playing at six flags, what do you think?

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Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

So, my band has been invited to perform at Six Flags as part of their "live and local" initiative. This is where they find local bands who are willing to perform some sets at a venue that might be a little larger than they're used to hitting.

The caveat? It's unpaid.

I searched around the internet to make sure someone had talked about it publically before talking about it here, so you can see the basic setup here:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=386962948&blogId=481965766

Basically you perform for 90 minutes
you get the run of the park for free (about $40 or so value, I think tickets are)
You can sell merch.
you can eat in the employee area for a discount.

The cons: You can't get your family in for free
it's unpaid
they want us to perform on St. Patrick's Day, which is when Irish bands usually make a ton of money.

Looking at youtube for live and local performances, it looks like the stages may hold about 500-600 people for the audience which is the biggest crowd my band has performed at, but not the biggest crowd I've performed for. I've played for about 3000 people once.

I'm disinclined to do it, personally. It's on a work day, it's for no pay, and I'm 40 years old and don't really care about riding free roller coasters in exchange for my sweat equity. What do you guys think?
 
C

Chibibar

well... you were talking about exposure. Here is the thing, do the park "charge" any fee for your merch? you said you need new "blood" to sell more CDs and such and have a following.

I think this might be a good venue (unpaid which sucks) but would it get you more exposure and do you think you can sell more CDs?
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

we get to keep 100% of the merch money.
We might sell a few CD's.

But honestly, I don't expect to get a lot of new fans at Six Flags. Especially on a work night. Mostly six flags is teenager types, and they're not really our core audience.
 
C

Chibibar

Tinwhistler said:
we get to keep 100% of the merch money.
We might sell a few CD's.

But honestly, I don't expect to get a lot of new fans at Six Flags. Especially on a work night. Mostly six flags is teenager types, and they're not really our core audience.
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If that is the case, then you might not want to. I don't know how to sample audience. You be surprise what music kids listen to (well they do change taste a lot) but here is another question, would you get more exposure or would this "open" new doors to better gigs? My friends use to be in a band (but they broken up to two different bands) and sometimes they play "crap" gigs, but it did open new doors for them so kinda of a toss up.

Basically is there an opportunity possibility for this gig? 90 minutes is pretty long without pay, what does the rest of your band mates think?
 
W

WolfOfOdin

Six Flags is the devil itself...

-7 years as management at Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey
 
Baerdog

Baerdog

You know, I've always thought that working at a place where people go to have fun would probably be no fun at all.

Tin, you seem to have already made your decision about whether or not to perform at Six Flags. It seems to me like getting a St. Patty's Day gig somewhere else (that pays) might be a better bet for you.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

While exposure is always awesome, unless you feel like there's a reasonable expectation to make money through merch or use the exposure to move up the food chain, I'm not sure there's a strong upside to this gig.

If you were a pop band, that would be one thing, but as you've pointed out, you're really really not.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Baerdog7 said:
You know, I've always thought that working at a place where people go to have fun would probably be no fun at all.

Tin, you seem to have already made your decision about whether or not to perform at Six Flags. It seems to me like getting a St. Patty's Day gig somewhere else (that pays) might be a better bet for you.
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Yup, my mind was already mostly made up. I just wanted to throw it out there and see if someone saw an angle I was missing.
 
W

WolfOfOdin

Aside from my violent hatred of working as a senior supervisor for the Games Dept of SFGA, I'll give you one bit of advice. That is, be prepared for the park to hamstring you every step of the way. This even is for them to draw in the 'omg local is awesome' crowd in a very cynical, self-serving way. Food prices, already astronomical will spike dramatically around this and your family may end up paying more than they should to eat....so smuggle in food, if at all possible.

Also, Six Flags is...technically a 'family' operation, so expect any songs of yours that aren't *ahem* family friendly, to heavily edited upon request, or you will be asked to not play them at all.
 
J

JONJONAUG

WolfOfOdin said:
Six Flags is the devil itself...

-7 years as management at Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey
Click to expand...
Really?

Man I used to have season passes there. Loved it. Didn't like some of the changes made in park operation before leaving for college though (increased prices on everything in the park and fast lane changing from "a nice freebie for people who are willing to get to the park early and season pass holders" to "all your money for being given a ticket to come back in an hour to get on the ride").

If you still work there, do they still go all out for the whole Fright Fest thing, with the guys running around with the fake chainsaws and threatening passerby and the witch burnings?
 
W

WolfOfOdin

I haven't been back since I quit in a rather spectacular fashion.

I'll be more clear. I worked for the Games Department and had power over one side of the park's games operations (The side with Nitro/Batman). I was constantly, horribly short staffed and expected to make things run perfectly with 23 less employees than I should have had. Besides that, I was more or less told if I didn't do a 16 hour a day shift, 6 days a week with no break on any day, I would be fired immediately...and since I was technically 'seasonal' since I was senior management but not salaried, they were allowed to do that at the drop of a hat.

I was also disgusted with how they treated their international workers, some of whom were the kindest people I've ever met, and were treated as little more than slave labor. To wit, my boss once told two Russian employees speaking their native language to each other, in order to better understand how X game worked "Cut the stupid monkey-talk, we speak english here" and was never taken to task for that.
 
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