What's good everyone. It's been a minute.

I'm Replacing a guy in a cover band and 1st gig is next week.
1st time on the club scene and wanted some feedback.


How long are your normal sets?
They have us on for 4 hrs, This seems like a long time too me.

Also How many songs do you normally have in your set list?

Standard fare is 3 sets of 45 min to 1 hour.

Usually 10-12 songs per set.

4 hours is long for a club date, unless the pay is good.

It's been a while since I did regular sets in a club, but traditionally, a set is 40 minutes on and 20 minutes off. Get the details straight from the club owner. He or she may have something different in mind. 4 hours may be 4 sets of 40, or 4 sets of 45 with 15 off. The club may also want you to start at 20 past the hour so you end on the hour. Depending on the material, assume 3-4 minutes per pop song, 10-12 songs per set. Personally, I like to move from song to song without a lot of chatter in between numbers. It gives a more polished look. Good luck.

k.

Generally for a cover band we do 3-50 min sets with a 10 min break .. hard to say how many song but roughly 12 to 15 depending on the lenght of song. I've done some 2- 1 1/2 hr sets with 1/2 hr break, if their selling CD's

your milage may vary

I've always found that by playing one hour straight through on the first set makes it easier to end the job on the hour.

Every club gig around here is 4 hours. Usually 9pm-1am. If it's in a part of town that can get a 3am liquor license, it's 10pm-2am.

Anyway, (3) 1-hr sets with (2) 1/2-hr breaks. We do 15 songs per set (we don't stop), so 45 per night.

I've been in bands where we'd do (4) 45-min sets with (3) 20-min breaks to keep the breaks shorter and it comes out to the same amount of playing. Most most clubs want to stick to the 2 half hour breaks as they hire DJ's to play the latest dance crap during that time.

In one of my bands we do two 90 minute sets, with one 30 minute break. In my other band we do three one-hour sets, with two 30 minute breaks.

I still play in bands regularly with one of my bands, and we very often play one long 2 and 1/2 hour set. This of course, is when the crowd and the energy in the room is high so we don't want to stop the momentum. We start off smooth, ease into it and pace the energy just right to keep it rocking throughout the night.

+1

In my soon to be jam band, we will play 6 songs a nite! lmao

That is not entertainment, it is masturbation. On the plus side, you'll probably be doing it alone in your basement, jam bands of the "6 songs a nite" variety don't get much club work.

One of my bands does the 3 60's with 2 30 min breaks, and play 42-45 songs a night. The other band is a jam band and we'll do an hour set, take a break, and then do about 90 minutes. That band will play about 12 songs in a night.

BTW Bill, the jam band could work every weekend for decent money in this area. We play 1-2 times a month due to a guitar player who lives half way across the country now, but prior to him having to move away we worked every weekend. So your idea that jam bands can't get club work isn't true. If you are a crappy jam band, I'd agree, but a good band with a good following can work all they want.

"...the jam band could work every weekend for decent money in this area. "

Playing six songs a night? I live in a pretty big town for the college age crowd, (Pitt, Chatham, Carlow, C-MU, Point Park, Duquesne, Robert Morris LaRoche, St Vincent, and CCAC, Pgh Theological,Tepper, Kaplan, Bidwell, Hillel, Bradford, Everest, just a boatload of technical and Nursing schools) and there is no band that is working clubs that is able to do anything like that.

no, about 12 songs a night, as I already posted. 5-6 songs per set.

which is different to the post to which I responded, where the poster says he does 6 songs a night. I don't know where that would sell, but it would not sell in clubs here. You might be able to get away with 6 songs a set, but this is still a three set a night town. And jam bands don't do well here. There isn't one that I can think of that plays as much as once a month. (Other than jazz and blues bands, which I'm sure we are not discussing.)

I believe you are taking tonysounds post a little to literally.

Just because something might not work in your area, and bands play 3 sets a night, doesn't mean that's how it is everywhere. There are half a dozen jam bands around here that all work regularly.

That's already been done, over 40 years ago by the Grateful Dead.


Mike T.

It's refreshing to hear that live music is still appreciated in some parts of the country. I don't think you'd find the same level of support in L.A.

Not many are playing the "A" rooms but there is definitely a market in this area. Philly, DE, lots of deadheads who enjoy that type of music.

4 hours is typical. We do 3 sets. I craft the sets depending on crowd response/volume. If there are a lot of people in the place and having a good time, we extend the set (and usually take it out from the third set) because club owners like to keep people in the club and people tend to leave during band breaks. So, usually either the 1st or 2d set is an extended set (14+ songs) and the 3rd set is usually rather brief (maybe 8-10 songs).

We do three sets as well: 70 minutes on, 20 off, 70 on, 20 off, then 60 minutes.
Makes the night go much faster than 4 40 minute sets. Also the club owners appreciate it more that you keep the crowd. Too many/too long breaks will send the patrons right out the door and make it difficult to ask for more money.

You guys rock, 1st time I had to check this thread since I posted it. I think they give us 30 min breaks in-between sets.

19 Songs altogether So it should be a fun night.

Anyone in Columbus - The name of the BAND is FO/MO/DEEP

Dates

11/13/2009 10:00 - 2 AM at Dick’s Den
11/14/2009 6:00 - 10 at The Dream Lounge

What - are you going to play each song twice? You might try to put together a few more songs. Maybe come up with some extended instrumentals and the whole "introduce the band members" thing, that should buy you a couple minutes.

We go through 45 in a night, but even bands that play longer songs and screw around between songs (which I don't recommend) would need to have at least 30-35 to make it through a night without having to repeat songs (unless they're a jam band - but that's already been addressed). We've got close to 90 songs on our whole songlist so that we can change up the set list every night. We could conceivably play 2 nights in a row without repeating a song, although there are about 20 or so that we always play because they go over really well - we just change up the order somewhat.

Thanks Bill! After 30 years of gigging professionally, this is all news to me.

The exlamation point and "lmao" should have been a cue that I was being facetious as best.

Most gigs run 4 hours around here, though we have a few that are schedules for 3.

The main club that we play, we judge our first set length by the condition of the lead guitarist's beer. He always gets a pint Tucher, and when it's gone, it's the end of the set. Usually about an hour or so. From that point on we play it by ear. If we've got a responsive crowd, we'll play longer sets and shorter breaks. But our normal breaks run 15-20 minutes. It's too much fun to play, so we want to get back up there.

+1

[/quote]We go through 45 in a night, .[/quote]

80s, that's alot of songs for one night, out of curiosity, how many songs do you guys have on your overall song list that you can pull from

Keep in mind his band's repertoire: Most songs clock in around 4 minutes.

Let it be known that Taco Hat will play as long as the house lights stay down; if that means 7 or 8 songs, so be it!