Gigging in 2023

[drawbars]

Hi All,

 

This is a question for anyone, but especially you older players ...

 

Are you still playing live these days?  Where?  How often?

 

I retired a couple of years ago, and had planned on being a 'full-time part-time' musician for a while.  It hasn't worked out very well in Central Massachusetts (USA).  This area was always a little guitar-heavy, even back in the '80s when I moved here, but it's become more skewed over the years.  When I look at ads for a keyboard player, it generally boils down to either a) "We want someone to play pads and ambiance behind the guitars," or b) "We've never had a keyboard player, but always thought it would be cool to add one."  ("What Bruce, you don't want to play a 6-song Gary Moore medley?  Why not?")

 

I have been playing as a solo act, using MIDI to back me up, for a few years now.  I basically sound like a 5-6 piece group, but my price is better.  But, it gets harder each year to find gigs.  Last year was a 'perfect storm,' where my #1 club sold the business, and the new owner is moving in a new direction; and my #2 club decided to stop having live shows.  I've been making the rounds, but there's a lot of competition out there, most of it a lot younger, and while the people I meet and the bars and restaurants are friendly and polite, the answer is always no.  (Favorite expression lately:  "Sorry, we're all booked up for 2023, why don't you come back in 2024?"  This started as early as late February!)

 

If you are in a similar situation, and still manage to gig, how are you finding the work?

 

[Stokely]

I don't book for my group, but I've noticed this year (so far) has been lighter than past years.  Then again, our guitarist works all week doing solo and duo gigs (sometimes as many as 7-8 a week) so it's mainly a full band thing.

We are on the older side of things, and for whatever reason there are a few places that took a dislike to our singer years ago (there are a lot of misogynistic venue owners/bookers out there who treat a female bandleader like garbage) and we'll never play there no matter our rep around town.   Another handicap is that we have to compete sound-wise to some bands here that use tracks (even with a full lineup).  More and more, audiences and the venues that get their dollars are losing perspective on what "live" music sounds like, and they don't seem to care.   I'll quit before running tracks that are anything more than noodly sequences, personally, I've gotten my years in and I'm ok with that.

It's very guitar-oriented music around here and the only people frankly that pay attention to the music are the 50+ crowd.  Even if we play music from the 00's, they are still the only ones who dance or pay attention.  I figure live local music as we know it will be dead in 20 years unless the younger set suddenly gives a shit because they don't seem to now, around here at least.

My biggest annoyance is that we find it really hard to play music outside the norm, because we use subs so often.  We also can't practice because the same two members that miss gigs (due to other commitments) don't have time to practice.  So it's same old same old, any new songs have to be somewhat simple to just try at a gig or ones they know already.   The singer would love to add some early 80s female stuff like Missing Persons, Pretenders, Berlin etc but for most of the songs you'd need a rehearsal and it just ain't happening with the current lineup.

[Adan]

As one of those "older players," I'm finding keys are as much in demand as ever.  I could gig every night of the week.  That hasn't changed at all.  What's changed is me, my energy level, and my patience for bullshit.  Also, I now rule out late night gigs, which I define as anything that has me getting home after midnight.  Can no longer burn the candle at both ends.  But boy, did I ever, for many many years . . .

 

 

[Dave Bryce]

34 minutes ago, drawbars said:

a question for anyone, but especially you older players ...

 

Are you still playing live these days?  Where?  How often?

Sadly, no.

 

I’ve kinda had it with bars.  Too much work for not enough money.  I’d like to do more private parties (those are the only gigs I’ve done this year), but they seem to be few and far between, and I don’t know much about the best way to find them.

 

Also, my bandmates are losing interest as well for things like health reasons, tired of hauling heavy gear for low $, etc.

 

dB

[cphollis]

Having lived in different places, I think it all boils down to the locals' propensity to go out and see live music.  In locales where younger people gather (university towns, for example) there's usually a great music scene aimed at them.  I currently live in a beach resort town swimming with early retirees who love to go out for drinks and live music.  As long as they're done by 9pm that is.

 

Having spend some time in that part of MA, yeah, it's sort of thin out there.  Lots of country, for example.  As you move closer to Boston it gets better, and the Cape region is pretty good.

 

No easy answer other than to keep looking!

[nursers]

I'm somewhat on hiatus this year, one of the reasons being that there's an absolute glut of bands locally, meaning it's harder to get gigs and if you do, the audiences are smaller because there's a bunch of venues running bands. Not missing it ... so far.

