Advice for setting up a gig?

Aoifey!

Me and my friend are both 16. We are Junior scout leaders at our local scouts and we've convinced our scout leaders to give us a chance to raise money by doing an outdoor gig in our local park with local bands and some bigger bands. We're pretty much lost we have already:

1. E-mailed bands (trying to get them to do it for free)
2. Went to the police and county council and got a list of things we need, which are, a license to hold an outdoor event, public liability insurance, safety precautions (we were think Civil Defense).
3. Asked some contacts and think we can get some musical equipment from our local cdp.

Any advice on everything else? stage? (We were thinking a lorry) How much do you think we should charge for entry? Do you think we'll even make any money? It's in New Ross, Co.Wexford. All welcome! We need as much support as possible!

Irishcrx

Your going to need equipment, drumkit and set up, amps, PA system , maybe a sound engineer. Local bands shouldn't mind doing it for free, maybe charge 4 euro in and do as much advertising as possible. Make sure there is adult supervision around.

the_barfly1

A good place to start would be to get in touch with the people at www.futuresoundsfestival.com

They're a youth group (aged 16-17) in laois who have been running one day all-ages festivals for the last few years. We played at one last year and it was a pretty decent setup, they managed to get everything they got pretty cheap. I'd say they could steer you in the right direction

Barry

Obi-Jim

hey aoifey. this is quite a big task. the first thing you'd need to have sorted before confirming any bands would be the truck (which seems to work best for these type of things) a pa system, which really need to be quite powerful for an outdoor gig, this includes the speakers, power amps, mixing desk, monitors, microphones, stands, multicore, all cables, fx units, di boxes.
Then, a drumkit (probably just toms, kick and all stands for snare, hi hats and cymbals) two guitar amps and a bass amp. This all at a minimum too, if its even going to be better than "shoddy".

Regarding a charge, it really depends on the calibre of the bands, the interest of people going, and partially how much it costs for all the above. But a minimum of €5 and absolute maximum of €10 would be pretty regular.

Usually, for these type of events, the best plan would be to get some local sponsorship from shops or bars (dunno about this one, it being a youth group and all, check with your leaders or something) or any other business' in the area. Just hang a few signs for them on the day and they are normally alright to give you something (every little helps). If you don't ask, you won't get. You should aim to cover you're costs almost purely on sponsorship, and its not that difficult.

Drop me a PM if you need any more advice or pricing or help with it. I work as a sound engineer and deal with a lot of the above, just let me know.

PS I may be able to give you a hand with getting a few bands sorted also, if needs be.

Mulan

Hi Guys

First of all take it indoors if you can. Find a hall or club that can sitdown approx 320-350 people. What kind of bands are you looking at. Go for an Irish artist. Most Artists/bands will bring their own sound and lighting equipment plus engineers. Get local acts involved for support acts and after show entertainment.
I've organised a few of these so pm me if ya need any more info.
good luck

Obi-Jim

bands bring their own sound and lighting equipment??? the only bands i've ever seen doin this are wedding or cover bands. But they cost €1000 - €3000 on average anyway, so its not like you get a PA and lights for free.
Also, unless they are an act that is doing pretty well for them selves, they won't have their own engineer, and even if they do, he won't be setting up your equipment for you, or dealing with any problems in the setup, in fact, he would be rather annoyed that there isn't someone there to give him the lowdown on the system.

Mulan

Please read my full post obi Jim.
Thanks

Obi-Jim

i did.

"take it indoors", this could be a good idea, to save money on costs, but is a totally different concept than an outdoor "local event".

"What kind of bands are you looking at. Go for an Irish artist" ... i doubt a local scout club will be trying to get in an act from outside the country, to play for free.

"Most Artists/bands will bring their own sound and lighting equipment plus engineers" ...... this isn't true at all. You're band that plays in the local pub may bring a small vocal PA. But no band, that isn't a wedding/ pub cover band would bring, or even own, a PA suitable for an outdoor event or a 320-350 hall.

