How many acts would you schedule in a 10-hour festival?

[TomB]

Without a backline (especially drums) I wish you all luck. I would spend the $500 - 1000 rental fee and line up stage left to stage right: keys (left center) bass amp, drums, 2 guitar / harp, etc. amps, horn station (di’s or 57’s on a stand). 3 vox + monitors across the front, 1 drum vox + monitor back. I’ve found this works well generically for most bands and can be modified for each act quickly. Oh, and here’s a second for a very strict time manager, someone without gear change / tech responsibilities .

 

[51PRI]

Thanks for answers and votes so far, and keep them coming. I wanted to let this run a day and see what people's responses and experiences were in principle before telling y'all the actual situation.

I'm not the one organizing a festival, my band is playing in one, and the actual answer to the question is... ELEVEN. We will be last in an eleven-act lineup over a ten-hour day. Most of the acts are getting 25-30 minutes to play and there are generally 30-minute transitions between acts. The organizers are renting a PA but there's no other backline, so I'm particularly concerned about drums getting set up and torn down....

Wow, no backline means that every drum set will have to be reset for sound for each band....guitar amps, keys, too. I hope the sound man is good, and fast.

 

[51PRI]

Without a backline (especially drums) I wish you all luck. I would spend the $500 - 1000 rental fee and line up stage left to stage right: keys (left center) bass amp, drums, 2 guitar / harp, etc. amps, horn station (di’s or 57’s on a stand). 3 vox + monitors across the front, 1 drum vox + monitor back. I’ve found this works well generically for most bands and can be modified for each act quickly. Oh, and here’s a second for a very strict time manager, someone without gear change / tech responsibilities .

That all should have been worked out when contracts were sent. What would happen is, say, band number 5 the drummer HAS to use his drums to get HIS sound. And guitar players are notorious for having to use their amps and pedals. I always use a backline bass amp when available, but our lead guitarist basically never does. He did once when the backline amp was a Marshall half-stack and the show was only 20 minutes.

 

[TomB]

That all should have been worked out when contracts were sent. What would happen is, say, band number 5 the drummer HAS to use his drums to get HIS sound. And guitar players are notorious for having to use their amps and pedals. I always use a backline bass amp when available, but our lead guitarist basically never does. He did once when the backline amp was a Marshall half-stack and the show was only 20 minutes.

That’s exactly right. It’s surprising what many bands will agree to if there’s adequate communication in advance, assuming it’s an attractive showcase. Obviously, some leeway is needed and the details will vary, but as a principle, having a good backline available minimizes change time and maximizes show time.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Yeah usually the drummer shows up with a snare and their cymbals, maybe the their bass drum pedal. Keys can be a pain if they have a multiple keyboard setup. But a supplied kit will save huge amounts of time on setting mics and such. Hopefully they add in some dead time throughout the day. Otherwise the last band before the headliner is going to end up with a ten minute set.

 

[hrodbert696]

That’s exactly right. It’s surprising what many bands will agree to if there’s adequate communication in advance, assuming it’s an attractive showcase. Obviously, some leeway is needed and the details will vary, but as a principle, having a good backline available minimizes change time and maximizes show time.

I don't know what the story is with the other bands. One of the organizers is a videographer who did us a favor on promotional materials, so we agreed to play his festival just to return the favor.

 

[TomB]

Yeah usually the drummer shows up with a snare and their cymbals, maybe the their bass drum pedal. Keys can be a pain if they have a multiple keyboard setup. But a supplied kit will save huge amounts of time on setting mics and such. Hopefully they add in some dead time throughout the day. Otherwise the last band before the headliner is going to end up with a ten minute set.

Good note about keyboards. Fortunately, they swap in and out quickly. Make sure you provide them a default throne, even if they have their own - goes for drums too .

 

[James Flowers]

The BBQ Festival does a great job of switchovers. Their stage is deep enough that they can layer the band equipment. They also usually schedule bands to meet the size of the available stage .... so the 10am act might be a solo, the 11am act a duo, etc.