[Red Ranger]

Hey Bruce, I'm in Central MA as well (I actually stopped by your house one time to buy some cables, and I think of you each time I pass by on the way to visit my sister who lives farther west). I'm older (not retirement age just yet, but certainly no spring chicken). It's definitely tougher to get gigs now as there are fewer venues and everyone wants to play after two years of sitting at home, so there's a lot more competition. My band's been doing well with weddings, private parties (a lot of yacht clubs, actually) and some corporate stuff; the few select clubs we play are mainly to be seen/heard by potential private party clients. I almost always have to drive the farthest of any band member, as our gigs are rarely in this area (from Foxwoods to Hampton Beach, etc.). I also carry the most gear (the PA plus my 2 keyboards & guitar), so I'm adamant about not wasting my time & energy on bar gigs. The places around here just can't pay enough to be worth it.

[rickzjamm]

Oldster here,I've also had it with decades of dumpy bars & such... corporate & higher end restaurants are great & pay better and are way more appreciative.  

[ElmerJFudd]

One would imagine post pandemic that live music, live events are back. And for many, especially younger people, they are. Dragging an older crowd out (fans of say 60s-80s material) was a challenge before and is even more so now. 

 

My motivation to play has always been for additional income so I take the weddings, corporate parties, private parties stuff.  And that has been back in full fashion since last summer.
 

But if you’ve caught footage of Taylor Swift or Paramore shows this season -  attendance is off the chart.  
 

 

[David R]

I’m extremely lucky to have a career of mostly touring, mostly original music, with the odd wedding/cocktail/private party to fill in the gap. I should mention that I’m solidly in jazz/“world music” territory where the money is (usually) better than slogging it out in rock bars. I’m also in Canada, where grants for both individual artists and festivals/presenters make touring a little bit more viable. I feel like 2023-24 is the first year where we’re back to a normal booking cycle — presenters aren’t backed up with contracts to honour from 2020.

 

But yes, it’s much harder to mobilize an audience since we all became used to Netflix, Twitch, etc. As much as I love it, travelling is harder on my body as I get older, and the seemingly endless screwups of the airline industry don’t help. The price of gas and fuel have raised the cost of doing business considerably. A lot of venues in Montreal that were central to my genres have closed, and nothing has opened to fill those gaps. 

[Stokely]

39 minutes ago, rickzjamm said:

Oldster here,I've also had it with decades of dumpy bars & such... corporate & higher end restaurants are great & pay better and are way more appreciative.  

Our band of 10 years started with loud redneck bars and has moved gradually to a helping of more corporate/party gigs.   I've found unfortunately that the more pro gigs we are often what I'd call "wallpaper"...they tend to require low volumes and people aren't there (usually) for music.  I'm often left with the thought "why did you hire a band, again?" but no doubt the pay is higher and that counts for a lot!  The load-ins are often more of a pain.   Flip side, not all bars are fun either.  

Mainly, bars suck simply because they tend to go later in addition to low pay.  Most people tend to leave by 12am or so, so it's never made too much sense to have bands playing til 1 or 1:30 am...

Right now my most anticipated gigs are somewhere between...nicer clubs/restaurants where people want to dance and you get a crowd there for music, and where we are done by 10 or 11.

We've gotten a few gigs through some kind of service that our singer subscribes to.  We have one coming up tomorrow, really odd one--we supply the PA, and play for a whopping ONE HOUR at a convention center.   Our PA is small and light so that's not as awful as it might have been years ago, but it's just weird.  We are getting paid almost double our normal night's amount at bars/clubs to play one hour...

[Delaware Dave]

During Covid and social distancing solo and duo acts seemed to be in demand. Dancing was frowned upon and establishments paid half or less for musical acts.  Many places have stuck to that model  making it difficult for full bands to reestablish their foothold.  Our band has not only survived but thrived; we play classic rock/motown/70's music that is very danceable, we cater to the older crowd and we got out of 'bars', our events are 90% outdoors at yacht clubs, upscale outdoor restaurants usually located near water, resorts, and outdoor marinas. We're one of the better paid bands in the area (ex wedding bands).  Since covid we haven't pickup up the phone, these establishments call us so we're only limited by the weekends we want off.  Already have two clubs booked through the end of 2024. The only indoor gigs we do are special events, VFW's, American Legions, tented gigs, Hollywood Casinos, and these are done over the winter, so our schedule is light in the winter and heavy in the summer.  We use winter to revamp our setlist.  In addition, a great bunch of people who 'get it', don't overplay and we tend to be more on the quieter side.  I cant ever remember anyplace telling us we're too loud, usually they tell us to turn up a little, but we don't. I was playing in other bands but due to their attitude and stage loudness I left them all about a year ago and am focused now on one band. 

[vonnor]

We're playing breweries, bars, and festivals in the D.C. regional area still, average about 1 show a month (sporadic "average"... feast-or-famine) but that's down about 25% from last year. Still doing the late-night shows occasionally. I personally don't mind the setup/teardown schlep because the rest of the guys are so good and very fun to play with. Recently tried rocking a 3-tier setup, but am back down to two again. Easier to load-in and load-out. 

