The nights couldn't have been more different (back to back gigs)

baimun

Funkasaurus Rex
Friday night we played at a venue that it was their first week open. Not many people even knew that it had re-opened and many of our friends and/or regular followers were unavailable to come, so we were relying on word of mouth and locals.

>crickets<

We played the first hour to my wife, the drummer's girlfriend, and the bartenders. :embarrassed: Second set a handful of people rolled in, but we were jokingly saying things like "Welcome to the dress rehearsal..." We were literally playing our last song of the long, slow night when a dozen or so people walked in the door. We figured if we packed up right then, those 12 people would leave and we'd have a hard time getting paid from the owner.... so we played more tunes that weren't on that night's set list and pulled some songs from the first set and kept that small group happy until close. Two hour long sets, and then an hour and 1/2 set.

So.... the next day, after a 4 1/2 hour gig... we're playing a venue we've played many times (downtown, third floor near the theatre.

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We play the first hour to a half full house who's polite but not many dancers and then take a break. During that break the symphony lets out from the theatre and the place starts to fill up. My fingers are already aching but I know this is only a three hour night so the next two sets will be shorter.

a couple songs into the second set and the dance floor is packed. We just kind of forget the set list and start stringing danceable songs together to keep 'em happy (such a nice change to see a full dance floor compared to the night before).

Before we know it, we've played just over an hour and we only have about 35 minutes left in the night.... so we collectively choose to dig our heels in and play straight through to the end of the night.

So Friday was two hour long sets and an hour and 1/2. Saturday was a first set of an hour and ended with an hour and 45 minute one. At 12:embarrassed:1 we hit the last chord, said thank you good night, I hit play on the ipod.. and stuck my left hand in bucket of ice. :embarrassed:

Between playing to an empty house 90% of Friday and then having a packed dance floor for an hour and a half straight, my drummer said "We are the same band that was playing last night, right?" :helper:
 
We had two nights (Thursday and Friday) where we had 8-11 or 9-12 play times so we did a 90 minute set and then a 70 minute set to end the night up and it seemed to be the shorted night. Last night was a 90 minute set, a 70 minute set and then a 50 minute set at the Blue Beet. I woke up this morning feeling like an 80 year old after three nights of schelpping gear, playing hard and getting no sleep.
 
What is up with that? Went to bed feeling like I was 25 again.... Woke up hobbling like I needed a nurse to change my bed pan. :embarrassed:
 
Yeah, my body feels it after a gig, but I have to load the car, unload at the venue, set up, play for 90 minutes or 2 hours, pack up, load the car, then unload at home.

The difference between the two nights for you, of course, is the venue, not the band. While the venue Friday night is new, they need to work on having a steady clientele rather than relying on the band to bring folks in. We had a venue like that here that finally folded as they had no regular customers.
 
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