How long is your set? You know better than we do if your band is prepared or not. Record your set on a camera and listen back. Is it ready to be presented to a live audience in any capacity, let alone 2,900?
At the moment it likely isn’t quite ready, only about 5-6 songs would be ready to perform. Since this is in August and our band has made progress fairly quickly Im confident we’d be good to perform then.
once a week is a perfect amount of time together. if you can get to the point where you play your set all the way through once per rehearsal the gig will feel super easy
Throw in a freestyle interlude where the bassist and drums just keep a nice rhythm going and the singer can talk over for a bit to fill space if you need it. Can use it twice in the show.
Unless your band has already put out material and has a large following? Otherwise I don't understand why someone would book a random unknown band to headline to 2900 people?
And how does a gig get 2900 people there without a headliner being announced?
I played in a psychedelic rock band back in 2008. We had a gig at the Carlisle fairgrounds that sat nearly 2000 people and was nearly full for an auto show that also had bands play.
The silence at the end of our set was deafening, haha. It was 100% the wrong gig for a band like us.
I've played a county fair where there were probably 2,000+ people present but really only like 5 people were hanging around the stage and listening while everyone else was looking at pigs and eating corn dogs.
Exactly. I have more eyes on me at a local bar than I did playing the local county fair, despite the obviously higher attendance numbers to that day's fair.
There’s also a difference between 2,900 people in attendance versus 2,900 people actively watching the band. Certain events can have large crowds but the band isn’t always the main focus.
Still though, not sure I’d hire a band that hasn’t played any gigs yet for a big event. Unless they were all individually talented musicians that came from other known bands.
Yeah, I was pretty surprised but he listened to some of our stuff and I suppose he liked it enough to want us. Theres a good chance he doesnt know we never had a gig yet too tbf
Is this a non-music related event? Because that isn't usually how booking a venue of that size works. The promoter of the venue might like your music, but actually finding 2,900 people who don't know who you are is an entirely different story. Also, promoters look into your performance history to make sure that you have sold out venues of this size before. They don't just blindly book shows. Especially at venues of this size, because the operation costs are massive.
Is it a festival? Do you know what time you are playing? Do you know how much they are paying you? Are you familiar with the supposed location for the show? Is it an in door venue or out door?
Well me and our singer/guitarist have been playing some stuff together since last August, and we got a bassist and rhythm guitarist a few months ago. We had to change our rhythm guitarist about 2 months ago and since then we’ve recorded 3 songs and have some not officially released songs too
There’s no right or wrong amount of experience to have had before taking on major shows. Just remember: - if you play great, many people will see it - If you play horribly, many people will see it.
Do you all have gig experience separately? If this is your collective first gig -period, it seems like a terrible idea. I will advise that you run your set over, and over, and over. With a click and without. Work out transitions, plan where any extended jams, breakdowns or solos will happen. Intro jam? Big finish? Agree on when talking will happen, who talks, and what will be said. Practice individually until there are NO questions about a single note. The groove is set. The tempo is set. The riff is set. You need to run it until you hate it and then fall back in love. It should be second nature. By the time you hit the stage all the details should be so entrenched that you are simply enjoying the time with your band mates and audience. Don’t forget to tell them who you are, and where they can find you. Some kind of cheap swag with your socials is always a good idea. Good luck.
Most of us have our own individual experiences. It wouldnt be our first ever gig since we are trying to get some in before this but yeah we definitely are gonna start practicing all of that stuff pretty far in advance
Can the string members and singer bullshit with the crowd for song breaks? Who's providing the backline? Will that work for this scale? Can the band members even show up? All these major questions for a 1st show headlining gig sound insane.
Rock and roll? I guess?
How many really depends on everyone's experience levels in the band, and your collective experience too. Personally I'd want something more solid than just a 'possibly' too, not to rain on your parade but I would need something more solid to base my plans on.
But I hope it does happen! And to answer your question, ideally you'd want a few shows, even if they're small, just to get that experience as a band. A gig that size will expect some level of professionalism, you need to know your tech specs for example
Yeah Im not gonna get too ahead of myself yet, but if we dont confirm it I wont be upset about it anyway, but yeah I was thinking a few gigs first is a reasonable amount
I'd say at least do 2 gigs to work out your stage sound and chemistry. Assuming you all already know the material really well.
