How does the band handle award walk-ups?

Each honoree gets a short piece of music from the moment their name is read to the moment they reach the podium, cut on arrival rather than faded out over the first line of their speech. We take the list of names and the order ahead of the night, agree the cue with your emcee, and the band watches the emcee on the night.

Do you play during the live auction and the paddle raise?

Only if the auctioneer wants a bed under the bidding, and most don't. The usual plan is silence through the auction, a short piece as each lot closes if the program calls for it, and the band back in when the auctioneer hands the microphone back. The auctioneer gets a microphone of their own.

Can one booking cover the reception, dinner and the dance floor?

Yes, and it's the usual gala booking. A duo or a solo pianist as the doors open, the same musicians or a trio through dinner at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, and a dance band or the DJ after the last award, on one contract, one load-in and one sound system. The reception act and the dance floor act can be the same musicians or different ones; the contract doesn't change.

What do you need from the venue?

A dock time and an elevator window if it's a hotel, one or two dedicated 20-amp circuits depending on the size of the act, the venue's decibel cap and curfew if it has them, and the run of show with the program's cues on it. Footprints and power by size are published on our technical page so your venue contact can read them without a phone call.

Do you work with our emcee and auctioneer?

Yes. The run of show is planned with whoever is running the program, the emcee gets an announcement microphone of their own, and the bandleader takes cues from the emcee on the night. If your emcee is a board member doing it for the first time, we're happy to walk through it with them before the doors open.

How far ahead do galas book entertainment?

Committees usually work a year out from the date, because the venue and the honorees are settled first and the entertainment follows. The music is one vendor line that can be settled early. Tell us the date and the venue, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.

Galas and award nights

Music that works around your program.

A gala or an award night runs on a program: remarks, an auction, a paddle raise, a video, a walk to the stage. The music’s job is to know exactly where those are and to be doing the right thing on either side of each one. A reception act as the doors open, dinner music the tables talk across, silence the second the emcee steps up, and a dance floor after the last award if the night wants one.

This is the page for nonprofit galas and fundraisers, association award nights, chamber annual dinners and company award ceremonies. Below is what the music does at one, cue by cue, so a committee can forward it to the board member who signs.

Check a Date See Pricing

Trusted and booked by

Hear it

Hear the jazz duo at reception volume.

Guitar and upright bass on a standard, at the level a gala’s doors and dinner run at. The dance floor after the last award is a different act on the same contract.

The program

What the band does at every cue in the program.

The run of show is planned with whoever is running the program, and on the night the bandleader watches the emcee.

The doors: A reception act is already playing when the first guest walks in, at a level the check-in table can hear itself over. A duo, a solo pianist or a Spanish guitarist, depending on what the evening should feel like in its first ten minutes.
Remarks and the welcome: The music stops while the speaker is still steps from the podium, and the speaker gets an announcement microphone of their own.
Dinner: Conversation volume, 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, from the first course to the coffee, so the tables can talk. A trio usually does this better than a full band turned down.
The video: Silence, with the handoff to the house audio planned in advance. The band is back in on the applause.
The auction and the paddle raise: Silence through the bidding unless the auctioneer wants a bed under it. A short piece as a lot closes if the program calls for it.
The walk-ups: Each honoree gets music from the moment the name is read to the moment they reach the podium, cut on arrival rather than faded over their first sentence. We take the names and the order ahead of the night.
The turn: When the last award is given and the dance floor opens, the night gets loud on cue: a dance band or the DJ through the same system, without a changeover the guests can see.

The acts

A reception act, a dinner act and a dance floor act, on one contract.

They can be the same musicians all night or three different sounds. The contract, the load-in and the sound system don’t change.

As the doors open: The jazz duo on upright bass and guitar, a solo pianist, a Spanish guitarist, or Last Consulate for an evening that wants to sound like this decade.
Through dinner: The jazz trio with drums played with brushes, or the Americana trio when the gala is a ranch, a barn or a mountain evening.
After the last award: The soul and R&B band on a ballroom floor, the yacht rock band for a crowd that wants to sing, live band karaoke when the committee wants the after-party to be the thing people describe, or the DJ on its own or with a live musician over the set.

Ideas for the whole evening, music and otherwise, are in gala entertainment ideas. The hour after the program has its own page.

Where these evenings happen

Denver’s galas usually happen in a recognisable set of places: the ballrooms of the downtown hotels and the ones beside the convention center, the Gaylord out by the airport, the museums and gardens that rent their halls for a night, the performing arts complex, and the mountain resorts for the summer galas in Vail and Aspen. Each comes with its own dock time, elevator window, power and sound cap, and we settle each with the venue’s events office before the day.

Footprints, power and load-in for every size are published on the technical page, written so you can forward it to a venue as it stands. The W-9, the certificate of insurance and one itemised invoice come with the contract, and the corporate finance side is on the client dinners page.

When the award night belongs to a company rather than a cause, the corporate page covers the vendor onboarding and purchase order side. When it’s the last night of a retreat, the retreats page covers the mountain evening.

Gala and award night questions

More booking questions are answered on the planners question list.

How does the band handle award walk-ups?: Each honoree gets a short piece of music from the moment their name is read to the moment they reach the podium, cut on arrival rather than faded out over the first line of their speech. We take the list of names and the order ahead of the night, agree the cue with your emcee, and the band watches the emcee on the night.
Do you play during the live auction and the paddle raise?: Only if the auctioneer wants a bed under the bidding, and most don't. The usual plan is silence through the auction, a short piece as each lot closes if the program calls for it, and the band back in when the auctioneer hands the microphone back. The auctioneer gets a microphone of their own.
Can one booking cover the reception, dinner and the dance floor?: Yes, and it's the usual gala booking. A duo or a solo pianist as the doors open, the same musicians or a trio through dinner at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, and a dance band or the DJ after the last award, on one contract, one load-in and one sound system. The reception act and the dance floor act can be the same musicians or different ones; the contract doesn't change.
What do you need from the venue?: A dock time and an elevator window if it's a hotel, one or two dedicated 20-amp circuits depending on the size of the act, the venue's decibel cap and curfew if it has them, and the run of show with the program's cues on it. Footprints and power by size are published on our technical page so your venue contact can read them without a phone call.
Do you work with our emcee and auctioneer?: Yes. The run of show is planned with whoever is running the program, the emcee gets an announcement microphone of their own, and the bandleader takes cues from the emcee on the night. If your emcee is a board member doing it for the first time, we're happy to walk through it with them before the doors open.
How far ahead do galas book entertainment?: Committees usually work a year out from the date, because the venue and the honorees are settled first and the entertainment follows. The music is one vendor line that can be settled early. Tell us the date and the venue, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.

Send us the run of show and we'll plan the music around every cue.

Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the night.

Check a Date

Send us the date and the venue, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for your night. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.