Anyone know why in pubs and the like, Open Mics always ‘begin’ around 8.30 or 9.00pm?
Is it too much to ask that any session could start earlier, perhaps 7.30, and on time?
Just a thought
Mal
Have you discussed with the folk that organise your local Open Mics ? They may be able to explain. But very different from organising something that tries to serve a global community,
Go talk to them.
In the UK it’s probably a combination of pubs serving food and expected number of participants. 8:30 starts mean they’ll have pretty much got through any food orders (this is the definitely case locally to me) and if you start at 8:30 you’ve got about 10 slots of 15 mins which would generally cover most OM.
There are a few we attend that start at 7:30 but they are generally in pubs where food isn’t served. The longer the OM then the more likely you’ll have empty slots and start going back around performers AND also more likely performers will leave before the end.
Hi Toby, yes I can imagine. No have not spoken to anyone local. It just appears as a general thing to always be late around York and Leeds and so forth.
Cheers.
Starting late is sometimes just about getting access to the space to setup AND people turning up in time to start performing.
I would not necessarily have a problem with performers going again. You might be correct about the food, not something considered, but from my perspective the end would not always be seen anyway, play and stick around for awhile and then home to relax.
Which do you prefer, a late or early start?
Generally the ones by us (Gloucester/Hereford area) start around 8-8:30 in the evening there are only one or two as I’ve said that start earlier. Given you need to get there that start is fine…but it is also generally accepted that you’ll hang around to watch most people play as well. Nothing worse than people drifting away after they’ve performed and leaving it mostly empty for the final performers.
Most OM are to draw people in on quiet nights of the week and generate more money for the pub. So if people don’t hang around it can end up quite empty. If it’s a busy OM you play for 15 mins and treat the rest as a social OR you might if lucky get another slot if it’s not too busy.
Got to give the punters time to put on their beer-headphones (beer cans?). I sound much better after a skin full 
Online ones like here are the way forward- we can just travel to whatever time-zone suits us best 
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totally agree about staying, for me, as with most things if the vibe is good will stay put. 
The temptation with a real life OM would be to stay sober enough to play well if you have a late slot 
. Although maybe it doesn’t matter by then…
So true
NEVER drink before playing thats for the pro’s only…been there done that
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My local one starts at 6 and ends around 9. It’s also at a brewery, so that’s sort of nice.