 

~ vonnor

[Outkaster]

Playing 30 to almost 50 times a year.

[kenheeter]

I'm plenty busy here in Canada, I've decided to stop playing bars and the late night stuff too.  Lots of theater and festival stuff and even a few gigs in  a couple of public schools. Those two gigs really bring down the average age of my audiences!!!

[Bobbo Fett]

When I first arrived in my present locale, I was around 34-35. Even though the locals complained all the time about there not being as much work around as in years past, I had more gigs than I knew what to do with, routinely playing over 300 nights a year. Now that I'm within shouting distance of full retirement age (I turned 66 in May) It seems like the gigs I used to get in bar bands are going to guys that are in their 30's and 40's now. Not a biggie, the way I look at it, it's THEIR time, I had mine. These guys are willing to rehearse for the $100 (and less) a night bar gigs around here, and that would be a no go for me at ANY age. Plus the guys they play with are my son's age, and I would stick out like a sore thumb on the stand with a bunch of 35 year olds. I still have my piano bar gig (been doing that for over 20 years) at the local casino, a 50's band I joined in '94 (so everyone in the band is of the same vintage), a nursing home gig, and my absolute favorite, a jazz trio with two insanely creative guys who I get to play with once or twice a month. All in all it adds up to about 10-12 gigs a month. Every now and then I'll do a single somewhere, but the guys that do that successfully play guitar with a looper and sing their butts off, so even playing keys, singing (as best I can) and sax, I'm seen as too "jazzy" and "laid back" for most bars that book that sort of thing. One nice thing though, at my age I've come to a place where either you dig what I do, or please feel free to book someone else, no harm, no foul.....

[timwat]

Yes demand here in the SF Bay Area is still quite strong. There are clubs, bars, weddings, corporate, originals, straight jazz, rock, funk, and all sorts of other types of gigs out here. There is sort of a list of players who have built a decent rep for being professional, showing up on time, learning ALL of the music, and generally not embarrassing you for hiring them. I think I'm on that list, and regularly get called for gigs of all sorts. Like Adan, I could be gigging 3 times a week if I was of the mind to accept every offer I receive regularly.

 

But I'm not. My day job carries a heavy weight of responsibility, and requires a high amount of focus, commitment and sheer will (like John Wick). And it pays me well for the investment; thus I don't play music primarily for the money. Net result is I turn down 80% of the gigs I'm offered. 

 

I can't do the "we're finished at 1AM" gigs anymore. I can't devote every weekend to gig life, as I have a wife I love whom I'd like to enjoy time with. And I'm sort of done with all-day weddings where 90% of the time is spent nibbling middle-of-the-road band food in a tuxedo watching other people have a great time.

 

I play in a blues outfit, a couple R&B covers outfits, and a recurring straight jazz gig. There's an originals project in my back pocket I'll revive next year.

 

So I don't have the challenges the OP is noting - and I'm going to guess most of that is due to my location. I'm a life-time Bay Area resident. The SF Bay Area has some well-known challenges - it's expensive to live here. But one of the many benefits is lots of active gig opportunities. 

[surfergirl]

It's never been particularly good for us. Most of the good gigs are in or around Honolulu and that adds about 3 hours to the gig for travel and setup. Then the pandemic made it even worse. When we were in school 2013 to 18 it was pretty good. We tried the Rodeo thing, that was a disaster, it seems that even kids from the country aren't county enough. Then our lead guitarist moved to the mainland while his girlfriend finished Optometrist school. Our drummer is a fireman so we've had to work around his hours even before that. Now I'm busking with my half sister and having more fun than I've had in years. 

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, timwat said:

There is sort of a list of players who have built a decent rep for being professional, showing up on time, learning ALL of the music, and generally not embarrassing you for hiring them.

That's where I'm trying to head. Last three weekends were three first-time gigs with three different bands. 

 

I'm a full-time member of only one band now - I've known some of them 30 years, it's like family. Everything else is dep/sub gigs - I'm a regular sub for a few bands now, some of whom don't have a full-time keyboard player. Go figure?

Cheers, Mike.

[drawbars]

Thanks for all the replies.  It looks like I might have to try to move towards Boston and the South Shore.  The big problem:  I have exactly zero connections there!  😦

 

I went on to BandMix the other day to see if there were any leads in the area.  I put in my Zip and '50 miles' as max. distance, along with the fact that I play keys and sing lead.

 

First lead that came up was in Nashville!  Second one was in northern CA.  Third one was Portland, ME.  WTF???

 

Fourth and fifth ones were semi-local, but a couple of 20-somethings who play acoustic guitar, have never been in a band, and list directions/influences ranging from bluegrass to electro hardcore.  And I guy about 10 miles away looking for "folks who want to play jug band music."  Really??