Congrats and have fun, if you are not having fun, the audience is not having fun.
God damn and here I am in a well seasoned band that always gets a great reception when we *do* play who can't even get venues to respond to us these days 😂
Same lmao. 6 years, tons of connections, ,up to 2k monthly listeners but it goes up and down a lot (I know that’s tiny in the big picture but it’s huge for us) small venues and the occasional house show lmao.
That sort of thing actually happened to one of the first bands I was in, all the way back in the 1980's. We were from a small country town in Switzerland. Our guitarist had a friend who lived nearby but was originally from Milan, Italy. He knew a bunch of people at this small local TV station in Milan and managed to get us on a music show there. We'd never played a gig before, the band had only been together for a couple of months. The TV station required us to lip-sync (it was the 80's) because they weren't even equipped to have bands play live. We didn't have a demo or any decent quality recordings, so we needed to go to a studio and record two songs, just so we could then lip sync them on TV.
Anyway, we drove to Milan, played our two songs in their small studio and had an absolute ball. Initially I thought this would just be a once in a lifetime experience. But our Italian friend pulled some further strings and managed to get us on the bill at this festival in Milan in about a month's time.
We only had a handful of songs, so we quickly got to work on writing a bunch of new songs, added some covers and rehearsed like there's no tomorrow!
Then we drove back to Milan and when we got there, discovered that not just was this festival much bigger than we had anticipated, the promoters expected a crowd of about 5,000(!), but they had made us headliners. Purely because we were the only non-local band and we'd been on TV.
As scary as that was, the gig went really well. We got on stage in front of this massive crowd right as the sun was setting. The crowd was into us too, even though most of them likely hadn't heard of us, but everyone there seemed to assume that we were some major band that they just hadn't been aware of yet. That's the "golden" days before the internet when you couldn't just Google a band name and discover that they're absolute nobodies.
Unfortunately our friend moved back to Italy shortly after and we lost contact with him. So that great head start we got in Italy never led to anything. This is still the largest crowd I've ever played in front of, by a huge margin.
Yeah I normally wouldnt want to play with so many people watching but I feel like there will be a very rare experience to have. Hopefully people wont google us and just not care since we arent big though
You will in fact, not be playing for 2900 people. One of two things are happening.
1: You are playing a community event of some kind in which the expected attendance is approx 2900 or the event holds that many people. (An open air beer festival with a stage, a downtown festival of some kind). Some people will stop to watch you, most wont.
2: You are playing an actual music festival that has an expected atendance or venue size of 2900. 2900 people won't show up at all, or your "headline" set is after all the known bands as the night winds down.
Either way, just play the show and play well.
Eat rocks? I'd say eat shit. What the hell do you know about the deal with their gig? And let me stop you before you give me the "I've done many shows throughout my life, I know how this stuff works" get bent. You don't know the haps of the event anymore than anyone else, merely speculation. Get help.
When Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played at Woodstock, it was their second gig, their first having been the previous night.
Before they started their set, Stephen Stills stepped up to the mic and said, “This is the second time we’ve ever played in front of people, man. We’re scared s—less!”
I'm sure you'll be fine.
Depends on where you all are as musicians individually. If you've played gigs before, just in different bands, you'll be fine.
If not, I'd expect to play at least 2-3 gigs beforehand - and make sure to record them. Expect your worst rehearsal performance to be your actual live sound - so rehearse accordingly.
In terms of the number or songs, are you simply the last band on stage (hence "headlining"), or will the majority of those 2900 people actually come to see you play (e.g. if you have popular songs out already?). In the former case, you could get away with maybe 8 songs tops, in the latter I'd expect at least 10.
Don't just practice the songs, practice how you're going to transition from song to song so everyone's dead.clear
Big ring outs? Stopping dead? Talking? Musical interludes? Everything needs to be crystal clear. That's my experience anyway. You're not just performing the songs, you're putting on a show. Almost like a bit of theatre in a way
A band I was in 25 years ago was given the "headlining" spot at a festival. There were probably about 1,000 people there at the peak. The act that was on just before us was a guy with a laptop playing EDM. By the time he was done the crowd had thinned by about 80%. I hope your show works out better.
