Actually that’s an annoying thing as well, venues/promoters not telling you who the support band is in advance. Don’t really understand it, literally 2 seconds to just write it on facebook or a tweet.
Such a small measure - publish set times - makes a huge difference in terms of psychological (and maybe physical, though hopefully not) safety of attending a gig. One promoter in Manchester / Salford, not in the most salubrious part of town, just puts ‘7.30 til Late’ on their adverts. Instantly excluding.
(As a former venue manager) I can tell you that it’s not the venues - we always wanted to post set times well in advance but promoters and tour managers always insisted on embargoing this and only release them late in the day. Inevitably though the set times were pretty standard (doors 7pm, support 8pm, headline 9pm) so the imposed mystery was just another level of bullshit.
Theyve gone well up in my estimations
Especially annoying if you’re going on your own and they expect you to be happy to just stand around like a lemon for an hour until they decide to start
I remember when a free gig I was interested in going to with a band I quite like and a band I’m fairly indifferent to posted this
without even any indication of who was on first and who was on second, so I just didn’t go.
Great work lads.
Hated when the venues in Belfast used to vaguely give an idea of stage times by giving what time doors opened and then “support starts at __” so youd get down while first support was on, I say first as theyd often have 2 maybe 3 support acts on and youd be there for fucking ages dying on the inside.
Wankers
That’s the worst. Why would they do that?
I go to more and more gigs on my own, so know exactly what you mean about the amount of lemon standing. A week night gig especially with no published set times is just daft.
Highly annoying for those of us who like to stay in the pub until the last possible minute as well (but fair!).
Glad I’m not the only one that does this. Currently listening to a Wedding Present playlist before next week’s gig. By the night of the gig I’m normally more familiar with the setlist than the band themselves are.
Makes it more fun imo. Get to know which songs are being played so thr ones you’re less familiar with you can get into a bit more and as @iamwiggy says, you can plan toilet or bar visits accordingly. Perfect
the other thing is when they do post stage times but everything happens half an hour later than they said it would
used to happen with local gigs in the Menagerie a fair bit
By law, all support bands should be on at 8 and headliners at 9. Any exceptions have to approved by the Queen.
i’m a real nerd about looking up setlists beforehand but i don’t like to get to know it so intimately that i know the exact order, i still want a little bit of surprise on the night
Now you’ve done it @TKC, there’s been a campaign started.
They’ll never let you into another venue again!
Please only answer these polls if you are or work for a venue.
- Yes
- No
- I am not a venue
0 voters
- Yes
- No
- I am not a venue
0 voters
Gosh why are venues so horrible?
Everyone voting no, wouldn’t come to your stinking venue anyway if you paid me (happy to come if you paid me)
Agreed, especially improv bands
Ok i feel a lot better now for being annoyed that the main act didn’t come on until 9.30 yesterday in London. I missed my pre-booked train - only by 15 mins but the gig finished at 10.40, I thought it would be done by 10 (or 10.15 at latest) I assumed I’d totally forgotten what was normal!
I’ve never cared about looking up setlists before a show. I might think, “gee I wonder if they’ll play this song, I hope so” but I’ve never bothered to look. I like surprises, I guess, and if I like a band enough to go see them play I trust they’ll choose songs I’ll enjoy.
Also do love posted set times though. Too many times throughout my life I’m just stood there waiting and waiting, whether alone or with friends it’s frustrating especially if it’s not a weekend. If I don’t want to miss opening bands I’ll show up not long after doors open, then I’m waiting a damn hour or sometimes more. Used to be that opening bands wouldn’t even come on till an hour past open doors, because of course a venue does want a crowd to form a vibe to get going before bands start. Bands want this too, it makes sense. Nobody wants to start playing to 3 people and watch people roll in throughout the set (I don’t think so anyway, I’m not a band).
But that said, I’d like to know if I have time for dinner elsewhere, how long I have to comfortably eat, perhaps have a drink with friends at a nearby bar if they’re not going to the same show, etc.