Why several shows? With busking, don't you get a new crowd automatically after you've ended your first show?
Depends on the setting, but not really. For streets - You do the show, pass the hat, let the crowd disperse, wait for new people to show up, build the crowd, do your show - rinse, repeat.
For something like a ren faire you have set time slots.
For both situations it's good to have more than one show, because if someone saw you earlier and sees you again, and it's new material, they may tip again. Also, "first time is a miracle, second time is a lesson" - if someone sees you show twice and it's the same thing, they're probably going to slip into trying to figure out methods instead of just enjoying the performance.
For the OP - I hate doing walk around so I have very little advice for that. I've busked a lot, though, and in several different styles. I started as a classic magician (gasp!), I've done bizarre magic and mentalism, and currently do one show that's a duo-sideshow act with my wife and another that's my solo material, which I think of as bizarre mentalism.
Hi, I was looking for some help on both busking routines and closeup walk around routines in these aspects
1. What tricks go down well for these two scenarios (mainly for busking)
Tricks that are good for busking are generally simple, engaging, visual, and easy to understand if you come in halfway through. So like, producing four coins, putting them through a table, then vanishing one at a time - each moment of that can be understood, even if you haven't seen any of the previous phases. Cups and balls/chop cup - same thing.
If you're going to do card tricks, make sure that if someone walks up halfway through they'll still be interested to see what's going on. Because if they walk up and it's not immediately engaging, they leave, and you have no chance of getting their money.
Remember: There's no obligation for a busking crowd to stick around, so you have to be more satisfying than any of their other options.
2. How long are your routines for each of these situations
Don't worry about trying to hit a certain length. Worry about being entertaining and engaging. A super entertaining 8 minutes will get you a bigger hat than 15 minutes of mediocre material where you were trying to fill time. Start small, and engaging, and build up from there.
My routines are longer than most - anywhere from 5-12 minutes, but a big part of that time is that I'm talking with people and engaging them with banter.
3. Do you guys/girls stick by the 3 sets of 3 thing or how many tricks do you do in a busking set or for one table
I select material in accordance to the time slot I get as well as the environment. For the ren faire I do, we currently have 30 minutes of performance time so I do anywhere from 3 to 6 pieces, depending on what I am working on and the crowd. Generally probably about 4 routines is normal for me, because as I said I do longer routines. For the sideshow act we do about 5 pieces for 30 minutes.
I know a guy who does a whip act. In a 25 minute show that consists of 2 fancy whip cracks, one set of cracks where he hits a target held by a volunteer, sprinkled through 22 minutes of stories and banter and whatever else he comes up with. He legit did one show where half of it was leaving a rubber chicken on a chair with a newspaper, as it were reading the paper. Then every couple minutes he'd go flip the page. But he's funny, so people give him buckets of money every time.
4. How many sets do you get ready to perform on one night
The few times I did walk around, I stuck to 3x3+3. Meaning 3 sets of 3 tricks, then 3 special things I would only do maybe once a night each. For busking, I prepare two shows of any given type and alternate them. So at the ren faire I do in CT I do a solo show in the morning, set A sideshow early afternoon, set B sideshow late afternoon. This way you can encourage people to come see ALL your shows, and tip you each time.
So here's some of the big tips I've learned after years of busking and watching other buskers -
Successful busking has little to do with your material. If you watch seasoned buskers you'll realize they actually do very little material, the vast majority of the show is bantering with the audience. In other words - the busker is the performance. The things they do are just like illustrations in a book. What people come to see is the persona/personality of the performer.
The style of performance that works for busking doesn't tend to work that well outside of busking, with a few exceptions. Basically, if the performer is more of a stand up comic that also does magic, then it can work for a small crowd. But the kind of interaction you get with busking doesn't really happen anywhere else. The reason I bring this up is that if a performer starts out busking and gets good at it, they are going to have to make significant adjustments to jump to another kind of performer (such as parlour or stage shows).