Turn it Down - Gig from Hell! - Challenges of setting up at a Restaurant Music Club for the first time. | Weekend Musician
Article written by Arny Bailey Back to Cover
Here’s my story….and I’m sticking _
to it.
My band gets booked to play a corporate holiday party. The location is a well known restaurant that shall remain nameless. I hadn’t played there before so since I was going to a small concert nearby, I decided to make an evening of it and have dinner with my wife. I had heard wonderful things about the fare, and the setting was amazing. As we were seated, the sun was just setting behind us casting a beautiful copper tint to the Skyline across the water. The moon was full and rising behind the skyscrapers. It was a postcard moment. The food was great and the service was exceptional. We finished the meal and headed downstairs to try to figure out where the band should set up in their meeting center.
Problem no. 1.
Columns everywhere. We’ve all dealt with this problem before and
this was going to be even more of a problem considering 3 of the 4 perimeter
walls were view windows and the 4th was _
the main thoroughfare. Since the catering manager was
not there, I decided to communicate with him over the next few weeks
to make sure he understood our needs. It’s been my experience
that these guys never understand the special needs for a 5
__
piece rock band and communication beforehand is essential.
He faxes me a sketch of the facility that looks like it was drawn by a 5th grader. No scale and no columns are indicated (fortunately, I had already ___
seen them and knew they were there). He has the band in one area, and the dance floor in another. I return my thoughts to him regarding where I should set up and give him 3 different layouts. He then proceeds to let me know that my layouts won't work and it’s obvious why. He’s putting 100% value on the food and 0% on the entertainment portion of the evening. NOTE TO CATERING MANAGERS: You serve food for 1 hour and the entertainment portion of the evening lasts for 4 hours. This is not meant to diminish the value of the food portion of the evening, it’s just to put things in a little more perspective.
We finally agree on placement of the band next to the dance floor (duh). The layout isn’t perfect, but they rarely are and always end up being a compromise. Hopefully, as was done in this case, out of sight and mind from the client. So, it’s time to show up…
Problem No. 2
I arrive at the venue and they’ve completely changed
everything! The
dance floor is in the same place but ___
now they are setting up the buffet table on the dance floor and setting up tables into my space! ARGH!! So, after a few tense moments with the crew (the Catering Manager is no where to be found), we finally all decide that we can reverse the buffet table and allow us to set up at the end….so we start humping the gear in. While doing this, the staff keeps setting up stuff in the band area! They just don’t get it! After awhile we finally all realize that tying to set up a banquet and band in the same area isn’t going to work. So, back to “where the heck are we going to set up?” One of the sub managers and I finally agree on another area and I start to move the gear. About ½ way through this move, another waiter comes down the main dining area yelling “You can’t set up here! You can’t set up here!” Finally the catering manager I was dealing with shows up. I hope (like a fool) that he will come to our defense and tell his staff to work with us…I’m WAY off in this….So, we finally end up back where they wanted us in the first place, not playing to the dance floor.
Problem No 3.
No power in the area. This is not an unusual occurrence and anyone
who has gigged for any amount of time has an ample supply of extension
cords….so, we start running power over doorways, under rugs,
up columns.
We finally get set up, in this ridiculous spot away from the dance floor which is now WAY off to our right behind some columns. At this point, I’m so angry at having to move my gear three times and then be positioned in such a way that we’ll be lucky if we can even see the dance floor much less play to anyone wanting to dance, not to mention all the wasted time beforehand working with the manager to come to a mutually agreeable layout.
Now we start playing….
Problem No. 4.
Some monkey suit comes down stairs yelling “We’re shutting you down,
we’re shutting you down!” right in front of the guests! Apparently,
it was just too loud for the upstairs diners. So I ___
calmly looked at this guy and asked, “Would you like us to turn it down?”…so we did. About 2 minutes later, the same guy comes down and says it’s still too loud. So, we keep pulling the sound down. At one point, the guy came down and pointed to my bass player and said, “That’s perfect!” …you guessed it. By this point, he wasn’t even playing.
By the time they were saying it was OK, we couldn’t even hear ourselves play. The client was getting so upset that he decided to send spies upstairs to see if you could really hear it. They reported that they couldn’t but something was obviously going on.
Problem No. 5.
After 12 years of faithful service, my Ampeg Superjet finally blew. Fortunately
for me, I run all my effects pre-amp so was able to turn that around in
a pinch and run direct to the PA. Lost only about 5 minutes of time
getting this problem solved….because I was prepared.
When we finished playing, we couldn’t get out of there quick enough. Fortunately, we got a big tip from the client who understood what was happening and in spite of that, had fun. The client is now looking for a different venue for next year. NOTE TO CATERING MANGERS….same band, different location. Morale: WORK WITH THE ENTERTAINMENT!!! It’s very likely they will define the location and not the food!
Arny Bailey
MEET THE WRITER - ARNY BAILEY
President of In Form, Inc. Media Design and Chief Editor of Weekend Musician is a licensed architect practicing in the Pacific Northwest and weekend musician currently fronting ABOUT FACE, a classic rock cover band and The Grand Delusion a Tribute to the music of Styx and Journey.