blue

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1463565338' post='3052317'] I'm not sure I could put together a band where everyone agreed on 4 hours worth of tunes! Obviously if it is a proper paying job then you play only what the punters want, but that's different to gigging as a paid hobby. [/quote] Then you wouldn't play bars in the midwest. It's a 4 hour night or nothing. I look at it as a business where I get paid to do something I love and have fun. Blue

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1463558673' post='3052219'] I don't who would want to listen to 4 hours plus of the same Band, even Springsteen in his prime became a yawnfest after 3 hours lol. Customers must come and go unless they just plant you in the corner with the flowers and just use you for muzak. Some of my favourite bands used to do almighty sets ,The Clash and The Who, but running time was no more than 3 hours. [/quote] High Fox, nobody wants or listens to a live band for 4 hours. However, it's the format for bar bands in the US. Every weekend it's either 9-1 or 8-12 gigs. And 3-7 on Sunday. As mentioned before people go from one bar to another. The 3rd set crowd is usually a completely different crowd than those there for the 1st set. Definately a cultural difference. Blue

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1463506164' post='3051913'] My current band will do an absolute maximum of 80mins, it's more likely to be an hour though. That's the way we like it. [/quote] Your band must be a headliner act. There's no 80 minute business for local bar bands in the States. 80 minute shows are for national and regional headliners. The local originals bands might see a few 80 minute shows, but they would be "no pay" shows. Blue

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1463511815' post='3051998'] Prog is, for most people, a minority interest music, like Jazz. Finding four musicians willing and able to invest the time necessary to develop something intelligent and original will be like searching for the Holy Grail. Investment vs. return ratio would mean it's for a very dedicated few. Personally, I love the fact that Prog is probably the only music in the popular fields that isn't linked to dance and/or the blues. It is an essentially English invention with no direct links to the African American influenced dance genres like Funk, Soul, Jazz, Blues etc etc. Thus it works best for White men who can't dance ;-) [/quote] No direct link,agreed. I could debate indirect link based on the fact that a drum kit is involved. Blue

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1463500188' post='3051849'] no disrespect Blue, but the point I was making was that if we just stood there and played, 4 hours would be ok but we do a lot of jumping around and play all fast punky stuff (hard work for the drummer), no 10 minute blues style guitar solo's in our set, that may not be the case in your band of course but I would imagine you have songs where you take a 'breather' [/quote] No, not at all, no breathers and were not up there playing laid back blues progressions. We do take 2 ten minute breaks. Everybody is moving and we're fronted by young female lead guitarist and shared lead vocals.We're not a couple of old grey hair guys up there playing the blues offering. By the time a lot of guys playing clubs and bars reach my age they get sick if it. I suppose at some point in time gigging might become to much of a strain. But right now for me, I might as well be 23, still love it still having a "blast". Blue

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1463495727' post='3051793'] Don't tell me you've had chickens thrown at you...! [/quote] I remember a pair of shoes zipping past my head once but no chickens. Blue

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1463490593' post='3051749'] My defintion and thresholds for 'sh*** gigs gets larger all the time. [/quote] As I've gotten older and since I do this for a living I can adapt to any type of gig. It's a job, I go in a play bass guitar for a set number of hours, get paid and go home.And hope I have another gig the next night. Blue

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1463496449' post='3051804'] there's no way the band I play in could do 4 hours with the effort we put in (punk) I'm in my sixties but our drummer is 28 and he is absolutely shattered at the end of 2 x 1hour sets plus encores [/quote] I'm 63, playing 4 hours is a piece of cake for me. The tear down is a little rough on me , but that's ok too. Blue

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1463485727' post='3051686'] Apparently you've not experienced dance evenings, à la française, where all are on the floor from 9 till 2. Woe betide the band that leaves a 'blanc' in the proceedings. Taken over more by the disco-type scene, 5 hours non-stop is the norme in some circles, and poses no problem at all for serious musicians. [/quote] 4 hours is all I know. For me a 2 hour bar gig would not work. I really enjoy playing 4 hours. I also like the 80 minute festival and fair shows. Blue

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1463468056' post='3051493'] Hi Blue Have you ever played a venue with netting across the stage to catch flying debris? I'm still not sure if that scene from The Blues Brothers was in any way representative. [/quote] No, but I've played clubs where a chicken wire barrior wouldn't have been a bad idea. Blue

Sounds like in many cases it's guys joining the wrong band. Blue

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1463140493' post='3048931'] I have only ever done one where we did 4 sets of about 45 minutes in the one night and never want to do it again. First set started about 7pm and the last set finished around 2.30am. Count the load in and out and travel home and it was near on a 12 hour thing. Fairly well paid, but we all agreed never again. Might be ok if your a whipper snapper or a full time pro with no other responsibilities. [/quote] I play 4 hour shows every weekend and have 2 coming up this weekend. We have a 9-1 on Saturday night and a 3-7 on Sunday. I love it, my kind of weekend. I would come under the no other responsibility category. And I plan on keeping it that way. Blue

