Frequently Asked Questions & Answers about Mainstreet Soul

We are unique & every performance is 100% live. The level of customer service we provide our clients is unparalleled and you can see that from our online reviews. Jim, the band leader, will always help the bride and groom and go above and beyond to help make the day a success.

Yes, we are! Mainstreet Soul is a live band and we do not play with any backing tracks. We also have experience, as we’ve been playing together as a band since 2010 with over 600 events under our belt.  

Yes! We regularly schedule club engagements and summer park performances just for this very thing. Our public events are advertised on our website, on social media, and you are welcome to come to any of our public events.

The band members that you can expect at your event are our regular band members. We do not have casting calls for “hired gun” musicians to play our events. 

If one of our members gets sick or has to miss a performance for any reason, we do have a stable of A+ subs that can come in and keep the show rockin’. Since we have written arrangements for everything that we play, this makes it that much easier for our substitute players.

100% Absolutely! We do not break the band down and play without the horns because that would be a totally different experience from what you see on our website. Besides, can you imagine hearing a song like September by Earth, Wind & Fire or even Fireball by Pitbull without horns or horn parts played on a keyboard? Hard pass! 

If you are by chance considering other bands that say that they can “add a horn section” for your event, please be cautious. Chances are that they’re just “adding bodies” to the stage and the horn players don’t have written sheet music to compliment the arrangements that the band plays. Ask that band if their horn section has written arrangements and to see videos of them playing with their horn section. 

Never! With Mainstreet Soul our MC services are ALWAYS included in our price.

Yes, we own our PA, stage lighting and dance floor lighting. These things are also included in our price and you would never be charged extra for us to bring these things. We can’t put on a great show for your event unless we have PA & lights, so charging extra for these things is just silly.

Yes, we can help you with that at no additional fee! We know how a wedding should flow so that all the formalities happen without a hitch.

You’ll have direct access to Jim, the band leader, to discuss everything about your wedding. To make sure that we’re all on the same page, we have a Consultation Form that we have all of our bride & groom’s fill out before we discuss your wedding. On this form you can indicate your first dance song, grand entrance song, toasts, etc. You’ll also have a meeting, either in person or over the phone, to discuss all of these details with Jim.

Our song list is on our Music Page of our website. There you can easily find a downloadable PDF.

Yes! Couples typically get one song request for the band to learn, which is typically their first dance song if the band already doesn’t know it. The bonus is if we already know your first dance song, you still get a song request for the band to learn. If you have more than one request, we can talk about it to see if we can make it happen. All song requests need to be made at least 90 days out from your wedding so that the band has time to write the arrangement for the song(s) and learn it.

We’ll arrive as early as we can to make sure that we are completely set up, sound checked, and ready to rock well before your guests arrive. This is typically four hours prior to your event. 

Even with the size of our band, we can be somewhat flexible with our stage area. Ideally we like a staging area of 24ft. X 16 ft. for our performance, but we do not require a stage if your venue does not have one that can accommodate us. If you do not have an area this large set aside for the band, we can be flexible and make smaller areas work.

We need two 20-amp circuits of clean 120-volt electricity to make sure that we have plenty of power for all of our amps & lights.

At most events we play two 75-minute sets and a 30-minute set to close out the night. If we’re running behind for any reason, we’ll shorten any band breaks, and often we eliminate a break or two, so that we’re playing live music for a vast majority of the party portion of the evening.

The length of the band breaks depends on how much time the band has to play, but typically band breaks are 15-20 minutes in length. If we’re running behind, as mentioned above, breaks will be shortened and/or eliminated so that we’re entertaining you and your guests for as long as possible.

Yes, there will be. We have pre-recorded music to play for band breaks or we can play your custom playlist from Spotify that features songs that the band doesn’t play live.

Pricing can vary depending on several factors, for example if travel is involved, if your wedding or event is on a holiday weekend, if you need ceremony music (live or DJ’ed), live cocktail hour music, etc. Please give us a call so that we can give you accurate pricing for your event. 

Yes, Mainstreet Soul travels. We’ve played numerous weddings all over Michigan and have traveled out of state to play. 

Yes, we carry liability insurance. Please let us know if you or your venue requires a certificate of insurance at least 30 days out from your event.

We need a small room to store cases so that they’re not in view during our performance, a place to change our clothes, and we also require a hot meal for all band members and our sound technician. If we travel out of Metro Detroit, hotel accommodations are also required.