Bar Owner Double Booked, How Do You Respond

moneydog59

moneydog59

Junior Member
Wanted to get some wisdom from DW...gig last Saturday of Memorial day weekend, bar owner double booked...I get there to set up for a 9 pm start, other band already there and 2/3's set up. I'm like WTF??! Guy that runs my band say's there was a mix up, "shit happens"...he also tells me the first band will be done by 9. Turns out there was, most likely, a discussion between the bar owner, the other band and the guy that runs my band that the first band would play until 10 or so...anyway, is there an appropriate way to handle this situation? Like, hey, shit happens, no big deal? Or, as a Band, say to the bar owner, you screwed up, we're out tonight. Just wanted to get peoples thoughts on this...thanks
 
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IMO that's a bar owner covering his ass. Beings that musicians are known to be flaky at times, he went for some insurance. He doesn't give a care if one band has to go home, he's covered. (Not agreeing with that).

Either that or a legitimate double booking. I'm not buying that. He knows what he did.
 
It goes against my primary instinct but I find the solution is to accept it's happened and gracefully leave without an argument saying it's okay as these things happen, or start playing later than planned as in this situation. Kicking off achieves nothing in the long term other than burning a bridge which isn't to say you shouldn't avoid that place in the future, just leave yourself with options.
A similar thing happened to us two months back, I'd packed my car when the phone started buzzing off the hook due to someone spotting a Facebook post advertising another band at the pub we were heading too. It was frustrating but the guy who booked us in apologised and without a couple of hours had given us a replacement date there for later in the year. A learning we took from the experience is to always check a pub's social media etc ahead of a gig to ensure everything is in order. We're booking dates a year in advance so it pays to double check to avoid turning up or to clarify what's happening.
 
It sounds like you still end up as the main act, just starting an hour later.. I wouldn't sweat it.. but did the bar owner ask for and put up posters in the club? If so then it should have been pretty clear.. they just screwed up.
At least it wasn't my screw up.. I showed up for a gig once and started loading in and discovered another band was already there!
I misread my calendar! Doh!
 
moneydog59 said:
Wanted to get some wisdom from DW...gig last Saturday of Memorial day weekend, bar owner double booked...I get there to set up for a 9 pm start, other band already there and 2/3's set up. I'm like WTF??! Guy that runs my band say's there was a mix up, "shit happens"...he also tells me the first band will be done by 9. Turns out there was, most likely, a discussion between the bar owner, the other band and the guy that runs my band that the first band would play until 10 or so...anyway, is there an appropriate way to handle this situation? Like, hey, shit happens, no big deal? Or, as a Band, say to the bar owner, you screwed up, we're out tonight. Just wanted to get peoples thoughts on this...thanks
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This is always an uncomfortable situation…… as well as a situation that didn’t have to happen… But it does frequently. The last time this happened to my band many years ago… The other band who was there setting up when we showed up was… Wait for it… Good Charlotte. So we talked to them and agreed to split the night with them opening. It all ended up being OK and they were cool with it. But this is definitely the bar owner screwing up and not notifying the booking agency. I guess there are times when they just really don’t care. If you want to keep gigging you just basically have to suck it up and deal with it gracefully. Hopefully you can work it out with the other band like we did and not have the whole night be a waste of your time and effort hauling equipment.
 
larryace said:
IMO that's a bar owner covering his ass. Beings that musicians are known to be flaky at times, he went for some insurance. He doesn't give a care if one band has to go home, he's covered. (Not agreeing with that).

Either that or a legitimate double booking. I'm not buying that. He knows what he did.
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I would tend to agree….
 
larryace said:
IMO that's a bar owner covering his ass. Beings that musicians are known to be flaky at times, he went for some insurance. He doesn't give a care if one band has to go home, he's covered. (Not agreeing with that).

Either that or a legitimate double booking. I'm not buying that. He knows what he did.
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I would tend to agree….
 
The one time it happened to a band I was playing with, the manager (this was a big winery) apologized and offered to pay us for showing up. But my idiot band leader at that instance, asked if we could play in another area since “we traveled all that way”. The manager put us on this little stage far away from the main party, and we got little to no guests come over. The situation angered me towards the band leader because we could’ve gotten paid and gone home. To this day I wonder what the band leader was thinking. It was obvious there was a “main party area” and I felt our playing on the outskirts detracted from that. I left the band after that gig.
 
