Tips For Watching A Live Band In A Bar Setting

Enjoying live music is one of the many reasons to visit a bar for part of the evening. Whether you know the act that will be performing or you're surprised to see live music upon walking in, it can be fun to have a few drinks and groove to the tunes. In any bar setting that has live music, you may look around and see people who are breaking some etiquette rules. If this will be the first time you're visiting a bar with live music, or you just want to ensure that you're doing so correctly, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Keep The Drinks And Food Coming

Whether or not there's a cover charge for watching the live music at the bar, the expectation from management is that you'll order drinks and food. Some people attempt to get out of doing so, perhaps ordering a drink and then nursing it for an hour, and then ordering a few glasses of water. This type of approach is poor etiquette for this situation, and you shouldn't overlook that it's taking tips out of the pocket of the hardworking server. It's generally appropriate to order drinks and food throughout the evening. If you're attending with friends, ordering a few appetizers during your visit is a good idea.

Be There To Enjoy The Music

It's a good idea to focus on the music when you're at the bar. If you're getting together with friends you haven't seen in months, a venue without live music is perhaps a better choice. In a bar with live music, it's a little rude to talk during the performance. Given that the performance of the band will make you raise your voices, this can be disruptive to those around you. A night of live music can be fun for a number of different reasons, so try to enjoy the music and save your conversation for the intermissions.

Be Considerate With Requests

Some musicians who play at bars will take requests for songs, which can be a fun way to interact with the audience and get the bar patrons into the music. There's some etiquette to keep in mind about this idea, though. Generally, you should wait to see if the musician asks for requests. Shouting out the name of a song repeatedly can be annoying to those around you and a little disrespectful to the artist — especially if he or she is playing original material.