Basschatfield Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Okay the band has picked up a few gigs at holiday parks down south of England and we were a bit nervous of what new covers too learn? We already know 2 hours worth of covers and working on new ones, but aren't too sure what would go down well at these holiday parks. If anyone has done these kind of gigs before, could you pass down some advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 What parks are you playing? Ive done quite a few Haven gigs in the past. Ive found all the cheesy stuff works, as does chart stuff, as they are full of families with young kids. The Motown stuff goes down well with the mums and dads, as do things like the Jam/Weller for the middle aged blokes. Really, its just like a social club, only sometimes a bit more social. Generally you only play 2x 45 sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddy Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 [i]Hiya fella, loads of experience of this sort of thing,, are they Havens? last year did all 32 of their camps twice!,,just kept going anti-clockwise round the coast..plus lots of other sites as well,, not so many this year, pleased for the change TBH, difficulty is the rooms are full of families, and the acts are seldom advertised properly, the rooms are going to be full regardless, standard kind of set up is costume show, then some family fun games, and then the act (grown up time),,trouble we have found is that if you don't continue to entertain the kids, they drift off taking mum and dad with them. best thing is the obvious, keep it up tempo and songs they can dance too..also bear in mind especially haven camps the ents manager has to fill in a feed-back form on the evening,, with questions such as did the entertainment start on time/ did the band keep the audience in etc, and the rooms open so early that set up if you want a soundcheck can be around 4pm..which makes it a long night...accommodation can also be tricky as the camps have to book out every available caravan, which means you can be on a long journey with no-where to stay,,saying all this, many of the rooms are huge and can expect to play to large audiences, often with a decent pa,,(although not always - we always took an engineer)..found holiday camps can be very rewarding, financially and playing wise, once you get the hang of them,, not for everyone tho..give us a shout if can help with anything.[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthevan Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Bob the builder Peppa Pig Rock n roll Modernish cheese Then do some of the stuff you want to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Get used to hearing "iiiiiits Cabaret show time" and "Big fish, little fish cardboard box" :-( Has anyone noticed that the compares all have exactly the same, northern voice, no matter where they come from? They dont sound like that until they get the mic in their hands so maybe they use a special voice changing mic or something lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 [quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1366901336' post='2058787'] Has anyone noticed that the compares all have exactly the same, northern voice, no matter where they come from? [/quote] What does a northern voice sound like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 [quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1366901707' post='2058795'] What does a northern voice sound like? [/quote] A Holiday Camp Compere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Ah - that'll be why whenever I'm venture south of Watford Gap people stop me in the street and ask me where the crazy golf is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 I meant no disrespect to any northerners, it wasnt a dig or anything, but all the girls on the mic's all tend to sound like they came from the same place. We've been amazed that no matter where the camp is, the "entertainments" manager has the same accent and patter. Clones maybe ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddy Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Even stranger,, if you can find a "Straight" ents manager he has to "Camp up", find this very strange,, no disrespect in any fashion but is Gay now code for safe to work with children?, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChick Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Interested reading this as there is talk about us doing a local caravan park regular gig in the summer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPBass Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Ive played a few holiday park type gigs over the years and found them to be a bit of a blast. We used to open with a kids classic that they could sing along or scream to in a nice groovy rhythm. Think " no more monkeys jumping on the bed " and then slip into yur own set. Never failed for us, obviously we changed the song, Boris the Spider works a treat. John Entwistle had a great way of getting onto the kids level ( no Townshend jokes please) Everyone out for a good time and keep a few rockers for the dads to air guitar to at the end. Entertainment, get called back. Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Holiday Parks are great fun. All the staff are good fun and welcoming and often have decent rigs and technicians. I've done a couple of summer tours of Pontins and get regular work at Bunn Leisure in Selsey. Normally the crowd will be made up of young parents with young children and older people. Your standard up-to-date pop will go down very well (Black Eyed Peas, Girls Aloud, One Direction, Katy Perry etc). Maybe slightly more clubby stuff (Pitbull, LMFAO, Beyonce, new Maroon 5, Katy B, Jessie J) is worth a run out. I found that rock music tends to kill the vibe because people (read: kids) can't dance to it. The idea is to keep the kids happy because then the parents will put more money behind the bar. Even Queen and the Beatles I've never felt went down very well. A few novelty songs will work; Bob the Builder, King of the Swingers etc. Anyway, as someone mentioned, you really need to run this thing like clockwork. Your sets need to be exactly 45 minutes long/60 minutes long. You need to be soundchecked by 6 o'clock and you need to be professionally turned out in uniform or dress code (that is if you're looking for repeat work!). You need to provide the sound/lights engineer with a stage plan and a setplan so they can plan stage washes and displays etc. But most of all you need to have fun. Don't treat holiday park gigs like a function or a pub gig. You're there strictly to keep people buying drinks and you do that by getting ladies and kids dancing. They don't want incredible musicianship or artistic credibility; they want good tunes, performed well. Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPBass Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 [quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1366933514' post='2059304'] Holiday Parks are great fun. All the staff are good fun and welcoming and often have decent rigs and technicians. I've done a couple of summer tours of Pontins and get regular work at Bunn Leisure in Selsey. Normally the crowd will be made up of young parents with young children and older people. Your standard up-to-date pop will go down very well (Black Eyed Peas, Girls Aloud, One Direction, Katy Perry etc). Maybe slightly more clubby stuff (Pitbull, LMFAO, Beyonce, new Maroon 5, Katy B, Jessie J) is worth a run out. I found that rock music tends to kill the vibe because people (read: kids) can't dance to it. The idea is to keep the kids happy because then the parents will put more money behind the bar. Even Queen and the Beatles I've never felt went down very well. A few novelty songs will work; Bob the Builder, King of the Swingers etc. Anyway, as someone mentioned, you really need to run this thing like clockwork. Your sets need to be exactly 45 minutes long/60 minutes long. You need to be soundchecked by 6 o'clock and you need to be professionally turned out in uniform or dress code (that is if you're looking for repeat work!). You need to provide the sound/lights engineer with a stage plan and a setplan so they can plan stage washes and displays etc. But most of all you need to have fun. Don't treat holiday park gigs like a function or a pub gig. You're there strictly to keep people buying drinks and you do that by getting ladies and kids dancing. They don't want incredible musicianship or artistic credibility; they want good tunes, performed well. Truckstop [/quote] Pretty much a survivors guide here, nicely written Sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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