THE GIBBONSES HOUSE CONCERT HOST GUIDE!
Hey there, Jackie Gibbons here with The Gibbonses! We’re so happy that you’re interested in hosting a House Concert. These shows are – by far – the most memorable and rewarding concerts for all parties involved & we hope you’re as excited as we are about planning this event together!
This guide will take you step-by-step through the process of organizing and hosting a successful House Concert. Please read through thoroughly when you have a few focused minutes!
Keep in Mind – This guide was written based on personal experience from our first season touring and learning through trial and error. While you may feel like it’s overly regulated and question if this format is actually a good fit for you and your friends; don’t worry, EVERY host has that same instinct and EVERY SINGLE host tells us post-show how unbelievably grateful they were that we did it in this way. It’s vital that you have complete trust in the idea that we REALLY DO KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING AND YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! ;)
THE “HOUSE”!
So, the “house” doesn’t really have to be a house at all. It can be an apartment or backyard; a warehouse or barn; even a local theatre or art gallery if you’re that cool! Point is; it can be any space that you have access to with electricity where you & your friends can comfortably sit & enjoy the concert.
The only requirement for the space is that everyone in attendance is able to gather in the same space, seated, for the entirety of the hour-long concert! THAT’S IT!
If you’re worried about having enough chairs; blankets and pillows for the younger folks in the front row can workTHE great GUESTS for extra LIST seating! options!
In order to ‘set the stage’ for a successful evening, we ask that you have a minimum of 20 adults in attendance. With this style of performance the event just doesn’t have the same excitement in the air when there are less than 20. If you aren’t sure you’ll be able to get 20 adults to come on your own, consider “co-hosting” the show with a friend who also has a group of people to invite.
Speaking from experience; making sure there is a minimum of 20 guests at the event usually
means the host needs to invite double the number of people. So if you’re aiming for 20, invite 40 ...and don’t worry…There is NO maximum amount for us! We can handle crowds of hundreds if you’re that popular and have the space and seats!! ;)
Adults only, please & thank you! (Don’t freak out, here me out!)
Because we are aiming to create and maintain an incredibly unique and focused environment much like a Listening Room or theater show, we ask that there be no young kids in attendance for the duration of the one-hour show! We had plenty of personal experiences in our first few shows to come to this conclusion. Long story short, a kid broke his arm on a see-saw 2 feet in front of us in the middle of the show and it caused quite the scene (obviously) and was a total buzz kill for everyone.
We will trust you to know which little ones will be well behaved and let mommy, daddy, & everyone around them enjoy the show but we’ve found that the general age for a well behaved nugget is around 10 years old.
If you have kids, or if you have friends who want to come but couldn’t because of their little ones,
one suggestion would be to hire a sitter just for the one-hour show where the kids can play in a
physically & acoustically separate space. They are of course more than welcome to hang out with everyone before and after the performance and we sure hope they do. We LOVE kids!
THE INVITATIONS!
These House Concerts are donation based events and for this reason, we ask that in your invitations, you include the text in the purple paragraph below. Beyond that, you’re welcome to design and create your invites however you’d like but if that’s not your thing, I have a few templates you can steal. Oh, and be sure to include us: [email protected]!
We recommend that you send your invites out around 6 weeks prior to the show and if you and your friends are active on social media, please create a FB Event with all of the same information. We will work together on keeping the event active and exciting for your guests as the event approaches!
Please include the following:
“This will be a donation-based concert. Please come prepared to make a donation to the artist at the conclusion of the show.”
We choose not to specify a suggested donation amount for our House Concerts and here’s why:
1) We’ve found that we do better financially when people can donate what they are moved to in the moment, without any previous expectations.
2) If you have a guest who is cash-poor but a lover of music, we want them to be able to enjoy the experience without feeling any financial pressure! …Hey, we’re musicians, we get it. #TheRubbleIsReal
*If you would prefer not to ask your guests for donations and instead pay an up-front guarantee for the show, please let us know and we can discuss the fee and structure for a non-donation concert!*
You are welcome to provide refreshments for your guests, or ask everyone to bring a little something, pot- luck style, but this is entirely up to you, and is not a hosting requirement. When setting the time for your concert, note that we always start 1 hour after said time though we DO NOT announce that information publicly to your guests. This gives people just the right amount of time to arrive ‘fashionable late’, mingle & catch up, and of course get their eat and drink on if that’s part of the event.
P.S. Don’t forget to ask folks to RSPV. There is a much better turnout rate that way, as opposed to a more lax ‘stop by if you can’ approach!
