How Long? Playing Times at Gigs (acknowledgement to Paul Carrick and ACE)

[Gasman]

Our covers band finds that 2x60 minutes is the standard gig here in Dorset at pubs, clubs and events. We've got about two and a half hours worth of material with more being added next week, so no need to recycle numbers from the first half to fill up the time!

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

We routinely play 2x45 plus 1x60, which seems to be rather more than the bunch of skivers majority of posters (above) do, but before anyone feels sorry for me you'd best wait to hear from @Bluewine about the hours played by American bar bands ...

 

 

Things have changed over here since Covid. 

 

The standard bar/pub gig was 4 hours with two 15 minute breaks. Now it's 3 hours with the same breaks.

 

I'm bragging a bit here, but after 17 years Maple Road no longer books bar gigs. We do winerys,  brewerys, private events, festival, fairs and theaters. We plays an average of about two hours.

 

Daryl

[Stub Mandrel]

Both my bands NORMALLY get asked to do 2x45 minutes (plus an encore or two).

Usually we end up playing closer to 50 then 50 plus encores, simply because we'd rather play than stand around*.

A few venues ask for a bit more, e.g. one venue does 5:45 - 8 on a Sunday. Some want less or have a strict curfew.

 

We've just been booked for a private club Christmas party (a football supporter's club with 5,000 members!) in a 1,000 capacity venue, but we have only been asked to do an hour.

We recently did a three-hour gig, 8 to 11, we did three roughly 40-45 minute sets, then ended up doing two encores, one of which had to be a song we'd decided not to do (and it went the best we've played it, probably because we were well into the groove by then). We've been asked back, and agreed because we had a real blast. I negotiated an 8:15 start, so we can leave at a slightly more civilised time. It's a long drive, but as we now know it's a quick setup as the low ceiling limits what gear we can use, that 15 minutes means leaving 30-45 minutes later.

 

 

*One guitarist said "I get paid to have equipment, travel, set up and pack down. I play for free, because I enjoy it."

Edited October 2 by Stub Mandrel

[Daz39]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

Things have changed over here since Covid. 

 

The standard bar/pub gig was 4 hours with two 15 minute breaks. Now it's 3 hours with the same breaks.

 

I'm bragging a bit here, but after 17 years Maple Road no longer books bar gigs. We do winerys,  brewerys, private events, festival, fairs and theaters. We plays an average of about two hours.

 

Daryl

Cor, even live music suffers from the corporate overwork as standard model!

[Franticsmurf]

I've answered 'Anything Else' because in my current band, we tend to be given a certain amount of freedom to play as much as we want - mainly because our gigs are almost all private functions obtained through word of mouth or contacts at previous gigs. We rarely play for less than 2 hours, sometimes around 3 hours and very occasionally 4. There's usually one break which is about 15-20 minutes.

 

In my previous band (where I still occasionally dep so it's current information) we were almost always asked to play 2x45m and unless we were given a strict finish time (working men's clubs usually) we would do 50m and 60m+.

[Staggering on]

In our swing/jazz/Dixie seven piece (sometimes eight if we have a singer) band we usually play 3x45. Almost all of our music is from charts and the horn players (4) don't get many breaks and we don't waste time between songs so they get a chance to rest their lips at the breaks.

The bluegrass band mainly plays at festivals and that usually means anywhere from one to three sets of 45 minutes. We might play an afternoon and evening set on one day or the sets could be spread out over a couple of days, most bluegrass festivals work that way and only the big name bands play longer sets. 

Over here in Canada back in the '70's when I had full time gigs it was 4x40  sets a night (9,10,11,12) six nights a week but by the '80's it had dropped to weekends only and 2 or 3 sets. Now it is the odd weekend and one nighters or a festival.🙁

Edited October 3 by Staggering on

[Cliff Edge]

It’s a duo and we put a set list of around 40 songs together, different for every gig. That usually lasts around 2 hours and we don’t stop until the end. Unless there’s free food at some point in the proceedings. 

[Chienmortbb]

Some great stuff on here. We usually do 2 x 60 minutes in clubs and from memory have done 2 x 75 on one occasion. Our best payer by far has 30 mins, break, 1 hour break 1 hour. Sadly they booker there has had to retire on health grounds and I cannot seem to get hold of the new one. Next year's GAS may suffer from low pressure

[Stub Mandrel]

13 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

It’s a duo and we put a set list of around 40 songs together, different for every gig. That usually lasts around 2 hours and we don’t stop until the end. Unless there’s free food at some point in the proceedings. 

