Throwing a great party is already hard, and now you have decided to add live music. Since you deserve all the help you can get your worn-out fingers-on, here are 5 essential tips for hosting live music at your next party!
First things first:
Choose a Band That Will Suit The Party You’re Trying To Have.
My first experience with having live music at a social gathering involved 20 people sitting on bean-bags while a local grind-core band played their hearts out in the backroom to an awe-inspiring crowd of zero. If you are hiring a group of aspiring musicians that even YOU will be trying to block out, you may just want to consider asking your local busker what his rates are.
Make Sure You Have Room For a Band…. And Your Guests.
Make sure you have ample room for both band and other party-goers. A four-piece band with amps, a drum kit and countless other pieces of seemingly random electronics cannot be lodged into a corner as easily as one might imagine, and sticking five amplifiers against a drummer’s back to conserve your dancefloor is more than likely going to end up sounding like a muddled mess, not to mention get you on the band’s bad side. You’re paying them, make sure they have room to do their thing.
You Can Dish It, But Can You Take It?
Have you ever tried plugging this many things into one old power socket? I can tell you from experience, things can get ugly fast when all of the power to your house is blown out five minutes into your prog-rock fusion trio’s forty-minute jam. Unless dark and minimalist is your party aesthetic, maybe check that your venue is fit to handle the live experience.
Keep Up The Hype
You like the band or musician enough to want them in your party, the band or musician is ready to play for a party of people, so let the people know that the music is good and they might be more likely to give it a chance. This isn’t a gig, people didn’t come here for the live music, so a little promotion might be needed for you and your friends to get the full experience.
That Being Said…
As a party host, there is one golden rule above all others: Don’t force anything. If people aren’t feeling up to catching that guy off Gumtree’s third Jason Mraz cover, make sure that they have somewhere to go where the party’s still happening. As I said, people didn’t necessarily come here to watch live music, they came here to party, and it’s your job to make sure that happens. You can’t control how much fun people are going to have, but you can control how many options they have to feel awesome, and if you have gone to the effort of hiring live music, Just make sure the rest of your party is as “effortlessly” cool.