CONCERT TIME!
SO - you’ve invited your peeps, RSPV’s are flowing in, and you’re ready for the show…want to know what it looks like? …This is the best part!!!
Brandon and I will arrive two hours before guests are scheduled to start arriving, in order to set up our equipment & merch table (we provide all that jazz!), do a soundcheck, and help you set up the chair placement.
*We set the chairs in an oval around our set-up pretty close to us and each other. We try to go long rather than deep to help create a close-nit environment. As people start arriving and setting up their own lawn chairs (if you ask them to bring those), it’s important that you ask them to move as close to the other chairs as possible or simply move them around yourself if they get to spread out and far from the group. This happens 99% of the time. It’s just human nature!)
BEFORE it gets too hectic, we will need a 10 minute private and focused pow-wow to go over some very important details to help with the overall flow!
Guests start arriving 1 hour before the concert begins. We will be mingling with them for the first half hour or so and then slip away to warm up and get in the zone!
5-10 minutes before the concert begins, I will personally go around to each guest with our playbills (Yes, we provide gorgeous playbills!) and will let them know that “We will begin in 5-10 minutes; the show is running about an hour so this is the time to use the restroom, fill up your cups or grab an extra beer and find yours seats. We encourage you to take photos and videos but we do ask that you turn your phones on silent!”
*Most people will be a bit thrown by all of this as they don’t expect such an official performance to be taking place. For this reason we will ask that you help us in getting folks to their concert chairs! One brilliant tactic that one couple did was that the husband was the first to sit and his friends followed suit and the wife politely waited for everyone to understand what’s happening and was the last to sit which was our cue to begin. If you have a person to tag-team with, we’d LOVE to steal this model for your concert as well!
Showtime – This is perhaps the MOST important detail of all: During the performance you are to remove your fabulous hostess-with-the-mostest hat and let us wear that for the next hour! You & your family will have reserved seats in the front row and will lead by example to help set the beautifully intimate tone for your friends. It will feel weird for the first few minutes but I ASSURE YOU, you will quickly LOVE getting to sit back and just experience the evening that you’ve worked hard to create, right alongside your friends.
As soon as we’ve played the last note of the concert (and you’ll know, don’t worry!), we ask that you come up front next to us with the donation jar and make your most enthusiastic donation announcement, which will go something like this:
“Thank you all for coming tonight. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. I want to remind you that this is a donation-based concert and this is how Jackie and Brandon make their living, living their dreams. I’m going to leave this jar right here and encourage you to give generously and show your appreciation for this hard working couple. Thanks again for being a part of what I hope was a truly unique musical experience!”
By this point your guests should be really receptive and super happy to be a part of supporting the unique and memorable event they’ve just experienced.
A few thoughts: Please don’t use words like “tips” or “gas money” at any point. This is literally how we make a living and people are much more inclined to support young hard working entrepreneurs rather than hippy music-makers! ;)
*One thing we’ve learned…
The success of the donations has a direct relationship to the enthusiasm of the speech the host
gives at the conclusion of the concert. We know asking for money is never comfortable so if this is something that’s weighing on you let’s chat about it more together!
Once the show is over, we will head to our merch table, sell merch, make friends for life, and everyone can continue to hang and drink as long as you’ll have them!
You, Brandon, and I will then sit around after we clean up and talk about what an incredible night was had by all until the sun comes up! ;)
NOW WHAT?
If all of the parameters outlined in this guide seem good to you, and you’d like to host a House Concert then the next step is to set up a Skype or Facetime meeting to get some information from you as well as answer any questions or concerns! Below are some examples of the type of info we will need!
o What city and state do you live in? o What is the space you have in mind for the concert? o Do you think you’ll be able to get a minimum of 20 adults to come? If YES, what is the total number of people you might expect (just do your best, I know that’s a tricky one to answer at this point) o Do you anticipate there will be children at the event? If YES, will you be able to provide a babysitter for the duration of the 1 hour show as well as a separate space? o Please provide all unavailable dates for the month you are interested in o What is the best email and phone number to reach you at?
As soon as we have a date or a list of possible dates selected for your House Concert, we’ll get back in touch to let you know what those are. If the date looks good, then we’ll book and confirm your House Concert!
We thank you in advance for your flexibility and trust in our vision. We can’t even WAIT to plan this event with you! Please feel free to contact us at any time with questions or concerns and to set up a meeting!
Jackie (& Brandon) Gibbons! The Gibbonses
817-832-3028 II [email protected] II www.thegibbonses.com