Taking a Break at the show.

[rjpilot]

This thread is mostly for those bands that play 2+ hour shows at Pubs, bars, and small clubs...

I play in a cover band and play from 9:30 - 1:30 and usually end up taking 2 breaks. Sometimes I think the breaks are too long and really all I want to do is get and play some more. We have the material and usually never finish our entire last set. Am I too gung ho about this? After about 15 minutes I start trying to get everybody back up on the stage. After all we are getting paid to play.
This is me during our shows

I went to a see a good local cover band recently and they had an original band open for them..kinda different but whatever. The orginal band was great. So the cover band I came to see came on just after 11pm. The played until 12 and then took a 40 minute break. I was ready to leave had it not been for knowing what songs were coming up.

Am I too anxious?

[MudPies]

15 min is key for a bar/club band. Not many bands seem to abide by it these days but it's not too nice to keep the crowd hanging for too long.

[Dickie Fredericks]

We usually do 3-1 hour sets with two 1/2 hour breaks in between. 1/2 hour break isnt much if you're using some of it to meet with the folks in the crowd.

Yes, you're still working even when you're on break.

[StevenS]

Anything more than 20 or 25 minutes and I start to get antsy, especially if you're having a good night and the crowd is into it.

You can lose a lot of momentum if you go off for too long.

I was at a fundraiser dance awhile ago with my wife and a few other couples. The band came on after the dinner and auction.

The band certainly wasn't awful, and there were people up dancing, but they weren't really very exciting.

They took a break after about 40 minutes or so and you could almost feel the vacuum rush as the place emptied...

[Phil M]

Most cover bands I've been in take one break in the middle. Usually start playing around 9:30 or 10:00 or so (actually, 9:30 is a pretty early start time), break around 11:30 or 12:00 for 15-20 minutes, then play until 1:30-1:45.

You're getting paid. Unless there's an equipment malfunction that someone's working on, a 45 minute break is dumb. If you had a crowd, you'll lose them.

[scottlr]

We always did either three 1 hour sets with two 20 minute breaks, or four 45 minute sets with three 15 minute breaks. This was usually dictated by the club. When it was our choice, we went for the three 1 hour sets.

[tone4days]

use to be common to play four sets ... roughly 45 minutes on / roughly 15 minutes off w/ sets starting roughly on the hour ... total of roughly 180 minutes per night

i like longer sets though - 75 minute sets feel great to me ... the last band that i was in tended to get gigs where they wanted the last set to be a short set (no idea why) ... so we'd do two 75 minute sets and then a 30~45 min set to end up ... we'd try to keep the breaks to a reasonable length and it was fine .... same total number of minutes of music in a night give or take ...

and yeah, i was usually itchin to get back up there ... needed my stage junkie fix

[Brock]

If I have to wait 45 min for them to come back on, they better be awesome. 1/2 hour at the most is reasonable. I'd want to leave if any longer.

[germs]

15-20 minutes is acceptable for an all niter.

Anything longer is foolish. Unless you're literally selling out of merch, and then you've only failed to plan...

There's merit to playing two long sets and a short one...leaves 'em wanting more...

Personally, I like

10:00-10:45
11:00-12:45 --> this is your PRIME TIME in a bar...
1:00-1:45

[derekd]

Yeah, I am ready to get back up there after 15 minutes. I don't like long breaks either.

[Maess]

When I was gigging, we did a lot of shows in Wi, usually from 9:30 - 1:45 (closing is at 2). We'd usually take breaks at 11 and at 12:30, we tried to keep them to 15 minutes. I agree with one of the above posters, socializing with the crowd was very important.

[CDaughtry]

Originally Posted by Dickie Fredericks

We usually do 3-1 hour sets with two 1/2 hour breaks in between. 1/2 hour break isnt much if you're using some of it to meet with the folks in the crowd.

Yes, you're still working even when you're on break.

Dickie...this is exactly what we do, and it's kind of a bone of contention between me and the other guitar player. He likes doing it this way. I think the breaks are too long. People start getting antsy and leaving. In the old days, we did four 45 minute sets with three 15 minute breaks between them. I always felt that 15 minute breaks were more appropriate. However....I seem to be getting outvoted by the other guys......

[GCDEF]

We take three 15 - 20 minute breaks. Much longer than that and people will start leaving.

[SGNick]

Hmm.. Last gig we played was 10-2. We took a 5 minute break at 11:30 so I could go to the bathroom.

More than 15 minutes seems a bit much.

[Squigglefunk]

forget the breaks... IF you want to play so bad why are you only playing 45 minute sets?