Why You Want a House Concert:

It’s a really nice way to hear live music: you don’t have to go out and drive to a venue, buy overpriced drinks, compete for seats or pay extortionate prices. You know everyone else in the audience, you don’t have to drive home afterwards and, perhaps most importantly, you hear the artist in an intimate setting, can talk to them about their music and probably hear what they sound like just playing live and acoustic more clearly than you might in most other venues. You get to experience the music with the performers playing right in your living room, which is not often a chance that people get!

On the social side of things, it’s a great way to have a party – there’s plenty to talk about in the interval and afterwards, so it provides a focal point for a social occasion.

Another very important thing is that it completely bypasses the music industry, which is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller acts playing original material to work in. Music venue owners want to make money and are afraid to take a risk on an act that may be excellent but they haven’t heard of, or don’t play enough covers or don’t sound mainstream enough. It’s very hard to get bookings at music venues if you have anything new to say – people only want to hear what they have already heard before.

But if you want to hear something new and thought provoking, and help to build an infrastructure that allows good music to survive in spite of the industry’s insistence on dumbing everything down to three chord middle-of-the-road pop songs, then book us for a house concert!

Things People Worry About:

In our experience, these are the few small issues that have arisen and that you might want to think about:

1. Food and drink
If you are hosting the concert you may not want to spend lots of money providing food and drink for the guests. Some people provide wine and small bowls of nibbles; others just ask their guests to bring their own drinks – even their own glasses if you don’t have enough! Pillowfish concerts are usually best enjoyed in the presence of alcohol, but it’s not essential [apart from for us…].

2. Seating
If you’re having a concert in your living room, using sofas/armchairs plus kitchen chairs usually provides seating for 10-15 people. If this isn’t going to be enough you may need to ask a few people to bring extra things to sit on – deckchairs, cushions on the floor etc. – as long as you plan this in advance it usually works out fine!

3. How many people, and how much to charge?
We have played house concerts to audiences as small as 8 and as large as 35, and people usually pay between £5 and £10. The important thing to remember is that we are professional musicians making a living, and have put years and years into learning to play the music that you hear for just a few hours. But if your friends aren’t very wealthy then equally we don’t want to overcharge. One idea is to collect donations with a suggested amount which people can use as a guideline, but don’t necessarily have to stick to.

4. Music licensing
As this is a private event, by invitation only, there are no licenses required and it is completely legal.

5. Too noisy?
We play acoustically at house concerts, so the noise levels should not disturb people. If you share a wall with neighbours you may want to check first – or just invite them to the concert!

6. How long is the concert?
This is, to an extent, up to you: in the past we’ve played up to two hours with a break in the middle. Some people like an hour for the first set and then half an hour for the second; some like two sets of 45 minutes. We can tailor it to suit how late your friends want to stay up!