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Anyone doing corporate do's?


ParlourMan

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Anybody here doing corporate do's? I ask because my wee combo has been booked as the musical backdrop to one of the banks end of year do. Naturally this seems like a wee step-up from the usual gigs we play in bars and will probably require a few small changes to make it a bit shinier and so on.

 

Anyone here made this jump? What parts did you up-scale? I'm thinking a bit more smartly dressed (oh the joy) and maybe a backdrop & stage setting to make it look the part more than we'd normally do. Is that enough?

 

Cheers in advance

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Gulp. Play upbeat music and dance songs. Year-ends are celebrations - and there is usually drinking. Cowboy Junkies dont work :)

 

The latest trend for hired entertainers by me is to have one designated personable hire (or friend) circulate, be the first to dance, make people comfortable and non self conscious. Weird but true.

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Sounds good and perhaps well-paid... [biggrin]

 

Yes to smart clothes (could become a habit to move upscale...particularly with the ladies [thumbup])

 

Caution with jokes about bankers in today's climate :blink:

 

Office do's are often quite inhibited...maybe some singalong and danceable stuff to groove to

 

Will be great fun...print cards and expect many referred bookings [thumbup]

 

V

 

:-({|=

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We've done a couple. Not that much different than standard gig. Best advice is choose the right material, dress smartly, be good at customer service, get a good PA and price accordingly, in other words, high !

 

Not that much different than standard gig - That's what I'm thinking, with some new material tailored to their theme, some special requests added in, we have the benefit of that person responsible for organising and booking the evening, has seen us twice apparently.

 

dress smartly - Check

 

Be good at customer service - Check

 

Get a good PA - We have a new system, it's decent, all soundcraft stuff and has a ridiculous amount of headroom available compared to the levels we could play at in the pub. I think the total output is more than 900 watts. But I am assuming that they will be providing a sound system anyway as there will be other stuff happening, DJ's, no doubt a bit of corporate babble by the big wigs etc....

 

price accordingly, in other words, high - Oh yes, for sure, only reason I've any interest in this gig is that the dosh will buy us all a few bits and bobs without us having to dip into our own pockets.

 

Cheers EA. Trying to look at some stage settings, get a bit of a visual thing happening too...

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It's been 15 years since I did anything upmarket or remotely corporate. We might have donned a dinner jacket and bow-tie, and might have stuck to pieces that we knew especially well and reigned in the solos a bit, but we were an improvising trad jazz band and practised by going busking if at all. So we didn't really step it up for smarter gigs, rather we toned it down. From experience I would discourage you from letting the drummer (or cajon player in your case) take a solo on an open bottle of Becks, encourage you to take a spare guitar in case of string breaks, and advise you to play I Wanna Be Like You early enough for you to be able to reprise it as an encore.

 

If you're feeling daring, learn this one:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdyLb7ouXUU

 

After all, you can claim that you are singing about yourself.

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Cheers Mojo,

 

We're not mad for the solo's at all. I suppose that's my department as I'm the 2nd/lead guitar player and I'm not overly fond of the obligatory solo's in songs, especially acoustic bands covering songs that are originally electric. Copying those solos rarely works well. The Cajon player is a bassist in his 'real' band, so not at the level for solos etc... One of the things I like about the wee band is there's none of that stuff, the aim is to be rhythmical and tight, get to the end as tidily as possible. I like the dips, lifts, starts & stops more than the widdle & diddle stuff. As for the guitars, I normally have 3, a spare and one in Alternate tuning.

 

I suppose it's a good excuse to get my fancy shoes on :D

 

At the last gig we were pretty relaxed and extended some intros, the kind of 4 on the floor stuff, it got all the drunks clapping and bobbing about... may reuse some of that stuff.

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