Ideas to Make Our Live Shows Unforgettable and Fun for the Audience!

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Robertt8

Robertt8

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Any Ideas To Make Our Live Shows More Fun?​

Okay, a lot of the music our band plays is pretty fun anyway, but we want to interact more with the audience. You can only ask how everyone's doing so many times between songs. Now i'm not suggesting that i stand up there and tell jokes between every song, but I was wondering if there were any good ideas of things to do that might tighten the gap between the band and the audience.

Also, (this is kind of off a different question all together, but) I'm the singer/rhythm guitar player in the band, so I need to be close to the mic almost all the time (and play guitar). I find myself stiff like a statue (zoning out and not moving much) after about 30 sec. into the song. So when i come to it's like "oh...shit...better move around a bit". I look at some photos, and a few of them, i'm in this (like) battle stance (with legs straight underneath me a bit over shoulder width...pretty wide). Needless to say, I didn't look like the coolest guy in the world. Any ideas how to "snap" out of it?

Thanks!
Tait
 
Tapping your foot is easy, and makes you at least a bit more interesting to look at. You could always get a rhythm guitar player, if you're singing without a guitar you can go nuts.

Between songs, make sure the band doesn't stand there and do nothing or talk amongst themselves. Standing there and saying to each other 'Umm... What song's next?' is about the worst thing you can do in my opinion.

See if you can download some live sets by bands, then at least you can hear what they do between songs. Rocket From The Crypt sets from transmission3000.com would be a good place to start, as Speedo is an awesome frontman.
 
I'm glad you asked this, Rob.

There are several ways to consider making your shows more fun. What kind of music you play and your attitude as a musician will certainly dictate which direction you'll want to go. If you take yourself uberseriously and you're doing metal for example, you might not want to throw in a medley of tv show theme songs.

Basically though, you want to make your show an unpredictable event. A spectacle the audience will not soon forget but with music they'll want spin in the car as they drive home. I've done things like costumes, giveaways, special guests, weird covers, etc.

I'll start a list of things I've done or considered. Feel free to add as you think of things.

Things to make your show more fun​

  1. medley of tv show theme songs! :)
  2. play name that tune with the audience for a band T-shirt or CD.
  3. invite hot chicks onstage for a raunchy tune
  4. get old people onstage to play tamborine or triangle
  5. invite weird instrument player onstage for a tune
  6. get players from opening act to sit in for a tune (will get their fans to stay!)
  7. swing the guitar behind you for a song and make love to the mic stand.
  8. wear costumes
  9. Cool light show!
 
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Yup, those moments of dreaded silence between songs, (been there, done that too many times myself) what to do? Anything!!! Just keep something going on. We all know to hit 'em with a good song to get their attention but then you have to keep their attention. Get them involved, say and do things that make them feel like they are part of the show, like when doing a song most people know remind them to "help us out on this one," or "we need a few extra voices on the chorus of this." Learn the name(s) fo the bartenders and put in a plug for them, challenge the audience to make the bartenders sweat as much as you are. See what I'm getting at? You don't have to tell jokes, talk to your audience, not at them. Let them know you appreciate them, make them feel special (they'll love you for it)
I sing and play guitar also, to avoid the just standing there look, I take a step back from the mic between lines, it's easy to do and breaks the monotony. You don't have to jump around, just remember to move enough so that no one mistakes you for a zombie.
A favorite one liner of mine is, " For the next three songs the restrooms will be closed, if we gotta stay out here so do you." Then hit them with three killer songs in a row and, "Lets all take a short break, the restrooms are now open again."
Above all, have so much fun that the audience has to have a good time too, after all, entertaining is what we do. Plus the more fun they have, the more likely they will come to see you again, and bring a friend next time.
 
Now, I see things kind of differently. I feel people are there to hear music, not listen to you tell stupid stories and or jokes. If people want to laugh, they can go to the comedy club. The other stuff like the costumes, other musicians, tv theme songs are ok I guess. But talking is bullshit IMO

In my band we do 4 or 5 songs back to back. No fucking dead air. None nadda zip. Then we'll pause for about 15-20 sec tops. Just long enough to take a sip of beverage at which time, speaking is permitted. Then it's back to another 4 or 5 songs.

