After three years of being left out, I finally got back into the Sawdust Festival this year for two gigs, the second of which was on the annual "Beatles Day". For the occasion, I built a special Request List with 26 Beatles songs front and center. It turned out that people were mostly more intrigued by my non-Beatles songs, but that's OK with me -- I'd rather play one of my Really Good songs than a Pretty Good Beatles song anyway.
It really is the perfect venue for me -- it's got the same 70's-era vibe that me and my material do. The people who show up are my perfect "target audience". Even (especially?) the artist/vendors from the surrounding booths come around to listen, when you'd think they'd be jaded by having heard all the bands that play there every day. The lady in the next booth over brought her husband by and asked me to play "Hey, Jude" again for him, she'd liked it so much.
The worst part is the schedule, where I'm required to play for a half hour, and take a half hour break -- off and on for five hours (i.e., five half hours playing, four half hours waiting). The opposite half hours are filled by the very loud band that plays on the main stage.
It's difficult because the "cold start" first song is always the hardest, and by the end of the half hour, I've got an audience assembled who are invariably wanting more, and loudly complain that I'm quitting on them. It's also tough because I can only fit about seven songs in a half hour, so I don't want to waste any time on "B-list" songs, or songs that, even if requested by one person, are "niche" and won't be interesting to the rest of the crowd.
But the rules are the rules, and I didn't want to break them and risk getting left out next year. Flatteringly, I ended up with several groups of people who came back set after set, taking the stopping of the main stage band as their cue to come back to my little stage.
I guess the five cold starts gave me a chance to sprinkle in more Beatles songs (to appease the Festival people, if not the audience) because I get to choose that one, before the Requesting starts. I told the audience that we ought to prioritize Beatles songs, but people kept saying that they'd already heard enough Beatles for one day, and wanted something different.
I sold lots of CDs, including one to one of the ladies who works behind the counter of the restaurant that the stage is next to, and four (!) to a guy who wanted to give them out to his friends. First time for that, I'm pretty sure.
So overall, despite the annoying schedule, it's the best gig ever, for me. I hope they have me back next year, for even more dates, please.
