Archive for July, 2010

Hiring Specialist Bands for Personal Celebrations

Friday, July 30th, 2010

You can hire so many genres of musical and specialist bands for functions now and many of those are happy to travel the length of the country to be at your event so I though I’d give you a few ideas and finish this post off with a couple of reasons for and against booking a specialist band for your function.

Whether it’s jazz or swing, a soloist or classical band you are looking for then its vital that you organise exactly what you need in the way of themes if you are having one. Some people prefer to choose themes and might go for a 60’s themed wedding with a Beatles tribute band or one with a lively DJ with a steel band and whatever you fancy, specialist bands can perform high quality music from £500 rising to over £2,000 for the best!

So whether its affordable music to dance to at a live corporate event or you have a high end taste for an impressive birthday party, specialist bands may be able to provide you the entertainment you need and when you need it – providing you book well in advance!

Here are some pointers to help you make your decision:

Positives:

  • Themes specific to your function can be selected
  • The band will perform as the main live entertainment at your function or as part of a larger event they will perform next to bands which is great for different types of music throughout your event
  • A fabulous idea for those of you selecting larger venues with good acoustics

Negatives:

  • Despite your theme a specialist band will usually only play music they have rehearsed
  • Less choice available when it comes to dates
  • You may need to consider a specialist band for the larger budget as travel and overnight stays may be needed should the band have to travel far to your venue
  • You have to plan a DJ or other entertainment to keep guests entertained during intervals
  • Will leave you with limited choice when it comes to your venue due to sound and noise restrictions and locality to residential areas

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Solo Acts and Hiring Them for Events

Monday, July 5th, 2010

I last covered pro’s and con’s to booking and hiring duo’s & trio’s for larger functions and thought it natural to move onto my views on solo acts for smaller type events or as sectional entertainment for larger events like festivals.

Solo acts can be versatile when teamed with other methods of entertainment. By that what I mean is that solo acts can be used as the main entertainment for smaller more personal celebrations, with perhaps DJs playing at intervals, or you can use them as interval entertainment for larger events that require your artists or bands to complete longer sets.

Smaller venues are perfect for live solo acts as they can perform more privately and with a smaller support band the music can often be played in the background at a dinner function or as the main entertainment to get your guests warmed up and dancing away late into an evening. They may have a smaller repertoire of quality music so I would always suggest you listen in advance of booking and of course take a look at their profile of tracks too – being disappointed at the event will mean its too late to do anything, it isn’t worth the stress!

However, despite me recommending solo acts for a smaller function as I mentioned earlier you can also hire live solo artists to perform at large venues provided they have the music and the support band suitable for the acoustics there. Take a look at their experience and check out where the act has performed previously in their career to help you make your decision.

So here I go with the advantages:

  • Solo acts are perfect as the main entertainment for small venues or as complimentary entertainment to other sections of live entertainment at larger venues
  • Offering a more personal and less interfering option your artist can talk to guests and offer to sing requests
  • Meet the smaller budget and can perform to specific themes – think rock, folk, jazz, reggae – or can sing covers to your favourite artists

And a few disadvantages:

  • Some solo acts may be fairly limited and only perform a very specific repertoire of music
  • Less versatile when it comes to booking so you need to hire well in advance of your function to avoid disappointment
  • When booking independently they may not be able to offer to the best advice, particularly if they only sing or perform specialist music

I’ll cover specialist music bands and singers on my next post, thanks again for reading!

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