Bo Eder said:
The one time it happened to a band I was playing with, the manager (this was a big winery) apologized and offered to pay us for showing up. But my idiot band leader at that instance, asked if we could play in another area since “we traveled all that way”. The manager put us on this little stage far away from the main party, and we got little to no guests come over. The situation angered me towards the band leader because we could’ve gotten paid and gone home. To this day I wonder what the band leader was thinking. It was obvious there was a “main party area” and I felt our playing on the outskirts detracted from that. I left the band after that gig.
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Interesting....I was of the same mind as you...plus my band leader told me we'd be on by 9:15 or so...we didn't start until a little after 10:30. Played until 12:30 in front of...the bar owner, a bartender my girlfriend, bass players girlfriend, and band leaders wife...and a drunk couple. At 12:30 I said to the band leader, dude lets rap this up, he gave me a dirty look, and just announced to the massive crowd, we're done...while we were waiting around for the other band to finish, I said to him....how pissed would you be if I just went home....he kinda mumbled something under his breath. I got fired from the band yesterday, "we're not even close to being on the same page anymore, it feels like you don't even want to be here"....guess he was pissed!
 
I showed up to one of our gigs and saw a guy carrying in an upright bass who was not my bass player! I called my band mate who is the contact for this place, he rang them up and found out that the owner booked us and the manager booked another band. The owner bought us a drink and felt bad but there was nothing we could do. We werent mad at the other band and stayed for a couple of songs. They changed their booking policy so it wouldnt happen again at least.
 
I've had that happen many times. Every time I spent a few minutes talking to the other band/bands, most of the time they are cool and you work it out. Other times they are jerks and I don't bother taking my gear out of my car before leaving and telling the owner/promoter to call us when they get their 'stuff' together.

Realistically on an overbooked bill, if every band cuts one song and you all make it a point to be efficient in your set up/break down then everyone should still get to play.
 
This happened to an old band of mine once, about 20 years or so ago.

We turn up at a show in London and the promoter quickly informs us (cockily with no apology) that he's made an error and he's booked one too many bands. If we could guarantee that we are bringing 30-40 people to watch us he'd fit us as a fifth band into an already four band lineup, with a quick 30minute opening slot at most before the evenings advertised start time (so playing to the bar staff and other bands mostly)

We laughed at the 'offer' as being an originals band there was no pay, walked out, texted everyone who was planning on coming (this was pre iPhone..etc) and spent the rest of the evening in a bar down the street for an improv band night out, where some people who were planning on coming to see us joined us.

If I recall correctly it was a good night in the end. Didn't work with that promotion agency again. Only went back to that venue again (Water Rats, London) with another band about five years ago, once a new promotions company took over.

For your situation it sucks but these things unfortunately can happen and sometimes you have to take one on the chin.

Maybe a lesson to confirm the booking is all ok closer to the time, should you ever deal with that person again.
 
Happened to me once - actually two bands with the same name, so that was part of the problem.

They got there first & were set up when we arrived. Manager apologised for the mix up. They played the gig but we both got paid half. We watched some of their set& on the way out I passed the manager again& she said she wished we’d played instead.

Win-win :)
 
Juniper said:
This happened to an old band of mine once, about 20 years or so ago.

We turn up at a show in London and the promoter quickly informs us (cockily with no apology) that he's made an error and he's booked one too many bands. If we could guarantee that we are bringing 30-40 people to watch us he'd fit us as a fifth band into an already four band lineup, with a quick 30minute opening slot at most before the evenings advertised start time (so playing to the bar staff and other bands mostly)

We laughed at the 'offer' as being an originals band there was no pay, walked out, texted everyone who was planning on coming (this was pre iPhone..etc) and spent the rest of the evening in a bar down the street for an improv band night out, where some people who were planning on coming to see us joined us.

If I recall correctly it was a good night in the end. Didn't work with that promotion agency again. Only went back to that venue again (Water Rats, London) with another band about five years ago, once a new promotions company took over.

For your situation it sucks but these things unfortunately can happen and sometimes you have to take one on the chin.

