“What is a house concert?”
Exactly what it sounds like, a concert in someone’s house. In this case, it’s our house in Bristol, Connecticut. These are private events, but we enjoy making new friends — especially fellow music lovers!
“I can’t find your address, where are you located?"
We do not make our home street address public, for everyone’s safety and to protect our status as a private event. (While it might feel like a venue when you come to an Acousticool concert, the rest of the time this is our home and neighborhood!) The exact address will be sent to you privately after you buy tickets or contact us.
“Should I bring food or drink?”
For many shows, we encourage a community “potluck,” with those who want to participate bringing food, snacks, desserts or drinks to share. This is 100% voluntary, so please do not feel any pressure to participate. Everyone is welcome to come for the concert, potluck is optional! We will advise in advance about details of the potluck for those who purchase tickets. If you do bring something to share, please take home what you brought at the end of the night. Thank you!
Should I bring chairs?
If we are indoors, chairs are provided. If we are outside, we recommend you bring your own folding chairs suitable for sitting in the lawn. We usually have a few extra, but very limited supply.
What about COVID-19?
You can always find our current policy regarding COVID-19 here. This may be updated from time to time, depending on the latest and best public health information.
How do you decide if concerts are outdoors or indoors?
Usually, it’s all about the weather. During the colder months, obviously we plan any concerts for indoors from the start. During the warmer months, we love to have them outside. We went to a lot of trouble and expense to build a terrific covered outdoors stage in the backyard, and if it’s light or passing rain sometimes we can still be outside—since we’re all hearty New England music fans, right? However, with storms, heavy rains or other unsuitable weather in the warmer months, the indoors listening room, which has wonderful acoustics and a unique intimate vibe, will be the backup.
The forecast called for bad weather, but we’re on our way to the show and it’s really nice out. Why didn’t you change your mind and have this concert outside?
For several reasons, the latest we will change the outdoors-or-indoors status is first thing in the morning on show day, and usually at least a day or two before:
• Outdoors concerts take several hours of setup time. We carry out all the equipment, run cables across the yard, mount speakers, and more. The latest we can possibly do that is the morning of a concert, since there are so many other things we also have to do in the last few hours before a show starts.
• We think it’s important to notify everyone ahead of time so they know whether to bring chairs, coolers, etc. The more last minute a decision is made, the more of a risk there is that you won’t get the word.
• Weather forecasting is still a somewhat inexact science. We wait as long as we can, paying close attention to forecasts, then make the best decision we can — and stick to it. As much as we may want to be outside, waffling back and forth only makes things more difficult for the artists, the audience and us.
“Are children welcome?”
Yes, we are family friendly and many children enjoy the live music performances! You know your child best and we ask that you only bring them if they are mature enough to sit quietly through the performances. We also ask that children be accompanied by an adult at all times, especially if they go upstairs during the concert.
Is purchasing advance tickets really important? Can’t I just show up and put cash in a bucket?
We can’t emphasize enough how important advance ticketing is to the artists who play here and to us. Here are some of the reasons:
• Touring musicians and their teams rely heavily on advance ticketing. It’s the only reliable indicator they have to weigh against the expense of traveling to our location and putting on a concert.
• We provide updates on advance ticket sales to artists and their teams. If the advance ticket sales are too low, there’s always a chance they may need to understandably cancel the show rather than travel here and lose money. Unfortunately we can not count RSVPs and verbal confirmations for this, since there are any number of reasons someone may understandably not be able to attend on the day of the concert.
• We must manage our capacity, most especially for indoors shows where there is limited seating. It’s not fair to anyone to show up and not have a seat. Purchasing an advance ticket is a firm commitment to the artists and to us that you plan to attend.
“Will I get to talk to the musicians?”
Almost certainly, if you want to! That’s one of the reasons artists like performing at house concerts, it’s a more casual and intimate experience where they can get to know the audience. Sometimes they will mingle before the show, but they are almost always available to chat — and possibly sign a CD or take a photo — afterward.
“How did you come up with the name?”
Ah, we remember it like it was yesterday … we knew acoustic and string music would be the emphasis of the series. That made us think of the word acoustical. But that’s just kind of dry, right? Needs more cowbell! So then we’re thinking … “acousticish” … “acoustiking” … “acoustislam” … “acousticalifragilisticexpialidocious” … And let’s be honest, not so great. Then, bam! It hit us: Acousticool. And that’s the 100 percent authentic story of how we came up with the name.
“Why do you do this?”
For the love of the music. To support the people who make the music. To meet other people who love the music. To introduce those people to our favorite music. Since we decided to open our home to host house concerts, our heart has also opened to a whole community. Meeting new friends has been one of the best parts for us personally, and we so much appreciate everyone who comes to shows and supports Acousticool in ways large and small!