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2017 Bookings, How Are They Coming Along?


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Not for the $$ exactly, but because playing live is what we do - although we do get paid. Jan was v.slow as expected. Only played a couple of times but both gigs were more about making contacts with people who organise summer events. I see slogging in Jan as an investment for August. Feb is looking better, but my wife has now broken her leg in two places, so we now have massive childcare issues. I am playing Friday night apparently. It was booked, advertised and tickets have been sold. Unfortunately nobody told the band until yesterday and we were intending to rehearse a new/additional keyboard player this week, so it might get interesting.

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January is always slow for us, but we had two bookings, played one and the other was cancelled by the venue as they were closing for a few weeks because the brewery had scheduled some building work. I drove past yesterday and that certainly seemed to be the case. Got 2 or 3 in Feb, then March/April we're out most weekends, but then nothing until a block in September. I expect the gaps will fill out soon, this is a looking a lot better than last year was at this stage, we had one booking and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it after my accident. I think we did two gigs before the end of July last year, but still ended up earning slightly more than the year before.

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My band usually does around 50 gigs a year , so far we have 33 booked for this year plus we've played three already. We should pick up more gigs as we go along so I'm expecting to end up doing around 50 again.

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Similar to Spike. 39 this year so far. Have had to almost close the diary. Still got a few regular gigs to book in and wanna stay below 50. Have probably booked too many weddings and parties to be honest. Need to keep space for the pub gigs. I always pass gigs on though if we can't do em so my other muso mates pick em up.

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Pretty slow for me, but not too worried as its Jan and people don't wake up till mid Feb. But also not too optimistic - there's a lot of crap going on thats going to hit people in the pocket, so weddings and parties are going to be hit. Also the Festival world is like to be pulling back, although their willingness to pay bands has been declining for a while so that's more fun than income.

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Absolutely rammed

Closed the books in November last year and took the first 2018 booking a couple of weeks ago. We have a couple of good regular bookings standing by for any cancellations as they didn't move quick enough when I contacted them late last summer saying we were getting a bit busy.

We usually do about 35/40 per year and currently have 47 for 2017. Its gone bonkers.......

And the good thing is we've dropped all the venues that were historically less preferable (for various reasons) and now only have ones we either really want to do or pay exceptionally well.

The only problem is that both myself and one guitarist are properly in trouble with the family for ruining all their weekends for the whole year - I'm gonna be hunting for deps on here soon.....

Edited by Mudpup
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[quote name='gapiro' timestamp='1485329539' post='3223081']
The wedding band is going dammed slow this year. Had 35 bookings last summer. Currently sitting on 4. Mo idea why and had nothing but positive feedback last year.
[/quote]

How did the 2016 35 summer bookings come to your wedding band?

Blue

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It was looking a bit slow initially but it's picking up now. We haven't done much in Jan as 2 band members were away on holiday but we've fitted 3 in. Feb looks OK with 5 bookings and we have another 5 or 6 in March. I have other interests so a few less gigs this year is no problem for me at all.

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[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1485331156' post='3223092']
January is always slow for us, but we had two bookings, played one and the other was cancelled by the venue as they were closing for a few weeks because the brewery had scheduled some building work. I drove past yesterday and that certainly seemed to be the case. Got 2 or 3 in Feb, then March/April we're out most weekends, but then nothing until a block in September. I expect the gaps will fill out soon, this is a looking a lot better than last year was at this stage, we had one booking and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it after my accident. I think we did two gigs before the end of July last year, but still ended up earning slightly more than the year before.
[/quote]

Hi Dave,

I hope our gaps fill in soon. I'd love to see some nice 3 gig weekends on our schedule.

BTW, I did play one DEP gig this month.

Blue

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[quote name='spike' timestamp='1485336520' post='3223148']
My band usually does around 50 gigs a year , so far we have 33 booked for this year plus we've played three already. We should pick up more gigs as we go along so I'm expecting to end up doing around 50 again.
[/quote]

50 gigs, that's a realistic and respectful goal.

Blue

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[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1485340494' post='3223192']
Absolutely rammed

Closed the books in November last year and took the first 2018 booking a couple of weeks ago. We have a couple of good regular bookings standing by for any cancellations as they didn't move quick enough when I contacted them late last summer saying we were getting a bit busy.

We usually do about 35/40 per year and currently have 47 for 2017. Its gone bonkers.......

And the good thing is we've dropped all the venues that were historically less preferable (for various reasons) and now only have ones we either really want to do or pay exceptionally well.

The only problem is that both myself and one guitarist are properly in trouble with the family for ruining all their weekends for the whole year - I'm gonna be hunting for deps on here soon.....
[/quote]

I chose to play in a band where the other members have families and lives outside of music. They have to block some weekends for family stuff and vacations.I won't complain as it was my choice and would make the same choice again.

They're all good people and that's hard to find.

Blue

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My most regular band has a smattering of stuff through the year, but the agency tends to throw things in throughout that bring the numbers up. Some nice touring backline tech work come in that kicks off April/May and will hopefully keep me busy through festival season and using the horribly quiet Jan/Feb to get new promo material boxed off for a couple of new function band projects. Quieter than I'd like it to be, but I think there's enough in the pipeline that the year will pan out ok!

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January was quiet for the folk/punk band, but my reggae and metal bands got a run out. The rest of the year is mental for the folk/punk. I think I have about 4 weekends off for the rest of the year, and there are a load of mid-week gigs and weekends with 2 or 3 gigs

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[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1485363457' post='3223417']
January was quiet for the folk/punk band, but my reggae and metal bands got a run out. The rest of the year is mental for the folk/punk. I think I have about 4 weekends off for the rest of the year, and there are a load of mid-week gigs and weekends with 2 or 3 gigs
[/quote]

Nice!

Blue

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[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1485368482' post='3223466']
January's dead and only one in Feb, but it picks up after then. I think this is going to be our busiest year yet, I've not seen the calander this full in mid-January before, so looking forward to it.
[/quote]

Seems like January is dead for a lot of us.

I don't mind a little break like this. A break from getting home at 3:00am. Plus the weather here in WI is awful right now.

Blue

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January's been busy, February and March are quiet, but that's deliberate as we need to work on new songs and get in the studio. April through to end of September is already fully booked bar a handful of Fridays.
We have a couple of headline gigs in 300 -400 capacity venues and a whole bunch of new beer/cider & music festivals to play, including one in France.

This week I've taken a booking for January 2018, plus two enquiries for 2019.

Going to be a very busy year but that's how we like it.

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Think Lizzy aim to play around 25 gigs each year and as we've just about reached that total for 2017 the book is closed. That total is mostly down to other members with "other commitments" ( i.e. moaning partners) but it's not really enough for me so I have a generic rock covers band coming along as a side project aiming to put another 15 gigs in over the year. It's possible that the side project may become my main band and the TL stuff be relegated to the the side project or even disappear - we'll see.

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