Is the live scene dying?

[JTUK]

I wouldn't agree that the live scene is dying..but it takes a whole lot more effort
for the same money as regards to pubs..
The upside is that parties and festivals are more abundant so pubs aren't important
any more altho they do serve a purpose to get you to the parties and festivals.

I just think pubs are less important and the better ones realise they need to raise their game
or they occupy the same territory and same type of bands and they are the ones that turn people
off. Bands playing the same material and not getting crowds are obviously doing things wrong
but by the same token, maybe that is what they settle for..as what is important to the guys in the band
is to get out and get on any terms. Pubs might book them on the lower scale of money as that is all
they are prepapred to work at. If they get a music budget of £250 per band/week, and they can get away
with paying less than that..??
Basically, I think many pubs don't give it much thought ..they book a band and expect it all to work
from there..

No one is knocking their buns out for £250 worth of business............and that is why the scene is difficult
for many many reasons... IMO.

[Norris]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1428050876' post='2737392']
I wouldn't agree that the live scene is dying..

etc.
[/quote]

Absolutely

[Bassjon]

Play what people like and they will come. Still too many bands doing covers of Basket Case and Smoke On the water. NO-ONE CARES!

[TimR]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1428006675' post='2737066']
...
I don't know what it's like in the UK culturally when it comes to dancing, but over here most guys can't and won't dance, so it's mainly the ladies dancing with the ladies.

Blue
[/quote]

Nope that's pretty much the observation.

The girls dance and the guys watch the girls and the band.

If the band isn't much to look at then they need to play the tunes that attract the girls. Then the girls will bring their guys with them.

Classic rock isn't ever going to drag people away from xfactor.

The secret is to play bang up to date songs. It can be done well with a three piece with enough imagination. Previously this was always seen as the territory of the function bands.

[neepheid]

At our last gig, crowd was pretty quiet but then a group of ladies came in and started dancing in the middle of the dance floor, seemed to act as a catalyst and pull some people off the fence onto the floor, so we're ever so grateful to them for that

[4-string-thing]

For covers bands, I reckon playing well known songs (well) that people don't hear every other band playing, is probably key. As is putting on an entertaining show (playing well whilst looking at your shoes/fretboard and having long gaps between songs is not going to keep people interested for long) A band is the evenings entertainment, so entertain and you'll do ok.

A few years ago, I was in a spoof 80's hair metal band. The music was pretty horrible to be honest, but we played it well, got some silly spandex, leather, wigs etc and devised a completely OTT stage show. Our debut gig was at a local bikers pub. The week before the gig I watched another band in the venue, total audience of 8. Total audience at our gig, 350-400. The place was rammed, you couldn't move in there and it was all down to a bit of a facebook campaign and word of mouth. The band are still going and do well.

If you're a little bit different, put some effort in and go about things in a professional manner, you'll do ok.

[BrunoBass]

Nearly a year on since the last reply to this thread, what's everyone's opinion of the live scene now? Better or worse? Still contracting? I'm interested as where I live the live scene has been incredible for the last few years and shows no sign of slowing down.

[colgraff]

I think that it is natural for people to focus on the negative as they are more likely to notice a place that they know close than a place they don't know open.

[Bilbo]

Not read the thread but, for my money, the problem is that there are more and more musicians fighting for fewer and fewer gigs. I remember when I started going to see live bands, there were several choices every night of the week. Now it feels that there more genres I don't like, more bands I don't want to see and those that I do fancy having a look at are getting less and less exposure. It is also more and more expensive to see stuff that used to be free. That is why we put our Jazz East events on in Felixstowe for nothing; exposure of a vital art form to increase interest outside of the cogniscenti.

[4stringslow]

Isn't this a consequence of the democratisation of music? Not only does the internet allow bands to spread their music around the world for free but recording technology is now so advanced and (relatively) cheap that a bedroom studio can be more advanced than the pro studios of the 60s/70s. In short, music making, recording, production and distribution is more accessible than ever - which can be a good and a bad thing. Having to wade through a myriad of new genres and new bands to find something you like is one of them.