Also, announcing the next song you're going to do, bullshit, don't do it. Telling the crowd you are turning the mic over to the other singer, bullshit, don't do it. And a host of other stupid shit bands seem to think they have to do.

But, as posted in another thread by CloneBoy, advertising for the bar is good.

The response to this approach has been very favorable among owners and patrons alike.
 
What HangDawg said. Get the act tight and hit them with song after song. Just don't let up and have faith in your sound. It's good to watch the Talking Heads Stop Making Sense DVD for an object lesson in totally commited professional performing (I bought it on recommendation from somebody else on this bbs, really glad I did).
 
I've been in bands like Hangdawgs, and I always felt like they were missing something. Most people don't come out to hear good songs or see someone play jaw dropping lead guitar. People come out to be entertained. Period. How you do that is up to you. We have a lot of crowd interaction, we do stump the band all night long. Being entertaining and pandering a bit buys you currency to do whatever you like. Over the course of 3 hours last Saturday, we played Raspberry Beret, 25 or 6 to 4, Ice Ice Baby, Jessie's Girl, Funk 49, and a 10 minute made up Johnny Cash medley. Our original stuff more than held it's own, and the audience was receptive because they were entertained. The stage was covered with dollar bills from the crowd. We also moved a buttload of merch. We've never been shut out of a place after getting in the door to do a show. We take this approach whether we're doing a one hour feature or opening set, or a 3 hour bar gig.

As with all things, YMMV.
 
freshmattyp said:
we played Raspberry Beret, 25 or 6 to 4, Ice Ice Baby, Jessie's Girl, Funk 49, and a 10 minute made up Johnny Cash medley.
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I would have been out the door as soon as you did Prince. Maybe sooner. But all this shit depends on what kind of band you are and the type of crowd you want to attract. I've been in the classic rock/dance type bands and we did all the stupid shit because that was the crowds we attracted at the places we played. I'm not doing that anymore. We play very heavy shit for the most part, and the people who come see us could care less about stumping the fuckin band. They want to have their heads blown off and that's what we aim to do.
 
If your music can't hold em there, jokes and snappy banter aren't going to either... Unless you're billing yourselves as some sort of comedy/music act...

Get the sets down TIGHT... Maybe give enough time between songs for a '..this one's on our CD, for sale at the bar..." or "... This is a song about...."
After maybe 3 to 5 songs, allow for some 'gotta adjust the bass drum pedal' or 'gotta switch to the acoustic 12 string' by giving the band name and where you're from... Pump your CD (if you don't have it, announce that it's coming soon). Pay gratitudes to the club/town/audience/bartender, etc. BUT GET BACK TO THE MUSIC! Don't launch into a David Letterman Top 10 list, or any such nonsense. The dance floor will end up clearing out and your momentum will fizzle...

The best thing to 'tighten the gap' with your audience is to play right to them... Eye contact and smile...

One of my pet peeves when I'm out listening to a band is when they try to 'fill the dead air' and you get a couple of band members talking at the same time trying to out-ham the other...
Leave Tommy and Dickey Smothers at home and do what you bought your guitar for in the first place...

Just my .02

:rolleyes:
 
thanks guys...some interesting ideas in there. I'm not quite sure why some people think that i want to do some kind of comedy show or something between songs. I'm just looking for *little* things or ideas while talking to the audience between a song every now and then.

I personally hate when I go to a show and the band riffles through their set list and dissappears. I always feel like I could have just popped on thier CD. I want a little personality from shows that I can't just get from the music alone. I want to know i'm seeing a live band, and that's what i want to give myself in a performance. I'm not there to juggle or anything. I'm just looking to see if there are any fun little tricks to keep it interesting.
 
