Taking The Band Abroad - Off To Doha

Rollercoaster in Doha

The view from the beach in Doha - pano by Rob Blackham

So taking the band abroad has always been an elusive goal.  For a start, we barely have the availability, as weddings are often booked one year in advance, and for the popular dates.  the other, is the budget, as most trips actually take up days either side of traveling.  So for whatever the reason, we, as a function band, had never played abroad (as Redwood we had played in Ireland, and as session musicians for Damian Wilson, myself and Holly had played in Belgium).

The band in Doha

So here I am, the day after returning from two successful gigs in Doha.  How did this happen?  And what would I do differently, given the chance...

The opportunity came about after an online enquiry from an agent, Hear and Now,  who dealt in gigs abroad.  They had found us online, and were looking for a suitable band to play St Patricks gigs at The Intercontinental Hotel in Doha, Qatar.  It was a pretty tough quote to put together, but after looking at the time spent, versus the novelty value of the gig, I came to a figure, which after various negotiations was agreed upon.  I figured we would be loosing the days before and after the gigs, plus that fact it was St Patricks, for a band who played a strong mix of Irish and party music, it was a sought after date.  The client would pay for direct flights (approx £564 per person on Qatar airways), transfers, all food and accommodation, visas (should be around £25 each) etc.  We would have to pay for parking at the airport (£89 for Heathrow Parking, Terminal 4, short stay car park).  The overall fee effectively came out around the same as 2 local weddings, with early setups... The other important element, was that the client would provide the backline, amps and kit for the band... so we would just require our instruments.  We would have to work something out with our monitoring setup, as we run various sequences with click track, and use in ear monitoring, which is not standard.

The Kit

What did we take?  We were allowed 30kg checked in luggage and 7kg hand luggage.  For drums, Chris took his snare and a bass drum pedal.  He had all his kit in a super strong Samsonite luggage case.  For my bass guitar, I bought a flight case for £189 from Thomman.  Into this I put the bass, 2 guitar cables, tuner and mains lead, and various in ear radio units.  For guitar, Rob used a standard hard case, and a mini travel pedal board which went into his luggage.  Jake took his fiddle in a backpack style case, which served  as his one hand luggage item (he mis read the brief and packed 30lbs of checked in luggage as opposed to 30kg!!!).  I had worried about the violin as hand luggage, but there was no problem at all.  For the in ear situation, I packed 2 in ear units - the Sennheiser and the LG - along with 4 belt packs.  The packs would run in mono, but this really had very little effect on the mix (it would provide 4 independent mixes).

A teddy bear in Doha Airport

I had worried about the possible 'import / export' of good problems which could be run into, taking gear in and out of a country, but decided to ignore it, as any literature implied I would be using a shipping company etc.  It was obviously in reference to a much bigger operation than 5 musicians heading over to a country to play a few gigs.  Sometimes going by the book simply introduces more problems than it can solve... (see 'Carnet' application, or applying for import without a carnet... it is truly a can of worms, best left closed... for now) . Maybe in future, I would apply for import without Carnet', though it is a process that should be done a few weeks before to be safe.

Travel

just so we knew where we parked

We asked for a direct flight.  This is a must, unless you want to spend most of the time traveling, sitting in airports etc.  To Doha, it is a 6-7 hour flight direct (Doha is 3 hours ahead of GMT), then 30 minutes drive to The Intercontinental.  We flew from Heathrow at 21.30 on the Wednesday, so arrived 2.5 hours early, to allow for delayed check in with the baggage.  As it was, the check in was very smooth (we had done it on line), and the guitars were simply dropped at the oversized baggage gate.  I had booked the parking a month before - the official Heathrow short stay parking - which came to £89.  I chose this as it was literally next to the airport, so a few minutes walk to the check in desk.  You keep your car keys, so very easy on return as well.
Customs didn't prove any problems, though I had the in ear systems in my hand luggage, so had a few question in Heathrow and Doha about them, but nothing bad.  On the return, I put them in hold luggage.

view from the hotel room

A few hours later, we were sitting on the plane - and wow, what a different experience than Easyjet!!  Spacey comfy chairs, incredible selection of films and TV.  The food was great, with a constant supply of drinks.  I had bought a neck pillow in the airport, which turned out to be a waste of money, as the seats had neck rests anyway.  They provided you with headphones - but the best solution is to buy an adapter from the airport (double mini jack kind, about £7), and use your own in ear headphones... as the sound of the plane is loud, and you miss a fair bit of quiet dialogue.  Chris was very proud of his noise canceling headphones - and I was secretly jealous.
Customs in Doha was ok - they did ask about they guitar cases.  I said "I'm a musician..." and fairly blank looks.  Then he said "Oh you play guitar"... and all was good.  The answer, is just to say you play guitar, for any kind of musical instrument, or piece of equipment.
We were picked up by an Intercontinental minibus and taken to the hotel.  We had arrived and all was good.  Stage one was complete!

The Hotel

the hotel by night

We had asked for rooms in the hotel, and not staff rooms.  Hence the rooms were fantastic - and we had one each.  I'd say this is pretty important, as it can get pretty high pressure on this kind of gig, so it's great to get space.  I'm really pleased we asked for the rooms in the hotel, as it was easy to get to and from the gigs, and to take the guitars back to the rooms after.  It was an ideal situation.

