how to gauge an audience..

[EightString]

Some audiences, "12" sounds about right.

[MDLMUSIC]

One of my thousands of gig stories...

I was playing a club in Harrisburg, PA, and getting almost no crowd reaction. Nobody danced (I was in a top-40 band at the time) and we only got some half-hearted applause as we ended a song.

On our first break I went up to the bartender and told him I didn't think we were doing so well.

"Oh, no", he told me. "You're doing great. If they didn't like you they'd be throwing ashtrays at you."

[doezer]

@ Notes Norton..

i find if I like to have a setlist for the first 3 or 4 tunes... just to get the whole thing going.
then after that i wing it depending on the crowd.

but even the 1st 3 or 4 tunes i dont pick until ive seen the crowd... theres no point otherwise.

one problem with all thios though is i keep tending toremember the same tunes.
so it means you can forget some good ones which would have worked for that crowd that just arent in your memory banks!

i have a sheet with a load of tunes written down by category... i just look at that from time to time - amazing what youve forgotten you can play .

D

[Notes_Norton]

We have over 500 songs in our book.

 

I keep a thin loose-leaf notebook on a low music stand with the songs listed in categories so I can read the titles. This keeps me from repeating the same songs. Although there are some songs that get played almost every night, because they work.

 

Notes

[Shaster]

Redundant comments enclosed.

You shouldn't assume people aren't listening - some crowds are just busy, shy, or otherwise engaged.

I have a regular once a month restaurant gig where sometimes people clap/respond, and sometimes they don't. But invariably at the end of the gig people will go out of their way (it's a big room) to come up to me and say something like "sorry we weren't clapping, but we really did appreciate your music". And sometimes their statement comes with a nice tip!

Asking for requests.... and wandering around during the breaks is one way of gauging the crowd. Sometimes I'll walk by a table and someone will stop me and ask for a song, or request a birthday announcement, or what have you. AI start to wonder why they were reticent to approach me while I'm on stage, but then I realize not everybody is a big loud show off, and truthfully I'm not always that way either

Actually if I have time, I like to walk the room before I even start. Often I'll spot a celebration of some sort, or say hello to friendly looking folks to try and make a connection pre show.

[doezer]

@ Notes
i have a mate who has developed software whereby he brings a laptop to a gig and sits it in front of him..
he calls up songs by category, or alphabetically or presses a "random" function within a category...
then it comes up with the lyrics and chords which can be transposed etc etc...handy for people who cant remember all their lyrics etc.
or ones you havent played in ages..
personally i just wing it on the lyrics if im stuck

@Shaster..
sure. for definite there are just crowds who arent into it and crowds who are. absolutely no doubt about it.

thats not taking from the fact that engaging them is a skill... but for example sometimes i get a crowd and they are easy peasy to engage with
and then others i get them like last weekend.. just DEAD!! - its those ones id like to try engage more..
but i do accept someties youve got to just roll with it too.

just one last thing on that.
I was on the other side of the coin myself only a few months ago.
in a bar with a friend having a chat. and a guy was playing and he was really good.
i wnet and said it to him at half time and he said "wow. i thought i was bombiong here no-one was reacting at all"
and no-one was, including myself i was too busy talking...

its amazing how even i wasnt clued into him, given what i do as well. and i mean this guy was very good..
so was he not engaging me?? or was i just not in the mood to be engaged?? i dunno.. anyway he was v good..
its like when you ride a bike and give out about the motorists.
then get back in your car and ten minutes later your just like them!!!

d

[SiCkboy78]

Had a gig on sat night 9pm-1:00. We played to the bartender for the first two hours. Then the flood gates opened and it was on. It was kind of weird because I was prepared to rock the whole time so it messed up my mojo.. We had to keep this crowd, so we played hard and had the place dancing and having a great time. I have to admit, I was a bit worried for the first half that nobady would show, or stay.. Turned out good though.

[John Bartus]

The only time I ever use a setlist is when I'm playing a festival or concert type gig. For clubs and restaurants, I just go with the flow, feel the crowd's vibe, and let the universe reveal to me what the next song is... well, it's not that cosmic. I've been doing this a long time (30+ years, 4-6 nights a week), and I use the same approach for both my solo and band gigs. I've got well over 1,000 songs in my brain (no lyric sheets), and I ask for requests now and again to help get the crowd involved. I usually say, "If there's a special song you'd like to hear this evening... please keep it to yourself. I run a polished, professional show here." It usually gets their attention and helps them focus on the music for a while. Once you get a few tables going along with you, it's easier to command the attention of the rest of the room.

 

In addition to the cover songs, I throw in quite a few originals into my sets. If you get the crowd's attention, it's a bit easier to guide them into a song they haven't heard before by doing a spoken intro that "explains" the song and shows them in. (It's also a good way to help sell CDs!) Because I've been doing this for a long time, and I live in a tourist area, I've got locals and visitors coming to my gigs and requesting my songs. That's the best part of what I do right there.