Robert I know where you're coming from. I think it's one thing if you're playing a bar for 3 hours, but if you're doing more like 1 hour sets for a crowd that wants some originals, it's a little different. My band used to do all kinds of crazy stuff to entertain the crowd. We'd cover "she blinded me with science" and run back stage before hand (left the drummer to do a hammed up drum solo) and put on lab coats and other "scientist" gear. Once the singer and I had a watergun fight on stage while the band jammed some classic funk songs.
Just get creative; find a vibe and a sense of humor that fits with your music and see if you can add some entertaining bits during the songs instead of having breaks. I would minimize your breaks.
We developed our show from a seminar given by Tom Jackson, I think he sells videos of his seminars. I recommend them. It worked out well, made a huge difference in crowd response.
I guess there are crowds that just want you to hammer out the tunes and get off the stage. We weren't playing for those crowds, and it doesn't sound like you are either.
 
first things first.......get out of the habit of tuning the guitar after every song or every other song. the downtime in between is what kills and if people could careless to hear you in the first place..this definitely doesnt help matters. know some of the people in the audience so you can call them out and make fun of them (within reason). if someone in the crowd knows some lyrics to one of your songs...make'm get on stage and sing it and then push them away when they start to suck while smiling the whole time. get chicks...even if you have to pay your gf and her friends to stand in front and dance... the reason you stand up straight is because thats where your mic is placed... drop its placement about 3-5 inches so you have to have a more legs apart stance so you can pretend to look like a rock star. if your mic is on a boom stand, this is better for your situation so your guitar doesnt smack mic stand. in opening parts of songs or any part where you dont need to be at the mic...dont be there...go see what the drummer is up to, go see what the edge of the stage looks like. if theres a part of the song that will work with syncronized band jumping....do it!
 
Bubble machine
video projectors
land before time videos
confediee? sp?
women
 
Stuff that will make you stand out? Well I’ve been around the block so I’ll put in my 2 cents

First and foremost, play to a stage bigger than your on. Think U2 wouldn’t be the same great show at Joe’s Bar and Grill as it would be at the Super Dome? Would they not dress the same and work the crowd the same? On his last tour Prince would do a club show right after his arena show. Was anyone saying, well it wasn’t as good without the lights, PA and video screens? Nope.

Point is if you act like a bar band, you’ll be a bar band. If you act like your headlining MSG then even in the biggest dives you’ll shine. Don’t worry about over playing or looking foolish. Better that then to be the boring band who stood in one space all night long.

Dress up the stage: Unless you’re The Ramones or Judas Priest a wall of Marshalls isn’t going to impress anyone and I know at most small venues you’re not going to be able to do a lot. But there are a few things.

Paint the microphone stands, something besides the chrome or black everyone sees. I saw a band once tape picks all over the stand, it actually looked pretty cool. Even if you don’t have your own PA set up Mic stands run about $20.00 on the websites. If your really daring you can do the scarves on the lead singer’s microphone stand thing, it’s not like Steven Tyler patented it. (though he might as well)

Use a flag to decorate your amp grill, the sound it probably coming out of the PA anyway. Besides 90% of the people won’t care that you’re playing a fender or marshall or mesa boogie or whatever.

If you do an acoustic show (or part of your set is acoustic) find a good older couch and bring it on stage. Or anyone remember when Scott Wiland had a rocking chair on MTV’s unplugged? It makes it seem more intimate instead of the old stool or chair thing.

If you have a banner with the band’s logo or name on it, pick people who are really getting into the show to come up and sign it. It becomes a contest to see who can impress the band instead of the other way around. Find girls dancing or if a guy brings you a beer from the bar and let them sign it.

If you’re going to have a light show, bubble machine, smoke machine, pyro etc… make sure it is bigger, badder and better than anyone else has. If not dare to be different. Don’t try to be the Yankees on the KC Royals budget.

Remember your biggest limitation is your imagination. These are ideas for the budget conscience band with not much room to work. Of course if you do have more of a budget (or can creatively create things on one) and the stage space you can do what Warrant did to get attention in LA before they got signed.

They had theme nights. One night the stage might look like an old salon with a bar and swinging doors. Another night the stage might look like a strip club with fringe and polls. But the fans new they were going to be surprised and thought they weren’t going to see the same show twice.