 

Gotta keep looking, I guess.  😕

 

[CHarrell]

2 hours ago, surfergirl said:

It's never been particularly good for us. Most of the good gigs are in or around Honolulu and that adds about 3 hours to the gig for travel and setup. Then the pandemic made it even worse. When we were in school 2013 to 18 it was pretty good. We tried the Rodeo thing, that was a disaster, it seems that even kids from the country aren't county enough. Then our lead guitarist moved to the mainland while his girlfriend finished Optometrist school. Our drummer is a fireman so we've had to work around his hours even before that. Now I'm busking with my half sister and having more fun than I've had in years. 

 

Oh wow! Do you live on an island outside of Oahu?

[CHarrell]

2 hours ago, timwat said:

Yes demand here in the SF Bay Area is still quite strong. There are clubs, bars, weddings, corporate, originals, straight jazz, rock, funk, and all sorts of other types of gigs out here. There is sort of a list of players who have built a decent rep for being professional, showing up on time, learning ALL of the music, and generally not embarrassing you for hiring them.

 

2 hours ago, timwat said:

The SF Bay Area has some well-known challenges - it's expensive to live here. But one of the many benefits is lots of active gig opportunities. 

 

Similar story here in Seattle.

[Stokely]

Bandmix charges, doesn't it?   I never had any luck on it but its been a while.

Facebook groups might be a good alternative to (ugh) Craigslist ads.  I'm not looking for a full band but I did join one as I'm considering a duo if I can find the right situation.  I hate FB but use it for marketplace and a couple groups.   My favorite part of ads is that you can always tell the frustrated people that have had some misses in their search...they start listing every thing you better not be in a rambling screed that gets angrier the longer it goes    Any time I see one of those, even if I don't fall onto the negative list and agree with the line items, it's a warning sign to stay the heck away.  As the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar....

[ProfD]

IMO, especially as we become older musicians, the best gigs will be private parties, restaurants, bars and clubs catering to a happy hour crowd (6 pm - 9 pm). 

 

Older folks who are willing to come out do prefer to drive while they can still see at night and get home before midnight. 

 

Of course, everything is predicated on the type of music one plays and the audience for it and competing bands/musicians.

 

At some point, older musicians have to consider booking their own private gigs and/or finding someone to help them book gigs.😎

[Bill H.]

Kudos and congrats to all who are playing keys live! I bowed out years ago - it seemed like the older I got, the quieter my rooms got until (and I came to this revelation while setting up in an empty room) I decided it was time. Once the enjoyment was gone, the money wasn't good enough to make it worthwhile. 

 

I continued playing keys in a praise band for 10 years until I moved out of the area. I really haven't felt the need to pursue it since. I don't know where my motivation went - but it went somewhere around the age of 65. 

 

I've been winding down my DJ gigs for the last couple of years as well. I'm just getting too old. There have been good times recently though. The most people I've performed for in at least 30 years was Reopening Friday (Feb. 26, 2021). This was as a DJ but it was still pretty insane. 

[TommyRude]

I'm in the bay area and I'm NOT on the list Tim referred to! 😂😂😂 I have some travel gigs this summer (posted up in shameless plugs), so far so good, but quite unusual and I could be some folks grandfather 😂   Tim actually helped steer me towards some of those first line players we needed to recruit for that gig - thank you brother Tim!  My local soul band has a handful of gigs booked through end of year.  But really, the music takes a 2nd seat when the bluefin tuna start running!

[surfergirl]

1 hour ago, CHarrell said:

 

Oh wow! Do you live on an island outside of Oahu?

I live on Oahu, but I'm 45 to 60 minutes from Honolulu, depending on traffic 

[D. Gauss]

9 hours ago, drawbars said:

 This is a question for anyone, but especially you older players ...

Are you still playing live these days?  Where?  How often?

 

 

I'm an old fart still out there working in NYC area. Having a very busy year so far.  Been gigging between twice and six times a week.   Several different bands, none are cover/tribute bands.  Late nights are still a thing unfortunately.  I hardly play any keys with any of these, mostly guitar, then bass, plus some sax and drums.

[Baldwin Funster]

Animal clubs. The members are almost all 60 plus so they prefer 60s and 70s music. The shows are frequently 2 hours. The times are usually early. Alot of times the pay includes a meal. They pay is low but a solo or duo can split $250. 

[HammondDave]

I started plying clubs when I was 15 and earning about $100 a night doing it.  50+ years later I am still playing clubs (sadly for the same amount of money). I am in three bands and play mostly in the LA/Orange County circuit. Two of the bands are classic rock and the third is an original/cover soul/R&B band.  As I am retired from my main profession I do it strictly for the fun of it.  I like the cats and gals who I play with, and enjoy the music (for the most part).  I play one or two nights every weekend, and will continue until I drop… but there is no way I could do this for a living.