Monthly music night - your thoughts welcomed.........

[The Admiral]

When I lived in Manchester I ran a successful monthly live music night for a couple of years, but, due to family and work commitments had to close it down.

I’ve recently moved to rural Staffordshire and it feels as if it might be time to start up again, not least because there isn’t much going on very locally, other than some open mics and pub covers bands in one of the locals on a Saturday.
I’m looking at a folk/Americana/blues genre – with mostly acoustic acts, but the occasional electric band.

We have a very good local community hall, which is about badminton court sized, is cheap to hire, and has kitchens and a bar - I’m looking to make it a pretty intimate ‘house concert’ type vibe. I have a mate who is an engineer, who will run the FOH sound etc., so that bit feels pretty evolved – but the bit I’m unsure about, and where I’d welcome a bit of input is regarding two things : when, and how much?

[b]When?[/b] I used to run on the last Thursday of the month, as that was down to the availability of the venue, and I wanted to be close to pay day. I don’t have the constraint of working to the venues agenda now, so I’m thinking either a Friday or a Saturday, and probably the latter. Also, I’m thinking of the first Saturday in the month, given that most people get paid either at the end of the month, or the 1[sup]st[/sup], I’m looking to catch people whilst they still have some money in their pockets.
So, Friday or Saturday?

[b]How much?[/b] I was charging £7.00, which was entry only, and for that you got a semi pro support for 30 mins and a pro headliner for 2 x 45s.

For context – I put on the likes of Amy Wadge, Clive Gregson, Michael Weston-King and Angie Palmer : all good Bob Harris friendly fare, and great acts.

An example of the quality and genre I’m looking at – Amy Wadge at Little Rabbit Barn in Colchester (who charge £10 for minimum donations – which gets around a lot of the health and safety crap associated with charging entrance I believe): [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLEjejD6Edw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLEjejD6Edw[/url]

I’d like to charge ('donations') at a tenner too, but everybody I have spoken to locally (based on village events like PTA socials etc.) says that it’s too much for the area, and people won’t pay it, but am I being unreasonable? A great Saturday night out, with 2 excellent acts, for £10 a head? It’s certainly a rural community, but that’s not a lot these days surely?

All thoughts welcomed.

Thanks.