Gig cancelled 'because of football'.

[TimR]

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1459197916' post='3014418']

Nailed as usual by dood.

Maybe we need to go back to promoting events on our own terms and avoiding the trade.
[/quote]

If you are a good band you can avoid the bad venues.

It's horses for courses.

[lojo]

Pubs seem to shoot themselves in the foot these days , I'd invoice the brewery as well, state in a nice note you totally understand why they did it but you had other offers on the table and are entitiled to your fee after being cancelled at short notice.

[CamdenRob]

I've no interest in football and It is out of order to have the gig cancelled at the last minute like that, but it really comes down to how many people want to go to the pub to watch the football Vs how many people want to go to the pub and watch a band...

Although it's not something I've ever been involved with, I assume the pub covers scene is all about numbers through the door and pints sold at the bar? If the pub can sell more pints showing the football on a given night then it's a no brainer really... I'd show the football if it was my pub... I would have checked beforehand and not booked the band though, that's just common sense.

[gapiro]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1459158244' post='3013854']
good band will rise to the surface, there's 2 or 3 really good bands in my area(all mod/ska type bands), never short of gigs because they get people into the pub to watch them, if your band is playing to emptyish rooms too often it should tell you something.
Crap venues will close down pretty quickly, tbh most bad venues are bad pubs anyway who are desperately trying anything to stay open.
Gone a bit off topic here, sorry
[/quote]
+1 - as a ska bassist, all 3 of the big ska bands here are out between 4 and 8 times a month and getting good money. We draw a crowd wherever we go though.

[Muppet]

We research every venue and have a running diary of events that are happening in the year. How many of you have got the key Euro16 dates in your diaries? Or the Olympics for example?

Whilst cancelling at the last moment is bad form on the part of the venue, we can help ourselves by checking to see if the venue is one that televises major events and if they are planned for. Even if not, you may wish to avoid gigging that evening as turnout could be low. OK some places are going to say, "yes we've considered that" when they haven't but prompting some venues could avoid a bit of pain.

[E sharp]

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1459196444' post='3014393']


I wonder if some of these venues get a cash allocation from the brewery anyway and "lose" it somehow! Very easy to fake a receipt! Cynical? Me?
[/quote]And this now ties in with the other topic - about InvaPay and the Events payment method .

Cash in hand pub bands losing out because of a few greedy publicans .

[Paul S]

As a kind of post script to this the pub's Facebook page has put the blame on the band. Also some people who turned up to see us were told 'the band stormed off because we wouldn't turn off the TVs'.

Our guitarist, who booked it, got his cancellation email - sent to this work account - today. It was sent at 2.05pm on Saturday.

[quote]Unfortunatly we are going to have to cancel our gig with you tonight due to England & Wales playing from 7:45pm and also boxing being on from 10:30pm. There wouldnt be much time left for you to play as our Music License finishes at 11:30pm.


Sorry for the inconveience caused, i wasnt aware this was on untill this morning. [/quote] (sic)

So - any south east Essex bands who are booked at the Paul Pry in Rayleigh - be warned!!

[alyctes]

I still think you should have a word with the guitarist, because if he hadn't given them his work email they couldn't send a "cancellation" there.

[uncle psychosis]

f*** them. I'd be all over their Facebook page with the truth. Screenshots of emails, etc. Cancelling a gig is one thing, lying about it to people who came to see you is another entirely.

I also agree with the folk saying "keep an eye on major events" in the future. You may not care about football but if you're in the entertainment business then it's your business to know what else is happening, and when.

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1459240754' post='3014600']
I still think you should have a word with the guitarist, because if he hadn't given them his work email they couldn't send a "cancellation" there.
[/quote]

I agree with this too. Bands shouldn't be giving out any contact details that won't be reachable on the day of a gig. It's guaranteed to go wrong.

