The reason we went to an arranger as part of our gig, is that our crowds like the styles..and most are over 60.

That said, the last three mini concerts we went to, the groups used karoke backup and no one cared. Again the audience were seniors. I think in one of those karoke concerts, the tickets were $15 apiece and 250 folks showed up.

After that last Karoke concert, my wife asked me why we are even bothering to haul a keyboard...given the crowds we play for.

The other thing that I quite haven't figured out....

We went to an outdoor concert earlier this summer. The guy singing was good but all he had was a guitar and he entertained for two hours. Now, I'm an acoustic guitar player first and foremost but I was bored out of my mind after the first 15 minutes just listening to guitar. But the crowd there seemed to be contented?

Sometimes I think it's only the musicians themselves that appreciate what goes into good music. The audience, well, if there's a live body...that's good enough...