What Not to Do on Stage | 5 Mistakes Musicians Still Make

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toanhunter

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On stage, I was told/taught not to :
Eat
Drink alcohol
Smoke
Swear
Noodle between songs

I was told to :
Dress for the stage
Smile
Move
Tune discretely
Appear to be having fun

These were the “rules” my late bandleader, Doug Blocker espoused.
I completely agree, and try to adhere to them, to this day, many decades later.
mostly good advice, but I think of bands like wasp and oasis and it's the opposite, just makes me laugh thinking about it.
 

scrapyardblue

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Spoiler alert. The alleged mistakes are:

1. Acting like the crowd owes you
2. Playing the same set list (no matter what)
3. Laughing at mistakes (too much)
4. Talking too much
5. Long breaks (more than 20 minutes)

As an audience member, I've experienced 1, 4 and 5, and agree that they are annoying. Number 3 would definitely be tedious and I get his point in the video about number 2.

But what really struck me were the very dismissive replies above--rough crowd!
Wish I would've read your post first, saved myself about 3 minutes. I'm no snob, but that's about all I could take. The recommendations are solid, but how many times can a guy say "let's get right to it," without getting right to it?

A bit of humor is fun, but 20 chocolate chips in every bite of the cookie is too many.

Yep, rough crowd.
 

schmee

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Here's 5 more things I find more annoying than the ones in his video:

Tuning up without muting your instrument
Arguing on stage
Noodling between songs
Automatically playing louder when someone else is taking a solo
Not paying attention to each other, no dynamics
YES 👍
 

Trenchant63

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For me the advice was be prepared, professional and show that you care about delivering quality to your audience. If you don’t care, why should anyone else?
 

getbent

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I’m not sure most cover band audience members care about any of this. They’re out for a good time with friends, the band is somewhat incidental
Know the tunes
thank the audience if they clap or whoop
remind them to tip bartenders and waitresses
play, don't talk
smile, don't frown, act like you are having fun
have gear that won't break, and a plan when it breaks
announce that you'll be taking a break,
do not announce that you are 'back' they can see that
don't make a mess
Thank people with eye contact for tips
don't keep turning up
 

Gene O.

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The alleged mistakes are:

1. Acting like the crowd owes you
2. Playing the same set list (no matter what)
3. Laughing at mistakes (too much)
4. Talking too much
5. Long breaks (more than 20 minutes)
Thanks for the summary, @----RIP----
I watched it all but the last 20 seconds or so.

#1 - I don't even know how this is done. I did work with a guitarist/vocalist that would tell the audience to "C'mon, give it up" if after a few songs there was no response, but beyond that 🤷‍♂️.

#2 - We used to do this when we first formed, but now we can play two consecutive nights and only repeat a half dozen songs. But most often consecutive gigs are in different areas and will bring different audiences. But regardless of the location we generally mix things up.

#3 - Sometimes a momentary but of self deprecation happens when someone makes a mistake, like a quick smile and cringe face or eye roll, but there has been a few times when the singer has said something on the verge of being apologetic over the mic (i.e. "We just learned that song..."), but generally we just make the brief cringe and move on.

#4 - The singers been known to get into a monologue between songs, but we're usually able to put the kibosh to it when the person starting or counting off the next song says to everyone "You ready?".

#5 - This usually isn't a problem. If it is, it's usually the singer stopping by a table, or getting stopped by someone on the way to the stage. We have never been reprimanded for the length of our breaks. The upscale winery near my house that we play for throughout the year states in their contracts that entertainers will take two 10 minute breaks over a 3-hour night, and that never happens. But they've never said anything about it. That same guitarist I mentioned in item #1 used to stretch breaks out too long. His most famous way of doing that was to take a 20 minute break, then head for the restroom before coming back to the stage.
 
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johnny k

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Worst Case Ontario


Woot
That is a rickyism. From trailer park boys.

I love those.
 

2HBStrat

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Here's 5 more things I find more annoying than the ones in his video:

Tuning up without muting your instrument
Arguing on stage
Noodling between songs
Automatically playing louder when someone else is taking a solo
Not paying attention to each other, no dynamics
Agreed. I would also add "automatically playing louder on the songs you don't sing than you do when you're singing"
 
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