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What is a house concert? Well, it is a concert, that is in or around your house. There are many variations, some folks host local musicians; ours feature touring artists who are coming through the Chicago area. Sometimes they are parties, potluck affairs, or more simple gatherings. Why are house concerts good? House concerts are that rare bird- a win/win/win situation. Artist, audience, and host all end up on the plus side. Artists: get to play for an attentive audience, many of whom may not have known of their music before, and in the process become new fans. They can sell a lot of merchandise to said new fans. They get a decent payday, often more than they might make at a small venue in a new (to them) town. They are often invited to spend the night at the host house, getting a good night’s sleep, shower, home cooking, laundry, friendly conviviality-things that can be rare on the road, and all for free. Audience: get to experience new music, in an intimate setting, often without driving far or worrying about parking, without people chattering throughout the show, interact with the artist, all for a relatively modest donation to the artist (perhaps $10-$20, which is the suggested donation at our shows). Host: Get to make the universe a better place. Bringing new music to your community is a valuable social good, as is supporting artists. You get to interact with interesting, smart, creative and sincerely good people. We have found that the artists who are out there trying to make it work are, by definition, completely committed to their craft (they are certainly not in it for the dough these days) and this makes them a fascinating group of people. We are very grateful have gotten to spend time with them and now consider many of them our friends (not completely sure how they feel about us). Do you want to go to house concerts? They very likely exist in your area, but you might have to dig a little. Ask around. Look on the facebook etc. Here’s the thing: you may at first feel that you have to know the secret password or be friends with the right person to get invited. False. Every house concert host I know is always welcoming (and actively looking for) more audience members to make their shows successful. So don’t be shy about asking in! If you follow certain artists and see on their tour schedule something like “house concert, Sheboygan WI”, then reach out to the artist via socials and ask for details, they will likely be happy to put you in touch with the host. Or if the listing says “Awesome House Concert Series Inc. Show, Sheboygan WI” then do a google search for Awesome House Concert Series and reach out. They will be glad you did. You will have a blast, and make some new friends who have a shared interest with you. Do you want to host concerts? Yes, you do. How? Well, when I first was curious, I asked our musician daughter Lucy how to have a house concert. Her answer-“You ask a band if they want to play in your house. Then you invite your friends.” Kids say the darndest things don’t they? Turns out she was correct. Here is the story of our first house show: Lucy had friends in the Pittsburgh band The Commonheart. She asked if the band could stay with us for a couple nights while they had shows in Chicago and Milwaukee. As recent empty nesters, we happily said yes, sounds fun. Then she told us they were an 11 piece band. Anyway they had an extra day in between shows. So we asked if they wanted to play a show in our living room. They said sure. So we sent a mass email out to a bunch of neighbors, and two days later 40 people showed up, they brought some drinks and threw some dollars in the tip bucket, and we had a rockin good time. The awesome folks in The Commonheart are our pals still, and sometimes some of them stay with us when they are in town (our eventual downsizing limits our band housing to <10 people). That was our start, from there I just started reaching out to bands that I found out about via Spotify or music festivals or word of mouth, and if we could find a mutually agreeable date we had a gig. And here is another thing I learned: there are a lot of people in your community, some who may live two doors down, who are big music appreciators of one kind or another, and you have no idea. Once people find out you are doing a project like this, they will want to come. You will make new friends, find common ground with neighbors and community members who were right under your nose all along. (Right Clif?) There are many ways people go about hosting shows. Small and simple, acoustic sit on the living room floor things, bigger productions. Our approach is to offer people an easy, fast, painless way to experience some new music. So our shows are one set, 50-60 minutes. Guests can come for the show, maybe chat with the artist, buy some merch, and be on their way without a big time commitment. And without us worrying about feeding them a meal or putting up with them for too long. I am happy to discuss further the details of hosting shows if you are curious. You can do it! I can tell you that the artists we work with would love to have more folks out there doing this. Remember it is a win/win/win-the triangle of power. And triangle wins.
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