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1463225691' post='3049705'] I think that the point is that a 4 hour gig is for a different type of audience. For an audience coming specifically to see a live band then one and a half to two hours is more than enough before they start to lose interest, no matter how good the band is. The four hour gigs work on the basis that you have a transient crowd who want some entertainment before they move onto the next bar. The point of having live music in a place like that is to encourage the punter to stay a bit longer and buy another drink because of the band and possibly return later in the night. However, there will not be many punters who stick around for the full 4 hour set. [/quote] Pete's right, nobody stays at a bar for 4 hours. The crowd for the last set is usually completely different than the 1st set crowd. People over here "bar hop", you go to several different a bars and see several different bands over the course of an evening. Blue

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1463437710' post='3051412'] I recall Bilbo making very similar complaints on these august pages not long ago with respect to jazz. The reasons are similar in both cases - the music is harder to play, so there are fewer people capable of it, and the audiences are smaller, so the opportunities to gig are fewer. Then again, if you think you have a hard time of it, try being a fan of nordic folk music... [Edit to add, before someone takes offence, that I'm not denying that there are very highly skilled musicians playing the more popular forms of music, it's just that those forms are also open to those of more modest abilities in a way that jazz and prog aren't] [/quote] Good call, yes there are some of us that have to play easier to play genres in order to get work. Blue

Nice story, cool vintage looking Vox. Blue

I think playing prog music at the local level will be a challenge. Blue

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1463140227' post='3048927'] The exchange rate has changed a bit since I posted 2 years ago but $400 is still about £70 each for a 4 piece band for a four hour gig. Even if it's gone up and they get $500 now that is less than £90 each. How many gigs would you have to do in the UK at that rate to be anywhere near self sustaining? Nice as a supplement to a day job salary but not a replacement for one I suspect. [/quote] Here in the midwest we have an advantage because of the huge festival and fair season here. We're a bar band but during the summer we have a lot of fair and festival bookings and that's when you can make some decent money. Blue

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1463127719' post='3048769'] I have never heard of a four hour pub booking in the UK. [/quote] 4 hours is the standard for bar bands in the States. Blue

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1463001482' post='3047801'] Lucky escape there! [/quote] Yeah, he escaped a boat load of fame & $$$$$. Blue

[quote name='paulears' timestamp='1463046691' post='3048010'] I'm a bit confused on the PA/Lights thing. We have a pretty standard price for the band. If we need PA, the price goes up, and if we need lights - same again. When we do theatre shows, it's quite common for venues to have PAs - our rider and contracts are always PA Supplied or PA NOT Supplied. So they get backline and us. We'd then expect what we need - which is 4 monitor mixes as a minimum. Sometimes this isn't possible so then we have to take our PA. This means an extra vehicle, and extra fuel - plus of course the equipment itself. Of course they pay! What often happens here is that their PA is decent quality, but lacking mixer channels or monitoring - so for these we will bring in our desk, our monitors and give them a left and right. This is quite common. Now we can control from an iPad, this isn't a pain - and the mixer can be stage side, not taking up FOH space. If a venue has enough lighting so we can be seen, we usually live with it, but if they want a lightshow, that is extra, and again extra transport - as in a bigger vehicle, and somebody to work it, putting costs up. If we agree to do small gigs, in small venues, then the equipment provided has to be sufficient for us to play. If their system is two boxes on sticks and a 12 channel mixer - we won't do it. We don't ask for things we don't need, but it's clearly unrealistic to expect a PA and lights for free, as much as it's unrealistic to expect us to play through an inadequate system. A band who buy a PA vs a band who don't - is surely a no-brainer? You get what you pay for. [/quote] In the States most of us doing 4 hour bar bring our own pa and lights. Blue

Eric cancelled his Milwaukee Show at Shank Hall last year. I was pissed off. Blue

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1462931579' post='3047076'] Refusing to wear black with an orange tie . [/quote] A high school buddy auditioned for a band out of NYC in the early 70s, He turned down the offer because he refused to wear make up. The were unknown at the time. It was KISS. Blue

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1462873917' post='3046409'] Fired / shoved from a sh*t hot, highly rated blues band after 10 years for refusing to play SRV clone stuff like every other blues band in the world (plus there was a load of my work commitments, to be fair.)[/quote] I've never been in a band where I could afford to refuse to do anything. Blue

To a degree, but not so much playing it wrong but learning better ways of playing it. With 50 years of this under my belt the way I hear parts has improved greatly. And technology has helped as well. You know with isolated bass tracks readily available on YouTube as oposed to moving the needle on vinyl, Blue

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1462911674' post='3046952'] I've only been fired once, and that was because "you're not black enough".... [/quote] Did they hire you with hopes that you would become Blacker over time? Blue