House concerts - ever been?

Cafe Society
#1

No, I’m not talking about concerts featuring “house” music - whatever exactly that is! :wink:

I’m talking about concerts of any type of music in people’s houses.
Last night we saw [url=http://www.alanjabbour.com/]this guy** in some peoples’ basement. My wife and (to a lesser extent) I are somewhat involved in the local folk scene. Mostly as fans, tho we both play a little. Occasionally when a musician comes to town for a concert or something, the day before or after they will put on a show in someone’s house. We’ve been to maybe 5 so far.

Even when I’m not particularly thrilled with a specific performer, I just LOVE the whole concept and environment of these things. Last night there were maybe 25 people sitting in a suburban basement, listening to worldclass live music. Had the opportunity to talk with the performers before and after. They sold and signed CDs and instruction books, and afterwards participated in a jam session. All that and they had homemade cookies! :cool:

Hard to beat that for a $10 donation.

It is so cool that people are willing to open up their homes to strangers in this manner, all out of their love for music. If you have never been to this type of thing before, I strongly urge you to check it out. It really is a neat experience!

#2

I took a vocal harmony class at the Old Town School a few years back, and the teacher held a house concert/party at the end. All ehr students, plus a few pros, performed, plus we did a huge potluck. It was a blast!

Sadly, she moved to the East Coast, and now I’m not looped into that scene anymore.

#3

House concerts are great! My husband is a folkie and we have been talking to some people locally about setting up house concerts. As near as I can find, there are only a couple places in Iowa that say they have house concerts, but neither are actually in a house - both are at regualr venues.

We used to go to a fair number of them in California. I know some people who sued do do them as a dinner club - about a dozen couples would sponsor the musician ($15/person plus dinner and, if the musician was traveling, room and breakfast) and they’d all have a big potluck dinner with wine and merriment after the concert. Different couples would have it at their house throughout the year. I’d love to find enough people to do that.

Don’t know what a house concert is? Check out this site:

#4

I’ve not only been to several house concerts, I hosted one for this guy. What an awesome time we had. 40 or so people in our back yard listening to an amazing musician. He played for a couple of hours or so.

We didn’t charge admission, and I bought a keg of beer for the assembled crowd. I put a jar out in front of the keg with a sign that said “For Beer and Music.” I collected enough to pay for the keg and the rest went to Geoff (about $150). He met and greeted the crowd and probably sold $600 - $700 worth of cds.

House concerts rock!

#5

Been to a few. It’s a completely different experience than any bar or club, and much better than even the most music-friendly one of them. Because they are all about selling alcohol. Most house concerts I’ve been to either had no alcohol, or very limited consumption. So there are no noisy louts talking to their loutish friends while you’re trying to listen to the music. It’s a better deal for the musicians as well. If they’re not famous enough to draw hundreds at each venue, they’ll make more from the house concert.

#6

I few years ago, I found out that a musician I like (John Wesley Harding) was giving a concert in Wellesley. When I got there, it turned out to be in the front room of a sorority at Wellesley College. Opening for him was Ellis Paul. And I got the phone number of a wicked cute redhead.

Good show.

#7

Yes, several. They’re awesome.

#8

In my band management days I used to encourage them to play low key things like house parties or dances at local psychiatric hospitals. I guess I would have hawked them to frats if they were big here. I got them to treat it as an opportunity to polish up stuff and make a few new fans.

#9

Hosted several when we had a couple of acres way out in the country. It’s fun and some of those people play for a very small payday.

#10

Cool! Knew I wasn’t the ony one who enjoyed these. (And isn’t it curious that most of the posters to this thread are posters whose name I like to see in threads I open!) :wink:

Eva, Old Town is certainly the pinnacle - Al Jabbour had played at a gig related to them the day before. But there are countless subsidiary groups in the area. Let me know if you ever want to get notified of such things. Tho most of my connections are in the western burbs like Batavia, Naperville, …

There are groups that like to sing as well, tho that isn’t my thing.