How many songs per hour

[66strummer]

Quite often restaurant gigs turn out to be more like background music, but it sounds like it went very well. I did a gig for a surprise birthday party at a restaurant a few months ago and I felt the same way. Just went with the flow and ended up getting some nice compliments afterward.....



Ryan

[El Conquistador]

Yeah,
I guess I just had this romantic image of sharing my personal music experience with an audience or something. Music that is nuanced and played on a truly beautiful guitar. This has occured in intimate song circles of about 8 or 9 people in living rooms where everybody is there to listen and play. As I said, I was in bands for 20 years and have been there and done that. It was more about what I wanted to create. I will have to re-think this whole thing to sort out what I am really after here. As I mentioned, this was done as a favor to the owners, but, maybe I am done performing for the general public.

And yes Chris, there are absolutely no dampening surfaces in this room. Tile floors, high ceilings, plaster walls. I did point this out to the owners when setting up in that morning. This room connects with the main dining area. To demonstrate the abysmal acoustics of the performance room, I simply started talking in that room with them as we walked into the dining area and the echoes immediately, and I mean immediately, stopped as we crossed the threshold of the dining area. They were quite surprised that they had never noticed it.

Thanks for your comments all.
LC

[crikey]

I hope you get your PA/monitor/room issues squared away and don't stop playing. I do know how annoying room chatter can get, especially when you can't hear what the heck you're doing.

What others said about playing in restaurants rings true; to many patrons you are just background music while they get through their dinner and drinks. But keep playing songs like "Old Friends" and you're going to have more and more people paying attention and really digging what you're doing.

[Mandarb]

Congrats/Sorry about your Successful/Disaster.

[Guyute]

Go check out this post from Celtic Johnny. Nails the restaurant experience

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...8&postcount=25

[John99]

I tried to add a response but somehow ended up on a differnt topic.
Ignore this.

[John99]

...I always have more than I need. Sometimes, if I'm a bit nervous at a place, I tend to play them a little faster than I had planned at home. (Not chipmunks fast, but more like when the radio stations want to get more commercial time, and they bump up the speed a tad and figure no one will notice.) If I tape it and watch it back later, I sometimes find a three to four minute song can become two-three. (It all adds up for a set)

[12Stringer]

Originally Posted by El Conquistador

Phil, while a monitor would have helped, the wall of sound in that room was simply overwhelming. Thanks for the congrats, I am actually proud of the fact that I made it though 23 songs with only the most minor hickups.



If by "sir" you mean like Sir Paul McCartney, no. If you mean am I male, yes. All male by the way .
LC

I was referinging to a bit from the Bob and Tom show http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=27933273

[El Conquistador]

Whoops, sorry 12Stringer. Let's try this again.

Originally Posted by 12Stringer

BTW, El Conquistador, are you a sir?

I am not a sir, I am El Conquistador.

BTW, I always log out when I am done because when I log in, the computer says, "Thank you for logging in El Conquistador" It's sophomoric, but, I love it.
LC

[Guyute]

By the way...how many songs did you end up playing in your 90 minutes?

[El Conquistador]

Well, I actually went about 100 minutes and did 23 songs. This included a 10 minute break. I talked very little between songs because I didn't think anyone could hear me.
LC

[Guyute]

Yeah, sucks when people can't benefit from your rapier wit

[valleyguy]

I think the thing to remember in these circumstances is that not EVERYONE is listening at the same time, but there are always some people paying attention to the music, while others are talking. In a big crowd, it's hard to see that, it appears EVERYONE is talking, but I guarantee that some people are connecting with the song you're dong and listening. Maybe the next song they don't like as much so they start talking, but someone else is listening. At least I think you have to go on this premise to be motivated.

Based on the reaction you described at the end, I'd say people enjoyed it.