Slingin' drinks

We have served in a variety of roles as concert volunteers at the C2G Music Hall (now the Baker Street Centre). Most of the time we work the front ticket counter or "Gold Circle" seating. Saturday was our first night working behind the bar!

It actually was work.

The show started at 7:30pm, doors opened at 6:30, and we arrived to set up the bar area at 5:30. Fortunately one of the regular servers was there to help us get acclimated. From the minute the doors opened until the encore started (10-ish) we were busy serving drinks without much break. Then we got to clean up afterward! It really made the night go fast, though I was a little disappointed we didn't get to watch more of the show or visit with more people. Not all concerts will be this busy though.

This was a better than normal crowd, as far as number of people and drinkers.

Fleetwood Gold is a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, and they have a pretty good following. This was their second time here, and both shows brought in over 300 in attendance. I have no idea what that translates to for bar sales, but I do know we each brought home around $75 in cash tips, and we have yet to receive our credit card tips. And that was just our cut (bar backs also share tips)!

It was fun.

I really enjoy working these concerts, and this venue in particular. Being behind the bar was no different. Fortunately the bar is situated such that we can not only hear the band, but see them as well. I'm also glad there are no mixed drinks to worry about. It's just pouring bottled beer or wine into plastic cups and taking money or card payments. And we poured A LOT! We also ran out of quite a bit. The white wines were gone almost by the time the show started, and we ended up also running out of Miller Lite and Yuengling (and seems like something else).

The only negative (which wasn't terribly negative)... Apparently since it was our first time and a bigger crowd, they had asked another couple who sometimes bartend to be there "just in case." They are super nice, but it tended to get a little crowded when they would "help." They mostly stayed out of the way, but at one point I felt like I couldn't move without running into someone. Plus we only have two credit card machines and cash drawers. Again, it wasn't terrible, but just seemed unnecessary. I thought we were handling things fine by ourselves. Whatever.

So, I don't know how often we will serve in this role, but I'm glad we got this one under our belt. I missed seeing people as they came and went, but it was an overall positive experience, and we made some money too!! I also like this band. Turns out their guitarist just became the lead singer for Earth, Wind and Fire!