Attendance Concerns

[Dad3353]

12 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

He was certainly board (I'll get me coat).

 

Maybe half-cut..? 

[JPJ]

I think we’ve all played the gig to the bar staff and the gig to a rammed out room. My own highlights include travelling 50 miles to play in a remote Northumberland village pub to the bar staff and pub dog because two local lads were having a birthday party in the village hall (at least the dog seemed to like us), and playing to 4,000 Hells Angels in a big top tent on a Thursday night in Stafford.

Locally, live music is often seen as a way of saving failing pubs with the result that you get three or four pubs all offering live music of varying standards within a 1 mile radius. This splits the local audience with reduced numbers all round. Suffice to say that most fail and eventually close or get new management. We’re blessed with a few pubs and clubs with a reputation for good quality live music, and as both of my bands are shall we say ‘niche’, then we prefer to wait for gigs in these venues than take a gig in a dying ‘flat roof pub’ where the meagre audience are not going to appreciate your efforts.

But I think we have a huge role to play in attracting audiences. The prevalence of social media means that marketing/advertising your gig doesn’t need to cost a fortune. Timing your advertising is important too, too early and folk will forget, too late and they will inevitably already have other plans. Also, all band members have to share the workload of marketing as whilst we have many common connections, if we all hit the like and share on our bands posts, we will hit the widest possible audience. Oh and posters, many venues still rely on bands sending posters to advertise inside the venue.  

[police squad]

yep, it happens

I had a Policed gig at a rugby club fun day. They all got plastered and went home, promising to return

Organiser offered us the full fee and to go home. We agreed to do the first set and see if any of them come back.

They didn't, so we gave it our all for the bar staff.

 

And more recently a St. Patrick's day beer fest in Derby this year.# with The U2 Tribe boys

You'd think U2 / St paddy's day were a good match

It was a repurposed warehouse and freezing cold and it was rammed with people

We were due to start at 8.30.

I counted 23 people left but we did the whole set (they said to stop after an hour) but it was my 2nd or 3rd gig and I need the runthrough

Got paid 400 quid each though

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I was in a couple of bands in the ‘90s / early 2000’s who played in the Grey Horse in Kingston ( not Jamaica ). 
I was told by a couple of band mates at various times briefly that it had Legendary name  Musicians who played there .

To me the bar looked okay, but the gig area was like a rundown social club . Most of those legendary musicians are either dead or in care homes.

It meant nothing to me . All we ever experienced there was bad band promotion , dodgy bar managers resulting in a few punters. Yes, we played to the bar staff exclusively as well .  We gave it our all so to speak , treated it like an extra practice session with payment fluctuating to allow for shady managers.

That was the worst . We just took in on the chin and moved on ,and refused to go there again . 

[ricksterphil]

Played a gig in Hinckley to the proverbial 3 men and a dog and I've done gigs where the crowd is standing on the bit of floor that passes as a stage it's so busy. I was in a fairly successful Bowie Tribute band for 5 years and we usually got great crowds, but that's because we were pretty good and it's the draw of Mr Jones himself. I imagine most decent tributes get the same lift in attendance from fans of the original band or artist being tributed. I'm now in a Country Rock band and we get pretty good crowds, including 130 at a ticketed event in Melton Mowbray. Again, we're not too shabby and Country is hot right now in the UK.

 

On Daryl's point, it is soul destroying to play to thin air. I get upset if the venue is full and I don't see heads nodding and feet tapping.  However, as has been said, the show must go on and there's no excuse for not putting in 100% (or for wearing shorts on stage unless you're the drummer 😂)

[petebassist]

13 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Please share any new thoughts on dealing with poor attendance at gigs. I've been dealing with it for years, yet I still struggle with weak attendance. 

 

I know it's part of the job. Take a look at the contrast we've all had to deal with.

 

Daryl

 

 

That's a beautiful venue (the theatre one :-)). The outdoor one though... I'd have to laugh that one off.

I play mostly original music so I'm used to small crowds, which I don't mind if we get an occasional amazing gig.

[cybertect]

3 hours ago, thodrik said:

I was in a band that literally played to a barman, one man and the man's dog. 

We did sell album to the man. We didn't ask if the album was for the dog.

 

I have experienced pretty much this exact scenario! William Morris Club in Wimbledon 1988, and it was 7" single. The dog was well behaved at least.

 

Another time, about ten years later, with a different band, after a couple of pretty successful dates in the autumn, we were booked to play the small room at the Mean Fiddler on 2nd or 3rd January, so everyone was still recovering from New Year.

 

What's more it was a Tuesday night, freakishly cold (something like -7C IIRC) and quite windy to boot.

