Open Mic Nights: The ridiculous to the sublime

In the last post, I pointed out that for an open mic night to be successful there is a critical mass that combines the right number of musos, the right number of punters and the right amount of talent. The number of musos required is more or less the same each time – there are only so many hours to fill. Punter numbers are variables, mostly dictated by the size of the venue.

The OD’s evening enjoys a snug, fairly small pub, which makes it that much easier to hit the right numbers. To make an evening work in terms of musicians, any event needs at least five different acts with half an hour of material. This means each turn gets two goes and the evening is filled nicely. This, however, is only ten people at most. Not really enough to keep the bar staff busy. On top of this, there needs to be paying customers. OD’s is pretty full with about 50 people in it, so another ten people means you have sufficient to get the party started.

At The Plough last week, there were a good half a dozen people inside and another dozen outside. For OD’s this would have been good, but The Plough is that much bigger and you have to have a good 20 people inside the pub to spark things off… Okay, yes, I know, we only had four musos last week and one of them was a drummer, the second left after his set and the third was a singer. This kept me quite busy to say the least.

Last Thursday’s OD’s session saw ten acts show up (excluding Nick the Geetar, Skinny Hips Tomkins and me). A great number of good people turned up to listen and it was a blinder. I mean this, really. It was a great night. At least three people mentioned to me how high the level of talent was – and it was.

This brings me to a third factor – and in many ways the main reason for this blog. Another difference between OD’s and The Plough is the fact that OD’s (previously known as the Carpenter’s Arms) has had an open mic night on Thursday nights (with a few short breaks) since 2004. The various management over the years have stuck with it to the degree that musos and punters alike can be as certain that there will be a gathering in that place at that time as that the sun will rise in the morning.

The Plough session is new – very new. It is also a little off the beaten track. In order to give musos and punters alike the certainty that OD’s does, it needs to be around for a similar amount of time. I told East End Bob that he needs to give it six months at least (a message I know he has taken on board because he kept repeating it last week as he looked around his empty pub).

The thing about a tradition is that there is only one way to achieve it. Keep going!

Has East End Bob got the nerve? I’m not sure, but hopefully the six months he has given me will be enough to get a regular enough crowd along that can form the foundation of a tradition…