The Show Must Go On! Alive Network Band Hire Policy Saves The Day Breakdown Cover Advice

This story happened on a busy Friday at the beginning of half-term, and illustrates how Alive Network's band hire policies ensure that the show will go on, even when presented with a plethora of adverse circumstances.

Planning ahead

Our band Tivoli Quartet were engaged through Alive Network Entertainment Agency to perform at a wedding reception in Lincolnshire. We are a compact group, and as such we can fit into one estate car. My car is a rather nice, nearly-new, very economical diesel model Ford Focus Zetec. I trust this car, and regularly take it to be serviced so it will be ready for the rigours of the road.

Allowing 2 extra hours travel time

Our trip would take us from our base in Brighton to a farmhouse just outside Lincoln, 205 miles and approximately 4 hours away. As a professional function band we understand our responsibility to get to an event no matter what. Alive Network sensibly advises their bands to arrive 90 minutes prior to the performance time, which in this instance was 7pm. Now we all know how busy the roads can be on a Friday afternoon, especially the M25, and even more so at the beginning of half-term. We decided to leave 6 hours travel time (2 hours more than we needed), just in case we ran into any delays. This turned out to be a good decision.

A sea of break lights

After loading up the car, filling the tank and settling down for the journey, we left Brighton at 11.30. Heading up the A23 we soon encountered a three-mile stretch of road with a 40 mph limit due to road works. This came as no surprise - they've been there all summer and are due to remain until spring 2014. It gets a little sticky around there, but nothing major. On we went, past Pease Pottage and then I saw a sea of brake lights up ahead. We weren't worried as we'd factored it in to our travel time. Accordingly, we slowed down and joined the back of the queue. It was stop/start for around 20 minutes, and then we saw a broken down coach being hauled onto the back of a rather large tow truck, and saw the traffic dispersing, so off we went.

Toll-booth delays

Several games of I-Spy later and we were on the M25. Things were going swimmingly until we were approaching the Dartford crossing. If you don't know it, it's a toll booth affair, and it can get very congested. Well, it did. More so than usual, probably due to half-term. There was nothing to do other than to sit it out, and anyway, we still had plenty of time. It took around 30 minutes to crawl through the bottleneck, and then we were back up to the speed limit for a decent stretch.

The break down

We cruised up the M11 with congestion occasionally limiting us to 50mph. Regardless, we were still making good time having allowed for the previous delays and figured we'd easily arrive at the wedding by 5.30.

Then disaster struck - BANG! - 'what was that?!'

I looked around wondering if someone had hit us. I couldn't see any cars too close, so I thought I'd pull over and see what had happened. I let out the clutch. Something wasn't right. The clutch pedal gave no resistance. Oh dear! 'Clutch cable's gone lads,' I said, 'push me off the road.' So we clambered out and got the car onto the verge, amid the honking of some helpful fellow road-users, who's lack of sympathy always surprises me.

Two break down policies per vehicle ensures the band can get to and from the gig

I called the AA immediately, knowing full well they wouldn't be able to fashion a roadside repair. All I needed them to do was tow us to the gig, for as we all know: the show must go on.
 
'But how will you get home?' I hear you ask. Here's how ......

Alive Network recommends that it's bands have 2 breakdown policies per vehicle, so in situations such as this, one roadside recovery firm will tow the band to the gig, the other will tow them home. Genius!

Getting to the wedding on time

The AA chap showed up in around 40 minutes and confirmed the clutch cable had broken. He hooked us up and towed us to the gig, arriving at 5.50 which allowed plenty of time to set up for a 7pm start.By 6.30 we had sound checked, and we were enjoying a nice cup of tea, which cures everything. The happy couple were none the wiser, there was no need for them to be thinking about our plight on their big day.

Alive Network's recommendation saved the day

Alive Network's recommendation to get two separate breakdown policies per vehicle ensured that even against the odds, we still arrived in good time, and that the evening went as planned.
 
After the performance was over I called the RAC on my second recovery policy, and they got us home. They even dropped us each off at our individual homes, only around thirty minutes later than we'd originally planned to get back. I believe this story illustrates that an Alive Network band will be a responsible band, with contingency measures in place to guarantee your entertainment will be in the right place at the right time.

Written by Dan Sheppard from the Tivoli Quartet who perform classics from the great American songbook, Jazz, plus a healthy selection of bossa novas.