Private parties and dinners
Live music for your private parties.
There is a moment at a good party when the furniture goes against the wall. Someone starts it, and slowly, many more follow. The evening turns into the one people bring up for years. Live music is what makes that moment likely instead of lucky.
Milestone birthdays and anniversaries, engagement dinners, holiday gatherings at home, club celebrations: the occasion changes but your booking stays simple. One contract, sound solved at every size, a personal contact in charge of the entertainment for the night, and clear info on the pricing page. Most private parties book a duo or trio.
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What you are buying
Ensemble sizes, and how they impact an event's vibe.
Most hosts guess too big. The size that turns an evening is usually smaller than the one people imagine, and it is almost always the one that fits where the party already is.
A solo player
One voice and usually a guitar or piano in the corner of a dinner. It makes the evening feel hosted rather than catered, and it fits a home without reconfiguring all the furniture.
A duo
A duo is a great intensity for both arrival and dinner - it's a volume people easily talk across, and it has the range to lift the last hour if that's where things are headed.
A trio
This is the one that fills a floor without needing a stage. Usually guitar (or keys), bass and drums. More danceable energy or a fuller-sounding-but-still laid-back jazz ensemble.
What live music costs in this market is set out on the pricing page. Describe the evening and we will tell you which of the three it actually wants.
Common party configurations
three common configurations of a private party.
Most requests we get fall into one of the following categories.
The dinner party
A table of twelve, or three tables of eight. The music sits below conversational volume for the whole night: jazz standards on upright bass and guitar, at a level you can talk across. Book an hour on its own or keep things going from the time your guests arrive through dessert.
Common formats include jazz duo. Or a solo guitarist can hold down the same night where the guest list is a bit smaller.
The cocktail party that ends in dancing
When the furniture is going to end up against the wall, trio size is the answer: guitar, bass and drums fill a floor without a stage. A trio through drinks that becomes the band that drive danceable energy.
In situations where dancing is a "maybe" rather than the plan, an acoustic duo can cover the night well, too.
The milestone with a moment in it
Think - a fortieth birthday, a notable anniversary, or an engagement dinner. There is a toast (and sometimes a surprise), and the band plays around both: a dedicated announcement microphone can be ready to go from sound check on.
“...We discussed what we were looking for, (funky jams) and they delivered. It was the perfect band for my husband’s 50th. They are personable, professional, and very talented musicians.”
Milestone birthdays
The birthday that gets a band.
Most birthdays get a restaurant. Every so often one gets a whole night built to honor the guest of honor. Probably because the number on the cake is one of the round ones and the people who would fly in for a wedding will fly in for this. That's the kind of party that's worth a band, and the size that suits it changes with the number on the cake.
- A 30th
- The one that runs latest and hits hardest. A trio fills a floor without a stage, and a DJ can carry your guests on the dance floor through the end of the night.
- A 40th
- Usually two parties in one evening: people sit down and eat, then somebody moves the furniture. The configuration that covers both is a trio or quartet.
- A 50th
- More often a seated dinner with a toast in it than a floor. Live players hang out at a 65 to 72 dBA loudness at the nearest table, and the set is built from the years the guest of honour actually cares about rather than from a generic list.
- A 60th and past it
- Earlier, warmer, more family in the space and more of it sitting down. A solo player or a jazz duo holds this evening from arrival through dessert, and standards are the repertoire that reaches everyone in the family at once.
...From beginning to end. Pulled together bandmates for my husband’s 80th outdoor birthday bash. Guests were impressed with the repertoire. More than the usual cover band – jazzy sophistication.”
The core mechanics of the night are the same at every one of them. A toast gets a announcement microphone, and a surprise entrance gets planned with the music rather than around it. Tell us the name, the number and roughly who is coming, and the set is built for that specific person.
The very specific vibe we have you covered with
One request turns up again and again for a milestone dinner at home, and it is oddly specific: a Spanish guitarist. Someone wants a table of twelve, a long dinner, and a guitar in the corner playing something with real technique in it. Asked out loud in this city, that request usually gets pointed at a music school or at a restaurant with a guitarist on a weeknight, because there is no obvious place to book one.
There is one here. Dirty Flamenco plays the traditional forms at trio size, with a dancer configuration when the evening wants a set piece, and a single guitarist covers a dinner table alone. Both play a dinner at conversation volume and neither needs a stage to do it.
Hear it
Two of the nights, on film.
Dirty Flamenco’s rumba, the sound of a garden party finding its second wind, and Tejas Singh building No Woman No Cry from the ground up, the way he does at a milestone birthday when the crowd starts singing back.
What booking a band at a home or club actually involves.
Most of what a host wants to know before writing is whether a band works in the space at all. Here is the whole of it, written to be forwarded to a co-host, a spouse or the club manager.
