STAGE CRAFT
Part 3: Rouse Your Audiences! Gareth Bird offers some tips on how to connect and interact with your audience to keep them coming back for more.
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he key to being a great live act rather than just an average one is knowing how to interact with your audience. Average bands or solo artists strum through their sets while great performers connect with their crowds as soon as they get up on stage. The good news is that the ability to turn even the most unresponsive audience into enthusiastic fans who sing your praises to everyone they meet for weeks after the gig is something you can learn. Some musicians will tell you to forget any form of communication with your audience other than your music. That’s fine if you’re a million-selling artist with crowds who are won over by just the sight of you. For the rest of us, no gig is ever only about the music.
I SAY, I SAY, I SAY… It is fair to say, however, that no amount of know-how about what to say to a
crowd or what cool moves to pull will save you if you can’t play, if you’re not rehearsed, if your material choice is lousy or if your gear doesn’t work properly. So, we’ll assume you’ve got those basics covered. Here then are six key action points to make sure you get your gig crowd going every time you play.
1. DON’T LEAVE IT TO CHANCE
Don’t be ashamed to plan your interaction. All good performers of any kind work with some form of “script” even if it’s only an outline. Your set list is your friend. A well constructed set-list is
crucial to getting any crowd going. Aim to put the real highlights, your best up-tempo numbers, in the second or final set. This is when the audience will generally have warmed up and be more likely to let themselves go. You’ll probably want to plan the bulk of your direct, one-on-one interaction for the final set. For your opening set you’ll still need something to get the crowd going as much as possible and a good strong opening number is guaranteed to gain your audience’s attention, even if they don’t all leap up and start dancing like lunatics from the very first chord.
Think about potential ‘dead spaces’ or delays in between songs which can often lead to the audience losing interest. If you can’t avoid a gap, for example when someone has to tune down or change instruments; then decide in advance that this space will be used for some direct audience interaction. Stage banter is perfect at these times.
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Work out how you can avoid any other unnecessary gaps between numbers. Make sure band members know who starts which song and that they do so promptly. Think about playing some songs in ‘blocks’, where you join numbers together with no gap in between to maintain the momentum of the show. Timing is everything: Plan for how you can use the most obvious and best moments during a gig to interact with your crowd. Aside from in between numbers, key moments to communicate with the crowd can be: the opening of the show, if and when you receive song requests, band member introductions, audience participation, reminders about your website or merchandise and when you thank & say ‘Goodnight’ at the end of the show.
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2. SHOW YOUR ENJOYMENT If your stage show consists of staring awkwardly at your fret boards, don’t be surprised if the audience seem to have trouble getting into what you’re playing. Stage banter is an important
part of winning over any crowd, but most of the impression you create with an audience will, (after the sound of your music), come from what they see you doing rather than any chat you might get into. This doesn’t mean you need to go crazy on stage to create an impact. Just exaggerate any movements you do make and as cheesy as it may sound, try to smile and make some eye contact with audience members from time to time. If you’re stuck for ideas on how to move check out clips of your favourite artists on YouTube and adapt what they do. The key is to make sure you look like you’re into what you’re doing.
Come on then… entertain us!
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