By searching on the Internet you’ll find are hundreds of wedding, party and function bands in London and spread throughout the UK each with their own websites packed full of information and visuals to attract in would be new clients.
With so many bands to hire, how do you ensure that you get the right live band for your wedding reception or party gig? There are a number of important things to consider when booking bands to hire. Find the right bands to hire in London and the UK by using our simple three-point guide.
A guide to bands to hire
Those main criteria are:
- Keep your options open – consider as many bands as possible. The more bands you research, easily so on the Internet of course, the more obvious it will become that some are more suitable for your event than others. Many bands have a specific style of music, a set length of performance or will only work a certain area of the country – usually where they’re based of course. You have to trust your gut instinct to a certain extent, provided that the package offered by those bands to hire which appeal covers everything you need. If their website or printed publicity has all the information needed to demonstrate they are a professional and versatile band musically, then you’re onto a winner.
Before you make a decision..
But please, always check the details of the package on offer before making a decision. There are certain bands to hire who can be a bit crafty with their pricing and deliberately make things a bit difficult to establish what’s what. Give yourself a deadline to make a decision on those you review and draw up a shortlist. If you don’t the quest will just drift on and you could run out of precious time. The other two guide points are:
- Establish just what is included in the booking package. Make sure there are no hidden extras. A very off the cuff cheap quote may not cover all you want to include for your big event entertainment. The provision of speakers and lighting should of course be standard to any deal, never extras. You don’t want any surprises either from added on charges for travel expenses to the venue by bands to hire. These too should be included in an all-in quote. Will the band take requests from their song list, or perform a first dance if they are booked as, say, a wedding band? You must have a written contract to safeguard you from all eventualities.
- Check that the band meets the requirements and rules of the venue. This can include things like electrical equipment being professionally ‘PAT’ tested, public liability insurance and noise limitations. You could be on sticky ground if the one you eventually selected from your list of bands to hire when you discovered too late that they didn’t have the right official paperwork and couldn’t perform. Noise levels can also be a difficult one. The venue could have a power cut-off when the noise reached a certain level and, say, the rock band you booked is used to taking things to the max. Suddenly, there would be no power and so no more live music! Most professional bands to hire should have the correct documentation and experience but, please, it really is always worth checking well beforehand.