Has anyone ever booked a known band for a birthday

[Alf Tupper]

Hi All

Im hoping to get some advice from this forum, cutting to the chase ive missed out on tickets this year so far for 2011, its birthday number (cough) 40 in February and a big bash is being held, im looking to create a real festival feel to the place.

So i got a little carried away the other night, being a big fan I took the plunge and sent a mail to Seasick Steves agent wanting to know what it would cost to have him sing for an hour.

Received a reply saying exactly this:

Thanks for your email and glad to hear your are a fan! In this instance you would need to make us an offer; I cannot give out a fee.

Now in a dream world I would like to think that Steve being the humble guy he is would not be looking for a huge fee to play a gig for 50 friends and family for an hour, but in reality is he likely to know about this request?

So has anyone ever found themselves in this situation or have any idea what a realistic offer would be please ?

[rubenz]

I would estimate between 5 to 8 thousand pounds..

[dan05delaney]

no but i am having my 21st in march ( i know so young) and am planning a festival theme party so please let us all know how it goes...

and back to the question just go for it... offer him what you see fit (a few hundred quid and beer?)

[Alf Tupper]

Yeah i was thinking a mimimum of £5k, if only it was 10 years earlier, a bottle or two of Thunderbird and JD and 500 quid would probably have covered it!

I almost don't want to make an offer really as it would break the image of the humble man of simple pleasures if that makes sense.

Still cant work out why an offer has to be made though, i mean i say £3k, they say no, game over surely!!!

[dan05delaney]

Yeah i was thinking a mimimum of £5k, if only it was 10 years earlier, a bottle or two of Thunderbird and JD and 500 quid would probably have covered it!

I almost don't want to make an offer really as it would break the image of the humble man of simple pleasures if that makes sense.

Still cant work out why an offer has to be made though, i mean i say £3k, they say no, game over surely!!!

[Alf Tupper]

no but i am having my 21st in march ( i know so young) and am planning a festival theme party so please let us all know how it goes...

and back to the question just go for it... offer him what you see fit (a few hundred quid and beer?)

[dan05delaney]

21 eh? (big sigh), its ok approaching 40, in a good place and all that for the first time ever, and we had proper E's in the 90s as well

Happy to send you through some info and pics after the event young un!

[Alf Tupper]

I think they want you to make an offer to see how serious you are... if you have 5k then i would offer about 2ish and then say you are open to negotiations because you're a big fan...

[Alf Tupper]

yeah 21 so young... yeah there was proper music in the 90's too none of this x-factor shite...

and thank you for the offer, i would happily accept photo's and info and i hope the planning goes as well as the night will

[dan05delaney]

X Factor, lets not have such language on a forum used by err musical purists eh!

Im going via street performer routes for entertainment, got some real freaks in store to mess with peoples heads (shan-gri-la style)thinking of hiring great spoof bouncers called ultimate chaos who should go down well, worth a Google them!

When is your 21st btw?

[rubenz]

If you cant get seasick steve Bodger and Badger (amongst others) are available for booking here!

[LondonTom]

If you cant get seasick steve Bodger and Badger (amongst others) are available for booking here!

[Mr McJohnson]

I think they want you to make an offer to see how serious you are... if you have 5k then i would offer about 2ish and then say you are open to negotiations because you're a big fan...

[cheeseisamazing]

atualy i've got some exsperiance in booking bands. me and my friends were on our 'student goverment' (yhr sounds gay, but was a laugh) and we tried to organise a end of term gig (it didn't go ahead annoyingly but dw bout that). at first we set out trying to book bands ourself, and we atualy manged to get zane lowe (but hes played the same venue in my home town of eastbourne befroe and is quite easy to get ahold of) but litteraly we couldn't get any one else. however we got intouch with a local promoter and he got us offers from loads of bands so my advice is get one of them

i can't disclose how much the fees were but we were looking at between 5k- 10k per act, aslo bear in mind that dj's cost A LOT less than bands.

my friends dad has a mate that used to run a punk magazine and he has old punk bands play at some parties oocasionly. i don't know much about them, but its another example that you should get someone in the buisness to help you.

hope this helps.

[rischbrit]

We managed to book biggles wartime band for my uncles 60th but was no where near that much.

Www.whorepresents.co uk (I think) gives you the names of management companies for celebs/ bands etc

Note: it is not 'whore presents' as I first read it as!

Edited November 7, 2010 by rischbrit

[j...rox]

No chance you would get him for 1.5 I would say 7k+. I know for a fact The Wombats and The Saturdays both cost 18k after my SU booked them and revealed their cost after. The students were in uproar at that. Chase & Status DJ set was 3k and that was over a year ago before they became well known outside the underground scene.

[Alcatraz]

Www.whorepresents.co uk

[grumpyhack]

Interesting idea to go for a 'known' band. But why? You don't necessarily need a big name. Surely what you want is a cracking and appropriate night for the numbers you'll be having.

If you get a relatively local band then, by definition, the travel costs will be cheaper. For example if you're in Cornwall then getting a band from Aberdeen is going to be more expensive than getting one from Bodmin - and vice versa - unless they happen to be touring in the region.

As well as the band you'll have all the costs of venue hire, PA equipment etc. It might be sensible to talk to a local promoter or club/venue organiser and see if you could arrange a deal with them or even hire their premises for the night so all the infrastructure is in place.

My daughter had a wedding bash in July for about 300 friends in Penarth, just outside Cardiff and I hired a superb 15 piece Commitments-style Soul band for the night and they came over from Bristol for £1,500. OK so they were friends and I was able to call in a favour and I also arranged an intro to a local promoter who booked them for a show in Cardiff later this year. They were absolutely right for the night. Had everyone on their feet dancing and they went down a storm.

If you can give some idea of numbers you expect to attend and part of the country you're in I might be able to offer some other ideas.

[rubenz]

Good point above, the other thing to have a look at are some of the cover bands knocking about some of which are pretty good. I have seen AC/DC, The Jam and U2 at local pubs and they were alright after a few beers!

[dirty_dog]

Wagner would do it for 1.5k.

[grumpyhack]

Has to depend on numbers and your preferred type of music but there are some very good tributes around. Limehouse Lizzy are superb as a gigging UK band and at the top end you've got Australian Pink Floyd. There are also great fun bands like Hayseed Dixie.

[Colin88]

Also, you've got to remember that the cost depends on whether they're in the country at the time. My mate knew someone who was booking bands at Hevy and said that bands from America like Trash Talk were charging far more than British bands as the extra money went towards the cost of travel.

Otherwise, my mate tried to book The Maccabees for a show at a bar in Croydon and they were asking for £8,000. This was at a time when they were promoting their first album, so they weren't exactly massive then.

[paulbrock]

We managed to book biggles wartime band for my uncles 60th but was no where near that much.

Www.whorepresents.co uk (I think) gives you the names of management companies for celebs/ bands etc

Note: it is not 'whore presents' as I first read it as!

[Abbathehorse]

What a terrible URL Sounds like a gift an escort service

[Dukeicon]

Sounds wise Dan, thing is I have £3k to spend on entertainment throughout the entire place, think i'll go with £1.5 get told politely thanks but no thanks.

Then on to plan B: take his cd collection down to cornwall, hire a random bloke with a big white beard in dungarees hand him a guitar with three strings, feed him JD all night and pretend to sing and play while being dubbed over by the sound system, job done at a fraction of the price!