How to handle this gig situation?

[Twitch]

This has happened 3 times now in 3 years of gigging, most recently this past weekend.

We just finished playing our four hour gig but some patrons start begging for more. They're not drunk or being rude, they're just simply enjoying themselves and would like to hear more music.

From our point of view after four hours we are truly spent and ready to be done. We've already played the best of all the songs we know so we would need to reach back to a much lesser quality song or repeat one already played. Also consider that the restaurant owner pays us to play until 11:00 and its already 5 min over that because we always end up playing a little over anyway.

-One time we agreed to another song and the patron was satisfied.
-One time we agreed to another song which lead to repeat begging again for more songs.
-This last time we politely refused, which lead to us hearing some (albeit quiet) boos!

What would you do?

[ollaimh]

ya gotta give em at least one encore, save a special flashy tune for that. maybe two. i wouldn't ever just say we gotta go unless it's a ressing situation like the baby needs parents now.

[troystory92]

I always prepare the crowd when I am about to end. Usually 2-3 songs away, and then remind them before the last song. I try to do this when I end any set, but ALWAYS the last one.

Now I always try to end on a banger. Hotel California, Wish You Were Here, Santeria, or the never ending American Pie.

If they ever want more after that, I play an original.


American Pie usually never warrants an encore. People appreciate the complete cover and know I am done after that, lol.


If not playing an extra song or two after a 4 hour set changes someone's opinion of me, I don't really care

[kaos]

Unless I had somewhere to be, or had to get up super early the next morning, I would keep playing. I figure I am already setup. My dilemma is when the request songs I have already played.

[DanleyJ]

I would always check with the owner of the club (if this is a club situation). Clubs and Bars need to get folks cleared out and headed home by a certain time if they want to keep their liquor license. If management is okay with it, then give them another song. Maybe one you played in the first set that those at the end of the night may have missed. If it is a private party then suck it up and give them another tune or two. I don't know about you but I haven't had that many gigs where the crowd wanted more at the end of the night. Those nights are special and they won't last forever.

[Mr. Jelly]

Hello? Use the best songs from the first set. Highly unlikely that these people were there at the beginning. If they were they either wouldn't care about hearing the songs again and that's even if they remembered they heard them before.

[Tahitijack]

Prepare a 3 to 5 song medley tribute to the Beatles, Stones or other group as your response to a request. Or simply Jackson Brownes Load out / Stay.

[cotten]

I like troystory92's approach of announcing the end well before the actual end, but would generally do one song as an encore after, as DanleyJ suggested, making sure it was okay with the management.

cotten

[Napman41]

At the 3.5 hour mark thank the crowd, announce last call and introduce the last song. Use the last 30 minutes to wrap up the night and play what will then become a 30 minute encore. The crowd will go home satisfied and you'll go home on time.

[ChrisE]

I've only been gigging steadily for the past two summers, but I've had it happen a couple of times. I usually play one more, sometimes it's something I played already.

The best was when I finished my last song and three drunk, fairly burly young guys came up and said "One more!"

I said "I'm supposed to stop at 10:00."

He walked up to me, put $20 in the tip jar and said "ONE MORE!" I said, "Sure, whaddya wanna hear?" and did another song and thanked them for coming.

Then one of his pals came up and did the same. $20 and "ONE MORE!" I played another.

Third guy did the same thing.

$60 for three extra tunes doubled my tips for the night.

[Mooh]

Take This Job And Shove It, the Johnny Paycheck song.

[Wade Hampton]

I've had this happen a few times. The best idea is to check with the owner ahead of time, of course, but usually an extra song or two won't cause any problems. If in doubt, call out on the mic to either the owner or manager to make sure it's okay to continue a while longer.

As Mr. Jelly suggested, some strong material from the first set should suffice. He's correct in that the chances are the folks requesting more music weren't there when you started.

As for the liquor laws, different cities have different regulations. When I was playing mostly in Irish bars in Chicago, on Saturdays the bars were allowed to stay open an extra hour. We still normally knocked off playing at our usual time, but a request to keep going was easier to fill on a Saturday (early Sunday, actually) than on another day.

I actually had a guy come up as my duo partner and I announced our last song on one of these late Saturday/early Sunday wee hours, and say: "Hey, you guys sound great and we're really enjoying it, but we just got here and would like you to play at least half an hour longer." Then he put a $50 bill in the tip jar.

I cleared it with the owner from the stage, so we continued for another forty minutes or so while he and his group of friends sang and clapped along and injected a level of energy that you don't normally see that late. Then, when we finally stopped, he came up and put a $20 in the tip jar, thanked us, and several of his friends tipped anywhere from $1 to $10 themselves.

There had already been a good night's take in the tip jar when he first made his request, so we made as much from tips that evening as we did for our regular nightly fee.

So if it's possible to keep playing for a while, it can be good business to do so. But it has to be with permission from the owner or manager.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by DanleyJ

I would always check with the owner of the club (if this is a club situation). Clubs and Bars need to get folks cleared out and headed home by a certain time if they want to keep their liquor license. If management is okay with it, then give them another song. Maybe one you played in the first set that those at the end of the night may have missed. If it is a private party then suck it up and give them another tune or two. I don't know about you but I haven't had that many gigs where the crowd wanted more at the end of the night. Those nights are special and they won't last forever.

This. Here in the UK pubs stop serving at abut 10.45/50 and close at 11.

You play your "last number" at 10.45. Then any drunken requests - you can squeeze n one final one. before 11.

It's called the 10.45 rule.

[Brent Hahn]

When the club has a hard out time for legal reasons, it works well to start off the last set with "We've had a great time tonight and we've got time for one more short set..." Assuming the actual allowable set time is :40, announce the last song at :25, do your first encore at :30 and your second encore at :35.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

This. Here in the UK pubs stop serving at abut 10.45/50 and close at 11.

You play your "last number" at 10.45. Then any drunken requests - you can squeeze n one final one. before 11.

It's called the 10.45 rule.

When I lived in Chicago, there were two kinds of liquor licenses for bars: they could stay open until 2 am, or until 4 am. On Saturday/early Sunday that meant they could stay open until 3 am or 5 am.

With some styles of music that meant the musicians had to play an additional set, but with the Irish folk music I only knew one bar that kept its musicians on the stage an extra hour, and it was a place where I didn't play. So we'd knock off at our usual time.

What I often did after I'd gotten my instruments and equipment home, any day of the week, was take a book and go get a meal at a 4 o'clock club that served good food. I'd nurse one beer and have an excellent late supper, then go back home from there.


whm