How To Best Prepare For Your Gig

Playing your own music under your own name (or stage name) is an incredibly satisfying experience. However, it’s also a lot of work to put together and promote a big gig, and have all the responsibility fall on you. Organization is key if you’re putting together your own show. There’s much more to do tan just promote. From my experience leading groups and workinhg with group leaders who were incredibly organized (or not), here’s a basic checklist of the crucial communication and organization elements I’ve picked up.

- Bill Evans

1. Get all the details from the venue up front

Once you have the gig in the books, your first goal should be getting as many details out of the venue as they will give you. This includes your load-in time, set time, how long you’re going to be playing, how you’ll be paid, and anything else you can think of that you might need to know. The earlier you have these details, the easier it will be to coordinate with band members, fans, and any PR help you have. Some venues will be easier to communicate with than others. Depending on the club, you might have to bug them persistently until they give you the info. If the gig is booked out pretty far in advance, it might be that they haven’t established the details yet. If so, just try to keep in touch with them and get the details as soon as they’re available.

2. Rally up your musicians