 

The club I'm involved with insists on a break as it precipitates a rush to the bar, but it is a venue with the bar in a separate room to the music (although people can go in and out during performances).

[leschirons]

In France we did a huge week long festival in Bourges three years running. About 150 bands over the week in approx 50 venues.

 

The venue we played wanted six, 20 min sets with a short break in between each.

 

The owner wanted,  punter in, buy a couple of drinks, punter out, next one in. He told us, last thing he wanted was someone sitting there with an empty glass for two hours listening to the band. 

 

One corporate gig I did (trio, in a huge chateau reception area) was to play whilst guests were arriving. Played for 30 mins (6 numbers)  Got 400€ each and not one person even looked at us let alone listened🤣

Edited October 4 by leschirons

[Dad3353]

41 minutes ago, leschirons said:

In France we did a huge week long festival in Bourge three years running. About 150 bands over the week in approx 50 venues.

 

The venue we played wanted six, 20 min sets with a short break in between each.

 

The owner wanted,  punter in, buy a couple of drinks, punter out, next one in. He told us, last thing he wanted was someone sitting there with an empty glass for two hours listening to the band. 

 

One corporate gig I did (trio, in a huge chateau reception area) was to play whilst guests were arriving. Played for 30 mins (6 numbers)  Got 400€ each and not one person even looked at us let alone listened🤣

 

Bourges..? Happy Daze. Anecdote related a few years ago now, here...

 

Mis-Matched Disaster Gigs...

 

Note to bar owners : be careful what you wish for... 

[leschirons]

3 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Bourges..? Happy Daze. Anecdote related a few years ago now, here...

 

Mis-Matched Disaster Gigs...

 

Note to bar owners : be careful what you wish for... 

Yes Douglas Printemps Bourges. Loved it, excellent gigs but tiring and the parking was a nightmare.  We always played in Birdland (pub) Must have been a trek for you. You're Brittany aren't you?

[Woodinblack]

Honestly unless it is a multi band set, which is unusual, our normal (covers) gigs are 2 x 75-90 minutes. Would be nice to go down to 2x60. If someone was to suggest 2x45 to us the group would probably decide to not have a break. And still go over.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I voted 2 x 60, but it's always a bit longer than that.

Both sets are over an hour and we always have another 4 songs or so prepped should they be required, one of which is I Won't Get Fooled Again which is nearly 10 minutes in itself.

 

[Dad3353]

25 minutes ago, leschirons said:

Yes Douglas Printemps Bourges. Loved it, excellent gigs but tiring and the parking was a nightmare.  We always played in Birdland (pub) Must have been a trek for you. You're Brittany aren't you?

 

Yes, quite a trek. Lower Normandy, really, halfway between Rennes and Le Mans. Worth it, though, and we played further afield than that occasionally, too. One memorable Saturday playing near Marseilles, with an overnight dash back for a couple of us for a 'freebie' gig on the Sunday, near home..! Over a thousand kms clocked up, that weekend. 

At another festival, south Brittany, I fell ill (sunstroke...), got taken to hospital, so missed the tour bus, and had to walk and hitch-hike home, 400 kms, in the early hours of the next dawn. I couldn't do it now, of course. 

[TimR]

On 02/10/2024 at 09:26, Chienmortbb said:

I contacted a new Social Club for us yesterday and they require 3 x 45 mins on  Saturday Evening , 8-11 pm or  the same on Sunday 5-8pm. We have never been asked for this except on NYE. I wondered what other set times are common.

 

This was the standard when we did the RBL social clubs. They'd stop for bingo and then for fish and chips.

[Twigman]

Last week's Visorfest festival set in Spain we were required to do 90 minutes.

 

We often do 75 - 120 minutes and have been known to bore people for longer!

 

[gjones]

I have a friend who plays in a band in Edinburgh. They play a 3 hr set, every Thursday, for 20 quid a man/woman. 

 

Strangely, before he retired, my friend was a union official for Unite. 

 

 

Edit: there are 7 people in the band, but still, that's starvation wages.

Edited October 8 by gjones

[Woodinblack]

I hope there are at least 30 of them!

 

[dudewheresmybass]

With cover bands, usually either 2 or 3 45 min sets 

tributes - either one set of 60-75 mins or two sets of between 45-60

originals - one set of 40-90 dependant on placement on the bill.