Stage patter

[Mickeyboro]

32 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

Hi Mick. You have mentioned in the past that you want to start getting bigger and better gigs for your band. The thing is that to do this, things like having decent stage patter and getting a bit of a look together are non-negotiable! You have to be able to be able to do it. 

 

A few years ago, I did a few months of deps for a R&B type band with a decent following, while their bass player underwent treatment for cancer (thankfully, he's still playing and seems to be doing well). Now this band were not great, but they were all nice guys, had a good inter-band friendship and loved what they did. All of this came across to the audience and many loved them, far beyond their actual ability as a band. They also had a singer who was a good frontman, hardly Dave Lee Roth in looks or his stage act, but was funny and engaging with a crowd. They also had a lead guitar player who was sort of OK, but nothing special. However, they constantly namechecked him and talked him up as if he was Eric Clapton! A lot of punters bought into this and thought he was a great player, where other musos would just roll their eyes. I know for a fact that a number of promoters used to book them for festivals, despite not really wanting to, just because of the demand from the audience. 

 

These things just need sorting out if you want to play better gigs. It's not really that hard to do, but the whole band needs to buy into it. If they really don't want to, then perhaps you need to start thinking about laying with someone else. 

 

That is a very insightful view Pete! Thank you for posting it… food for thought indeed. M

[mcnach]

9 hours ago, Fionn said:

In 8 years of touring we never said a single word to the audience that wasn’t integral to the music/ performance.
 

Zero patter since day one 

 

 

That's... something!

I don't know exactly what it is, but it is something.

 

Not even by accident? 😄

[razor5cl]

9 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yeh, can work but then you get groups like Fields of the Nephilim, great stage asthetic, kind of boring live because a lack of interaction. I mean you don't have to get to the Steven 'shut up steve and get on with the song' Wilsons in depth discussions about things, but some sort of acknowledgement there are other people in the room can go well!

 

9 hours ago, tegs07 said:

The illusion is ruined when Carl McCoy speaks and sounds like he just popped in to fit a new boiler…

 

I'm seeing Fields in a couple of weeks for the first time and I was really excited, all of my mates said that they're bloody brilliant live and that Carl is a killer frontman.....I hope this doesn't shatter any of the illusion of excitement for me just yet!

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, razor5cl said:

I'm seeing Fields in a couple of weeks for the first time and I was really excited, all of my mates said that they're bloody brilliant live and that Carl is a killer frontman.....I hope this doesn't shatter any of the illusion of excitement for me just yet!

 

The image is good and works, and I think over the years he has got a lot better at it. In 1990 in Portsmouth the atmosphere was good but the interaction wasn't great (mind you other stuff was going on for me at that gig). I saw them with my wife in a joined build with the Mission and FOTN in 2016 in london, and beforehand I said to my wife how Fotn weren't great with a crowd and the mission (who I had seen loads of times) were brilliant and it was exactly the opposite, so know knows, I am sure it will be great!

[PaulWarning]

our vocalist being a total attention seeker is good at inter song chat, trouble is he doesn't alter it much so we get sick of hearing it, but a least we know what the next song is, which is handy when he misreads the set list,  we don't alter the set much so we always finish up the set with about 4 songs one after the other, which works well.

Unlike someone else's comment I hate it when the band introduce themselves, I'm really not interested in the names of the band, especially if it's accompanied by a solo spot for each member, just play another song