The Steel Guitar Forum

When I first started playing out we typically did a 45 or 50 minute set then took a short break, putting us on an hourly cycle basically. Now at 71, I’m probably about 30 years older than my bandmates. At a recent 3-hour gig they were still going strong at 70 minutes, so I said “Guys, I gotta take a short break.” Of course they were OK with that but … they kept playing.

My question is: Is there a standard set time anymore? Am I living in the past with outdated expectations? I would think the audience would also appreciate a break in the action but I question this assumption now, too.

Frank, no, there are no time sets anymore. Same deal with me, I'm 62 now and have been playing in bands on a regular basis since 1973. Back then and throughout the 80's and 90s, it was always 45 minutes with 15 minute break. You could depend on that. Now its a free-for-all. Played Friday night straight through for 2 hours, took a 40 minute break and came back to play for 15 minutes.
Recently, I did an hour and a half set, 40 minute break and came back for one hour-playing past our end time.
My wife who is recently retired from bartending at clubs with bands, could not believe the tactics shown by the bands.
Its the future I guess.

My go-to for a non-"show" gig is 1 hour first set, 15 minute break, 45 minute sets after that.

That said I used to play at a wine bar in a duo, and as we got to know the patrons better, it was hard to break yourself away from the enjoyable conversation, so we started to do 1.5 hour, 30 minute break, and then one more hour.

In my Grateful Dead cover band, we aim for 1 hour, 30 minute break, then 1.5 hour second set, but of course that is more of a show.

Depends on the band and the venue for me. A lot of casino gigs we play are 3 x 60 minute sets with 30 minute breaks in between.

Bars vary depending on the crowd and the age of the crowd. The younger the crowd, that are likely to bar hop, we usually play longer sets to keep them there.

I grew up with the 45/15 too but that definitely isn't the standard anymore.

45-15 was the standard for many years,for both bars and private gigs, but what I liked most was this one band I was in who did an hour on and 20 minutes off,with a half-hour last set. The hour sets gave us a chance to warm up and stretch out, the 20 minute breaks gave us a chance to visit the sandbox, go outside for a smoke, come back and talk with the customers, and go back on for another barn-burner without having to "come and go in a heated rush".

On a 4 hr night, 45 min set, 20 min break, works around to ending the night right on time on the hour. Done this for a long time! Try it.
Thx, Pat

Always did 40/20.

Had one gig in NYC where the manager would set the clocks back in the fall at 2am. But didn't set them forward in the spring until we were finished for the night. We also played 20/10 on weekends at this place. We couldn't get to the dressing room and back in 10.

We normally,depending on the crowd, do an hour set 1,15 minute break,an hour 20 -30 on set 2;
It is usually the peak; 20 minute break and hopefully get out in 45 minutes on the last one.
This past Saturday was a 3 hour gig; 2 one hour fifteen's with 30 minutes off in between.
I could get used to those....

In the late 70's & 80's we played (4) 45 minute sets with 15 minute breaks. That was the standard for a long time. Much later, we started to deviate from that and would do an hour plus set with a short break and two more. The group I'm playing with now are doing two hours straight, no break and about a 20 minute and then two more hours. Two hours gets to be a long time without a stretch but keeps the dancers active....

I'm new to the scene-2 or 3 years in a band.

Four sets of 45 min. or so. But every set drags a bit, chit chat with the crowd and your last set is short. Sure is fun (but again it's new to me and I enjoy it a lot).

Most bands I've been in over a few decades have never had any absolute set-in-stone set/break times. It's depended on the context, and also what the venue expects. For more 'corporate' affairs, I think there's a tendency to really stick to fixed set/break times. Sometimes that is required. But in a more informal club/bar situation, I think reading the crowd is important. If a crowd is really involved, especially later in the evening, taking a break can really deflate the mood and people will leave. So it's not that unusual to just play through the last break. Just did that this past Saturday.

Overall, I don't think long set breaks are a good idea in most situations. 15-20 minutes max, as far as I'm concerned. That's plenty of time to do any 'necessaries', talk with people, and so on. My opinion, anyway.

I'm with Dave on this. We keep breaks short and the situation dictates the format. Some places have a requirement. Definitely not the same as the old days where 45 on and 15 off was standard.

