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Does Your Band Have Fun on Stage

B

bluewine

Inactive
Sep 4, 2008
10,296
27
WI
#1
Last night I went to a fundraiser and had the opportunity to see several of Milwaukee’s top bands.

The leader of our band has always talked about our energy level and having fun. When I am on stage I really do try to have fun but at times my nerves get the best of me.

After last night, and seeing some of these pro level bands, I really get how important it is to convey to the audience that the band is having fun.

Does your band have fun on stage?
 
#4
We have a ball onstage, lots of movement and energy coming off the stage. I wear my bass low and cop a more guitar player like presence onstage. I'm right out in front not tucked in next to the drummer with a keyboard player in front of me.:D
 
#10
Absolutely. We move around, trade places, headbang, full-body headbang, drummer helicopters his hair... you get the picture. Additionally, the singer and I are wireless, so we go all sorts of places. My personal fave is to get down in the crowd and play on the floor. Audiences eat it up and it's a riot for me :)
 
#14
godofthunder59 said:
We have a ball onstage, lots of movement and energy coming off the stage. I wear my bass low and cop a more guitar player like presence onstage. I'm right out in front not tucked in next to the drummer with a keyboard player in front of me.:D
Click to expand...

Nice!, I have seen some bands come on, look so serious and have no interaction with the audience at all.

Not good
 
#15
On stage … and off

Get a wireless, Darren our guitar player is quite the cut-up, chases waitresses around, even went to the bar one night during a solo
ordered a beer and proceeded to play slide with it, never missed a beat, the crowd loved it!

I walked through the crowd at a gig kissed a beautiful redhead (my wife) at her table and never stopped playing and the crowd ate it up.

Darren workin it :D

2af2148c.jpg


On stage it’s just as crazy ... we play blues to chase the blues away!


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...
 
#16
the whole point is to entertain, so you gotta make it fun. we'd throw beach balls (marked with our logo/myspace info)into the audience, do ridiculous costumes complete with obviously stuffed codpieces, coregraphed moves, etc. we had to make up for not having a singer so we just made it as visually stimulating as we could. the sillier we were, the more the audience loved it, which is the whole point of playing live.
 
#17
I've been in pretty crappy bands that had fun on stage, interacted with the audience. We were playing 4-5 nights a week as a matter of fact.

Never forget that we are entertainers, and music is about 25% of entertainment. And never forget that most bands are not NEARLY as good musically as they think they are, and even if they were, it wouldn't matter as 99% of the people can't tell good musicians from hacks anyway, so ignore the entertainment aspect at your own peril.

So make eye contact, have fun, etc. That is an order.

Randy
 
#18
Always have fun on stage or at least LOOK LIKE you're having fun! ;)

Not every gig is going to be a winner, but as mentioned above, we are entertainers.

Even if you're having the most miserable time playing "Brickhouse" for the umpteenth time, look like you LOVE playing it and people will respond in kind! :)

FWIW, my 'early warning system' of when I should quit a band is when I'm not having fun playing in that band anymore.
 
#20
someone said keep the dead-air banter to a minimum. I must agree. While my band has a few lines we use here and there, it's mostly while the guitarist is tuning, re-stringing, etc.

the audience doesn't get your inside jokes (unless all 6 people in your audience are you parents, gf, two x band members, and your one friend). Also from the house, singing may be coming clear through the mix, but dead-air talking is usually indescribably muddy. Not to mention when you stop playing is when everybody can actually talk to their buddies without shouting, so they're not paying attention to you anyway.
 

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