The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: patman on January 25, 2010, 03:25:00 PM
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We were told over the weekend that the management wasn't happy 'cause our "people" (people that come to see the band)...don't drink enough.
We draw an older crowd that is real dance oriented...they typically have dinner reservations, eat supper, drink a few beers and dance all night. A lot of them really dance very well...it's obviously a big deal to them.
Last weekend the bar held about 400. We had about 350 to 400 there for most of the night...the last set is always a little slow, because they're older, and tend to thin at midnight or so (this is Cincinnati...midnight is late if you're 50 to 60).
The bar told us they want 30-somethings rather than 50+ somethings in there, because the younger people drink alot more and they make more money.
BTW the people all paid a $5 cover to get in.
This is the second bar to tell us this. Actually kind of ticked me off...we draw a good classy crowd.
Anybody else run into this?
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Hmmmm...That SUCKS! but it sounds like you better get some young heavy drinkers in there somehow.
Or how 'bout havin' a dance contest & tell 'em you're gonna give a prize to the drunkest fuggers who dance the most uninhibited? heee heeeee
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Hard to say without knowing the club's overhead. OTOH set cover too high and you lose too.
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maybe play earlier?
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What sort of crowd do they get when you're not there. 30s, 50s or empties?
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It's all about the cash register. When I was playing for a living, we became pretty good friends with a smart club owner in Battle Creek. One week, we broke all his records. He ran down the list of how he rated every band that played his club:
Attendance (by the day, by the week-end, by the week)
Beer sales (same)
Liquor sales (same)
Total alcohol sales (same)
Total revenue (same)
In Chicago, we were't the biggest draw in town, but we drew what could be described as hardcore alcoholics (after that band, people used to tell me that they NEVER drank as much as when they saw us). A band like The Boyzz would pack the room like sardines with bikers that drank beer. We filled the room, but had room for the waitresses to serve drinks easily, and our crowd drank BOOZE...
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I have to think they sell a lot of T-bones and New York strips when we play...but maybe there's no profit in food.
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To be honest, we get the opposite. "You guys have a good drinking crowd" is common.
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I think you're in good company: Tommy Bolin got fired with his jazz rock outfit Energyrom Colorado clubs back in the day.
"Why are you firing us, we're packing the place every night?"
"Because with you, people just sit down and listen and if they sit and listen they don't drink and if they don't drink you're fired."
I think you should be proud about your audience. It's not that easy to attact 50+ year olds to live music for hours.
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I kind of like it when it's almost like a "supper club" and we're entertaining people who are well dressed and had dinner and like to dance etc., rather than the "bar" experience.
Some of the dancers are pretty amazing too.
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For all of this...this same bar just called about booking a bunch more weekends...
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All Right! Rock On then.... 8)
The club owners ain't no dummies.
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I think you should be proud about your audience. It's not that easy to attact 50+ year olds to live music for hours.
You need to spend more time in country dance halls.
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Square AND formation dancing?
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You need to spend more time in country dance halls.
The American Legion Halls around here pay good money, and the dance crowd is older than the band.
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The Crocs most regular gig is at a place called the Bacchus Bar. The crowd age is regularly 40-55. A lot of rock and roll dancers that (as you say) take it very seriously and must practice to be able to pull off some of the moves. Phil, the owner tells us that his philosophy is this: If the room is full and ppl dont drink as much for one band as they do with another then as long as the room is full he makes a good profit regardless and it looks better to have a full room and not make quite as much than it does to have a half full room of heavy drinkers which is usually accompanied by fights and other dramas. People have a better experience overall and continue coming back which is important to him.
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The only complains we've got from the club owners is that we drinks too much....
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The American Legion Halls around here pay good money, and the dance crowd is older than the band.
Not always. A friend of mine in the Houston area plays a regular Legion gig, and he turned 80 last week. The guy who played steel guitar for him until moving out of the area recently is even older, there's a pic online of him playing in a band in 1947.
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Square AND formation dancing?
Could be anything from country music to ethnic dancing.