or two beers that`s it.

 

The Irish pub was another story. That gig has been going great, although, I have a lot of friends that say they will be out, they have not made it yet. Some have and I even had a friend do a few songs with me with his guitar. The bar has a group of locals that are there every Saturday night and stay. Again the gig is 9-1 and so far, I start a 9 and play until 1 or later if the crowd is asking for a few more songs. The last 2 weeks though, the crowd has been thinner. Again, not my fault, since people are finishing up summer travel and getting ready for back to school. Well, on Tuesday of this week, the owner calls me and says not to come in this week since he thinks there will be no crowd because of the labor day holiday and he`s probably right. I said OK, do you want me to come in the following week and he said, well, I`ll give you a call and lets see how it goes cause it`s been slow. All of which is understandable.

 

My concern here with both gigs is, Trying to draw a crowd every weekend night. I think it may have been better to play once or twice a month. I worked to keep the material fresh but, could not produce an entirely new set list each week. I added 2 -3 songs per week, and took requests and if a regular wanted a song if I didn`t know it, I played it the following week which resulted in many tips.

 

I believe the Irish pub will come back, in fact, I `ll stop in there this week and firm it up for every other week or so. I believe the mexican place is gone in fact they`ve started karaoke.

 

Trusting that my playing and singing are good (I do Buffet, stones van morrison, eagles.........Some staright acousting and some with a backing track) I have a nice PA with good sound and the act is solid. What advice can you give me on these gigs ? Is it really my responsibility to pack the place every firday or saturday night ? I`m in my forties and most of the people I know have families and don`t stay out til ! am. I felt I brought people in but, mainly entertained and kept the patrons that were there spending. I run into people all the time that say they saw me and enjoyed my playing. I understand the owners of both establishments needing to justify my existence, but other than asking freinds and fans to eat mexican or Irish every weekend, or hang out until 1 AM, am I missing something ? Should I have spread them out a bit ?

 

Since I plan to solicit other venues I want to know if I should take a different approach or spread them out a bit.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

G

[MartinC]

I've worked some rooms like that, and my advice would be not to worry about bringing people. you will never be able to bring enough people to satisfy a bar owner so don't worry about it. IMO, it's not your job to bring people but to entertain the people that are there. Bar owners would like to dispute this, but they are wrong. If the food, drink and room is good, they will have customers. Find a room that has clients. Good food, etc. Then offer your service there.

 

If you get to the point where your so popular that 30 people show up wherever you play, then you can use that to play different spots and get more money. Short of that, your an extra perk for bars/restaurants that have customers. You shouldn't be expected to pack the room but to make THEIR customers your fans and get them to come back and bring new friends to eat, drink, and hear the great musician that plays there.

[daddymack]

I would suggest not playing the same place every week...find someone of similar skill to rotate with. I did that many years ago with our duo, actually we were approached by another duo, who were doing better gigs than we were...worked out great for over a year. We opened up new venues, and expanded our following.

Next, depending on the type of music you were doing, I have a feeling playing folk/pop acoustic covers in a small cantina would be a dead end. Was there any promotion? Did they put a 'live music' sign out side? Bar owners are pretty dim about this...they think the music is enough...did they have any incentives for the patrons...like one free drink after dinner if you hit the bar?

[greenonion]

Thanks for the replies. The first response was what I wanted to hear and appreciate the input. For the second response, There was some promotion, there were signs out front and I ran an add, with my own money in the local rag as well as flyers at the venue. However, I did not feel the owners promoted it as much. The free drink Idea is a good one. I also did some trivia questions and gave away gift cards to local spots like coffee shops, etc.

 

I agree that every month or every other week with another act would work better. I have a good sized list of songs and continue to add. I am also working on a web-site that I could link the restuarant menu to as well.

 

My next go round will be a bit different. I will get the Irish Pub back and do a better job promoting and switching schedules. I would like to set new gigs up at an earlier time slot from the start, maybe even happy hours that run over.

 

I feel now that I did not drop the ball on either gig, maybe could have managed a few things better but only had a certain amount of control over the whole deal. I came on time, equipped and put on a good show with good crowd interaction and held up my end of the bargain. I also learned a few things and your input has helped.

 

Playing an Old folks home next Monday with potential for a regular spot during the week. I`ll let you know how it goes.

 

 

Thanks

 

G

[bloolight]

I'm in sort of the same position in the acoustic duo I'm in right now. We booked a Wednesday gig with a local winery that was just starting up as an audition, with the understanding that they were looking for a weekly act to play after tastings. We played our first show, and they asked us to come back the next Wednesday. Then they called us three days later and asked us to play again that night (a Saturday). We did. Then they called us and asked us to play a Friday gig...to make a long story short, we're now playing two gigs a week there. We managed to squeeze a raise out of them, but the money isn't all that hot right now. These people are new at booking acts, and I think they're just happy to have found a band that fits in with their place. We're mature, play appropriate tunes, and keep our volume down low enough that people can still talk and eat. It's a nice little place and we like the owners well enough, but the audiences are small and the pay is low because of this.

 

My feeling is that the promotion is the responsibility of the venue, not the band. I agree with MartinC that the purpose of a band, in a place like this, is to entertain the customers who are already there. Hopefully you can get them to stick around a little longer and buy more drinks/food. We're not the main attraction (the wine is) and we're not going to be a "draw" on our own. So far, the owners seem to be of the same attitude, which is nice. We just wish they would start getting more people in the seats so we could negotiate for more money!

[emdub123]

What really jumped out at me is that there's no way one guy with an acoustic guitar can entertain a room for four hours. You're background music at best and annoying at worst. I don't mean to disparage your (or anyone else's) abilities, but it's just not possible to hold people's attention for that long. Let me rephrase, maybe it is possible, but I've never, ever seen it happen.

[greenonion]

I will say that the Mexican Place was too long of a time frame on some nights that started at 7:30 and went til midnight. I felt he was asking a lot. But, 9-1 has been fine. I think part of the success of the time frame is that I have been doing this in bands and have done well writing set lists, don`t take alot of time between songs, talk to the crowd and. I don`t sit down when I play, I stand which I find people like. I do 45 minutes and a 15 minute break. I do some segmenting in my sets, a block of Blues, A block of buffett and so on. It works. But, If I could, I would rather play for three hours or less. But, that is what they wanted. I am going to pursue shorter gigs in the future.

 

 

Thanks

 

G