Covers Bands......How long is yours???

[TimR]

6 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

I merely quoted Tim because he made an assumption about what I do and I was correcting that.  The rest of it was general exasperation at the finger wagging and "you're doing it wrong" tone that was starting to develop, not at Tim specifically.

 

In 40 years of playing and watching bands I've never played in or seen a pub band play for 3 hours. 

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, T-Bay said:

If it works for you mate, keep going and it obviously is. I am in awe of a three hour set myself, I was always knackered after a couple of hours but our lead guitarist/ singer has gone pro and is regularly doing 2-3 hour acoustic solo sets now. Amazes me how he does it.

 

It's all I've ever known!  Seeing as I seem to be in the minority here, I can't deny I'm a little jealous of the extra free time and earlier finishes that some of you enjoy!

[T-Bay]

Just now, TimR said:

 

In 40 years of playing and watching bands I've never played in or seen a pub band play for 3 hours. 

That only proves your experience. I have never won the lottery, nor been mauled by a tiger, but it doesn’t mean those things don’t happen.

[TimR]

14 minutes ago, T-Bay said:

Tim likes to have a definite break down of black and white numbers/ things that work for him and keep him happy and many of us confused. Don’t stress it, took me a while to work it out. I don’t think he means offence by it.

 

Quite the opposite. It seems that a large number of readers take things I post far too rigidly. 

[T-Bay]

Just now, neepheid said:

 

It's all I've ever known!  Seeing as I seem to be in the minority here, I can't deny I'm a little jealous of the extra free time and earlier finishes that some of you enjoy!

We would do close to 2 1/2 hours for weddings and I was always utterly knackered by the end and that was with a 15 minute loo break. Usual was 2x 1 hour sets with a quick break. Mostly we were limited by stuff we felt was good enough to do live, except for,one pub where we knew the landlord and used to do the gig as almost a rehearsal live for new stuff to see how it went down. Used to regularly do rehearsals for 5-6 hours but you aren’t on it all the time so not as bad. If the band is really giving it some you don’t notice how long they have been on, if people above are looking at their watches it says a lot about how good the band is.

[jezzaboy]

We played a pub in Glasgow city centre on Sat and they want 3 x 45 mins sets. Personally I would rather do 2 x 1 hour and a bit as it easier to keep the punters on side.

[TimR]

4 minutes ago, T-Bay said:

That only proves your experience. I have never won the lottery, nor been mauled by a tiger, but it doesn’t mean those things don’t happen.

Indeed. Those things are happing all the time I just happen not to have witnessed any of them. 

[T-Bay]

1 minute ago, TimR said:

Indeed. Those things are happing all the time I just happen not to have witnessed any of them. 

So not really worth posting was it? We could all post things we have never seen at a gig but doesn’t prove anything other than what we have seen. For example I have never seen a gig that lasted 7 minutes but I can imagine there may well have been one somewhere at some point.

[TimR]

1 hour ago, T-Bay said:

So not really worth posting was it? We could all post things we have never seen at a gig but doesn’t prove anything other than what we have seen. For example I have never seen a gig that lasted 7 minutes but I can imagine there may well have been one somewhere at some point.

 

I am completely lost now.

 

The vast majority of gigs are 2x45mins or 2x45 plus 60mins.

 

Just because that's not what you do, doesn't make the above not true. At no point did I say that no one has ever played gigs that are different lengths. 🤣

 

And I am the one accused of being black and white? 🙄

 

I really do not have time to put "in my experience", "the average", "is approximately" and "this is obviously not always the case", on very post I write. It's really down to the reader to use some common sense.

 

Even @Dad3353 seems to be unable to recognise that having more than one singer will obviously enable you to extend set lengths and most bands have one singer. 

 

Whether you should is another matter.

 

Agree a set length with whoever is going to pay you and then agree a price. Adjust set length and price accordingly until you come to an agreement. Time is money...

 

I'm not playing 3 hours for £80. Sorry. 

Edited July 22 by TimR

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, T-Bay said:

 For example I have never seen a gig that lasted 7 minutes but I can imagine there may well have been one somewhere at some point.

 

Never seen Guns 'n' Roses then?

[Dad3353]

1 minute ago, TimR said:

...I'm not playing 3 hours for £80. Sorry. 

 

Back in the '70s, my 5-hour stints variety drumming earned me a gracious 7FF per night. That's about 1€. Different times, eh..? I learned a lot of songs, though (and got paid quite a lot more for depping, when out of the village fête season...). 

[T-Bay]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

In 40 years of playing and watching bands I've never played in or seen a pub band play for 3 hours. 

 

27 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

I am completely lost now.

 

The vast majority of gigs are 2x45mins or 2x45 plus 60mins.

 

Just because that's not what you do, doesn't make the above not true. At no point did I say that no one has ever played gigs that are different lengths. 🤣

 

And I am the one accused of being black and white? 🙄

 

I really do not have time to put "in my experience", "the average", "is approximately" and "this is obviously not always the case", on very post I write. It's really down to the reader to use some common sense.

