Howcome at gigs ...

lindsmuse · 2009-11-11T07:56:28+00:00

And I'm speaking for what I've seen happen to younger musicians .. 1) Someone else always gets the money. Everyone but the musician ...the event organiser, the sound guy, the last band,the cleaning lady ...EVERYONE but the poor ol musicians 2) The sound is almost ALWAYS a problem. Why can't someone invent something so that all the instruments don't have to be wired to a another source and another - and all these cables causing all these problems ... 3) The band practice their hearts out 7 days a week for THE BIG GIG. Guess what. On the night, one or 2 of the members (to calm their nerves of course) get mindlessly drunk and wreck the set!!! 4) You're always the band that plays last to 2 or 3 drunk guys ... and you also practiced 24/7 for a month! ?

Renesongs

Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage. - William Burroughs

[deleted]

Fritz, I haven't heard you play the guitar yet, but you're very entertaining on the harmonica.

lindsmuse

I sadly discovered that being a musician is one thing, but being a performer is another. I'm amazed by the people that enter thess Pop Idol competitions without a grain of talent. They just want to PERFORM! I so admire their courage, and they don't have to take one drop of self-medication to do this (it could be argued tho that some of them should be on medication!) I think Hendrix also suffered from shyness ...

Bob-Dubery

lindsmuse wrote I sadly discovered that being a musician is one thing, but being a performer is another. I'm amazed by the people that enter thess Pop Idol competitions without a grain of talent. They just want to PERFORM! I so admire their courage, and they don't have to take one drop of self-medication to do this (it could be argued tho that some of them should be on medication!) I think Hendrix also suffered from shyness ...

I think it's not unusual for people to be nervous before going on stage and seemingly confident whilst on it, or to be shy away from the limelight but a confident performer. I think the performer you see on stage is not necessarily the same person you would meet if you met the performer off stage. I'm not just referring to obvious cases like Alice Cooper - who clearly doesn't go around with all the makeup and a snake draped around his head. I have heard tales of tea being drunk and scrabble being played on tour busses.

Bob-Dubery

DonovanB wrote There is no rule saying you have to drink or take drugs. some people seem to think that it comes with the territory.

I question how much of it goes on.

Some years ago I read an interview with Phil Collins. He said that his tried and tested way of getting through to a crowd at a Genesis show was to say, after the first number "We'll carry on until the drugs wear off" or "We'll carry on until the drugs kick in." Then he told the interviewer something like "though if you think we can do what we do with so much as one drink in us then you're very mistaken. No way could Bill Bruford do any kind of drug and then play what he has to play."

FatBoy

Viccy wrote Fritz, I haven't heard you play the guitar yet, but you're very entertaining on the harmonica.

Thanks Viccy! To be honest, I have no aspirations of being a guitarist. I only picked up a guitar so that I could have something to sing along to. In my heart I'd rather be a vocalist / songwriter / harp (harmonica) player.

So thanks for that compliment, seems I am at least doing ok with one of my goals ?

DonovanB

lindsmuse wrote I sadly discovered that being a musician is one thing, but being a performer is another. I'm amazed by the people that enter thess Pop Idol competitions without a grain of talent. They just want to PERFORM! I so admire their courage, and they don't have to take one drop of self-medication to do this (it could be argued tho that some of them should be on medication!) I think Hendrix also suffered from shyness ...

I used to be very shy but now I relish going on a stage. although I'm not as good as I am in my head but I think thats the key isn't it. Believing you're great and then living it out.

Keira-WitherKay

you can easily overcome any shyness by being good at what you do.............

so whatever your skill if you good at it people will acknowledge it....

however they don't call it show bizz for nothing .......... you need to entertain any audience ....

and mostly these are tricks you can learn by observing other great entertainers no matter how shy you are ...................

and yeah i found if you learn a few stage tricks it can go miles to get you connected to the audience........... i deliberately pep up my original world music set with some onstage humour and slapstick antics with the guitar .... and have a giant OLe in bold white print on the back of my guitar i flash at the opportune moment ......... (you can only use a gag once or twice... no overdoing the same trick) but it always brings the house down ... this is not me being an extrovert i'm also very shy when i'm not onstage...... but they are all just stage tricks i learnt from my years working in musicals .... comedy especially when you playing potentially serious music is somethig one can learn and use to overcome your shyness.....

and if people leave your show after having been entertained they have loving memories of it..... where sometimes just the musical abilities goes over many's heads ..........

all the great musicians have a show... they move in a specific way... they pout they show off their "tricks" mick jagger/freddy mercury/ most every rock band....

so yeah if you shy .... just learn and rehearse some entertaining moves and phrases to entertain your audience ....

bono was quoted as saying ."the hardest part of performing was the rehearsed sponteneity" so yeah a lesson from the greats

oh and yeah one last point if you suck as a musician ...stay off the stage ...... no stage tricks can save you if you can't deliver a professional product...... and remember you only have one opportunity to make a 1st impression ..... so rather if you not ready woodshed some more and then shy or not when the audience applaude you you will feel fabulous......... cos most audiences recognise talent .... and are more musically sussed than most musicians give them credit to be ......... hehehehh

peace and light Keira

good luck with performing ... the hard works def worth it

lindsmuse

Great advice! I remember E-void's drummer wearing a brown paper bag over his head throughout - wonder id he had shyness issues. Who was he?!

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Hahahaha - in fact Wayne Harker was arrested by the army for not reporting for service (so eVoid had to re-recruit erstwhile drummer Danny de Wet (now with Wonderboom) to fill in while Wayne was in jail)...so that paper bag was quite possibly motivated by something other than shyness...

Bob-Dubery

lindsmuse wrote Great advice! I remember E-void's drummer wearing a brown paper bag over his head throughout - wonder id he had shyness issues. Who was he?!

It wasn't a constant with him. I remember seeing "e-Void" just after they morphed out of "Void" and there weren't any bags on anybody's head. There weren't any costumes at all. He was on the run for a while (IIRC from the army) and so may have not wished to show his face more than was necessary.

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