Book Your Favorite Band

A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to see The English Beat play at the Boardwalk. We met some friends there and were told that another friend had booked the band to play at his 40th birthday party for $4000. I don't know if this actually happened or it was just a rumor. However, it has always seemed rather extravagant to me to book a well-known band for a private party.

When Tandem passed a billion dollars in revenue, the company held a big party for employees with several well-known bands including Chuck Berry. When Compaq bought Tandem and DEC, it held a party at the Shoreline for the employees in Silicon Valley. They booked the group Chicago to play a set. It was exciting to have well-known bands play at a party that I was at.

Recently, I came across a website of a booking agent that lists the prices of bands. According to this site, Chuck Berry charges $25K and Chicago charges $50-60K. Note that Tandem's billion-dollar party occurred in the late 80's and the Compaq party was in the 97 or 98. So the charges were probably less at that time and I will bet they were negotiable. Furthermore, neither group played a full concert.

Still those prices seem pretty steep for a private party. It is not likely that I will be arranging for these groups to come to any of my parties. :-) Anyway, it is interesting to go through the website to see what some of the popular acts charge for a show.