 

[Aceman]

Local bands & solo acoustic openers get 20-30min w/ minimal changeover. Touring acts on a label get 45 min. 2nd to last gets 50 min-1 hr if they’re well known. And the headliner/big draw should get 90 min. 7-10 would be reasonable.

This

 

[Lance Bunyon]

I voted 4 to 6. Let's say there's a dedicated pro sound crew, FOH. full backline and house drums. Drummers want their snare and cymbals. One dude plays a Stingray and another plays a jazz, that's 3 minutes to get very different levels. Gotta allow 40 minutes for one band to clear out and another to set up.
Unless you do soundchecks the day before AND none of the bozo musicians swap axes in that 24 hour period.

 

[darkwasthenight]

Thanks for answers and votes so far, and keep them coming. I wanted to let this run a day and see what people's responses and experiences were in principle before telling y'all the actual situation.

I'm not the one organizing a festival, my band is playing in one, and the actual answer to the question is... ELEVEN. We will be last in an eleven-act lineup over a ten-hour day. Most of the acts are getting 25-30 minutes to play and there are generally 30-minute transitions between acts. The organizers are renting a PA but there's no other backline, so I'm particularly concerned about drums getting set up and torn down. The venue is a fairground building that's pretty rudimentary, there is a backstage space of sorts; last time I was there, there was no separate access to that backstage, you had to go across the stage itself, but I'm told the facilities guy at the grounds was going to open a door that was blocked before. I have heard there are volunteers to help with setup and teardown, I'm not sure how efficient or experienced they are.

From the bulk of responses so far, it looks to me like it really would have been better if they'd planned it as a six-to-eight act day. On the other hand, it sounds like the consensus that half-hour turnarounds between acts isn't unreasonable. I know I can get onstage and set up my own gear in fifteen minutes, though I'm concerned about things needing troubleshooting and getting a sound dialed in. I'm hoping that the 25-minute acts really can play 25 minutes and be done without running over; my concern is that just a few minutes' overrun with each act and by the time the ten before us have gone, we're hours behind.

30 minute changes are fine with an experienced crew, backline, and bands who know what they're doing and are willing to work with line checks. Full kit changeovers with volunteers? Oh dear.

It can still be done, but the stage manager will need to be brutal. Stage time starts on the dot and if bands are still setting up then it's coming out of their set. Runovers get 30 seconds of grace time and then you're cutting power to the PA. For changes you'll need a staging area next to the stage where the next act up is building their rig while the previous one plays - ideally you have a second clearing area on the opposite side of the stage for acts to break down their gear so traffic flows one way across the stage. Bands should be entirely clear of the stage in 5-10 minutes and breaking down their gear OFFSTAGE so the next crew aren't cabling around them - rolling your cables or bringing hardcases up to pack away onstage gets you politely but firmly removed to the clearing area.

Hopefully they have planned for enough FoH and stage crew to take shift breaks or you're going to get a breakdown of order around 6PM when FoH realise they have been working for 8 hours with no breaks or food.

 

[KohanMike]

You might want to contact Mitch Chang, who has put on a full fledged ukulele festival for a few years. There's a center outdoor stage and acts perform continuously, with breaks for raffles through the day. My ukulele group of 25 (Cali Rose & The CC Strummers) will be the opening act, starting at 8:30a, stop at 9a for Mitch to welcome everyone and do the first raffle, then we continue until 10:15a. Many of the acts are very well known ukulele players. Mitch posts on the Ukulele Underground forum, Festival - 2024 (8th annual) Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival

Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival

Join us in sunny Southern California for the biggest ukulele music festival in the U.S.!

losangelesukulelefestival.com

 

[KohanMike]

You might want to contact Mitch Chang, who has put on a full fledged ukulele festival for a few years. There's a center outdoor stage and acts perform continuously, with breaks for raffles through the day. My ukulele group of 25 (Cali Rose & The CC Strummers) will be the opening act, starting at 8:30a, stop at 9a for Mitch to welcome everyone and do the first raffle, then we continue until 10:15a. Many of the acts are very well known ukulele players. Mitch posts on the Ukulele Underground forum, Festival - 2024 (8th annual) Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival

Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival

Join us in sunny Southern California for the biggest ukulele music festival in the U.S.!

losangelesukulelefestival.com

I didn't read your post that you are just one of the acts, so this suggestion probably doesn't apply so well.

