10 Days and 73 tickets - I’m not sweating 😅

June has somehow arrived and with it I find myself just 10 days out from my biggest show of the year. By some measures … ever.

The venue capacity is certainly more than any show I’ve put on.

The show? My DUMB HOPE Birthday Bash on June 13.

If you already HAVE tickets to the show - thank you btw.

Here are a few reasons I might be a little extra sweaty today.

I’m hiring 6 musicians, an opening act, a sound tech and a video and photo crew.

I’m renting a venue, renting sound and lights, running ads and putting up posters.

Artists don’t often talk about the money involved in what we do but I don’t think that mystery serves us well. So here you are …

This show will cost me about $3000 to produce.

Yeah I don’t like that number either.

At $30 a ticket, I need to sell 100 tickets to break even.

My goal? Sell 100 tickets.

Do I think it’s possible? For sure.

Do I think it’s a given? Absolutely not.

A few months back I waffled on doing a birthday show for my record DUMB HOPE at all. I wanted to celebrate in some way, but this was just such a huge undertaking.

Putting so much on the line is a big risk, and as I write this, we sit at 27 tickets sold.

So we’ve got 73 tickets to go.

Am I worried? Of course.

Am I REALLY worried? No. Not yet anyways.

First of all, early ticket sales are always low and this is likely the best pre-sale I’ve had for a show. People are SO last minute when it comes to shows (Why are you like this, people? Why must I lose more hair?)

I also believe this show will be worth doing even if I lose money on it. Sometimes we just need to do things – make things – try things for their own sake. We learn along the way. The people who DO get involved are impacted.

Playing with a 7-piece band is a really fun experience, and it is deeply rewarding for me emotionally. That’s worth something.

The video and photos from the night are going to be valuable for months to come.

The whole thing is also going to be recorded for broadcast on local CJSR radio for their SIDETRACKS concert series.

So there are reasons to invest in something like this.

I’d hoped to have some festival bookings for the band this year – but again, that hasn’t happened. My frustration with a seemingly endless corridor of closed industry doors continues to grow and drive me towards forging my own path (a topic for a whole other post). So I’m throwing my own big party, thank you very much.

All of this self-pep talk aside, it feels very good to fill the room.

So that’s my goal. Fill the room for June 13.

If you are in the Edmonton area, I hope you can be a part of that.

If you are elsewhere - thanks for your continued support from afar. You help me take big dumb risks like this 😄

In dumb hope,

(Dave) Von Bieker
⋈

PS. At least there’s no hockey game on June 13 🙂 If you don’t live in Edmonton it’s impossible to understand just how obsessed this city gets when we can smell the Stanley Cup. I’m so glad I don’t have to fight for that attention.