What to look for when booking a gig?

[jumpmaster]

I had never given this much thought before. I had been doing karaoke for many years before I stepped behind the rig. We had fun and that was that. Once in a while you'd get a heckler and the owner would warn him or her, and perhaps they'd be tossed. All in all, a lot of fun, and little danger.

I got in with a bar owner who was anxious to build a big crowd and I had great equipment, a lot of songs, and could DJ well as needed, he booked me a lot. It worked well for me as he advertised the gig well, in the paper and on the radio and we would even have live remotes from time to time.

We started getting fairly nice crowds, not too large, but ones that enjoyed karaoke and the dance music as well. One day we had an all day party going on and later in the evening things got ugly. Too many people, drinking too much and what's more the owner had hired bouncers who were just big and would work for peanuts. It turns out that the bouncers were a little afraid I think, and the owner didn't want to bounce anybody for fear of loosing some of the crowd. Now, the main portion of the crowd probably still to this day doesn't know there was a problem or how big it was. In the end, all turned worked out but it was touch and go for a while.

As a patron, if a situation would have developed, I could simply leave. But as the entertainment...leaving is not much of an option!

I now ask a few more security type questions, but get the usual "we never have any problems here" routine. Any suggestions as to how I can ensure that my show is safe and fun? Any do's and don'ts that work for anyone else?