“Show Time” A major Issue in the HMI

10pm is the start time you will see on the majority of flyers and tickets sold for major performances and events. It has been known for guest to arrive at the venue only to find the promoter his or her staff, the staff of the venue and sound crew. After puzzled guest asking where is the band? Why hasn’t the party started? What the hell is going on?

For years this has been the norm. Several managers, venue owners and media have discussed this problem behind close doors and have worked to improve the situation. Hence this issue repeats itself periodically causing the consumer the partygoer to stop supporting the HMI.

“no respect for time”.

The problem will always exist when there is “no respect for time”. Example if doors open at 8pm and the event is to start at 10pm. The venue has been preparing all day or perhaps a couple of days prior to host the event. Its staff must arrive on time to prepare to receive its guest. In this case the problem is not with the venue. Sound is the key factor of the event. Let’s face it if you don’t have good quality sound, you don’t have an event. Sound cannot be put together in a matter of minutes. Sound arrives before venue doors open to its guest. An installation plan is followed and setup. Lets take a look at the promoter. If the event starts at 10pm professionally the promoter should arrive two hours or one and a half before time to prepare by pre-checking the venue making sure that everything is as advertised and acceptable to his or her supporting guest. Hmmmm so far it’s not the venue, sound nor the promoter.

Although sound is on location on time, Sound check cannot be performed without musicians. The event starts at 10pm technically at 9pm all musicians should be present on location plugged in with their instruments checking sound so that the Sound Engineer can make the required adjustments if necessary. However an hour prior to the event it is rare to see the musician present.

“Superstar Complex”

“Superstar Complex” comes into play that he or she should make a grand entrance. The poporatzi and fans should be at the door capturing the entrance of the Superstar. Hence what the musician doesn’t realize is that it is unprofessional to arrive after the advertised time and perform sound check in front of its audience. The Fan aka the consumer begins to question himself or herself “What were they doing all day”?

We can’t always blame the musicians. Some bands, musicians, and solo artist practice at times for months, weeks and days for a event seeking perfection. Only to arrive at a venue perform sound check and are now awaiting their audience. Which is how it should be. However you have some guest that state they are not arriving at 10pm because they want to arrive in the middle when the groove of the event is in action. In this case we must look at the consumer.

Let’s face it if you were going to a Broadway musical if curtain time is at 8pm you arrive at forty five to thirty minutes ahead of time to be seated. You wouldn’t dare arrive late you will miss something. You wouldn’t arrive to a movie late sometimes it is crucial to see the beginning or you wouldn’t understand the movie. It’s the same if you were to travel if you have a flight; you arrive prior to departure time so that you can go through check in. If not you will watch the plane take off with out you. So why not be on time for an event? After all, the consumer is paying for a live performance that starts at 10pm – 4am, why not arrive on time to see start to finish and get your monies worth?

It all balls down to “Respect” from all parties, venue, sound, and musician/artist and last the consumer. This will always be a struggle if proper time management is not applied and followed. If the venue or the promoter charged each other a late fee either or would never be late. If the promoter charged a late fee to be deducted, I guarantee musicians/artist and members of the band will arrive on time. Last if the consumer began to demand their money back and leave if the advertised start time wasn’t honored, again I guarantee all required to make the evening possible will be present. Without the partygoer/consumer there is no event. It’s a cycle in order for an event to be successful all parties involved must respect the advertised start time.

Written by Chantal Laventure