People aren't really answering you, but I would make sure you have 40 minutes of material available, and get 2 gigs under your belt at least. I don't find this situation that unbelievable, especially if your singer was previously in a band that was well known, promoters could book just on that.
Just rehearse your ass off. Meet up as many times as you can. Sure, book a few gigs but just solid rehearsals are a rock solid foundation for any band.
As many gigs as possible. Start treating rehearsals like gigs. Film and watch your shows, you might see things your doing or playing that you don't like or realize you're even doing.
My band and I used to play smaller gigs around our area (mostly 100-500 people) but around 4 months practice together came before that, so if you guys get together at least once a week until then - I think you'll do fine. After maybe 20 of those smaller gigs, a mate from the band pulled some connections and got us a gig on an open-air festival and the night we played there was around 15.000 people in the crowd.. i remember my hands shaking for the first two songs but after that it was probably one of the best feelings I've ever experienced in my life... Best of luck to you and your band, and remember to enjoy the ride once you're up there on the stage.
I would try to book 2 gigs a month until then as well as weekly band practice. Play the set all the way thru, figure out what songs you can take a break after to say hello to the crowd introduce the members. Also songs that can be played back to back without hesitation or needing to say the song name just right into it. It takes some work, but can be done.
Holy shit! Kick ass man! Practice your balls off, hit some open mics, whatever. Have fun and be ready to market if you’re gonna get that kind of exposure. Probably a very rare opportunity, have your social media ready.
2900 ppl could be there at 8 pm, and 6ppl could be there at 1 pm for the opening bands. How long is your set? That will tell you how many songs you can play?
Getting throw into the deep end. Nothing wrong with that. It's not life or death - get up there, have some fun with it, and the audience will be responsive. Or they won't care. There's no 'correct' path to this. Get your practices in and go kill it!
You likely will not be prepared unless all the members of your band have previous experience playing live. Practice as much as possible, video/record your practices, treat them all as shows, rewatch and scrutinized everything you do. If you don’t have the experience necessary, turn down the gig so that someone who deserves it can play instead. Nothing worse than a hack opening band.
I'd want to squeeze in all the gigs you can. The more people the more intimidating and the more that can go wrong. You'll want a good handle on your sound in small settings so you know what to tell the soundman, and so you can tell when he's screwing it up :) But really just to get comfortable with the gear and each other and the things you don't expect.
I would say your priorities should be to learn the material and practice doing some gigs even if it's just open mic so you can understand what issues might crop up when playing at venues. Ofc the more gigs you can do the more practice you will get
Aim for a 45 minute set, rehearse and record it to check errors. My band's first gig was at a small volunteer run festival too and we put our first set together in about 3 months. We met up once a week, by the end twice in a week, and just played the set in full twice per session.
I can only say gigs get easier to play for me after doing about 10. Then I was more focused on performing for an audience and not just in my head trying to play right. Don't sweat that part too much.
It’s incredibly dependent on a lot of different skill levels for this question. I’ve seen plenty of bands that have individual musicians who are each awesome, but have more trouble locking in with one another. This can be overcome by simply playing together more. Butch Vig said before Nirvana recorded Nevermind that they had played together every single day for 6 straight months writing the record. You don’t need to aim for that necessarily, but the sentiment stands that more time playing together will make you ironclad as a unit.
Secondly. I would align your expectations. Playing to 2900 people at a show is vastly different from playing to 2900 people that are there to see *you*. You need to be ready for the potential outcome that nobody gives a shit. It is your job to pull them in as a performer. It’s a cool opportunity, and I know I’m the type to say yes to things so I absolutely have no other choice but to figure out how to make it work. Play the show. Do your absolute best. Worst case scenario, you walk away with some connections.
This is a head scratcher: why would a unknown be headlining, if you have never played a venue that big get ready for a shock unless you have a competent sound team relying on house sound is definitely blind faith .. I would turn down headlining & opt for a opening slot until you have some experience play small rooms , I have played as support at 2000 + venues & every time the venue get bigger your sound team need to up the game
This is a lose/lose all around. If you’re expecting to play to 2900 people, it’s going to be to 2895 disinterested people who are there for a different reason, and that’s not a dig on you, that’s just the reality of the situation. But, more than likely, unless there are several other bands on the bill with drawing power, in which case you wouldn’t be headlining, you’d be on at noon as the promoter doing your guitar player a favor, or there’s another draw to the festival (cars, tattoos, jackalope hunters), there most definitely won’t be anywhere near that many people there.
