concert on the beach

[christiannokes]

I am trying to find a way to put on a concert outdoors with camping and stuff. I live in Northern California and I was hopin to have it within a couple hours drive. few hundred people will come. HELP

[;ivlunsdystf]

What do you lack that you need? Is it a power supply problem? Do you need bands? Permits? Are you in prison or something?

[jmiller]

First thing you should do is call the city that the beach is in and find out the legalities of doing such a thing. You will need permits, for starters. There may also be requirements that you provide adequate bathrooms, as well as security, etc, depending on how many people.

If you try and bypass the legal process, you could have cops showing up busting people and shutting everything down. That is the best case scenario (aside from everything going off without a hitch, of course). Worst case scenario is riot gear and tear gas, which I've seen happen, and is very ugly. And they will give you a nasty fine and possible jail time in either case.

I guess it all depends on the mood of the city and their police, but you're not likely to have a concert outdoors with a few hundred people without the fuzz finding out.

"A ghrriot... ist a vary uugly ting..."

[mwingerski]

That's a tall order if you want it to be any good... the permit is one thing. Getting a sound company that will put stuff on a sandy beach is a whole other thing.

Here's what you'll need (at least)

1. A stage (probably about 500-700 bucks) if you don't want it to not have holes in it or be unlevel and thus subject you to hurting people or breaking their gear.

2. A PA (probably at least 2000 for a few hundred people) if you want people to hear it on a windy beach and have monitors so the performers can hear themselves.

3. Tents for backstage 150-200 a piece (so gear doesn't get rained on or stolen or whatever)

4. Toilets. at least 100 bucks per toilet with delivery charges added in as well (So people don't pee on the beach, racking up HUGE fines)

5. Somebody to run all the stuff

6. Water and food for people working..

7. Permits and Parking stuff setup with the local govt. Permit prices are all over the map and probably require some sort of local govt council meeting to get input from nearby residents. If it's a park, you'll need to meet with a group of commissioners.

8. Security people to make sure stuff doesn't get stolen (and thus leave you liable)

9. A quiet generator (probably around 450 or more per day plus fuel) that will power an actual PA and lights

10. Oh yes... lights... probably need some of those... Stage lights, work lights

11. Trash and recycling...

that's probably a start. If you haven't run a concert before, it's probably a good idea to try working as a stage hand on a local production or something. It's a difficult business to be in and the headaches from government agencies are just the beginning. San Francisco just cancelled the North beach Jazz Festival this year due to a very unpleasant Rec and Parks commission. That's before you even start dealing with the costs of permitting (local gov't's love to make up for budget shortfalls through their permitting process)

Good luck with it though. I don't know if I've ever heard of anybody doing a concert on the beach before around Northern California. Might be fun, but I imagine there's a reason it hasn't been done...

[ctmsound]

There's a reason.... It's colder than shit in the evening!

[jmiller]

Event Production is an entire industry based on this kinda shit. If you're going to have 'Waynestock' on the beach it's going to take a lot more than borrowing a band's P.A. and printing flyers. This kind of stuff takes tons of effort and planning, and is best handled by professionals. Nay, a TEAM of professionals.

I actually cut my teeth working for an event production company. Every year we used to to a HUGE show at a very ritzy beach club in santa monica. During those shows I came to the conclusion that there is a room in hell dedicated to humanity's worst specimens, in which you are forced to lug multiple rolls of 100ft socapex cable across a sandy beach.

You can't just use a little 70 dollar generator from home depot, either. If you've ever seen the generators they use on film shoots, those are the kind of generators needed for these kinds of jobs:

They aren't cheap, and they usually come with a "specialist". You don't just rent one yourself.

Of course, no one's stopping you from just grabbing what you can and getting the word out and throwing a kickass guerilla style concert. But, the penalties can be pretty severe, and I personally wouldn't risk it. However, if this doing this kind of thing appeals to you, maybe you have a good career in event production waiting for you.