I went to a local band's CD release party 2nite, and after having 4 opening acts, the headlining band only played a half hour! WTF? If it were my band, we'd play AT LEAST 2 hours mayB more! Why don't more bands play longer sets these days?

guitarslinger44 said:

The "idea" is to quickly hawk potential singles for the corporate music execs - who are probably too distracted to show up to the club anyhow... Fuck the music biz status quo! Get a website and put a handful your good stuff (the stuff YOU like playing as opposed to the stuff you think some tool at Sony will salavate to) up for FREE with mp3 files and keep writing songs... and sell CDs through mailorder. Really.
[This message was edited Sun Dec 14 1:20:28 PST 2003 by PistolGripPump]

Good point PG. I always wondered about that too - the difference between original and cover band performances is shocking - I play 45 minutes with an original band, and 4 hours with a cover band. I always thought it was for two reasons - the original bars don't imagine that some of these bands HAVE more than 45 minutes of material, and also to pull in more folks (make more money) it's better to pack in 3 or 4 bands in a night.

I've come away from shows with the same feeling of being robbed - ESPECIALLY the headliner, that I KNOW has three albums out (talking local bands here) and I KNOW they could do another 45 minutes at least. Part of it is the clubs fault, and part is the bands fault, I suppose.
[This message was edited Sun Dec 14 5:39:53 PST 2003 by otan]

Well I know that here in Minneapolis, the local scene is SO strong, and there are SO many bands, its staggering. It might be the need to get everyone in and have some diversity so the audience wont get bored.

theSpark said:

The same thing has happened on the DJ circuit. When I landed my first residency in '90 I had 6 hour slots. Now it's like three or four. Most commonly, two. Club owners today are scrambling to get as many people in the door as they can. What they don't realize is people want familiarity.

A band with one CD out shouldn't expect to play for more than an hour...maybe an hour and a half at most. Honestly, do you really WANT to stretch one CD out for 4 hours? Okay. Here's the answer: attention span. It is much different than it was 15 or so years ago. Much SHORTER. People know this and they make their shows accordingly. Also lack of interest in REAL musicianship. There are many who get bored with a 15 minute guitar solo - even if it is greatly done. Too bad. I love long shows. You can loose yourself in an artist's work that way as well as discover new intricate details about him/her that you just can't get in a 30 minute set. On the other hand, $$$wise, you do less and make more (at least you should aspire to). Cover bands work hard for their money compared to original bands. Go to a show, enjoy the artist and don't worry about the clock.
Peace
[This message was edited Sun Dec 14 10:31:07 PST 2003 by BlaqueKnight]