 

Even @Dad3353 seems to be unable to recognise that having more than one singer will obviously enable you to extend set lengths and most bands have one singer. 

 

Whether you should is another matter.

 

Agree a set length with whoever is going to pay you and then agree a price. Adjust set length and price accordingly until you come to an agreement. Time is money...

 

I'm not playing 3 hours for £80. Sorry. 

 

2 hours ago, TimR said:

 

In 40 years of playing and watching bands I've never played in or seen a pub band play for 3 hours. 

You are lost because you choose to be, the second post is the one I was referring to and had quoted and you responded to that quote. But we both know that………..

[T-Bay]

25 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Never seen Guns 'n' Roses then?

Been lucky obviously 🤣🤣 Was one where I may have been happier if it had been 7 minutes to be fair.

[TimR]

35 minutes ago, T-Bay said:

 

 

You are lost because you choose to be, the second post is the one I was referring to and had quoted and you responded to that quote. But we both know that………..

 

I'm still lost. Did you not read any of my previous posts on the subject? 

[ezbass]

In my previous band, down south, we’d normally play 2x45 or 2x60 minute sets. Up here in Scotland, with my new band, 3x60 minute sets, on the club circuit, seems to be the norm for us.

[Lozz196]

I remember reading in Sami Yaffas (of Hanoi Rocks) book where when they went to India they were expected to play for 6 hours.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

I remember reading in Sami Yaffas (of Hanoi Rocks) book where when they went to India they were expected to play for 6 hours.

 

Lightweights. The band on the Titanic had to play for twice that, outside in the freezing cold, with no tip jar. 

 

...

 

 

[ezbass]

Just now, Dad3353 said:

 

Lightweights. The band on the Titanic had to play for twice that, outside in the freezing cold, with no tip of the iceberg jar. 

 

...

 

 

FTFY

[Phil Starr]

1 minute ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Lightweights. The band on the Titanic had to play for twice that, outside in the freezing cold, with no tip jar. 

 

...

 

 

They got tipped in the end 😀

 

too soon?

[Lozz196]

Ouch!

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, T-Bay said:

So not really worth posting was it? We could all post things we have never seen at a gig but doesn’t prove anything other than what we have seen. For example I have never seen a gig that lasted 7 minutes but I can imagine there may well have been one somewhere at some point.

 

That was when Andre Previn played John Cage's 4' 33", and stayed on for a 2' 27" encore.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 22/07/2024 at 15:51, gjones said:

I used to be in a band where the front man was addicted to the love he got from an audience. He'd make the band go on for ever until the crowd got sick of us.

 

I say, Keep em wanting more. Anything more than a one and a half hour set, or two 45 min sets, is indulgence on behalf of the band.

 

Anything more than that and both the band and the audience start to get weary.

 

My brother's band used to do that

 Then they realised that 'leave them wanting more' is a good strategy that leaves the audience on a high and pleases landlords and landladies.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 22/07/2024 at 16:04, neepheid said:

 

I take exception to that.  Don't tar everyone with the same brush because you had a bad experience.  We play for 3 hours with a break because that's what we've been booked to do.  I find it pretty annoying for you to sit there and call it indulgence when it's bloody hard work, not only in the execution but also the preparation and thought put into set lists which flow and create momentum.  And if the audience is getting weary, then we're not doing our jobs correctly.  I'll have you know that we have people up on their feet at the very end of most of our shows.

 

Your experience is your own, and you're entitled to your opinion, but don't go calling out other bands, especially since your criticism does not apply universally.  That's not cool.  Don't do that.

 

Hang on... he's talking about bands dragging out the end of the night.

 

If you're booked for a three hour gig, you probably start earlier and are likely to be playing a venue that has a high turnover of punters. That's a different animal.

 

Perhaps you might want to think about why you took his comment as a personal slight, rather than just someone else's experience.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 22/07/2024 at 16:58, jezzaboy said:

We played a pub in Glasgow city centre on Sat and they want 3 x 45 mins sets. Personally I would rather do 2 x 1 hour and a bit as it easier to keep the punters on side.

 

I've only come across multiple sets with early starts (8pm) or late finishes (1am).

 

The 2x45 + encores is definitely embedded in the culture around here, although we usually do more if there isn't a hard curfew and the audience want it. But we don't flog a dead horse either.

 

Only exception is one venue that does 5-7:30 ish on a Sunday, and we normally do 45 + 60 + encores.

 

 

[neepheid]

33 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Hang on... he's talking about bands dragging out the end of the night.

 

If you're booked for a three hour gig, you probably start earlier and are likely to be playing a venue that has a high turnover of punters. That's a different animal.

 

Perhaps you might want to think about why you took his comment as a personal slight, rather than just someone else's experience.

 

I was bullied at school, and despite coming along in leaps and bounds in the intervening years, there will always be times where I read something and take it that way.

 

Is that explanation sufficient for you?