Dan Hough

Busking Report – Canary Wharf

Published 27 September 2018 in London, UK

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Last weekend, one day before work, I took a quick hop to Canary Wharf, for the 8am-10am slot. I have in the past tried to get a later slot (e.g. 6pm or 8pm) or a weekend slot but they’re usually booked up by the time I try to get them. There must be something appealing about them.

The takings: £9.67 in total - so, £4.84 for Crisis and the rest for me. It was a just-under-one-hour set because I had to run off to do my day job, so the hourly wage for this spot at this time is £11.60. Not terrible. That’s the 24th best hourly wage out of all the busking sessions I’ve ever done, 52nd best in terms of total takings - but it was a short one.

Some notable moments

Euros

It’s not unusual to be given foreign currencies. The most common is definitely the Euro. This time around, my first tip was all Euros!

The pitch. Unmarked, and actually a bit of a thoroughfare - but the staff said it was okay and I didn't seem to slow anybody down.
The pitch. Unmarked, and actually a bit of a thoroughfare - but the staff said it was okay and I didn't seem to slow anybody down.

New amp

The reason this blog post is three months after the last one I made is because two things got in the way in that time:

The busking competition went well, although I did not get through to the final sadly. However, out of it I did manage to snag myself a barely-used, cut-price busking amp, which had been used for buskers during the competition. This is the Roland Cube - an upgrade from my previous amp, the Micro Cube.

The main difference is that the cube can take two inputs: one from my mic (as before) and one for my guitar. It’s also a heck of a lot louder. It’s heavier though, so with my microphone stand in tow as well as this, I think it’s time I invested in a little hand cart to carry my stuff. Hopefully by the next blog post I’ll have figured that out.

The first tip

As usual, I started with Breakfast at Tiffany’s again! This didn’t work get anybody going, nor did The Lazy Song and nor did New Shoes. But Don’t Look Back in Anger did - my first tipper was the person with the Euros!

The view from the pitch. It got very busy.
The view from the pitch. It got very busy.

The biggest tip

Don’t Look Back in Anger this time, at £4.

How to improve

Honestly, I was pretty lazy in getting to this one and I should be a little more diligent! I need a hand cart too, so - next time!

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