We've been struggling with opening acts for a while now. Anybody else having issues? Last couple of big shows we've done we've had terrible opening acts. Last night we had another one. Some solo guitar dude, telling his life story between songs, which is synonymous with totally sucking the air out of the room. And the guy went long. Then he took 30 minutes to clear the stage. By the time he was done it was 9:30 and we still needed to set up a six-piece. Guys did a great job and we were playing by 10, but it took half the first set to put some energy back in the room.
Club owner apologized but I think I'm going to start being a bit more of and SOB when it comes to opening acts. It will be clear to the venue owners that we play from time A to B, and if you choose to put up an opener and they go long - we still end at B or we tack on an extra $300. I'm done getting home at 3AM because of a bad opener. I figure most of the openers are poorly paid, (if at all!) and once the venues see that it's a bad value to let them run over the issue will stop. If a club gets their panties in a bunch, we don't need them. We're already turning down a lot of work.
I don't mind at all letting up and coming bands or artists get a chance to showcase, but lately they are either disrespectful or maybe just are so clueless they don't get it. Since the offenders are usually millennials I'm pretty much going with option 1.
Anybody else having similar experiences?