What's the biggest audience you have ever played to?

giggsy · 2009-12-08T08:46:20+00:00

Thought it would be interesting to see how many people you guys and girls have played to - if I include my wife and daughter, then my total is two ?

What's the biggest audience you have ever played to?

IceCreamMan

Wife's book club ..about 15 or so and none of them actually knew any of the songs ....

but my eye is on the future .... tens of thousands in huge arenas

Heath

a pub full of people ..... say arounda 100 or so i would hazard a guess ....

Renesongs

Either 50 or 500 depending who does the counting the band manager or the ticket sellers. I find the more people there are in the audience the more detached and relaxed I become and the better I perform. I feel really awkward and self conscious when I play a venue and there are only 10 people about that's when I feel like reaching for the next bottle and going WTF. Its like trying to fly a kite on a breathless day.

arjunmenon

Renesongs wrote: I find the more people there are in the audience the more detached and relaxed I become and the better I perform.

Completely agree with you there Rene. I feel the bigger the crowd, the lesser the scrutiny.

Brentcgp wrote:
Arjun Menon wrote: Roughly 32 - 32.5 thousand
32,500..... ? ? ? ? ?
I get nervous playing in front of 20 people hahaha

? I get nervous playing to anybody...but i keep telling myself that being a little nervous is a good thing, it keeps me on my toes.
That's another reason why i stay away from alcohol and other substances on a gig night.
I prefer meditation and breathing exercises to help calm the nerves

DonovanB

I despise tiny gigs. I hate people trying to interact with me solely, actually it creeps me out to think that a big drunk guy in the audience is effectively flirting with me...

I have no idea about the biggest, it would be a few hundred for me maybe 1000 but not much more than that.

aubs1

Arjun Menon wrote:
Renesongs wrote: I find the more people there are in the audience the more detached and relaxed I become and the better I perform.
Completely agree with you there Rene. I feel the bigger the crowd, the lesser the scrutiny.

Yep, bigger crowds just wanna get on with the jol, they create a vibe that makes it easier to relax!
Smaller crowds seem to wait and see what's gonna happen, and make you wanna s**t yourself...... ? Unless of course, you've played there before...... ?

Bob-Dubery

Arjun Menon wrote: I prefer meditation and breathing exercises to help calm the nerves

I prefer getting it over and done with. Then I can collapse in a pile of jelly somewhere.

DonovanB

aubs1 wrote: make you wanna s**t yourself...... ? Unless of course, you've played there before...... ?

If that place is the Bluff you do sh*t yourself...

AlanRatcliffe

National radio - 5FM was probably the biggest. ? Otherwise a few thousand at various festivals. Favourite audience was a single (and single ?) woman.

Squonk

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: National radio - 5FM was probably the biggest. ? Otherwise a few thousand at various festivals. Favourite audience was a single (and single ?) woman.

What did you do on 5FM?

Gray

25 or so people at a "house party" on a farm.

If that place is the Bluff you do sh*t yourself...

From what I here about the bluff I wouldn't take a guitar in there. ?

[deleted]

a big drunk guy in the audience is effectively flirting with me...

Ha Ha, I'd actualy go and watch that.

I actualy have no idea, I guess just small restaurant sized groups. I did play at weddings once or twice, there's a few more people there. I don't think school concerts count, but if they do I've played in front of 50 -100 people regularly from the age of 10.

Talking about being eyeballed while you play, it can get a little trickey when there's no real boundary between audience and performer. Sometimes people can lean in real cloes to watch you play and it's a little disconcerting.

AlanRatcliffe

Squonk wrote: What did you do on 5FM?

Nothing exciting. Some airplay and a few interviews, one with an "impromptu" unplugged number (30 seconds before they faded to news, LOL!).

Squonk

@ Alan

At least you can say you were on the Radio ?
When I was in IT support I looked after 5FM, so I was a bit curious.
My brother had a band called Providence which feautured on Barney's show, a bit of an interview and a clip of one of their songs.
Barney did quite a bit for local music way back when!

singemonkey

+1 for bigger audiences.

I've played an outdoor carnival with probably about 200 people who really didn't care, and a bigger half empty hall type gig.

The best are when the venue's packed and everyone's into it. You don't feel like you have to coax the audience, they're just into it and you can almost join in.

Probably the best ever was playing in a crowded club where, instead of meditating or drinking, I was just really furious and sick of it at being jerked around by the venue.

It really worked though. We opened up with Cecilia Anne (I think it's an Astronauts song, but I know it from the Pixies) and they just went freaking crazy. Angry and contemptuous can sometimes work in certain settings - just ask Keith Richards. ?

It's good when the audience is big enough to be a crowd. When it's a crowd you can, perversely, try to connect with people on an individual level. When it's a small group of individuals, it makes you more self-conscious, I think.

DonovanB

Viccy wrote: Talking about being eyeballed while you play, it can get a little trickey when there's no real boundary between audience and performer. Sometimes people can lean in real cloes to watch you play and it's a little disconcerting.

I've had people try talk to me, making requests in the middle of a song. It's easier if you are standing because now If someone approaches me I just turn and offer my back to them. They soon get the picture.

PeteM

Gray wrote:
From what I here about the bluff I wouldn't take a guitar in there. ?

You're right, it's about as dangerous as Sandton or Constantia.

arjunmenon

X-rated Bob wrote:
Arjun Menon wrote: I prefer meditation and breathing exercises to help calm the nerves
I prefer getting it over and done with. Then I can collapse in a pile of jelly somewhere.

That was genuinely funny :roflmao:
Kudos to you Bob

Wizard

I was on a live show on Bush Radio in Cape Town for 2 hours once; from 22h00 - 24h00.
I know my wife was listening ... so there was at least 1 in the audience ?

CDee

I played on TV once, but my mom told me to get off... ? ? ?

We played at a huge church in Jhb for a conference they had, there is space for 3500 people but the place was only half full so +- 1500 - 1750 people. It was very scary, they had cameras all over the place and 3 huge screens in the front. Everything got recorded and every now and again I saw myself playing on this huge screen... But it was very 8)