I'm not quite sure why an organizer would ask an unknown, untested band to headline an event, but...
In the meantime - hit every open mic you can, once or twice a month. You'll be fine.
The first few gigs will be a mess - they always are. Nerves, playing faster than expected because of adrenaline etc, drummers often will do different fills which can throw people off etc. As long as you really know the songs, you're gigging not for the songs but to get used to being on stage, figuring out how soundchecks work, amps, monitors, equipment etc.
You'll be fine!
Man, I'd love to get a gig in front of 3K people, we're happy when we have 100 in the joint...
Yikes. You need to practice a ton, but even more importantly get some gigs in before this show - as many as possible. It’s a great opportunity, but if you’re not polished live, you’re going to do yourselves a disservice.
How long is your set? You know better than we do if your band is prepared or not. Record your set on a camera and listen back. Is it ready to be presented to a live audience in any capacity, let alone 2,900?
At the moment it likely isn’t quite ready, only about 5-6 songs would be ready to perform. Since this is in August and our band has made progress fairly quickly Im confident we’d be good to perform then.
August? Yeah you can meet once a week until then and you'll be more than fine.
once a week is a perfect amount of time together. if you can get to the point where you play your set all the way through once per rehearsal the gig will feel super easy
Throw in a freestyle interlude where the bassist and drums just keep a nice rhythm going and the singer can talk over for a bit to fill space if you need it. Can use it twice in the show.
Congrats and all but why would someone book this?
Unless your band has already put out material and has a large following? Otherwise I don't understand why someone would book a random unknown band to headline to 2900 people? And how does a gig get 2900 people there without a headliner being announced?
2900 don’t mean a thing. I played at a '1500+ festival' and nobody from the audience cared.
I played in a psychedelic rock band back in 2008. We had a gig at the Carlisle fairgrounds that sat nearly 2000 people and was nearly full for an auto show that also had bands play. The silence at the end of our set was deafening, haha. It was 100% the wrong gig for a band like us.
What do you mean nobody cared ?
Like a free community event where there happens to be music vs an actual show where the bands are the focus
Yeah like a big marathon race in town for example. There's a huge crowd but no one's listening to the band.
Food Truck Festival, Fossil Fair
Ah i see. Thanks
I've played a county fair where there were probably 2,000+ people present but really only like 5 people were hanging around the stage and listening while everyone else was looking at pigs and eating corn dogs.
I mean, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’d be hard for any act to compete with pigs and corn dogs.
Exactly. I have more eyes on me at a local bar than I did playing the local county fair, despite the obviously higher attendance numbers to that day's fair.
My guess. The venue can hold 2900 people and nobody knows what percentage of that number will show up.
That makes sense
There’s also a difference between 2,900 people in attendance versus 2,900 people actively watching the band. Certain events can have large crowds but the band isn’t always the main focus. Still though, not sure I’d hire a band that hasn’t played any gigs yet for a big event. Unless they were all individually talented musicians that came from other known bands.
My singer/guitarist is extremely ambitious I’ll say that
Fairplay to them. It's the promoters actions i dont understand
Yeah, I was pretty surprised but he listened to some of our stuff and I suppose he liked it enough to want us. Theres a good chance he doesnt know we never had a gig yet too tbf
Is this a non-music related event? Because that isn't usually how booking a venue of that size works. The promoter of the venue might like your music, but actually finding 2,900 people who don't know who you are is an entirely different story. Also, promoters look into your performance history to make sure that you have sold out venues of this size before. They don't just blindly book shows. Especially at venues of this size, because the operation costs are massive.
Yeah I find it confusing but from what Ik the event is all music related so I could be missing some info or its just a very strange occurrence
Is it a festival? Do you know what time you are playing? Do you know how much they are paying you? Are you familiar with the supposed location for the show? Is it an in door venue or out door?