"Are there standard set times?"

I was wondering if there were actually any gigs.

We always did five sets of 40/20 in and around Baltimore. Bar time was always 15 minutes fast, so our 5-hour playing time was from 8:45 to 1:45. Specialty shows were different, though, varying with the crowd, venue, or whoever hired us.

Nowadays, bar work has faded away, and most of our "or-gigs" are from 8:00 to 11:00.

Thanks, all.

My conclusion: times have changed (pun intended).

yes 45 0n 15 off did a couple 60 on 20 off
except when we did outside fairs always hour
on. did that for 38 years

During the 70’s-80’s we played at the Gold Rush Hotel in Anchorage for 11 years during the pipeline..hours were 9pm-5am..room held 400-500 people..when we got them up and rockin on the dance floors the bar manager would send the bouncer up every hour to have us break so they could get the crowd to order more drinks!! Usually was 60 min on, 20 off..full time keeping the horn section sober for 8 hours..

Larry, that Gold Rush schedule blows my mind. How many songs did you play?

Seems like if you can find a private party gig or dance club around here (and you're the only band) you're playing 2 or 3 sets, 45 to 60 minutes, with a 15 minute break.

In Nashville, if you gotta go, you gotta go but then you gotta come back and keep going like the Energizer Bunny! They play for hours in order to keep the tips coming. That’s why they’re so good there!

I'm 73. Yes, old standard was 45 on and 15 off. Played 9pm - 1:30am. Since we are a geezer band playing to geezers, we usually play 3 hours (45 and 15). Early start times for the geezers. Currently every Saturday at the same club from 3pm - 7pm. If we have a younger crowd 3pm - 7pm. If the club is full of qeezers and their eyelids are snapping shut it's 3pm - 6pm. Sweaters and wheelchairs heading home.
Most of the younger bands around here never play a slow song and if you mention 3/4 they get a puzzled look on their faces. We still mix it up.

Back in the day... 1970s -90s it was 45/15, but most gigs were four hours long. Nowadays most of the gigs I play are three hours or sometimes just two hours. So we play a 1 hour opening set, take a short break and then either two shorter sets or one long set. In recent years the trend has been toward longer sets, especially the first set. I like it because it makes the night go faster! The old 45/15 was a drag... you play about six songs, break, six songs, break, six songs, break... that made for a long night.

Also, back in the days of dance clubs and four hour gigs, the management wanted the bands to take three breaks so the waitresses could take drink orders while the people were not on the dance floor and the band was not playing. Nowadays the gigs (my gigs anyway) are not dance gigs. They’re breweries, restaurants, fairs, town concerts, etc. We often play as a trio or 4-piece, no drums. Sometimes people do get up an dance, but they’re mostly there to eat and drink. So the landscape has changed and we have to change with it.

We used to play several ballrooms during the 70's- 80's. The crowd was WW2 era. You had to play 3 songs at the same tempo and same dance style back to back quickly or they would stand on the dance floor and stare at the band between songs. Medleys were a hit. If you dilly-dallied between songs you weren't popular to return to play there again. Dance bands were in and show bands weren't popular. Most of those ballrooms have been torn down and the great generation has passed away.

Yes Andrew, it was a pretty grueling schedule..we had 80+ songs on our play list not counting the shows the front singer and the piano guy wrote..Mondays and Tuesdays we got to play a lot of Jazz and pop tunes..the rest of the week we turned it up…we did a lot of the horn band stuff and covers…I was playing guitar and trombone then, I didn’t get into steel until a few years later..then I ended up on a classic country band for 25 years…they had over 100 songs on their play list..

When I tell young players that we used to play in house bands seven nights a week, year after year, they don’t believe me! They think I’m making it up. One guy asked me... and you got Paid every night? It was a different world back then. Most cities had clubs with live music every night of the week and often a house band. I had three consecutive house gigs from 1980 until 1987. Seven nights a week. We had two nights a year off, Christmas and Thanksgiving. I left my gear set up at one club every Wednesday through Sunday for five years! and on Monday and Tuesday nights I left my gear at another club. Sometimes we would take afternoon gigs, weddings, parties, etc. So I would often have 35 gigs in one month! Oh, how times have changed!

And that’s probably a major reason you got that good, Doug: all that stage time.