Crowd Banter

What is crowd banter?

Crowd banter is the interaction of the band with the crowd. As I discussed briefly in the “Don’t be boring” section, this is one of the most important parts along with moving around. A Band that is really great with crowd banter is the one and only Green Day. Their singer Billie Joe Armstrong is phenomenal at getting the crowd involved, and getting them to scream bloody murder for him. He knows how to work the crowd.

How can I work the crowd like Billie Joe?

One thing that Billie does really well is he says things to that relate to the audience. If he’s in, for example, London, he’ll scream something like “I was just in the US, and they screamed really loud, but I think London is louder, LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM!”. Or other things that apply to making the place he’s in feel good. Also he works in the name of the town/city a lot, because then the crowd knows he acknowledges where he is, and who he’s playing for, and the crowd loves that.

Steps to take:

Make up some good re-useable crowd banter you can use
Talk with the other members of the band, and ask them how they’re feeling, if they’re having fun, etc.
Make eye contact with the crowd

If you went to a concert, and they were your favorite band, and they played a great set, you could have a really great time, there’s no denying that. But for a truly awesome concert experience, you want them to talk to you, to jump out into the crowd, pull some people up on stage, have them talk about how they love where you live. Audience members want to hear these things!! If they just play all their songs, and never say anything to you personally, then you as an audience member feel like they don’t even acknowledge your presence.

In summary:

Crowd banter is very important
It will give the audience the feeling of them being connected with the band
Making the crowd feel special… makes them feel special