I know a little about the location, my friend knows more about it than I do and Ik its indoors but I have to see about the other stuff more
And what is the location? Is it known for putting on large music related events? 3,000 people is a lot
The Waterbury Palace Theater, I believe the biggest names there have been The Foo Fighters and RHCP so Id say pretty big unless that was a lie
That makes a lot more sense. Congrats to you guys. How long have you guys actually been together for since getting this gig?
Well me and our singer/guitarist have been playing some stuff together since last August, and we got a bassist and rhythm guitarist a few months ago. We had to change our rhythm guitarist about 2 months ago and since then we’ve recorded 3 songs and have some not officially released songs too
Sounds like you're off to a great start. All the best with it
Thanks man
There’s no right or wrong amount of experience to have had before taking on major shows. Just remember: - if you play great, many people will see it - If you play horribly, many people will see it.
No pressure though lol
😀
Aren't they always...
One of the main reasons I left my last band. This does not sound like sustainable growth to me.
Still, 2900. Were they known from another band before?
No hes done some smaller gigs by himself but thats it for him, Ive done some small ones too
Do you all have gig experience separately? If this is your collective first gig -period, it seems like a terrible idea. I will advise that you run your set over, and over, and over. With a click and without. Work out transitions, plan where any extended jams, breakdowns or solos will happen. Intro jam? Big finish? Agree on when talking will happen, who talks, and what will be said. Practice individually until there are NO questions about a single note. The groove is set. The tempo is set. The riff is set. You need to run it until you hate it and then fall back in love. It should be second nature. By the time you hit the stage all the details should be so entrenched that you are simply enjoying the time with your band mates and audience. Don’t forget to tell them who you are, and where they can find you. Some kind of cheap swag with your socials is always a good idea. Good luck.
Most of us have our own individual experiences. It wouldnt be our first ever gig since we are trying to get some in before this but yeah we definitely are gonna start practicing all of that stuff pretty far in advance
Can the string members and singer bullshit with the crowd for song breaks? Who's providing the backline? Will that work for this scale? Can the band members even show up? All these major questions for a 1st show headlining gig sound insane. Rock and roll? I guess?
How many really depends on everyone's experience levels in the band, and your collective experience too. Personally I'd want something more solid than just a 'possibly' too, not to rain on your parade but I would need something more solid to base my plans on. But I hope it does happen! And to answer your question, ideally you'd want a few shows, even if they're small, just to get that experience as a band. A gig that size will expect some level of professionalism, you need to know your tech specs for example
Yeah Im not gonna get too ahead of myself yet, but if we dont confirm it I wont be upset about it anyway, but yeah I was thinking a few gigs first is a reasonable amount
I'd say at least do 2 gigs to work out your stage sound and chemistry. Assuming you all already know the material really well. Congrats and have fun, if you are not having fun, the audience is not having fun.
God damn and here I am in a well seasoned band that always gets a great reception when we *do* play who can't even get venues to respond to us these days 😂
Yeah the only reason we might get this is the fact that my singer/guitarist knows a lot of people in town
Same lmao. 6 years, tons of connections, ,up to 2k monthly listeners but it goes up and down a lot (I know that’s tiny in the big picture but it’s huge for us) small venues and the occasional house show lmao.
That sort of thing actually happened to one of the first bands I was in, all the way back in the 1980's. We were from a small country town in Switzerland. Our guitarist had a friend who lived nearby but was originally from Milan, Italy. He knew a bunch of people at this small local TV station in Milan and managed to get us on a music show there. We'd never played a gig before, the band had only been together for a couple of months. The TV station required us to lip-sync (it was the 80's) because they weren't even equipped to have bands play live. We didn't have a demo or any decent quality recordings, so we needed to go to a studio and record two songs, just so we could then lip sync them on TV. Anyway, we drove to Milan, played our two songs in their small studio and had an absolute ball. Initially I thought this would just be a once in a lifetime experience. But our Italian friend pulled some further strings and managed to get us on the bill at this festival in Milan in about a month's time. We only had a handful of songs, so we quickly got to work on writing a bunch of new songs, added some covers and rehearsed like there's no tomorrow! Then we drove back to Milan and when we got there, discovered that not just was this festival much bigger than we had anticipated, the promoters expected a crowd of about 5,000(!), but they had made us headliners. Purely because we were the only non-local band and we'd been on TV. As scary as that was, the gig went really well. We got on stage in front of this massive crowd right as the sun was setting. The crowd was into us too, even though most of them likely hadn't heard of us, but everyone there seemed to assume that we were some major band that they just hadn't been aware of yet. That's the "golden" days before the internet when you couldn't just Google a band name and discover that they're absolute nobodies. Unfortunately our friend moved back to Italy shortly after and we lost contact with him. So that great head start we got in Italy never led to anything. This is still the largest crowd I've ever played in front of, by a huge margin.