The Intercontinental in Doha is a 5 Star hotel, and having stayed there, you could see why.  The food was out of this world, as was the service.  Everyone was super friendly, and helpful.  Often in the UK, the musicians are slightly looked down on by the other 'services' at events - but this is definitely not the case abroad... or at least on this occasion.

The Show

Pre-gig, night 1.

Due to the ticket sales being lower than expected, the first night was in the main marquee on the beach as expected, but the second night was moved to the smaller in-house venue.  For the marquee gig, the venue had hired in all the backline and kit.  There was an in-house engineer who also did the lights (and smoke machine!).  The kit was OK, though the drums were super dirty, or so Chris said.  The guitar amp was a Roland JC120 - which is a pretty basic amp - and the bass amp was a Roland as well.  All the plugs are standard UK 3 pin - however, the bass amp had a 2 pin plug, which they plugged into the socket... what could possibly go wrong?
So as all guitarists / bassists will have experienced, you occasionally get what feels live a 'live' mic - which is electrically charged.  I will say that this was one of the worst examples I've experienced.  I moved to say something into the mic and WOW.  At which point I told the sound engineer to do it.  He received a hefty electric shock, so he told his mate, to touch it!!!  His mate was wise, so he simply touched the mic with a 'lightbulb' screw driver, whilst touching my bass.  The bulb lit up!!!!
20 minutes later they had put a UK plug on the amp, which was earthed, and the sound check continued.  The desk was a digital one, so we had our own in ear monitor mixes, which were mostly pretty good - though by the end of the gig, the engineer managed to cut the front of house guitar, and boost it in everyone's in-ears... not the best monitoring experience.

photo Sixt Cars

The lights were pretty good, though the smoke machine tended to drown one side of the stage, and just about reach the other... small points.

Rob and Jake playing' Irish tunes

After sound check, we got changed then ate at the amazing restaurant... then on to the gig, to start at 9pm.  We played 4 forty minute sets, and were finished by about 1.30am.  After, we chilled and drank a few bears in the marquee as they packed down (note, you cannot drink alcohol outside in a Muslim country - it's a strict rule).

Onstage at the Paloma Bar

Day 2, the venue changed to the in-house club / bar.  We were using the in-house gear, which had the same desk as the one we own in the UK, so that was good.  We also had the incredibly helpful in-house band leader helping us - Tom - which was super useful (plus his friendly guitarist, Danny).  We had 4 in ear mixes, and split the remaining two aux sends across the 4 floor wedges (so no reverb)... and it seemed to worked well!  Both the guitar and bass were going straight from head units to the PA, so no amplified backline, and the drums had a perspex shield around them.  It was setup for a small club.
Again, this was a 4 times forty minute set gig, and we finished around 1.30am.  We then relaxed with a few beers past closing time... well earned beers!

Homeward bound

Holly on stage

The next day, after breakfast and a brief lounge by the pool, we were taken to the airport.  We left the hotel at 10.30am, airport by 11, a quick and efficient check in, then boarding and take off at 12.55.  The timings may have meant a fuller flight, but it was still pleasant, and the service was great.  Back at Heathrow, customs were swift, though the baggages took a little while to come through. The guitar cases, as before, came through to the large baggage gate (3A).  It was then a few minutes walk to the car, and as we had already paid for the parking, straight home!!!

... and here is the footage for both shows, put together into a short promo!

... and finally, a useful packing list...

As this may prove useful, here is the list I made to pack... some of it is more relevant for me, but is a general idea...

IMPORTANT STUFF

1. Passport

2.  Printout of visa

3. Suit jacket and trousers - belt + SHOES

4. Waistcoat

5.  Suit socks x 3

6.  White Shirts x 4

7.  Tie

8.  Music Gear.

Tuner transformer

Longer tuner lead + standard guitar lead

Important music sheets printed out

In ear transmitters x 2 

In ear power leads

In ear headphones

In ear xlrs x 3 (next time take 4)

Bass guit in flight case

Bass strings

iPad stand

iPad

Power bank iPad

Battery charger plus battery's x 8

OR take 16 batteries

(next time take guitar stand)

9.  Filming / Documenting stuff.

GoPro

GoPro battery's x 2

GoPro memory cards x 2

2tb hard disc storage

Go pro clamp

Go pro tripod

(next time take memory sticks for audio)

(next time take loads more quality photos, definitely record front of house audio via mic recorder... and definitely shoot more than one video angle)

10.  PERSONAL CLOTHES FOR DAYTIME

Day / night clothes - shorts, etc for 4 days

Toothbrush - toothpaste

Sun lotion

Kindle

Sunglasses (important as you look pretty worn out in the mornings)

11. TO WEAR ON WEDNESDAY EVENING TRAVEL

Soft shoes

Jeans

Shirt - short sleeve

Jacket - maybe suit jackets

Playing from 9-1.30am, a well deserved post gig refreshment

Did we mention the sponsors...

Rollercoaster with the folk from Sixt Car Rental - photo Sixt Cars

These guys did sound and light on night 1 - photo Sixt Cars.