Things not to do

There is a fine line between eclectic and cluttered. Check your stage during sound check

Don’t copy what anyone else is doing unless you want to be compared to them forever

Don’t let the drummer talk you into bringing every piece he owns unless you play in a Rush tribute band or have a Tommy Lee like drum rising that flips you upside down. I don’t think anyone has ever been impressed by a band having two base drums instead of one.

Do bring more than one guitar or bass. If one goes out of tune just grab the other. No one wants to see a band do the tuning blues. Tune between sets.

Have something scripted to say. It does sound contrived but my old band tried improvising once and the singer said we have our 8-tracks for sale. Lucky someone said the reel to reels would be ready next week and it was a funny gag.

And don’t bring a blow up doll on stage. The band’s only groupie gag has been done since the big band era and everyone knows what one looks like.
 
Hey bro,

I know how you feel. I just played last night for the first time in a while, and I'm rusty for sure. I think I'm going to start playing at home standing up in front of a mirror, because when I practice it's always sitting down. I'm still working on it myself, but stage presence is not an easy thing to get right. Has to fit your vibe. You have to get comfortable on stage somehow. And definitely record/video your performances for critique later on. We found out that my brother said before every one of his songs "this song is called *. i hope you like it...". That didn't happen again!

I personally like some talking between songs. I usually tell a story about the song I just played, or am about to play. And it's usually not what the songs about, but maybe about how I wrote it (hungover, sitting on a train, etc.). If I don't have a good story, I make something up. I talk about how much I like my new pants sometimes, or I ask somebody if their shirt was from the Gap and then I say how I got fired on my first day at the Gap. Just to keep people guessing. Figure out who's watching and make a little eye contact with them while you're playing. Ignore the people who are chatting with friends. Dedicate a song to the "girl in the back with the purple underwear".

Cheers,
Brendan
 
Paco said:
Hey bro,

I know how you feel. I just played last night for the first time in a while, and I'm rusty for sure. I think I'm going to start playing at home standing up in front of a mirror, because when I practice it's always sitting down. I'm still working on it myself, but stage presence is not an easy thing to get right. Has to fit your vibe. You have to get comfortable on stage somehow. And definitely record/video your performances for critique later on. We found out that my brother said before every one of his songs "this song is called *. i hope you like it...". That didn't happen again!

I personally like some talking between songs. I usually tell a story about the song I just played, or am about to play. And it's usually not what the songs about, but maybe about how I wrote it (hungover, sitting on a train, etc.). If I don't have a good story, I make something up. I talk about how much I like my new pants sometimes, or I ask somebody if their shirt was from the Gap and then I say how I got fired on my first day at the Gap. Just to keep people guessing. Figure out who's watching and make a little eye contact with them while you're playing. Ignore the people who are chatting with friends. Dedicate a song to the "girl in the back with the purple underwear".

Cheers,
Brendan
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That kind of chat is excellent Brendan, i admire you if you can do that. The main thing is that people can pick up if it's forced, by that i mean if you are trying to do something that doesn't come naturaly. The audience like to be communicated with and like you to tell them something about youself as long as it's interesting and doesn't ramble on and on....

If you can'y do this type of banter, then rather than try and be an embarassing failure it's best to say little between songs and just let the music speak for you.

When my band first started 4 years ago we just stood there and played. This is OK for a house band playing background music, or maybe a folk act, but not for a rock show. Now two of us move around the stage and we've each found our own style of moving to the music, but the third guy just stands there looking moody, that's his style I guess.

The main thing is to do is 'take command' of the stage, like you belong up there. if all you want to do is just play and not entertain then you need to get a front person who can entertain, just watching four good musaicians sit there isn't too exciting, but of course that's what you get with some genres of music (eg classical), depends on what you play i guess.