[AlpherMako4]

Bradford used to be ace for gigging. Now it's rubbish. You could gig twice a week and not play the same place twice in one year. I'm going back a while mind you....

[JTUK]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1456054428' post='2984821']
Not read the thread but, for my money, the problem is that there are more and more musicians fighting for fewer and fewer gigs. I remember when I started going to see live bands, there were several choices every night of the week. Now it feels that there more genres I don't like, more bands I don't want to see and those that I do fancy having a look at are getting less and less exposure. It is also more and more expensive to see stuff that used to be free. That is why we put our Jazz East events on in Felixstowe for nothing; exposure of a vital art form to increase interest outside of the cogniscenti.
[/quote]

Far fewer people will go out and see bands these days..IMO and the group of today is the same people of 20 yrs ago...but they have less exposable money and more demands on thier time.
I think people will go out once to see a band but not be regular..
A lot of towns music venues exist on two weekend days... and the mid week gig is tough.

Most of the venues of 20 plus years ago have gone... the bands haven't.. ... but newer venues have taken their place.

I think there are vibrant scenes but it is harder work getting an audience.. and bands have to work it more.
The fact that pubs still pay the same sort of money is because there are fewer people going to see them.
Bands are required to have a flollowing.. so this promotes same old bands, tbh.

You could argue this makes those bands viable and venues might want them... but those same bands don't get to play the
musicians pubs as they don't appeal to a discerning market..?

You can't be a band anymore, you have to position yourself to a sector..
You play the 'popular' circuit of pubs or you play the muso pub/venue but I don't see many bands
crossing over...

The reason being that they don't appeal to some people who will pay for music...and one of the reasons for that...
is that they play free pubs..what makes their gig worth paying to see when you can see them free virtually every other week
within 20 miles of where you live.
People will pay for something different or something good... but they wont pay too often for the same thing and especially if
that exact same thing is free in a pub..

[cheddatom]

Still the same in Stoke-on-Trent, pretty good

[RockfordStone]

there is still a lot of places in cambridge doing music most nights, a lof of venues are open to you putting on your own gigs. it's easy enough to get a gig if you are willing to put the effort in and don't expect it just to be given to you

[BigRedX]

To me the apparent "loss of venues" looks like inertia on the part of the bands who find that the places they used to play have gone and they don't seem to have to drive to go out and find the ones that have replaced them.

As I said in the post earlier in this thread, the venues that were active in the 80s when I first moved to Nottingham are not the same venues that are putting on gigs now. And having thought about the bands that I was in previously, the venues that we were playing out of town (with just a single exception) are not the same venues that The Terrortones play now when we go to those same towns/cities. And why should they be?

[spike]

It doesn't seem to be dying round my way, my band gigs as much as we want to and we don't have any trouble getting gigs. Some pubs stop doing music or close down but there are always new venues to replace them. I've heard all the 'it's not as good as it used to be' talk ever since I started gigging in the 80s.

[RockfordStone]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1456150449' post='2985903']
To me the apparent "loss of venues" looks like inertia on the part of the bands who find that the places they used to play have gone and they don't seem to have to drive to go out and find the ones that have replaced them.
[/quote]
i've been in bands with people who wont play certain venues because they are not as perfect as others. that's not a lack of venues, it's a lack of wanting to play them. If you want to play you will find a way of getting a gig and getting people there

[Twincam]

Every scene and indeed hobby is being watered down as in general we have more things to choose to do with our spare time.
I often talk about this with others.
There are many factors in the decline of live music in general some are (in no order) cheaper supermarket alcohol, decline in pubs/clubs, Internet (social and how people find music), smoking ban, electronic music and adding drink driving is now a big no no.

It's not dying it's just watered down by various factors.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Twincam

[cheddatom]

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1456156110' post='2986018']
i've been in bands with people who wont play certain venues because they are not as perfect as others. that's not a lack of venues, it's a lack of wanting to play them. If you want to play you will find a way of getting a gig and getting people there
[/quote]

Ahh, I know the sort, always calling up the venue ahead of time, insisting that they hire out a bunch of DB wedges

[RockfordStone]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1456156934' post='2986027']
Ahh, I know the sort, always calling up the venue ahead of time, insisting that they hire out a bunch of DB wedges
[/quote]
once i had "i'm not playing there cos i heard some drunk guy knocked someone's guitar over"...

