Do you have a wedding coming up or some family celebration planned? You’ll obviously want entertainment to complete the big day and could well have your mind set on a live music band. The band booking game can be pretty ruthless – that’s because the best ones can only be in one place at any one time.
When you secure a hire band of your choice ask them to secure the date and immediately send a letter of confirmation. You need a firm, ‘all in’ quote but be prepared to pay at least £100 holding deposit.
How much you might pay for a hire band
Of course how much you end up paying for a hire band will vary depending on the number of musicians involved, their travel costs, accommodation and the quality of their reputation. There are duos and band formats to fit almost all budgets and while many a good hire band is based in UK towns and cities they can provide wedding entertainment to a host in far-flung locations.
A top hire band based in London and amassing popularity in the capital as well as all over the UK is SensationBand. They keep the action on the dance floor moving, with their own special range of hit cover versions. These multi-talented musicians have played with some of the top names in the entertainment business, including Lily Allen and the late pop legend Amy Winehouse. To find out more about SensationBand and other top event bands in the London area, just Google ‘hire band London.’
Professional musicians and singers in SensationBand
For the right private venue they’ll happily go anywhere, in the UK or worldwide. On the UK mainland and outside of the capital the talented professional musicians and singers in the SensationBand have appeared at private gigs in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, West Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, Brighton.
The fact is that unless you are still in a pram (unlikely then that you’ll be reading this anyway!) or you and your guests have bus freedom passes, you’ll want your hire band to cover a broad age-range. Go for a live band that plays your preferred style of music but make sure they have the ability and versatility to keep everyone happy. It’s important to know how many musicians you want or, very importantly, how many the venue can accommodate. Usually a four piece band can recreate all the top favourites to a standard that’s close to the original. If you’re more of a pop fan, you may want to request a few more instruments.
If you need longer performances
Obviously you’ll want to establish how long the hire band can play for. The standard is usually two hourly sets with a break in the middle or three 40 minute ones. Most bands will fill the breaks with MP3 or CD music through their PA system. If you need longer performances from the hire band, be sure to check that their set list and repertoire has enough songs to cover that extra time. A handy guide is: an hour of live music is about 15 songs.
And that first dance? Well, most live bands will do it for free if it’s just one number and you give them adequate notice.