15/08/2024
Good morning all. Those of you who have attended multiple OHJ events know that start times are more of a guideline than anything. Just in case anyone doesn't know, please allow me to explain why this happens.
The Glass House show used to have a start time of 8pm. At 8pm, sometimes we'd only have 2 performers and barely enough people to consider an audience. Then, from about 8.30/9pm, more people start would arrive (both performers and audience members).
I wouldn't like to put people up to play to no or minimal people, it's not a particularly great feeling as a musician. This also runs the risk of 2 artists playing all of their songs to barely anyone, and everyone else arriving slightly later gets a good crowd.
If only 2 people arrive on the dot, I could give them both a longer set time, playing to not many people. Then the others who arrive later may get less stage time but a bigger audience. Neither of these are fair.
If both of those people have played and still nobody turns up, a 5/6 hour show might look finished after an hour, causing audience members and pub goers to leave.
I have since changed the start time at the glass house to 7pm and although people have started to arrive earlier than they did, we don't start dead on 7pm, for the above reasons. Not unless the place is already packed.
The same (start time not being bang on) was always the case for the musical huddle at the made inn. We never started bang on the start time unless we had a pub full of performers and people to watch them.
We treat the coachworks shows in the same way. Once there are enough people to perform and appreciate each other, that's the best time to start.
I have tried running it by pre booking half hour slots back at Quinn's, but this doesn't work of more than one person doesn't show up.
As an organiser/provider of all equipment plus all set up/performer/host/soundtech, I find the best way to run the show is to have a rough idea of how many people you have for the whole show so that you can give them equal amounts of time, and to make sure there are enough people there to support them.
This town has built up a really lovely music community. Most people will arrive, talk to people and get comfortable, and stay for the rest of the show so that they can support each other. Some more shy performers may keep to themselves a bit more, which is not an issue. To those of you that do, thank you so much for showing support to the wonderful artists. Some people might have trains to catch or other gigs to play, which is totally fair enough.
I hope that I have explained things thoroughly. If you feel you have any unanswered questions, however, please send me a message.
Stay sexy 😜✌️x
