Fun Interactions with the Crowd

[Deleted member 92857]

Another thought....

When I was in a cover band...We played songs on the heavier side (sort of)...

Alice in Chains
Journey
Blink 182
Ozzy
Deep Purple
etc.

BUT

We threw in "Sweet Caroline" from Neil Diamond and it was an instant hit with every crowd!! From the business executive crowd after work on a Friday night to the sleazy biker bars on a Saturday night...EVERYONE sang along, especially the BA BA BA part and the So Good, So Good part. Talk about getting the crowd into it.....it was like we were throwing a party in our living room and everyone was invited.

LOL, Back in the 80's when "Bang your head" by Quiet Riot was a hit, my band would do the intro, then go into "make it with you" by Bread. Total 180° turnaround. The metal heads cursed us, but everyone else got a good laugh and slow danced.

You can also do some humor by taking requests, then sing the lyrics of the requested song while playing some generic progression (G-C-D or whatever) Then take another request and play it to the same progression. Then ask for another request. After a couple or three "requests" the joke will be realized. Except by the drunks.

Come onstage after a break and tell the crowd the singer has OD'd, converted to the Amish faith and can't use electrical equipment anymore, or something else equally shocking. Start a song, and when the lyrics should come in, explain to the crowd that this is where the singer (or guitar player, or whatever) would come in, but doggone it, they left. YOu still have the rest of us and we're going to go on with the show. When the crowd is beginning to wonder "What the....", have the missing member come in the front door and make their way to the stage and explain that their OD, religious conversion, whatever didn't work out and jump into the song for real. The Smothers Brothers used to do stuff like this all the time, there might be clips on YouTube.

 

[jonas_24112]

Okay, I'll play. We do a schtick where the singer gets as many women backup singers on stage for Mustan Sally. Guitarists with wireless go into the crowd and mess around, sit at tables etc. I don't have wireless yet, so I just stand beside the drummer. Hopefully, I'll be untethered soon.

A local band here does live 80's karaoke, complete with wigs, spandex, etc. On top of having audience members pick and sing songs, they have a "banana eating contest" for the ladies if you know what I mean. It can get downright raucus. But their gig is all about the show/party and less about the music. They've done quite well for the few gigs they have done.

 

[Chef FourString]

We like to play on the floor, so we invite people to come dance and jam around with us as we play.

One of the coolest band interactions I've seen would be when we saw Cake. They gave away an Apple tree during their first set. I thought that was pretty original.

 

[iamjoncoates]

I play in a live hip-hip band where most of the vocals and the majority of the music is all improvised.

The rapper has two crowd interaction activities that we do at each of our shows. For the first activity, he has another band member walk around the audience with a poster-sized pad of paper and a marker. Audience members can then write anything they want on the poster board, and whatever gets written down is used in the lyrics of one improvisation (the reason another band member does it, is because the rapper doesn't want to see what is written on the paper until the start of the improv). The other activity is that he encourages audience members to bring any random object they can to the front of the stage, and he raps about them.

We've played all over the Northeast, and these two have been a hit at almost every venue.