Length of set without a break

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

My guess is that the average length of set is forty five minutes
I have occasionally done a one hour set
Tonight there were no guest steel players at our jam session and I spent two hours forty five minutes on the seat, My back was sore at the end of the night and I was beginning to lose concentration.
Billy

[Malcolm]

Billy think that may be caused by old age, but you are one of the luckier players with the deluxe steel seat with built in commode.

[Malcolm]

Billy, thinking about it I seem to remember many moons ago a lot of the clubs up here used to expect you to play a first set of one and a half hours, normally 8 till 9.30,it used to come as a culture shock to some of the English touring bands who were used to a 45 or even 30 minute set.As you said , sore back(before I got seat with folding back) and crossed legged waiting to get off.

[johnherring]

Good old days eh lads? In the social clubs around East London and Essex two 90 min sets was normal and that was standing and sometimes dancing! The longest stint was about 2 and a half hours, but I dont think I could do it tonight. It wasn't until I started on steel that I got to sit down.

[acerod]

Luxury!!!!! As Paul , Eddie and Basil and anyone else who played the Irish band scene will confirm we were expected to play at least 2 hours and sometimes more without a break. If you left the stage for any reason you were looking for another job next day.

[Donny Johnston]

I used to play a lot of the Irish clubs in the early 70s, There were no breaks at all. When the Irish Showbands came over they had maybe 6/7 players and one guy would slip off for a 10 minute break, he'd come back on and someone else could go, that's the way it was. Not so easy with 4 piece band. I think it was 9.00 till 2.00 in the morning. No wonder I needed a throat operation.

[Paul Brennan]

When I started gigging the older guys used to tell me how lucky I was that I only had to play for two hours without a break. They used to tell me the stories of five hour gigs without a break. Traditional Irish music sessions can last for hours. Twenty four hour sessions are not unheard of especially at festivals. I remember how proud of myself I was the first time I managed to order a pint of Guinness while playing the fiddle and not miss a beat!

[Ken Byng]

My band played at a travelers wedding in a marquee once for 3 hours non-stop, and had been extremely well paid in advance. We had to stop in the end as we were knackered and needed a break. The bride's father (a fairground owner) came over, pulled out a wad the thickness of a mattress from his inside pocket, and gave us a load of £50 notes to do another hour. Surprisingly, we quickly got our second wind. After we had packed our gear up at the end of the night, half a dozen of the younger guys from both families were beating ten bells out of each other for our further entertainment. (Unpaid of course)

I wouldn't even consider playing for pikeys these days, not without a Kalashnikov AK-47 stashed under my steel seat and an advanced fee in my back pocket.

[echospence]

Hi Ken.
Nice one,what a great story.
Spence.

[Paul Brennan]

Nice story Ken. It reminds me of playing a traveler wedding years ago.Our band leader couldn't remember the name of the hotel in which the wedding was to be held. It turned out not to be a problem as all we had to do was drive around the town to the various hotels. The hotel with the hundreds of Hi-Ace vans parked outside was where our wedding was. We played for a very long time that day and sure enough an extension period was negotiated for a substantial fee.