Playing in a Bar - Length of Sets/Breaks/Hours

DrummerCA35

Senior Member
When you guys play out at bars, how long, typically, are your sets and breaks?

Say we're using a 9:15 PM- 1:30 AM bar gig as an example, and those are the hours of a gig we played last Saturday night.

For example, are they about 50 minutes, with a 10 minute break?

Our band seems to have produced some rather lengthy sets. We started at 9:15 PM and didn't take our first break until 10:30 PM. Making the first set 75 minutes. Naturally, we adjust when there are a lot of dancers, but such was not the case.

Would be interested to know how you guys do it in your bands.

Seems to me, from what I've seen online thus far, sets of 45-60 minutes are typical, with a 10-15 break.

Thanks
 
It all depends on the venue, the audience, the specific show, et cetera. Typically in a bar setting, groups that I play with will do four 45-50 minutes sets with 10-15 minute breaks.

If the show is short, sometimes groups will just play through. The other day I had a 2 hour gig that we did in one set, and a few weeks ago I played with a group for 3 hours and we just did two 1.5 hour sets...
 
Depends on the gig. Some places are oldschool, the STRICTLY ENFORCED 45/15. Usually you can get a vibe for these places because they have a clock somewhere on or near the stage.

Other places want you to do 60-90, take a 30 then go back and do another long set.

Then there's those places that would rather you just occupy the entire 3-4hr stretch by not breaking at all.

I'll tell you which one I despise, it's the 45/15 arrangement. Just when you get your groove on they want you to take a break.
 
I'll tell you which one I despise, it's the 45/15 arrangement. Just when you get your groove on they want you to take a break.


Same here. The last band I gigged with played three 60 minute sets.
 
For the 3 and 4 hour shows we do the 45-50 min set with the 10-15 min break in between. The pay determines how long the break truly lasts!
 
we play 1.15/1.0/45 min sets with a 30 minute break between each.

F
 
I might play for an hour then take a 10 minute break.

Yesterday I played for three hours straight, no breaks. I wanted to keep on playing.
 
Usually you can get a vibe for these places because they have a clock somewhere on or near the stage.

Haha love the second bit of this sentence. We are pretty lucky in that the places we play are not very strict at all with set times/breaks, however we normally play no longer than 50 minutes, and normally very quick brakes, in the 5-10 minute range to try and keep the part going. I feel if you have breaks that are too long it can give people time to go home/move on elsewhere. We will normally make our last set extra long, just because nobody wants to stop partying by that stage.
 
The best bet is to - ask the venue owner what he/she wants.
 
Venues in my area almost exclusively play 9pm to 1am (some are 8:30pm to 12:30am.)

The trend used to be doing 4-45 minute sets with 15 minute breaks. And some bands still do this.

But most (including my band) does 3-60 minute sets with 30 minute breaks. I personally hate sitting for that long and I feel like you lose the crowd, but usually we only take a 20-25 minute break to jam more music in.
 
45/15 is standard, and some places the manager is hanging around with a watch, so you have to start and stop *on time*... as in have flexible length songs to end on time and wait, ready to go, on stage 3 minutes ahead of time for the break to end. IME, this is generally hotels and other big coorporate venues with strict contracts to adhere to. Most places are a bit more flexible. My band often plays long sets, usually fairly informal.. as in.. play until we feel like breaking, then we break. Often 1-1.5 hours/set. Occasionally half that. The length of the break is determined by the situation, and then we rinse and repeat until the gig is over.
 
I'm not playing out these days - assuming role of old f*rt - but when I did, I came to dislike 4 sets. By 1 or 2 in the morning, that 4th set was one too many. :) I used to like to play longer, less sets.
 
What's usual for pub gigs in my part of the world (England) is 2x 50 minute sets with a 20 minute break, or a shorter break if the sets are a little longer or over-run. That's probably because (I think) no licence is required for live music between 8 and 11 pm, and pubs usually want us to start at 9pm.
 
You have to be careful playing real long sets with dancing since they are dancing, they aren't drinking. $$$$$
 
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