Last night we played our second of two gigs in less than a week. Normally I wouldn't book two gigs so close together because we are a new band and are still building our following, and I would be concerned about drawing well to both. But the second gig was at a venue that is very hard to get booked into. We've been trying to get in there for years so when we finally got an inquiry about our availability for last night, we felt we had to jump on it.
The first gig was last Saturday, at a place we've played many times before, and have drawn well. I figured we'd do well again because we hadn't gigged in a while. We had a good crowd and the place wants us back again.
I was anxious about last night because I knew many people who came Saturday wouldn't be coming and I was afraid we wouldn't be asked back if we didn't have a good crowd. Fortunately, this place can draw some on its own and it's located in a downtown area that has been revitalized and the streets are filled with people especially on weekend nights. Driving up to the gig I was both annoyed and pleased at the scarcity of parking.
The other stress factor of last night's gig was that we were without our female lead singer, who was out of town for the holidays. That meant that we had to replace all the songs she sings lead on, pulling some numbers out that we hadn't played in a while and didn't get a chance to rehearse. I also had to do a lot more singing than usual. We did have a sound man out front, unusual for us, a friend and musician 2 of us work with who volunteered his services. That was a great help.
With a few miscues which were mostly noticed by only ourselves, we got through the sets and went over well. The night manager of the bar said they had a good night and she would put in a good word for us with the booking manager .
Today I texted the booking manager and he indeed said he had heard good things about us and he would send us some options(dates) in the next week or two.
So, long story longer, we got through the gigs, we went over well and we drew enough to get asked back - can't complain.
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