sshorepunk Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Hi Was just writing something about this on another thread and thought it was worthy of some discussion! This is regarding that odd breed, the promoter! We played a support gig with ocean colour scene last week in manchester, it was one of a handful of gigs they played prior to their UK tour which starts this week. It was in a small club called Moho. A few months back, The enemy played there and they squeezed 700 in, I heard it was too many and they wouldn't be doing that again. So the promoter aimed for 600, then i heard on the night, with tickets and guest list, it hit 790! It was great to play to such a packed venue, but if I had stumped up £15 for a ticket and had to endure tha I would have been well pissed off, it was just unpleasant. Even going for a piss was a nightmare! Also, two support bands were planned, which would have been fine as OCS had took over a lot of the back stage area, so we had a small storgage room for our kit, but three bands got booked. I heard this was agin the promoter being nervous over selling tickets, so an extra band selling even more tickets was his plan. The gig sold out as soon as the tickets came out! The logistics of moving and storing gear from three support bands was a nightmare, with gear piled up in a ridiculous manner! Yeah, it was a good night, but in my opinion it suffered due to out and out greed on the part of the promoter. I spoke to a lot of poeple who went and everyone said the same, and I know similar comments are out there on the www. Anyone else got any similar stories? Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 This doesn't seem a one off for OCS. I had the exactly the same experience at the Jam House in Birmingham. Thought it would be a great experience but the sheer volume of people made it impossible for everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Support gig for Ocean Colour Scene? 790 people on the audience? "The lad(y) doth protest too much, methinks." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshorepunk Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 (edited) I enjoyed it, really enjoyed! Just comments back from a lot of poeple who were there, plus it did kick off a bit as well! Trying to move my 2 basses to and from the stage thru the crowd, scared the crap out of me, I didn't dare get them out when I got home! Tony Edited February 1, 2010 by sshorepunk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tee Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 [quote name='sshorepunk' post='731338' date='Feb 1 2010, 08:28 AM'][b]greed[/b] on the part of the [b]promoter[/b].[/quote] Usually the case, i find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Bands with clout have riders. They're not just for 2 cases of JD and a pinball machine. They mostly deal with the logistics of the gig from the band's perspective. Unfortunately, support bands and their needs are never high on promoters, or the main bands, list of priorities! Glad it was a good gig though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerboy Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I've been to some similarly over-sold gigs in London. All promoted by the same people. One of the bands came on-stage and apologised for the crush, pointing out that it wasn't their fault. So now I try not to go to that promoter's nights. Even if you're seeing great bands, the overall experience is so poor that it's not worth the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rasher80 Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Typical Moho. There's only one decent promoter who ever does gigs there and i'm not even sure they're still going. We've done some gigs there and we had the same problem, the storage room near the toilets was full to bursting and we couldn't put anything in the dressing room. It's just a decent venue badly run IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 So what about fire limits and 'elfin' safety? We play little Church halls well capable of holding 150 that have fire limits of 100 which are enforced by inspections. How can a venue ram so many people in on a regular basis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I've done about 3 decent supports in the last few months & we have always had a good deal out of the venues / promoters. However I've found lower down the scale at pub gigs we've dealt with promoters who really should just call themselves "bookers" as they haven't done much in the way of promoting, passing this on to the bands to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 [quote name='BurritoBass' post='731782' date='Feb 1 2010, 02:55 PM']I've done about 3 decent supports in the last few months & we have always had a good deal out of the venues / promoters. However I've found lower down the scale at pub gigs we've dealt with promoters who really should just call themselves "bookers" as they haven't done much in the way of promoting, passing this on to the bands to do.[/quote] Don't really want to go round this one again do we? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balcro Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Pm'd. Balcro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 My story.... My band are booked by our friends the promoters to play a surport slot along with another local band with a young singer songwriter from london making a bit of a name for herself. Well on the day we turn up to find that a) she got signed the day before and already has a massive rider so we are warned we may not get paid she brought her own support band with her who need paid and hadn't told the promoter so we probably won't get paid c) she isn't as big as she thinks she is and hasnt sold many tickets before hand, we should forget about money. The promoter feels bad for us and the other local band and gets a big crate of beer between the two of us. There isn't a back stage at this venue, just a space beside the stage so we stash our gear and the beer there. We then realise that her manager is putting chairs across the front of the tiny venue so people can sit down on them and on the floor to listen to her. We are told by her manager via our disbelieving promotter that we are supposed to try and encourage a calm atmosphere and get ppl to sit down. Not going to work with the synth-art school pop we are playing, esp as we have got A LOT of our friends to this gig. We play, everybody is in a scrum of dancing (we had a dance off and gave the winner a bottle of wine which she had downed within 2 songs!) and its a good gig. Her manager is annoyed and we have to clear all our gear out of the space beside the stage within 10 min of finishing (bare in mind there is no where else to put it, luckily I live literally 2 doors from the venue) we come back and to find we are told by her manager that we are only the support band so her band are keeping our beer. so the moral is it's not just promoters see, he was on our side...... and be carefull or kate nash will steal your beer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 My story.... My band are booked by our friends the promoters to play a surport slot along with another local band with a young singer songwriter from london making a bit of a name for herself. Well on the day we turn up to find that a) she got signed the day before and already has a massive rider so we are warned we may not get paid she brought her own support band with her who need paid and hadn't told the promoter so we probably won't get paid c) she isn't as big as she thinks she is and hasnt sold many tickets before hand, we should forget about money. The promoter feels bad for us and the other local band and gets a big crate of beer between the two of us. There isn't a back stage at this venue, just a space beside the stage so we stash our gear and the beer there. We then realise that her manager is putting chairs across the front of the tiny venue so people can sit down on them and on the floor to listen to her. We are told by her manager via our disbelieving promotter that we are supposed to try and encourage a calm atmosphere and get ppl to sit down. Not going to work with the synth-art school pop we are playing, esp as we have got A LOT of our friends to this gig. We play, everybody is in a scrum of dancing (we had a dance off and gave the winner a bottle of wine which she had downed within 2 songs!) and its a good gig. Her manager is annoyed and we have to clear all our gear out of the space beside the stage within 10 min of finishing (bare in mind there is no where else to put it, luckily I live literally 2 doors from the venue) we come back and to find we are told by her manager that we are only the support band so her band are keeping our beer. so the moral is it's not just promoters see, he was on our side...... and be carefull or kate nash will steal your beer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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