[SimonEdward]

I think it probably is 'dying' - a slow death. The audiences/venues around my way appear to want this sort of thing: -

https://www.lemonrock.com/gigs.php?city=Thatcham,Berks

I'd say 90 per cent of it is, 'Covers'; 'Karaoke !!!'; 'Tribute act'; 'CANCELLED - landlord has music licence issues' and a Darts competition. (there was one Open mic though).

All very Meh. So, a) I don't go to these venues; And gig/play Live in a band any more - but I know there's a bit more to it than that...

[Lozz196]

Dunno about live scene dying, but it does seem to be populated by more mature people than when I was young. In the late 80s when I was just under 25, the majority of he crowds at venues, and customers in pubs were of a similar age. Now whenever I go to see bands, or go into pubs, mostly over 35s, seeing "the youths" is somehat a rareity.

[cheddatom]

I see loads of youths at metal and indie gigs. Hardly any at the the punk and folk gigs. There are probably loads more if you go to electronica-grimestep-dubcore gigs

[JamesBass]

It's not dying, it's just changed. Original bands don't seem to work as hard - majority of the time, or they'll work hard to a point where they gig every week locally but not venture further afield. The cover bands that are young usually end up changing in to original bands over time, thus not playing the pubs and venues they used to as they look for the original band route. Which leaves you with the weekend hobbyist band - usually older gentlemen and ladies, playing a set that harks back to their youth and the clientele's, whom are of a similar age to the band.

Certainly around Portsmouth there are the venues and bands to have a thriving scene, but there's not the organisation and communication to go with it. The pub scene is pretty busy, in fact I'd say it's grown, but it's not young bands that play the pubs as most of the time they're playing original material that just doesn't suit the pub scene.

I think it's also down to disposable income. I'm 22 and work 2 jobs, one is as a musician and teacher, and the other is in a supermarket to provide me with the foundations to pay bills etc. In Portsmouth rent is on the lower side of things, you're talking about £700PM for a 2 bed flat/small house with bills, now I can't afford to run a car, a business - as my music and teaching is self-employed, and rent a house on what I earn and then go out to what are expensive pubs - £4 a pint of carlsberg or london pride, that's the average price of most of the pubs I've played at, however, go to a wetherspoons and you get a drink for half that-ish, and that's what a lot of my friends do as most of them have moved out now, or they'll have one big weekend a month spending £150-£200 on a night out, including a meal with their partner/mates and going to the clubs where they can dance or try to pick up women, they value a lively night out rather than sitting in a pub listening to bands play the same old same old.

Live music is in a real catch 22 place right now. Pubs are shutting, and grass roots original music doesn't pay and the venues are also shutting, those venues that do live on are usually the ones that know that their clientele want a certain type of music and if there are already 10 bands that play that pub over the year and pack it out, why would untried and young band 11 with a totally different set get a chance to see if they could pack it too, it's too much of a risk for the landlords these days sadly.

[BrunoBass]

I live in Banbury, North Oxfordshire, and the live scene here is thriving. There are three or four pubs which have bands every weekend all year round plus another two or three that have weekly bands during the summer and autumn months. There are also weekly or monthly acoustic nights and open mics in at least four pubs in town, plus a handful of festivals during the summer in three of the town centre pubs plus some of the outlying villages. I cannot count the amount of bands and solo artists that live and play here, many of which are friends and acquaintances of mine; there are too many. And all of this in a town with a population of approximately 45,000 people. I'm lucky that my area is fairly affluent, with high employment rates, so people seem to have the disposable income to come out and enjoy. That said, the majority of gig goers appear to be 30+ although the crowds are younger for some of the indie bands. It seems to be anomalous in as much as many other areas seem to be struggling for live music. It might not always be this way (although for the last ten years it has) so I'll enjoy and savour it while it lasts; we are lucky to have such a great live scene in Banbury.