To organise an event is not a easy job, it takes a lot of planning, a lot of numbers to call, a lot of socialising and confidence, the event is ment to show the audience your true talents live, give them something to vibe off and have a good time.
So here is a following list of everything i need to do to make a sucessful gig event.
Get a daily job - i would need to get a daily job so i could earn enough money to make the event happen and make the event sucessful, i would need quite a lot of money depending on the venue, who i need to hire, drinks, artwork designers and drinks.
Hire a venue - once i have earnt enough money to hold an event, i would look for a suitable venue, now i want the event to be a gig but include a party after the gig, because everyone would come to the party and have a good time. So i would have to make sure the venue could hold a good amount of people to earn a good amount of money for my first event. I would need to do a lot of socialising and publishing to get many people for my first gig but if i make the gig look really interesting and promise the audience and people a good night out i could hopefully be sucessful.
I am thinking of somewhere like camden because camden has a lot of small venues and also big ones but i could look around there and see which one is comfortable to hold an event. Camden is a very known place in london and it is easy for most people to get there and get back home, it is near central london.
There is bar fly in camden and i have been to this venue it is the perfect place for my first gig, not too big and not too small, it has the capacity of 200 people and the cost for hire would be a fair price, but i have to take in consideration camden is a very famous place for rock and roll so it could be a price unexpected but i would have to earn it.
Website - http://mamacolive.com/thebarfly/
How to get there - http://mamacolive.com/thebarfly/venue-info/getting-here/
Camden town is on the northern line:
By tube:
*Euston (Victoria and Northern lines).
*King's Cross/St. Pancras (Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines).
*Mornington Crescent (Northern line, Charing Cross branch only)
*Camden Town (Northern line). Note that due to the popularity of the market, this becomes an exit only station on Sundays 1PM-5:30PM. Use Mornington Crescent or Chalk Farm for leaving on Sundays before 5:30PM.
*Chalk Farm (Northern line).
*Kentish Town (Northern line)
Buses - in euston and kings cross you can get buses going towards camden town.at night the N5 goes between the stations of the northern line.
Overground -
*Camden Road (North London Line)
*Kentish Town West (North London Line)
*Euston (Watford DC Line)
Rail -
*Euston goes through to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. you can catch an onward tube via Northern Line.
*St. Pancras International - you can take a rail to camden town.
*King’s Cross - you can go to camden on the rail.
Make a time and date - because everyone has work or school, is either on holiday, there is holidays like christmas or easter, i do not want to make the gig around a time of month where people would be either getting ready for christmas, or working hard to earn money for a holiday, or revising for their exams in college, school, or university, a big football game is on, a artist is in town and everyone is going to watch them and stalk them. So depending on the time of month and year i would have to think extra hard so i know for sure i could get around people to come to my gig/party. So lets say i want to do my first gig in around october, october is after everyone comes back from holiday, it is a month after start of schools. there is a half term in october so i could either make it on a day in the half term, or make it in the weekend because most people go out in the weekends, go to parties, gigs etc. so i would want my first gig to be in around october.
I would make the time from 19:00pm - 2:00am, 19:00pm is a time most gigs start, and parties sometimes end either at 2:00am, 4:00am and to extremes 5:00am, but i would want this to be comfortable and see how things go because it is my first gig and i dont want things to mess up and i wont have enough money to hire the gig for too much time and also 2:00am is a good time for people to go home from a early party but for people coming to see the gig would have to leave before 00:00pm to get the last train home, but some people do not have to take train. So that would be a comfortable time so the gig would start at 19:00pm and the set list would end at around 21:00pm then people could party for 5 hours till 2:00am.
Call performers - i want my first gig to include other performers because if i make it a single gig of just me i would probably not get many people coming, and also if i get more performers it would make a good set - list because it would have a different variety and include different talents and songs. when i call performers i would talk to them about what songs they would perform and how many songs they would perform so i know what order to make the set list. Because i do a course in music performance and have friends in music production i have friends from both courses so i could ask them to perform with me and that would build a big audience because from each performer they all have their different fan bases and different performers have more fans then other performers. When i call them i would need a offical answer but would give them a certain amount till the gig and maybe change the date and time for certain performers that i would want there would not be able to make that date, i would also talk to each of them about timing to when i write the set list i would know who to put in what order depending on when each performer can make it. I would also have to talk to them about what instruments they might need to use, if they need a backing track, get their music on the laptop used on the night of the gig etc.
