Don’t Be Boring

What do you mean?

When I say “Don’t be boring”, I mean more then just trying to be cheeky about it. What I really mean is, you should be entertaining! The real reasons that a crowd goes to see a show, are:

1. To see their favorite bands in person

2. To have an individual experience, unlike all the experiences had by people at all their other shows

3. To have the band interact with the audience members

So you want to entertain a crowd, but ALSO give them a personalized experience, one unlike every video that fans can watch on YouTube nowadays, so that they continue to come time and time again, because they want a new experience!

How can I not be boring?

One of the most important things you can do to not be boring, that most bands overlook these days, is talking with the crowd. Engaging the crowd in some topics that make them want to scream “YEAAAHHH” or laugh because you have a great personality are a great way to make the crowd feel like the band recognizes that they’re there. Also, jumping around, throwing your guitars around, throwing drumsticks around, all make for a great stage show. Pete Townshend made a whole career off of his catchy songs, and phenomenal stage shows.

Steps to take:

Make up some dialog with a bandmate that you can use more then once
Practice jumping around during band practice
Don’t go on stage unprepared

Bands with great stage performances will get much farther then bands that just stand there. You don’t need to smash your guitars at all your shows, but do something more then standing there staring at your instrument. Bands like K.I.S.S have made their whole career off of great stage shows, and that worked really well for them.

In summary:

Acknowledge the crowd
Jump around, play guitar behind your back, anything besides standing there!
Learn some fun tricks that you can do onstage