I’ve been booking shows in venues for about five years now.

Five years at an average of about two hundred shows per year, I’d say I’ve probably booked well over a thousand shows.

Any talent buyer or booking agent for a club (small or large) is constantly inundated with phone calls, emails and snail-mail press kits from bands all hoping to secure a gig at their club.

And no matter how efficient a buyer is- mistakes do happen and occasionally, a show gets double booked.

["Double booking" is when a show gets scheduled and then another show gets scheduled for the same date]

It’s never a fun experience- because someone always gets pissed. But the true colors of a band can really shine through in the event of being double booked.

Having been on both ends of the double-booking spectrum, I can empathize with a band who has to step down and reschedule a date.

On the other side, I can also appreciate and understand the frustration of having to make the call and say “hey man, really sorry about this, but I fucked up and double booked the date.”

There are only two ways to really react to being double booked. The band can either be cool about it and, regardless of how much promotion went into the show, accept a rescheduled date (often times with some sort of perk or extra bonus worked in) and promote it as if it were the first date booked…

Or they can be dicks about it and have everyone and their brother email the buyer to let them know how disappointed they are in the situation.

And that, my friends, is the wrong way to handle it.

It really makes me laugh when bands have the audacity to try to give a lesson to a talent buyer on ‘professionalism’ or business technique and follow it up with “you’re an idiot” and “your club sucks” at the end of the email.

Bands- take this bit of advice: A talent buyer for a good club can be your best friend and a great asset- but it’s a two way street. Because ultimately, we’re all in this together.