Music should be accessible to everyone.
I like shows in Edinburgh cos they generally always finish by 10:30pm.
Got into an argument on Facebook once with Sneaky Pete’s when they booked Ryan Hemsworth to play an 11pm-2am show on a Sunday night. Terrible.
Weeknight -
8:30, 9:15, 10 or 8:30, 9:30. 11pm close latest
Weekend -
An hour later is ok.
went to see Inter Arma the other week (who were the support band) but missed them as they were on so fucking early and no one put set times up.
So yeah, fuck these guys. It’s good to know set times so you can ensure you miss shit bands like Slaves (never listened to them obviously)
Inaudible gentle chest clap is your friend here. Polite, but meaningless.
I remember going to a hip hop gig at Fabric many years ago and the headliner didn’t finish 'til 3am, on a weeknight! Sort of ok as I’d pretty much written off work the next day, but I could never get away with that these days.
pcbe
Fabric are one of the worst for this. They have nights where the headliner doesn’t come on until 6 and it isn’t publicised in advance.
I saw them as a support slot once. They kept yelling into the mike about how “this is a song about getting fingered behind a bike shed in Royal Tunbridge Wells!”.
Awful band.
Doesn’t the venue / promoter decide on show times and determine curfew? Surely some onus on them. Especially if the gig is going to run late.
Saw LCD Soundsystem at the Barras many moons ago and the gig started at 11 and went on till 3 but it was previously announced so could pre-arrange transport.
Common sense needed.
It was pretty bad. We arrived at 8pm I think and I ended up drinking loads because we were there for so long. I eventually decided to leave before the headliner, but was so drunk I couldn’t find my way out of the venue so just went back and found my mates. Glad I did in retrospect but I was useless the next day.
i’d be well embarrassed to support them now and would assume people were only watching me out of pity
Given the really salient points people have made here and elsewhere about how ableist this is for one thing, it’s pretty bad that DiS have endorsed this on twitter
probably been said already, but when i ask for stage times, it’s almost certainly having heard and formed an opinion about whether or not I want to see the support band. Especially if I’m going with other who for whatever reason haven’t had time to check them out, it can be really useful to be able to say straight, i want us to be there for a specific time to see them. As someone said up thread, it’s not unreasonable to expect someone to be going to a gig specifically for a support act, and not always possible to be able to get to a venue in time for doors, so access to stage times can be the deciding factor in whether to go at all.
All of that said, if you really want to help support bands, make sure they have time to do full soundchecks and that they sound as good as the main acts. No idea what Slaves are like for this, but many bands/venues/whoever makes decisions still seem to give support acts really bad levels.
I believe set times should be posted in good time before an event, no questions asked. As a venue, promoter or band you will never know the individual circumstances or commitments of the guests attending your gig, who after all are already supporting you by paying for a ticket. It’s a personal choice whether they decide to watch the whole gig, part of it, or as someone has said above, attend to watch the support band and then leave (this is more common than it might seem!), it’s almost as if they are saying you are to be held hostage all night if you are attending a gig. That’s not really fair, and quite hypocritical, most headline bands, and sometimes promoters themselves aren’t even around to watch the support bands.
Personally a lot of times I find set times useful as re-assurance that I can make the last train home.
Set times are commonplace for people attending a festival in order to schedule performances around their day, so why not gigs?
Also that the DiS account pays any heed to the band Slaves and presumably follows their twitter account. 
what I love is when venues have earlier curfews at weekends because they’re hosting club nights afterwards. gig done by 9:45, back to Reading in time for a full sesh at the Turtle, then when that closes at 4 it’s all back to Paul’s house to keep it going until lunch. lovely job.
Agree with this, but it’s difficult further up the chain because often venues don’t open for soundcheck til 6 as standard, and often bands are coming from work so wouldn’t be able to make an earlier soundcheck anyway.
I used to put on a lot of shows and we always pushed to get earlier times for everything but it was never possible for a bundle of reasons.
loads of Glasgow venues do this midweek too as they’re all hosting student nights, it’s great! 
I’ve found a lot of bands I love by turning up early. But the main band didn’t have to trick me into doing it. If people don’t want to bother with the supports you can’t force them. If they accidentally turn up early and they’re really not bothered they’ll just spend their time at the bar or in the smoking area. Something about horses and water.
It seems to me the main problem is that Slaves have cultivated an audience that don’t really care about music all that much. Odd that.
Aye if I’m in the pub with friends beforehand it’s very useful to be able to say “support’s at 8 so we should try and get there for then”. Other than leaving everyone to guess and go “Ahh we’ve probably got time for another pint, I’d say?”