 

Unsurprisingly, I think we had about three people in the audience. I took a peep into the main room and even the headline act had pulled about ten people in.

 

We were told shortly after that The Fiddler wouldn't be booking us any more because we were not able to get enough people along.

Edited 13 hours ago by cybertect

[MacDaddy]

I've played to a completely empty pub, because even the bar staff fecked off!

[Cliff Edge]

Some years ago I had a gig in a social club in North London. Attendance was practically zero in the hall. There were a few others in an adjacent room watching TV. A large venue opposite was very busy. They had something called Live Aid going on. 

[lurksalot]

11 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

…where we ended up playing to the livestock. 

 

Daryl

been there , ended up depping for the rockaoke , and think I accidentally joined a band …

 

 

 

it’s a fund raiser every couple of years organised by an old school friend , it’s great fun 

[Bluewine]

8 hours ago, ricksterphil said:

Played a gig in Hinckley to the proverbial 3 men and a dog and I've done gigs where the crowd is standing on the bit of floor that passes as a stage it's so busy. I was in a fairly successful Bowie Tribute band for 5 years and we usually got great crowds, but that's because we were pretty good and it's the draw of Mr Jones himself. I imagine most decent tributes get the same lift in attendance from fans of the original band or artist being tributed. I'm now in a Country Rock band and we get pretty good crowds, including 130 at a ticketed event in Melton Mowbray. Again, we're not too shabby and Country is hot right now in the UK.

 

On Daryl's point, it is soul destroying to play to thin air. I get upset if the venue is full and I don't see heads nodding and feet tapping.  However, as has been said, the show must go on and there's no excuse for not putting in 100% (or for wearing shorts on stage unless you're the drummer 😂)

 

I'm a 4 string 60s guy. I could never wear shorts for a gig. And nobody wants to see 71 year old legs. Lol

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

11 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IMO it doesn't matter if you are playing to just the bar staff and half of the other band on the bill or an adoring audience of several thousand. You have to give it everything. If you can't do that then maybe live performance isn't for you.

 

I've played my share of poorly attended gigs, and you never know if one of the two people who aren't venue staff or in one of the other bands is going to be someone important who will open the doors to better gigs, as has also happened to me.

 

I'll give it to the pros that can go from a packed room on a Friday night and emotionally handle playing to an empty room Saturday night.

 

This is an area I need a lot of improvement in.

 

Daryl

[Lozz196]

12 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IMO it doesn't matter if you are playing to just the bar staff and half of the other band on the bill or an adoring audience of several thousand. You have to give it everything. If you can't do that then maybe live performance isn't for you.

 

I've played my share of poorly attended gigs, and you never know if one of the two people who aren't venue staff or in one of the other bands is going to be someone important who will open the doors to better gigs, as has also happened to me.

Agree, every single person who attends the gig, be it few or many, they all deserve the best a band can deliver. 

[Dad3353]

28 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

...I'm a 4 string 60s guy. I could never wear shorts for a gig. And nobody wants to see 71 year old legs...

 

I'd be very pleased to see my own 71-year old legs again.

 

...

 

I'm 75. :-|

[ezbass]

38 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I could never wear shorts for a gig

You are a man of great taste. I don’t like to see it personally, it just looks wrong to my eyes. I did it once, during covid, for one of those livestream affairs in the middle of summer, never again.

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

 

I'm a 4 string 60s guy. I could never wear shorts for a gig. And nobody wants to see 71 year old legs. Lol

 

 

Very sensible. Most people underestimate how bad they look on a stage wearing shorts.

 

I used to gig with a guitarist who had ultra thin, ultra white and hairless pipe cleaner legs. With his rotund torso he looked like a joke in his shorts. It was beyond embarrassing. I've done many stupid things in my life but gigging in shorts was never one of them.

Edited 2 hours ago by chris_b

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

 

I'll give it to the pros that can go from a packed room on a Friday night and emotionally handle playing to an empty room Saturday night.

 

 

Depends on the musicians. Obviously a full room is preferable, but I can play easily to an empty room if the band, the drummer and the set are good.

 

Also, if the only person watching is the promoter then you've got to give 110%, to prove that the empty room is not your fault.

[Stub Mandrel]

My worst was a blues/jazz bar. 110 mile round trip. We played to three friends, two bar staff and a couple of locals for a decent fee. They depended on students and term had ended, and live music was the chain's schtick.

 

Worst bit... they had us booked three weekends in a row, the staff loved us and wanted us back and the deal was worth it.

 

But... they recommended us to the chain's venue local to us. Downside access was awful so after 2 gigs we stopped going there.