Party band hire in Australia: the complete guide

The fear behind a party band booking is always the same one. You've paid for a room, fed a hundred people, and at half past nine everyone is sitting down. Nobody says it out loud in the enquiry, but that empty floor is what the whole decision is really about.

A band earns its money in that hour. Not by playing louder, but by watching who's up, noticing what pulled them there, and changing the plan. Everything below is about picking an act that does that, and giving them enough information to do it.

Milestone parties have two or three generations at them, and that's the whole puzzle. A 60th has the birthday person's friends, their kids and a handful of grandchildren, and the songs that move one group empty the floor for another. The bands who do this well move between decades all night rather than picking a lane.

Tell the band the age spread before you tell them your favourite songs. A good act will build around it. And be honest about which half of the room you care about most, because a band asked to please everyone equally often pleases nobody in particular.

Most parties die at the same point, which is the gap between dinner finishing and the dancing starting. The room cools, people go outside, and getting them back is twice the work. Bands that play a lot of private parties will ask you what time the food clears and plan the first proper set for right after it.

Cake and speeches are the other trap. Both stop the music. Do them early and together if you can, so the floor only has to be built once.

Band size does most of it, then hours, then travel and load-in. The quotes that come back highest are usually the ones with a horn section or a second vocalist, because that's more people and more gear for the same night. The quotes that come back lowest are often shorter sets than you assumed, so check the hours line before you compare anything.

Sunday of a long weekend and mid-December cost more than a Friday in August, for the simple reason that every act is already booked. If your date is flexible by a week, say so in the enquiry and watch what happens.

A three-set night has two gaps in it, and how a band covers them decides whether the party carries through or restarts twice. The usual answer is a playlist through the band's own PA, sometimes with one musician still up front. Ask, because the answer is a decent proxy for how much the act thinks about the night as a whole.

Some bands will also run the background music from arrival onwards, which saves you rigging a speaker and someone's phone. Worth asking about, and it often costs nothing extra.

How many hours of live playing, split how? What covers the breaks? Can we hear a recent gig with the crowd audible? How much room do you need, and what power? What time do you need access to set up, and what time does the gear leave?

That last pair matters more at a private party than anywhere else, because you are usually the one holding the venue key. Get the load-out time in writing so you're not negotiating with a caretaker at midnight.