Righteous Fridays Plans: Comments Please!

rich "Reasonable Face of Anarchism"
Posts: 285 Joined: 14-10-03
Submitted by rich on 11 March, 2007 - 18:37.

This is a thread I have also posted on Norwich Darkside:

I've been doing a regular punk and ska (benefit gig) night on the first Friday of the month at the Cricketers Rest since November, always charging £3, booking (though not always getting!) a band from out of town or two plus having quality local supports/headliners. Now I'm taking a 3 month break from Righteous Fridays from June until September. I was thinking of maybe relaunching it with £4 for the night, but with £100 extra budget for bands. Given that turnout is mostly in the region of 100 @ £3, I reckon the combined stature of the expensive band(s) should maintain the turnout giving me this extra £100 to play with, but I'm not sure, and want your ideas! I would most likely still go for having only one or two out of town bands - except I'd be able to afford bigger headliners.

How much difference does that extra quid make? I've always thought that £3 was the upper limit for a cheap gig - I'd happily pay that without thinking, but £4 seems to kick in the cheapass monitors in my brain (not as much as £5 does, but they start working!) This always seems a bit ridiculous in the face of the fact that people happily spend £3 on a pint and that a quid in the scope of a night out is barely anything. Anyway your thoughts are very much appreciated!

(And any feedback on the gigs or whatever is good too while you're at it!)

stinkerbell
Posts: 171 Joined: 01-02-05
13 March, 2007 - 12:33

Some thoughts.....

There are free punk gigs in Norwich quite often that you're already competing against (dunno about ska/metal etc though).

There is a mental barrier between 3/4 quid, you're right, although there's also probably a barrier between free/paid gigs, that doesn;t seem to be affecting you!

Could you have the £3 just for the punk gigs, which there's more competion from free gigs and you're more likely to get people playing free/cheap IMO, and charge more for metal or ska gigs?

How much do other people charge at The Cricketers?

What you're doing at the mo is working, do you wanna alter that/ you're atracting good crowds and making good money.

You could try it and go back to £3 it if it doesn't work.

If you're going to be spending the extra money on getting better bands, this surely means you won't be making any extra money? Unless it's because you're running out of decent local bands?

It's very cool that you're taking a bit of a break smile

The gigs are well cool and always seem to be a sucess smile

rich "Reasonable Face of Anarchism"
Posts: 285 Joined: 14-10-03
13 March, 2007 - 22:55

Cheers for your comments! I always appreciate the comments!

Here is the post on Darkside:
http://www.norwichdarkside.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=9879

Seems people there are quite keen on getting bigger bands down. I'm thinking bands like The Restarts ( http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=9549875 ), Gallows ( www.myspace.com/burnthegallows ) etc. But I think it is a valid point - I mean if there's nothing wrong, why fiddle around with it? I think part of the motivation is to get bigger bands down, make it so that every Righteous Friday is a can't miss punk gig, and reaches beyond the usual suspects in terms of the audience. On the other hand, I can keep the Righteous Fridays at £3, and then have the in between gigs at a higher rate with more expensive bands? If the plan works and we get bigger audiences due to larger stature of the bands, then gigs'll potentially make maybe £100 more money.

£4/5 is a common price for gigs at the Cricks. As long as you've got a popular band, it's promoted properly and doesn't clash, it'll be well attended. The difference in money between £50 and £150 is the difference between getting a national well known band, and getting a less well known national band.

stinkerbell
Posts: 171 Joined: 01-02-05
14 March, 2007 - 16:42

Hmmm...having seen the posts on NDS I can see the other side a bit more, people don't seem to have such a mental block about the price thang...maybe it's just people who've been going to gigs in Norwich for years and are still going by the prices from when they started going out, I guess you have to accept inflation effects even benefit gigs! And if other nights there are pulling crowds at £4-5 then I guess it's not a prob, but are they putting on bigger bands with the extra charge?

E-P
Posts: 14 Joined: 24-01-07
15 March, 2007 - 20:50

Yeap, I think it is a good idea. At least for me one pound rise is nothing especially when I know that money will be used in good stuff. It's also good 'cause it gives your more alternatives when choosing bands and you could get bands which are not maybe not seen live in Norwich that often.