Playing gigs is fun - the pre and after show activities are not
uke: Everytime carrying 150 kg (320 lbs or so) of equipment to the venue and back by yourself, and 45 minutes of checking that all things are with you, plus straightening 30 tangled cables after hastily throwing them in the pack because the next band is in a hurry to hit the stage
Haha yeah, thats very true...always getting all the stuff down on tiny stages/stairs, setting up the whole stuff in a hurry, getting all the cables right...
We had 15 minutes to get our equipent set, which usually is enough.
hate the crush when the other band is still removing their stuff though.
Also the ~20 minutes before the show are like hell for me, totally nervous + the worst part is waiting for the band before us to finish their last song.
After everything is set and all the stuff works everything is gone though and I totally enjoy every second of it
150 people = small club? seems like you austrian people have different standards.....at least if the club is packed.
150 is a decent size imho, in my area even well known bands like arch enemy the haunted nevermore etc frequently play venues that hold like 200 people max.
anyways, i know that neck feeling after a longer gigging break....oh yes, i know the pains, haha. first time i hit the stage after being locked into writing/recording mode with my main band my neck hurt like hell the day after.
30 minute set is too short though...imho at least. i enjoy 45 minute sets best, and that's what we frequently play. it's enough time to play a nice selection of songs spread all over the back catalogue, yet you can deal with even *HOT* gigs just about fine....
with my other band (female fronted melodic metal, sorta) we used to do full-night gigs, playing in some rock/metal bars known for live music....i'm talking 5-6 sets of 30 minutes each, with 15minute breaks. sorta exhausting, but a LOT of fun. but then again it's much calmer and less technically demanding as the stuff my main band's doing (melodic tech death...or something like that).
Well, 200 people are allowed in front of the stage in that venue, and since it was a continual coming and going I hope that we reached about 150 metalheads in total. My guess is that there were ~ 100 people in front of the stage most of the time. Very nice size, since the hall was nicely filled, but it was enough place to mosh and crowdsurf
Most "underground" venues have about 200 people capacity over here I guess...
Bands like nevermore and arch enemy usually play in places that can hold more people (about 1000-4000).
But most of these bands don't visit more than 2 cities on tour in Austria, that's my guess why the venues are bigger.
In Germany they tour more cities, so maybe that's why the venues are smaller. It's a shame though, I'd love to see bands like Arch Enemy with just 200 people around, rather than 3000^^
Same here, I also think ~45 mins is a nice lenght for a set.
But dude, even with "less damanding calmer stuff" a full night gig would be more than "quite" exhausting for me hahaha