- Space
- A solo sets up in 6 by 4 ft, a duo in 8 by 6, a trio in 12 by 8. No stage required: a band plays fine on a floor, and those are working footprints, the space players and gear actually occupy.
- Power
- One dedicated 20-amp circuit within reach of the setup covers a solo, duo or trio; a quartet takes two. Dedicated is the word that matters. Sharing a circuit with the caterer’s warmers is the most common load-in problem, and one question to the caterer settles it before the day.
- Load-in
- 45 minutes for a solo, up to 90 for a quartet, scheduled before guests arrive, with strike in 30 to 60 minutes at the end of the night. Tell us where to park and which door to use, and the gear moves once.
- Outdoors
- Patios and gardens work on three conditions, written down before the day: a covered, level and dry performance area, power run to it, and an agreed move-indoors call time. Colorado evenings drop fast, and instruments and electronics stop behaving in the cold and the wet.
- Neighbours and volume
- Dinner runs 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, a volume you can talk across without raising your voice. Dancing runs 88 to 95 on the floor. A shared wall, a close neighbour or a club decibel policy goes into the plan at booking, and the night is built under it.
- Paperwork
- Clubs and managed buildings usually ask for a certificate of insurance. One naming the venue as additional insured comes in the same email as the contract, with a W-9 and one itemised invoice.
Footprints, circuits and channel counts for every size are on the technical page, in a form a venue can check line by line.
Where
Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs.
In Denver, there's no additional cost for travel inside the metro area, and the calendar is the only real constraint: a holiday gathering at home competes with every office party in the city for the same December Saturdays. Boulder parties skew smaller, homes and clubs where the crowd sits close to the band, so solo and duo are the sizes to price first, and a Front Range travel line is added to the quote. Colorado Springs hosts more of its private calendar around wedding weekends and resort terraces, and the acoustic duo is the size that city books most.
If the date is in November or December, book on the corporate season’s clock: those dates are decided August through October, New Year’s Eve books earliest of all, and peak weekends carry their own line on the quote. A party at a mountain house runs on the card’s resort column, with the corridor’s logistics covered on the mountain page. An office event is its own set of pages: the holiday season, client dinners and retreats all live on the corporate side.
Questions
What hosts often ask before they write.
- What does a band for a dinner party cost?
- It depends on how many players and how long, and for a dinner party that is usually one or two people rather than the band most hosts picture. We do not publish prices; what live music costs across this market is on our pricing page. Describe the evening and we will tell you which size it wants and what that costs.
- Do you play private homes?
- Yes. Dinner parties, cocktail parties and milestones at homes and clubs are the bookings this page exists for. The requirements are small: floor space in a corner, one dedicated 20-amp circuit within reach, and somewhere to park for load-in. Clubs that ask for a certificate of insurance get one with the contract.
- Can we hire a band for a birthday party?
- Yes, and milestone birthdays are one of the three shapes this page exists for. What size you want depends on whether the evening ends with dancing: a solo or duo holds a dinner at conversation volume, a trio fills a floor without needing a stage, and a DJ carries the late half through the same sound system on the same contract.
- What music works for a 30th, 40th, 50th or 60th birthday party?
- The decade tends to decide it. A 30th dances longest and wants a trio or a DJ; a 40th usually sits down to eat and then moves the furniture, which suits a duo that grows for the second half; a 50th is more often a seated dinner with a toast in it; a 60th and beyond runs earlier and warmer, where a solo player or a jazz duo playing standards reaches everyone at once. In every case the set is built from the years the guest of honour cares about.
- Can we book a Spanish guitarist for a dinner party?
- Yes. Dirty Flamenco plays the traditional forms at trio size with a dancer configuration when the evening wants a set piece, and a single guitarist covers a dinner table alone. Both play at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, which is a volume a table of twelve can talk across, and neither needs a stage.
- How much space does the band need?
- A solo takes 6 by 4 ft, a duo 8 by 6, a trio 12 by 8, and none of them needs a stage. Those are working footprints, the space players and gear actually occupy, and the full table for every size is on our technical page.
- How loud will it be?
- Dinner and cocktail sets run 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, a volume you can talk across without raising your voice. Dancing runs 88 to 95 dBA on the floor. If your venue or club enforces a cap, tell us the number when you book and the night is built under it.
- How far ahead should we book a private party?
- For a November or December date, decide as the corporate season does: those dates are settled August through October and New Year's Eve books earliest of all. The rest of the year runs lighter, and a specific act on a Saturday is still worth claiming early.
- Can you play outdoors at a home?
- Yes, on a covered, level and dry performance area with power run to it, and with a move-indoors call time agreed before the day. Colorado evenings drop fast, and instruments and electronics stop behaving in the cold and the wet, so the cover and the call are both required.
Tell us about the party, and we'll recommend the act for it.
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.
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.