Make a set list - once i gathered the performers and found out who is defenatly performing i would have to make a set list ordering the acts comfortably for which artist can make their time slot, knowing the amount of songs each performer would perform and the style of the performer so the gig would run smoothly and change moods so if there was 2 pop performers and rnb performer i would make the set list pop, rnb, pop so it does not get boring and keep the same mood.
Make a list of equipment the performers need - so each performer would either need
*guitar
*keyboard
*backing track
*original mastered backing track transfered into a disc or usb.
i would need to know all of this information so i know if i need to download a backing track, get instruments set up for them and get their original tracks onto my computer, usb and disc. i would rather each performer to bring their own instrument so it would be their responsibility but i would have to have a list so i know everything every performer needs is there and ready to go and maybe call the performers on the day so i know they bring it and maybe last minuet changes would need to be made.
And make sure i have the backing tracks saved somewhere so i can take it to the gig.
Publish gig online - so i then need to publish the gig online make a facebook event or make any events online so people would know it exists and would come but i would make it private so the amount of people would not go over the capacity the venue can hold, and i dont want a mess with too many people trying to get in but there is no space. So on facebook i would invite my close friends that i know would probably come, ask them to bring their friends and get the other performers to invite their close friends then spread the word.
Cost to get in - i would make the event cost £10 pounds to get in because it is a gig and a party so that would be worth it, because most parties would cost a lot of money to get in but i would include a lot of different things in this and it is my first gig so i would want it to be to expensive and make people think im a rip off and not want to come. so £10 pounds is a fair price because it is a gig and a party.
Design a flyer - i would after make a flyer to stick the flyers near the venue and near where my friends go to college, near my own college, so the flyer makes the event look professional and important and a must go, i would have to design the flyer to look interesting and eye catching, include a very nice picture of myself performing and a party picture and pictures of other performers.
Publish the flyers - after i design the flyers i have to publish them around my college, my friends college and schools, around the venue so in this case around camden thats if i am able to hire a venue in camden. i would stick the flyers around these places because they all are places where i know people and the people there might be interested to come and around camden people might be interested.
Hire lighting engineers - i would then hire lighting engineers, because in a gig you need nice lights to light up the stage and include nice colours to give a nice effect depending on the song so the lights could relate to the song and give a feel to the song. also for the party i would need flashing lights and loads of lights flashing everywhere to cause a crazy atmosphere. i would find lighting engineers from my college, or i could find connections.
Hire sound engineers - i would need to hire sound engineers to set up the sound and make sure all the instruments are plugged in properly and the microphones are set up properly and the speakers are set up properly and the sound deck is set up so they can control the sound during the gig and fix any errors during the gig like vocals are too low, instruments are distorted, cannot hear any instruments etc. i would find sound engineers in the music production course because they work with how to set up sound equipment and know how to realise good quality of sound.
Go to venue and sort out the layout of the venue - i would then go to the venue and sort out how i want the stage to be set up, and how i would want to set up the lights and sound so i would get the sound and lighting engineers to come with me to see if everything can be done the way we want it to be done.
Get friends to help around - in advance i would get some friends to collect the money, manage the door, sell the alcohol, help backstage, because i cannot do everything myself, i would walk around and make sure everything is running smoothly but i cant do everything myself and control everything.
Plan dj set - meaning the gig would include a party i would be the dj because i will know how to dj when i finish the music course and i will have the equipment i need to play a good enough dj set, so i would plan all the songs and make sure all the updated music is on my playlist and practice my set. But i could get a friend to dj for me but to earn more money i would do it myself.
Payments - i would get a daily job and earn enough money to pay the venue but with the venue they might only take payments with a deposit, sound engineer, lighting engineer, artwork designers for the flyers. then when the gig is done and hopefully the amount of people i wanted to come came i would split the money with the other performers and myself. Right now i cant estimate it because it all depends on the amount of people show up and the venue i choose and how they expect payments.
If no one shows up that would be just a waste of money so i would have to make sure in advance people would come to the event buy making sure it is published good and looks really interesting and catches peoples eyes.
