Is breaking down RUDE?

[kskreider]

I am going to tape a couple of acts on Thursday and I just listened to some mp3's online of the headliner.   

I was asked to tape band #1 so they can use it as a demo.  I was asked to tape band #2 for a project that I am working on.  Would it be bad to tape the first two bands, break down, and high-tail it home before band #3 hit the stage??  Bad form? 

Can somone give me some snappy quips to spew if asked why I am leaving?  Something like, "Sorry guys, I have to wash my hair...big day tomorrow!"   

[terrapinj]

if you can break down while the bands are transitioning you can likely escape unnoticed - if not fuck it if the band sucks you likely won't be seeing them again

[Brian Skalinder]

Break down.  I doubt anyone'll say boo.  And if they do, just say you have other plans or have to get up early the next morning, or some such.

[poorlyconditioned]

Break down.  I doubt anyone'll say boo.  And if they do, just say you have other plans or have to get up early the next morning, or some such.

Just say you've been "hired" (well, really just asked) to tape the first two bands.

  Richard

[1st set only]

I break down after the first set all the time with my fav band.

[nickgregory]

I have broken down during sets when bands suck....I wouldnt recommend that....

[JasonSobel]

I break down after the first set all the time with my fav band.

and that's why you miss all the good stuff that happens in set 2

but, to stay on-topic here.  I've been asked to tape an opening band before, and I broke down between sets with no problems, no guilty feelings.  In fact, the only reason why they "main" band even noticed was because my mics were clamped to the ceiling and I was standing on a bar stool 5 feet from the stage taking my mics down.  Don't worry about it.

[todd e]

if you'd like an easier way out, simply looked baffled ans say your batteries have died...
that way, they will understand it's not because they sux (or you thinking they sux) and then they can save face.

artful disguise..

(i've done it too and you're right to ask for some advice, as you'll be approached)

[pfife]

Maybe the MP3s suck compared to the live show?  Just a thought...

I always hate tearing down between bands, cause it can send a mean message, but sometimes I don't have a choice...

[SparkE!]

Tell them that your wife is about to conceive your first child and you want to be there when it happens.

(A friend of mine actually blurted this out at the airline ticket counter when he was trying to get home for the birth of his first child.  The airline counter attendant smiled and said, "I'll bet you would like to be there!")

[OFOTD]

What is the difference between you taping and wanting to leave before the headliner and you being just another regular patron of the bar wanting to leave?   

I feel absloutely no remorse about coming and going as I please.   

[Ed.]

time is valuable.  why waste it on a band you don't like?

[vince]

I think you are right to be sensitive to how this would be perceived. Certainly you have a "right" to do anything you want but, (I only speak for myself here) "We" record bands at their pleasure and the pleasure of the venue so cultivating good relationships with these folks can only help the cause of tapers in general. I am new here and to recording in general but not new to live music scenes and I would probably remember it if you split before I performed after taping the 2 acts before me so having something positive to say would certainly help you remain in the good graces of the house, audience, and artists involved if it appeared that you werent leaving because you thought they sucked....What goes around...comes around.

Vince

[ethan]

I am going to tape a couple of acts on Thursday and I just listened to some mp3's online of the headliner.   

I was asked to tape band #1 so they can use it as a demo.  I was asked to tape band #2 for a project that I am working on.  Would it be bad to tape the first two bands, break down, and high-tail it home before band #3 hit the stage??  Bad form? 

Can somone give me some snappy quips to spew if asked why I am leaving?  Something like, "Sorry guys, I have to wash my hair...big day tomorrow!"   

Reminds me of a time I showed up to tape just the opener...while setting up some guy comes up to me and asks if I'm taping Ordinary K (headliner) and I go  "No I'm just here for the Opener"...turns out the guy was the lead singer of Ordinary K....for like a year when ever that guy saw me he'd haze me for that...it was pretty funny...Ordinary K turned out to be a pretty decent band they moved to NYC a few years ago....can't remember who the opener was

[rustoleum]

I see no problem with it... In my opinion there's no point taping a band that I'll never listen to again... unless they want to pay me.

just run your own stand... I've had people clamped on to my stand decide to leave in the middle of the set... I didn't think that was very cool to be breaking down mid-set and possibly messing up my recording in the process.