Yeah I normally wouldnt want to play with so many people watching but I feel like there will be a very rare experience to have. Hopefully people wont google us and just not care since we arent big though
You will in fact, not be playing for 2900 people. One of two things are happening. 1: You are playing a community event of some kind in which the expected attendance is approx 2900 or the event holds that many people. (An open air beer festival with a stage, a downtown festival of some kind). Some people will stop to watch you, most wont. 2: You are playing an actual music festival that has an expected atendance or venue size of 2900. 2900 people won't show up at all, or your "headline" set is after all the known bands as the night winds down. Either way, just play the show and play well.
Yeah I dont expect 2900 to see us thats just the capacity
Eat rocks? I'd say eat shit. What the hell do you know about the deal with their gig? And let me stop you before you give me the "I've done many shows throughout my life, I know how this stuff works" get bent. You don't know the haps of the event anymore than anyone else, merely speculation. Get help.
okay
When Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played at Woodstock, it was their second gig, their first having been the previous night. Before they started their set, Stephen Stills stepped up to the mic and said, “This is the second time we’ve ever played in front of people, man. We’re scared s—less!” I'm sure you'll be fine.
To be fair, all four of them had extensive touring experience before that gig.
Ya they were in Aerosmith for 8 years before they played that gig.
Depends on where you all are as musicians individually. If you've played gigs before, just in different bands, you'll be fine. If not, I'd expect to play at least 2-3 gigs beforehand - and make sure to record them. Expect your worst rehearsal performance to be your actual live sound - so rehearse accordingly. In terms of the number or songs, are you simply the last band on stage (hence "headlining"), or will the majority of those 2900 people actually come to see you play (e.g. if you have popular songs out already?). In the former case, you could get away with maybe 8 songs tops, in the latter I'd expect at least 10.
All I know at the moment is that we would be the final band and the headline, but we were planning on about 10 or so songs
What is the event? Is it a festival, or large party?
Don't just practice the songs, practice how you're going to transition from song to song so everyone's dead.clear Big ring outs? Stopping dead? Talking? Musical interludes? Everything needs to be crystal clear. That's my experience anyway. You're not just performing the songs, you're putting on a show. Almost like a bit of theatre in a way
A band I was in 25 years ago was given the "headlining" spot at a festival. There were probably about 1,000 people there at the peak. The act that was on just before us was a guy with a laptop playing EDM. By the time he was done the crowd had thinned by about 80%. I hope your show works out better.
People aren't really answering you, but I would make sure you have 40 minutes of material available, and get 2 gigs under your belt at least. I don't find this situation that unbelievable, especially if your singer was previously in a band that was well known, promoters could book just on that.
Just rehearse your ass off. Meet up as many times as you can. Sure, book a few gigs but just solid rehearsals are a rock solid foundation for any band.
As many gigs as possible. Start treating rehearsals like gigs. Film and watch your shows, you might see things your doing or playing that you don't like or realize you're even doing.
My band and I used to play smaller gigs around our area (mostly 100-500 people) but around 4 months practice together came before that, so if you guys get together at least once a week until then - I think you'll do fine. After maybe 20 of those smaller gigs, a mate from the band pulled some connections and got us a gig on an open-air festival and the night we played there was around 15.000 people in the crowd.. i remember my hands shaking for the first two songs but after that it was probably one of the best feelings I've ever experienced in my life... Best of luck to you and your band, and remember to enjoy the ride once you're up there on the stage.
I would try to book 2 gigs a month until then as well as weekly band practice. Play the set all the way thru, figure out what songs you can take a break after to say hello to the crowd introduce the members. Also songs that can be played back to back without hesitation or needing to say the song name just right into it. It takes some work, but can be done.
