The gig venues around our way want you to start playing at 9.00 and be finished by 12.00 plus some encores.
That is a three hour slot to fill with breaks between sets, 2 x 45’s leaves a massive break between sets, we have opted to always do 2 x 45 and a 50 minute sets with just 15 minute breaks between sets, we would sooner be up playing than sitting on our butts half of the night.
Venues definitely get good value when they book our band or maybe we are daft.