[RockfordStone]

having read through this, whilst i can see why they have cancelled the slot, they knew football was on so should have cancelled well in advance of the date, their facebook response is very poor form indeed.

id make a post about on your own facebook and name and shame, their comment which says you could play 10-midnight.... which is at odds with their own email.

im sure if 10-midnight was all you could do you would have done it as you were there.

[TimR]

A lot of this must be driven by the brewery. The pub we play has a huge widescreen on the wall behind the band. It's switched off when we play.

However, it's a well known music pub and always has been. When we arrive to set up, the TV is on but absolutely no one is ever watching it.

The brewery stopped the music budget, added the TV, put a new landlord in, once the takings dropped they then started looking at selling to developers. We lobbied the new landlord, the music got put back on, the pub is now thriving.

There is an element of people, music lovers, who will go out if there's football on the TV. When the Euros were on, I actively sought out music pubs to get away from the footie.

I think these pubs are trying to cater for too many different people and no pleasing anyone.

Put on a good band, serve good beer, clean toilets, good food. Ditch the TV and create a decent environment. People will come.

[keefbaker]

Another reason for me to add to the ever-growing list of "why I hate football".

[charic]

Project the footie behind the band, people will be up the front of the crowd then

[deepbass5]

Plug the TV into the sound limiter socket

[blue]

It's better to cancell the gig than to be blamed for a poor turn out.

Blue

[KevB]

Went to see a band on Sat in a pub showing the game. Screens at one end of the pub, performing area at the other. Band started about 10 min before end of game at a sensible volume and then turned up a bit after end of match, everyone seemed happy.

[NickD]

The easiest money I ever made was a football gig.

In 1996 I was playing in a 70s glam tribute, Mud, Slade, Sweet... Wigs, make-up, platform soles, etc. We mostly worked in Germany doing military balls, but at the time Yates's were doing a big 70s promotion, so we came over for a few home gigs. Yates's in Nottingham booked us for the night of the Euro 96 semi, with the plan being to show the match, then have us finish the night. They'd rented a huge TV (pretty rare and very expensive then) and set it up in front of our kit. We were there early and got everything ready so we could go on as soon as they took the screen away. The guys watched the game along with tons of punters, while I spent most of the match on the phone to my girlfriend.

Then Gareth Southgate flunked his penalty!

Some chimp lobbed a bottle at the screen, the bouncers tore into the crowd, and the whole place erupted into a brawl of epic proportions. The landlord shuffled us out back, paid us, and told us to tear down when it was safe. We went and grabbed a kebab, loaded the van surrounded by an army of police and walking wounded, and drove down to get the ferry to Belgium for the following night's gig.

[KevB]

That was a fairly standard night at Yates's in the 90's, believe me.

[NickD]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1459329211' post='3015412']
That was a fairly standard night at Yates's in the 90's, believe me.
[/quote]

I don't doubt it!

[Raymondo]

It was a standard night in the Seventies and Eighties Kev ,never mind the Nineties!

[KevB]

Yeah you're right Ray, it had a certain 'reputation' even in my 80's student days. I don't go quite as far back as the 70's there though I can't recall the last time I actually went in.

[12stringbassist]

It really depends how much notice you have been given. In your case, none. That's ridiculous.
I would not have left without half of the fee.
I would have asked how old their windows were, too.

Get the name from them of the person that you need to invoice at the brewery.

[seashell]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1459326615' post='3015392']
Went to see a band on Sat in a pub showing the game. Screens at one end of the pub, performing area at the other. Band started about 10 min before end of game at a sensible volume and then turned up a bit after end of match, everyone seemed happy.
[/quote]

Coincidentally, on Saturday I also went to see a band in a pub with this arrangement. It helped that it's a sort of L shaped bar, so there were places where you couldn't see the football and places where you couldn't see the band, so people positioned themselves accordingly. It worked quite well.. I barely noticed the football was on. Not sure whether the footie lovers would have been able to ignore the band so easily though - they were quite loud!

[RhysP]

To be honest my ideal pub would have neither football OR music.