Booking Information
First of all, thank you for your interest in booking a show by The Bleeding Obvious!
The Bleeding Obvious has one sole member - Jessica Rowbottom - who performs original songs with an angle on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. It is cabaret in the original sense of the word, accompanied with a heady mix of genres including acoustic, electro, chillout, pop and dance.
Plenty about The Bleeding Obvious can be found on the website at bleedingobvious.uk and you can view YouTube videos online.
This booking information is written to answer many of the questions we get, but if you want to skip straight to enquiring directly please click here to send a message.
If you're looking for the technical rider, go here.
Show Information
A show is generally performed in one of four basic formats:
- Full stage electric shows:
- Complete stage setup with keyboards and electronic instruments. Set length can be tailored from 30 minutes onwards, and extended to 2x 30/45 minute sets. An optional lighting rig may also be used.
- Festivals & Fringes:
- Lightweight electric setup with one keyboard. Set length can be tailored from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. Quick setup and tear-down.
- Acoustic:
- Jessica plus a piano, no longer than 45 minutes. Suited to small intimate venues and can fit on small pub-corner stages and venues which have their own piano.
- Prides:
- Jessica singing to backing tracks, no fixed instruments on-stage. This is the preferred format for Prides and short (<20 minute) sets.
When enquiring it helps greatly to state which format you would prefer for your venue, but any format can be tailored.
Music and lyrics are mostly family-friendly already, but it helps to know if you are booking a show where under-18s will be present.
All music is registered with PRS and PPL, please let us know if you require a set list forwarding after the show for your own records and returns.
Photography is fine, but would ask that audience refrain from flash and irritating the other members of the audience during the show by filming constantly. Please check first if you are wanting to stream or video a show.
The Bleeding Obvious does not perform cover songs.
Support Acts
Shows pair well with spoken-word support acts with an LGBTQ+ angle, as well as acoustic musicians. A local performer is always preferred but we can bring our own support if required.
Please don't place drag queens, hi-energy or rock bands as support before the shows - it rarely works out!
COVID Safety Measures
Our team take NHS-registered lateral-flow tests the day before a show and request venue staff do the same out of courtesy, but this is not an obligation.
Please communicate any special COVID-safe requirements with us before the day of the show so we are suitably prepared and equipped.
Travel & Accommodation
The Bleeding Obvious is based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire but performs all over the UK.
We usually travel with 2 people: one performer and one tour-hand (but this may vary depending on support acts).
Parking is required for the production vehicle locally to the venue, and as near as possible to the venue for load-in/out (or the stage if a festival). If you don't have venue parking, please let us know which car-parks are best (a postcode really helps us out).
Please advise if the venue is not at ground level or there are stairs (especially if there is no goods lift) as we'll require assistance on-hand to carry equipment.
It helps to arrange a schedule where we'll be geographically en-route but understand it isn't always possible; if you're over 100 miles from Wakefield then we'd welcome recommendations on a suitable guest-house or hotel to layover, preferably within walking-distance of the venue.
If you are arranging accommodation for us, please make sure there is a working hot shower and parking at the hotel. The first in particular sounds a bit silly but we've had some awful experiences previously!
Brexit has largely made it cost-prohibitive for us to tour mainland Europe, but non-UK venues/festivals should get in touch to discuss please to see if we can work something out.
Technical Requirements
Hey stage/tech crew! The full technical rider can be found over here.
Stage space required is 3m x 2.5m. If we use our optional lighting rig, this increases to 6m x 2.5m.
There should be an appropriately sized uncompressed PA system provided by the venue for the show with speakers at the proscenium front and an appropriate monitor speaker. However, The Bleeding Obvious is a travelling band and as such we have equipment to cover most small-venue eventualities.
If you're in doubt whether the in-house system will be OK tell us. Hotel and banquet-hall sound systems are usually pretty awful with speakers built into walls, and DJ/venue systems such as Soundweb usually provide a terrible sound for live shows. We can easily provide and self-engineer our own digital desk and small venue PA (Behringer X32-rack, 2x 450W Mackie SRM450 plus sub, good for a 100-cap venue) but this must be requested in advance and discussed prior to any agreement as it may incur extra transport and setup costs. We usually bring our own monitor speaker 'just in case'.
In all cases 13A mains power must be supplied to the stage area.
For full electric shows: to get everything in, set up, and sound checked typically takes 90 minutes. Break down at the end of the night typically takes around 45 minutes. Please factor this in to your schedule and talk to us if this gives you problems. In all cases, please provide arrival, soundcheck and doors-open and on-stage times. The team prefer to do this before the public are admitted for safety and security reasons.
All other show formats take about 10-20 minutes to set up, and the same to tear down.
If you are requesting an acoustic show and have a piano at the venue, please make sure:
- The piano is in tune and playable prior to the performance date.
- It is side-on, and you have let me know which way round it is (facing stage-right or stage-left).
Show Promotion
We really want your show to be a success, and like to present a consistent image.
The Promoter Resources Page has a variety of photos, bios and logos but don't hesitate to write if you need posters or flyer and promo templates in various file formats. The font for the logo is Kabel Mt Light. We appreciate good design, whether it's professional or just made from the heart.
Please bill the act as THE BLEEDING OBVIOUS - don't list Jessica's name. We might only have one member, but it's still a band.
Unless informed otherwise we'll assume the local venue or promoter is responsible for social media events, but please add The Bleeding Obvious (link) as co-host on Facebook events so we can advertise to our own fans.
So we can co-ordinate our own online PR, please advise of any embargo on dates and give an estimate on when the show might be announced. If we don't know then we'll assume it's immediately public and add an entry to the gig guide. Public shows are automatically listed on our Songkick gig guide and syndicated to websites such as Google and Spotify.
Other Rider Details
A private dressing room is always welcome, but either way we will need somewhere to change. Please ensure that a fresh towel and soap are available, a floor-length mirror, and that if there is a shower then it's clean and ready for use.
Jessica very rarely drinks alcohol on show days and never dairy, but at the very least we'll need fresh (non-chilled) drinking water and a couple of pint glasses. A kettle, two mugs, some sugar and Earl Grey teabags will result in lots of smiles.
If you are catering for us, our collective diet is omniverous - no special requirements.
If it's not too much trouble, please would you provide a postcard or two from the local area (your choice of what as long as it's recognisably local) and a couple of first class stamps so we can write home.
For suitable pre-show music, please do avail yourself of this Spotify playlist.
Interested?
The Bleeding Obvious doesn't book through an agent, so to enquire please get in touch directly and we can have a chat!