 

[IanStephenson]

My pet theory of how to make these things run better: Each band has a FINISH time, rather than a start time. Each band will finish at X:50 and have the stage clear by X:59. Next band is promised access to the stage at X:00, and can take as long as they like setting up... but it comes out of their playing time, and they will finish at X:50.

These things DIE when someone who was supposed to go on at 3pm spends 30mins setting up, so gets on at 3:30 and still thinks they can play their 50 minute set, finishing at 4:20... next band who were promised a 4pm start, are super efficient and ready to go at 4:30, but insist that its not their fault the show is 30mins behind, and they should still get their full 50minutes.... and so on....

Give bands 1hours of stage time. Their set up and tear down comes out of that. Pull the faders down at x:50... they were told...

 

[hrodbert696]

I didn't read your post that you are just one of the acts, so this suggestion probably doesn't apply so well.

No problem - I deliberately withheld that at first so that I would get a sense of what a well-organized festival should look like and not just reactions to my situation personally.

 

[TomB]

My pet theory of how to make these things run better: Each band has a FINISH time, rather than a start time. Each band will finish at X:50 and have the stage clear by X:59. Next band is promised access to the stage at X:00, and can take as long as they like setting up... but it comes out of their playing time, and they will finish at X:50.

These things DIE when someone who was supposed to go on at 3pm spends 30mins setting up, so gets on at 3:30 and still thinks they can play their 50 minute set, finishing at 4:20... next band who were promised a 4pm start, are super efficient and ready to go at 4:30, but insist that its not their fault the show is 30mins behind, and they should still get their full 50minutes.... and so on....

Give bands 1hours of stage time. Their set up and tear down comes out of that. Pull the faders down at x:50... they were told...

This is true. If you enforce end times then start times can be accurate as well. A good clock manager with enforcement ability is key.

 

[4Mal]

I've done this several time. Early in the day I booked 90 minutes sets for local acts. The twist, I booked bands that shared members. Drummer was constant (mercenary bastage). I made sure to keep the material mixed up. This went for 4 sets until the dinner lull... There I booked mellow and small for 1 hour. Came back with the headliner that was IEM based so a quick change.

We provided backline. I tolerated a couple of guitar amp changes. insisted on snare and brass changes.

Overall change over were under 20 min.

Worked really well. Also spread a fixed festival budget over fewer acts - musicians got a taller pay day.

 

[hbarcat]

Let's start with the premise that not all bands are created equal. That being the case, I'd choose the best band and give them 2 hours (the coveted 8pm - 10pm headline slot).

I'd give the next best band 1½ hours (the 6pm - 7:45pm slot just before the headlining band).

The rest of the bands each get 50 minutes, starting at the top of every hour (first slot starting at 10am) and leaving 10 minutes to switch between bands.

 

[hrodbert696]

Update; we've expressed our concerns over timing and transitions, and I think some other acts probably did too, because the organizers sent around an email with a much-expanded backline (including drum kit). So I'm more hopeful we're not in for a total train wreck.

 

[tIANcI]

No more than 10. If the stage crew is good and also the bands, you can have a 45 mins set each with a 15 mins changeover. Safer is 8 max. Allow some leeway for overruns.

Drum kits are a major issue if drummer is a bit fussy. Keys are also another.

On a 60’ x 40’ stage we will have an extension at the back and roll in and roll out the backline. Come in from stage right and out stage left. ‘Carousel’ format.

Not to forget, with maximizing number of bands, you will also have to spend a lot of time for soundcheck the day before. At 30 mins per band (which is a speedy job) with 10 bands you are looking at 5 hours, excluding the time in between.