Tip: Don't use firewirks to make your show more exciting, big mistake
 
The main thing is to do is 'take command' of the stage
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so so true. and the hardest bit is the very start, when youve just got on the stage but the audience have been sat there for however long... i played last night and it almost felt like we were invading their personal space... we soon sorted that out :p

i'd say the main things to make sure you dont seem to inanimate ...

a) be able to play the songs really well... you dont want to actually have to think too much while youre up there.
b) let yourself go a bit... dont be too concious about what youre actually doing, and just go with the flow.

on the talking front... keep it really short and snappy. i like it when bands do something a bit personal to someone imparticular... when radiohead played at glastonbury a few years back thom said something like "hey andy! remember what we did last time?" s******ed and started playing the next song (sadly he wasnt talking to me :p)

but generally for me, i dont anything too over the top. maybe plug your recordings or the bar or your website or whatever, and maybe a "this is our last song, thanks for listening" at the start of the last song, but otherwise, unless theres a 'need' for speaking, for me its about the music, and anything that doesnt come across completely naturally after that is annoying, and detracts from the overall performance.

that doesnt mean be rude or ignore your audience... just give them what they came to hear. if you can play well, you shouldnt need any comic gags, and if you cant play well, you shouldnt be playing :p

Andy
 
I used to be in a band that really sucked. But we wrote a skit that included time machines, robots, and costumes... and people loved it. That kind of ridiculous stuff is fun, but it will make you a novelty act. Okay, enough of the anecdotes.

I hate it when bands tell the audience to move around. Don't do this. If they're not interested in you, you'll just piss them off even more.

I like it when bands keep playing continuously, so there's never any silence. Anything that needs to be said (pitching your cd, asking how the audience is) is done while there's some background noise. It keeps the set flowing and makes things less boring.
 
Hi, I'm 40 and have been in bands since I was 16. Played full time for almost 15 years(3 to 5 nights a week.) We traveled quite a bit to keep our schedule full. This gave us the chance to see a lot of other bands(Sharing stages or checking out someones last set because they played later)....and see what we liked and disliked about them.

With that said...here's my list of do's and don'ts....
1 HAVE A SET LIST AND STICK TO IT! None of this "what do you wanna play?"..."I don't want to do that next"... "My throats not warmed up yet"
2 DEAD AIR SUCKS! BE PREPARED- come hell or highwater, to rattle off 3-5 songs in a row. It won't kill you to not stop and take a sip of your drink,check tuning(you're really the only one who cares that one string is a hair out of tune.), Or adjust your cymbal stand, seat, amp settings, etc., etc.
If their dancing ,don't stop!!! Your 3 songs before saying something just turned into 6.
3 As mentioned above, keep the useless banter between members to a minimum. Have someone,(a front man if necessary,) do the talking.
4 VARIETY- Unless you're doing a specific genre thing...Death metal, blues, etc..people usually don't want to hear the same thing all night. NOR do they want to hear you do the same material every time they see you, month after month, and sadly for some bands, year after year.
5 OK, INTERESTING THINGS ON STAGE??? You would be surprised. When people are having a good time, anything goes....We would do all sorts of stupid stuff and people would tell us how much fun it was to come and see us. Get some cheap giveaway stuff(keychains, t shirts,frisbees,cd's etc.)
and have contests...shortest skirt, best dancer, best dirty dancer, trivia questions. You'd be surprised at what people will do for a stupid keychain or t- shirt. One time, as a gag, we painted a canned ham camoflouge green and proclaimed it as an authentic M*A*S*H* ham. We had fun with it all night, gave it away with a trivia question. People loved it. Although it's kind of korny, throw a giant balloon out over the dance floor when it's packed. People love knockin' it around while they're dancing.
6 Tape yourselves occasionally to see how your doing with dead air, smiling and reacting to the crowd, You'll be surprised at what you notice you can do better with little or no effort. For example..I noticed that I had a habit of looking at my guitar when I didn't need to. Why stare at your guitar when you could play that passage blindfolded....make eye contact and smile or if your shy, even pick a spot at the back of the room...no one will know that your not looking at anyone in particular.
7 Of course, remember to have fun!!! That's why your doing this in the first place!!!! Don't stress over stupid, trivial things like, "it sounds like shit in this room" If you have fun... your audience will too!!!
 
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