"Get local acts involved for support acts and after show entertainment". This seemed to be aoifey's original idea, and yea its a good idea. Don't know if the bands would want to be considered "after show entertainment" though. I think the band playing would be the entertainment that they provide.

I know all this from experience, because I run PA systems and gigs and work with bands in various roles.

Mulan

Well, this worked for me and we have 5 more big Irish acts this year. We'll make a couple of grand for each gig. The'll bring their own sound and lighting systems. We get sponsorship from local businesses to cover some expenses and provide a support act and after show music also.

Anyway, Obi jim, I'm sure between us we can give a helping hand to getting this up and going for them.

Good luck

MGilly84

Hi
when you sort out the location let me know where it is and ill see what i can do about getting my band to do a 9 or 10 song set. they'll be pretty pissed when i tell em theres no money involved but they may be willing to discuss it!
were all in our mid twenties well some of us the wrong side of it!!! we play the likes of The Doors, Dylan, Marley, Rory Gallagher, Jimi hendrix etc etc dunno if 16 yr olds know of or appreciate this kind of music or not but thats what we do.

also i can definatley help you out with catering, my family run an event catering company and we would pay you a fee to operate there. let me know if interested

Aoifey!

Thanks for all the help! We may get back to you individually soon once we get more sorted out. I know my local cdp has a PA and amps and I know the people there fairly well so I may get them borrowed for cheap enough. They also have drums so I'll look into that, a couple of my friends play the drums too so I might be able to get a loan of them.
I think the sponsorship sounds like a really good idea, I'm going to look into that as soon as possible.

Music-and-booze

my band will play if u want, we like playing gigs, and collectively we have 4 pairs of shins

Trev M

Just to let you know , unless you have someone willing to take responsibility for the event who has public liability insurance you may end up calling a halt toi the whole thing

before you go any further I would advise you sort this first.

My own experience from a few years back was in putting a truck at the central bank outside the foggy for a few bands.... we ran a couple of shows , the premium wasnt that high if I recall coorectly , we were gonna do it again last year and we were quoted something rediculous ...i.e several thousand euro:eek: needless to say that put paid to that.

We went through PJT insurance who I think are the only company that deal with this kind of insurance(Although I cant be certain only one we found) We dealt with some guy named Mark who as it turned out was a bit of a ..... well I'll say no more .:rolleyes:

The council may offer you an extended liability deal I think its called were you pay a small premium and they will cover you.

Oh yeah one thing if you are looking to get the insurance you will be asked to provide a security and event management plan.


of course if you rent a venue you wont have this insurance problem.

NeMiSiS

I would agree with the take it indoors idea.

Outdoors is great fun, but make things easy on yourself.

Try your local arts centre for a venue - http://www.stmichaelsnewross.com/ , I dunno what kinda deal they do. Usually 15 to 30 % cut of the door.
They probably have a rig too - I have never been there though... but they say they cater to bands. Just an idea..

Just promote the living hell out of it, get onto your local papers etc.. they are always looking for pages to fill.

Best of luck with it.

TK

Seraphicblue

The CDP in ross has reasonably good stuff.

As has been said before you will definitely need a full rig for sound.

A sound engineer is a must, he allows you and your team to deal with any mini crises on the day without worrying as to how the band sounds.

So far as I know the local park is under the auspices of the town council so I would suggest to go through them as regards liability and such. In addition, they may have security firms that they trust (its always good to make the owners happy)

The suggestion of indoors is very very good, weather is a very unpleasant thing to deal with.

If you're looking for bands to do it for free they will likely only be small/local bands who want to get their name out. The better known ones usually like to be paid for their efforts.

If you wouldn't mind, what type of music are you considering?
Depending on type it will be harder/easier to get the council/venue on your side.

discobeaker

If your after a band PM me,i might be able to help with an act