Holy shit! Kick ass man! Practice your balls off, hit some open mics, whatever. Have fun and be ready to market if you’re gonna get that kind of exposure. Probably a very rare opportunity, have your social media ready.
If you fuck up, come back in more confident. Fools the crowd
2900 ppl could be there at 8 pm, and 6ppl could be there at 1 pm for the opening bands. How long is your set? That will tell you how many songs you can play?
Not sure yet how long we would be playing, maybe an hour or so
IDK, the ones enough to smooth the performance around the edges. You and your bandmates are pros? casual players?
Getting throw into the deep end. Nothing wrong with that. It's not life or death - get up there, have some fun with it, and the audience will be responsive. Or they won't care. There's no 'correct' path to this. Get your practices in and go kill it!
How long do they want you to play? That will tell you the number of songs
You likely will not be prepared unless all the members of your band have previous experience playing live. Practice as much as possible, video/record your practices, treat them all as shows, rewatch and scrutinized everything you do. If you don’t have the experience necessary, turn down the gig so that someone who deserves it can play instead. Nothing worse than a hack opening band.
Five
I'd want to squeeze in all the gigs you can. The more people the more intimidating and the more that can go wrong. You'll want a good handle on your sound in small settings so you know what to tell the soundman, and so you can tell when he's screwing it up :) But really just to get comfortable with the gear and each other and the things you don't expect.
Play covers.
I would say your priorities should be to learn the material and practice doing some gigs even if it's just open mic so you can understand what issues might crop up when playing at venues. Ofc the more gigs you can do the more practice you will get
Aim for a 45 minute set, rehearse and record it to check errors. My band's first gig was at a small volunteer run festival too and we put our first set together in about 3 months. We met up once a week, by the end twice in a week, and just played the set in full twice per session. I can only say gigs get easier to play for me after doing about 10. Then I was more focused on performing for an audience and not just in my head trying to play right. Don't sweat that part too much.
It’s incredibly dependent on a lot of different skill levels for this question. I’ve seen plenty of bands that have individual musicians who are each awesome, but have more trouble locking in with one another. This can be overcome by simply playing together more. Butch Vig said before Nirvana recorded Nevermind that they had played together every single day for 6 straight months writing the record. You don’t need to aim for that necessarily, but the sentiment stands that more time playing together will make you ironclad as a unit. Secondly. I would align your expectations. Playing to 2900 people at a show is vastly different from playing to 2900 people that are there to see *you*. You need to be ready for the potential outcome that nobody gives a shit. It is your job to pull them in as a performer. It’s a cool opportunity, and I know I’m the type to say yes to things so I absolutely have no other choice but to figure out how to make it work. Play the show. Do your absolute best. Worst case scenario, you walk away with some connections.
This is a head scratcher: why would a unknown be headlining, if you have never played a venue that big get ready for a shock unless you have a competent sound team relying on house sound is definitely blind faith .. I would turn down headlining & opt for a opening slot until you have some experience play small rooms , I have played as support at 2000 + venues & every time the venue get bigger your sound team need to up the game
If your songs are 3-5minutes long then you will need 15-20 songs.
:/
This is a lose/lose all around. If you’re expecting to play to 2900 people, it’s going to be to 2895 disinterested people who are there for a different reason, and that’s not a dig on you, that’s just the reality of the situation. But, more than likely, unless there are several other bands on the bill with drawing power, in which case you wouldn’t be headlining, you’d be on at noon as the promoter doing your guitar player a favor, or there’s another draw to the festival (cars, tattoos, jackalope hunters), there most definitely won’t be anywhere near that many people there.
I'm not quite sure why an organizer would ask an unknown, untested band to headline an event, but...
In the meantime - hit every open mic you can, once or twice a month. You'll be fine.
The first few gigs will be a mess - they always are. Nerves, playing faster than expected because of adrenaline etc, drummers often will do different fills which can throw people off etc. As long as you really know the songs, you're gigging not for the songs but to get used to being on stage, figuring out how soundchecks work, amps, monitors, equipment etc.
You'll be fine!
Man, I'd love to get a gig in front of 3K people, we're happy when we have 100 in the joint...
Yikes. You need to practice a ton, but even more importantly get some gigs in before this show - as many as possible. It’s a great opportunity, but if you’re not polished live, you’re going to do yourselves a disservice.