[doezer]

The only time I ever use a setlist is when I'm playing a festival or concert type gig. For clubs and restaurants, I just go with the flow, feel the crowd's vibe, and let the universe reveal to me what the next song is... well, it's not that cosmic. I've been doing this a long time (30+ years, 4-6 nights a week), and I use the same approach for both my solo and band gigs. I've got well over 1,000 songs in my brain (no lyric sheets), and I ask for requests now and again to help get the crowd involved. I usually say, "If there's a special song you'd like to hear this evening... please keep it to yourself. I run a polished, professional show here." It usually gets their attention and helps them focus on the music for a while. Once you get a few tables going along with you, it's easier to command the attention of the rest of the room. In addition to the cover songs, I throw in quite a few originals into my sets. If you get the crowd's attention, it's a bit easier to guide them into a song they haven't heard before by doing a spoken intro that "explains" the song and shows them in. (It's also a good way to help sell CDs!) Because I've been doing this for a long time, and I live in a tourist area, I've got locals and visitors coming to my gigs and requesting my songs. That's the best part of what I do right there.

sounds good! id love to catch one of your shows

i did a gig at the weekend with a guy for the first time as a duo..
hes got a polished way of interacting with the audience...
he fools around with them a bit... hes been at this 30yrs or so too and says it took him years to get it right..

but one thing i noticed. his whole angle relies on him knowing LOADS of songs..
because what he does is tries to include people by asking them what they want to hear..
and then starts joking around... but the startup is that.

and i cant do that cos i just dont know enough songs off the bat like that... i would get caught out!
but i realised that if i had the tunes i could do it.
so now i just gotta go and get myself a few thousand tunes nailed.!!.. :eek:

D

[James Clausen]

It might be trite but...I play for myself. I do the best job that I can and work on it that much harder if people don't seem to react. If folks like it, cool. If they don't, oh well, I did my best. I keep getting hired so it must be working at least part of the time.

[richardmac]

I know what you mean. There have been some nights where I was killing it - I was just really right on the money - but the crowd reaction was indifferent. I can tell when I'm going through the motions and when I'm killing it, but apparently the crowd sometimes can't. Regarding set lists, I always use them but I give myself the ability to mix and match on the fly. Like daddymack said, it is awful to see an act that can't decide what song to do next. And when they joke about it, it's even worse. Whether you use a set list or not, you better be able to finish a song and launch the next one pretty quickly.

 

Side note - one of my pet peeves is performers who talk too much. You're not funny, you're not even interesting, shut the hell up and play the next song. You only THINK you're funny and clever and witty. Drives me nuts.

[TIMKEYS]

I know what you mean. There have been some nights where I was killing it - I was just really right on the money - but the crowd reaction was indifferent. I can tell when I'm going through the motions and when I'm killing it, but apparently the crowd sometimes can't. Regarding set lists, I always use them but I give myself the ability to mix and match on the fly. Like daddymack said, it is awful to see an act that can't decide what song to do next. And when they joke about it, it's even worse. Whether you use a set list or not, you better be able to finish a song and launch the next one pretty quickly. Side note - one of my pet peeves is performers who talk too much. You're not funny, you're not even interesting, shut the hell up and play the next song. You only THINK you're funny and clever and witty. Drives me nuts.

 

 

 

every now and then you run into an entertainer with a very strong talk game and then its magic on stage. Those guys are far and few between and it takes a venue where its an up close listening type crowd.

[saturn1]

As a music lover as well as a musician I can't hardly refrain from reacting when music is being performed - tapping my foot, bobbing my head, moving to the beat, applauding at the end of the song, something. As such, it is very disconcerting when I see no reaction at all from an audience. However, I am glad to be 1/2 of duo where we really enjoy playing music, we enjoy playing music together and we know that the majority of the times we perform people respond well to us. If we are getting no apparent response we still enjoy what we are doing and have a good time. Heck, we could be busing the tables instead of making music and I'll take making music anytime. We do what we can, ask for requests, try a bunch of different stuff to see if anything works, whatever. But the crux of it is that we're having fun on somebody else's dime. If it's a Saturday night we would have spent three or four hours practicing anyway, if we didn't have the gig. And, as others here have said, even when people don't appear to be listening we often get compliments from the management and the customers.

[adslalex]

Last time I played in a pub, it was their opening celebration.

I think apart my fellow friends on the front table, nobody gave a **** about the band playing, we could have stopped and launched a mp3 without troubling anyone.

Anyway we had fun thought, but only on the stage

[richardmac]

 

every now and then you run into an entertainer with a very strong talk game and then its magic on stage. Those guys are far and few between and it takes a venue where its an up close listening type crowd.

 

 

They're so rare I've never seen one. I mean, I've seen pros who can do it. David Bowie can walk on a stage and say a few words and it's awesome. But mostly I see dudes with acoustics and I swear they're talking a lot so that they don't have to play as many songs.

[Notes_Norton]

You've obviously never seen us on our Tuesday "talking" gig.