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Does anyone count how many gigs they’ve done?

P

PTB

Member
I’ve been wondering this lately. Ever since I started drumming I’ve kept a record of how many gigs I’ve done, and how much I’ve earned each year, spread out by year. Nothing too thorough just things like:

2025 - 80 gigs / £xxxx
2024 - 208 gigs / £xxxx
2023 - 145 gigs / £xxxx
etc
etc
2007 - 7 gigs / £0

Total: 1467 gigs / £xxxxx (I should hit my milestone 1500th gig in August)

I’ve only seen one named drummer reference how many gigs he’d done and that’s Bill Bruford who said he did 2885 before retiring.

It’s helped me both with remembering a lot of the gigs I’ve done, and for filling in my tax returns/keeping records.

Anyone else or is my wife right when she says I’m odd! 😂
 
I have an excel spreadsheet for every financial year I’ve worked so yeah I could figure it out if I wanted.

Was much busier before the Covid con.
 
Duck Tape said:
I have an excel spreadsheet for every financial year I’ve worked so yeah I could figure it out if I wanted.

Was much busier before the Covid con.
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Tell me about it! You can see here how quiet it went for me, fortunately it’s picked up for me in a massive way and I’ve not looked back:

2019: 0
2020: 1
2021: 3
2022: 27
2023: 145
2024: 208
2025: 80 (so far)
 
You’re doing well. I average 1-2 a week nowadays so I’m ranging anywhere between 52-104. I live in a cultural wasteland though. Australia is not a good place to be a musician.
 
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Damn, I thought I was doing a lot! I had 98 in 2023. I did write it down somewhere but I only did like 45-50 in 2024. So far this year I'm only at 25ish, although I have 11 coming up over the next month and a half.
 
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Since I was 18, I've had to keep financial records each for tax reasons - though I can't say I've actually tabulated it per gig. Though I do have a lot of the calendars, so I could probably figure it out.
 
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I keep track of everything, including how many songs on the set list and whether or not I'm on percussion rig or drumset. This year I started a drum journal to keep track of particulars surrounding my Drumeo courses, personal practice and performances. It has helped me keep track of pertinent details and time frames.
 
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I know that my first gig ever was summer of 1983 - I was going into 8th grade...

I have a gig tomorrow night...

I couldn't even begin to tell you an exact number, but before COVID, it would border on 25 a year, and when I was in college, probably more
 
I used to keep track of gigs and money earned mainly for tax purposes. I was gigging almost every weekend. Good record-keeping was essential. Nowadays, not so much. The last two years was in a band that practiced religiously, but never gigged. No need to count zeroes. :)

For the past couple months I've been "band-less" and couldn't be happier. I started doing the math. In a 12 month period, I attended 30 x 4-hour band practices for a total of 120 hours. With commute time, that brings the total to 150 hours, easy. We played just ONE paying 4-hour gig. I made $50 cash. That's 154 hours to earn $50. I basically earned 32 cents per hour! :oops:

If I loved the songs, the set list and the band members, I'd be happy. Unfortunately, none of that was true. Band practices became increasingly unpleasant and I had no vote on the song list. It was whatever the guitar guy started strumming.

Today I practiced in my band room. Even having not played in a couple weeks, everything was coming together. I was sounding good and having good time to boot.
 
I've kept records of every gig, school play, marching band parade from 1971 thru this evening. Gig count is 3,508 (may be off by 5 or 6 from a long residency in 1977-78, I could actually get the exact # with a calendar and a little math) with 73+ ahead for the rest of 2025. I can easily search gigs done on my birthday, New Year's Eve, by band, by holiday, in select countries, venues the Beatles played, etc. I keep the same kind of accounting for demos, sessions, and videos.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies so far, good to know I’m not the only one who records these things!

I like having a busy gig diary especially as it’s my job nowadays, I count myself fortunate to be in this position but at the same I’ve had to work damn hard, not just on my drumming but to develop contacts, work with venues, understand what keeps the audience in spending money.

I don’t really rehearse much in either band - only when we want to get some new material in. I’ve never been one for regular rehearsals and the very occasional gig, a lot of band over here do that and I find they treat rehearsals as a social gathering, having a chat about life and then strumming a few songs ‘same time next week’ etc. Each to their own of course.
 
Only paying gigs, and only for the past 7 years or so. If I were to count high school concerts, non-paying gigs and church services, that count would easily double and possibly more. The official number for the past seven years is 171 paying gigs, plus at least that many church services. Imma guesstimate probably in the 700s for lifetime, but I must warn you, recordkeeping was spotty back in the Carboniferous Era. As a bonus, here's a pic of me breaking cymbals and eardrums at a high school pep band performance in the 80s (as in 80 million BC, when lifeforms actually had hair).

hsdrums.png
 
caddywumpus said:
I don’t keep track. Looking at my calendar, this year, so far, I’ve played 72 gigs, and have 105 more scheduled.
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How do you schedule that many gigs without conflicts? I play with 3 groups and average about 60-70 a year. Even then they all constantly complain that I’m too busy and I’m never available for gigs. I would like to gig more, but there aren’t that many weeknight gigs anymore. Mostly just Saturdays now.
 
64 years of playing in bands and subbing, I haven't kept a record of gigs but did keep a record of bands and acts I've backed. The band and subbing/one show bands is over 70, of course there are bunches of jams to add to that.
I'm probably in my last year of being able to gig but I've got 2 fairs, hosting a jam, and 4 bar gigs coming up.
 
Our bassist is the nerdy dude and keeps records of how many gigs we've done and keeps a map of where we've played too. That's a 14 year run with one band.

I lost count a long time ago. I tend to remember the extremes of distances I've traveled. Everything else is a blur although I do have a diary
 
OK. I'm a nerd too.

I have yearly calendar planner books. I save them for DECADES! I don't think I've ever thrown one out. I always fret about what if someone wants to know what I was doing on the third Saturday evening of 1992.

I still have my old high school swim team records. I recorded every event I ever swam at a swim meet along with the exact time I achieved.
 
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