Maybe a lesson to confirm the booking is all ok closer to the time, should you ever deal with that person again.
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Standard Water Rats. Just because they think they're a 'venue'.

I'm fairly sure that was the venue of one of the most irritating things that's ever happened to me. Years ago I was in a (rather good) originals band. Unfortunately the two leads, despite being really exceptional songwriters (and I still hold to that) were a pair of pricks. The bass player left, so they got another drummer, then asked if I could play bass instead (fine by me). Then they got another bass player without telling me.

Guessed what had happened, went to see them at the Water Rats and promptly left. Never spoke to them again. The irony of the whole situation is that the lead singer's Dad was a full-time producer and songwriter and at one rehearsal had pointed out to his son that I was the 'perfect' drummer for the band. The guy they replaced me with was some brainless troglodyte with no tone or feel and liked to play a lot of inappropriate fills on a badly-tuned kit.

They only ever did a couple of gigs after that and I haven't seen anything from them since about 2014...
 
I highly suggest taking a couple of small business classes.

Proper contract formulation and maintenance for your services in your region is vital.
 
so back iiin the 90's, we had a gig booked about 2 hours away from home. We show up, and set up our stuff on the stage. The owner is no where to eb found, and we were let in by a server who was opening up.

We leave to get something to eat, and get back for sound check. We get back to the club, and all of our stuff is along the side wall, and a whole entire other band is there getting ready to sound check. We were like WTF! So our leader finds the owner and asks what is going on. He said he didn't know. We then ask the sound guy, and he looks at the band list for the night - and we are on it, but the other band isn't. So we confront the owner, and he says the other band is playing "because they are already set up, and thei are friends of mine". He told us to "go ahead and just come back next week"

so we slowly put our stuff away, right in front of the other band while they played, and loaded out.

We also did not show up to the "gig" the next week....
 
Mediocrefunkybeat said:
Standard Water Rats. Just because they think they're a 'venue'.

I'm fairly sure that was the venue of one of the most irritating things that's ever happened to me. Years ago I was in a (rather good) originals band. Unfortunately the two leads, despite being really exceptional songwriters (and I still hold to that) were a pair of pricks. The bass player left, so they got another drummer, then asked if I could play bass instead (fine by me). Then they got another bass player without telling me.

Guessed what had happened, went to see them at the Water Rats and promptly left. Never spoke to them again. The irony of the whole situation is that the lead singer's Dad was a full-time producer and songwriter and at one rehearsal had pointed out to his son that I was the 'perfect' drummer for the band. The guy they replaced me with was some brainless troglodyte with no tone or feel and liked to play a lot of inappropriate fills on a badly-tuned kit.

They only ever did a couple of gigs after that and I haven't seen anything from them since about 2014...
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Sounds like a familiar experience with some types of bandmates!

Reg Water Rats I can’t answer for it today but its a strange venue that seems to attracts all the wrong type of musicians.

You never really hear about any real shows of worthwhile there (Katy Perry not included!). As I’m sure you know it used to basically operate on a Pay to Play setup, all about fleecing the bands thanks to the former promoters.

Played there a few times before my mentioned experience and it’s in the middle of nowhere (in terms of other venues nearby / in proximity) so you don’t get a lot of general footfall coming in off of the street.

To be fair the last time I played there back in 2016 there was an improvement on the experience in terms of promoters but it was still a disappointment of an evening, with no one really there.
 
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Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
so back iiin the 90's, we had a gig booked about 2 hours away from home. We show up, and set up our stuff on the stage. The owner is no where to eb found, and we were let in by a server who was opening up.

We leave to get something to eat, and get back for sound check. We get back to the club, and all of our stuff is along the side wall, and a whole entire other band is there getting ready to sound check. We were like WTF! So our leader finds the owner and asks what is going on. He said he didn't know. We then ask the sound guy, and he looks at the band list for the night - and we are on it, but the other band isn't. So we confront the owner, and he says the other band is playing "because they are already set up, and thei are friends of mine". He told us to "go ahead and just come back next week"

so we slowly put our stuff away, right in front of the other band while they played, and loaded out.

We also did not show up to the "gig" the next week....
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How absolutely disgusting. Hopefully bad karma got them back.
 
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