How to Make a Great Music Gig
Posted by Mika on January 31st, 2009
A band's first musical gig is an exciting time in a band's career. Many hours slogging it out in the garage or rehearsal room finally come to fruition with the offer of your first gig.
Today, most bands get started by sharing bills and gigs with our bands. Either way, the experience of the first gig should be enjoyable and exciting. You don’t want it to turn into a nasty experience with everything going wrong, which it will if you are not prepared.
Like Murphy’s Law says “what can go wrong, will go wrong.” Every musician in the world can remember the first time they performed on staged, so make it a good experience not a frightful mess.
First, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! No matter how many times you have performed your songs in the garage, when you get on stage it will all sound different, and, if you don’t know your part 110%, you will get it wrong. In the garage, you are in one small room and quite close to your fellow band mates. On stage, you can be separated a lot and you may not be able to hear the other guys or what they are playing. If you know your songs very well, you will be able play no matter what sound problems you have.
Second, be confident. Rehearse your songs in the order you will perform them especially if you are doing a short set. Make sure you practice the whole set just like if you were playing at the gig. This will alert you to any problems such as guitar changes, pedal set up changes, singers needing a “breather” that may make you look disorganized on stage.
Make sure your guitars have new guitar strings (but put them on at least two hours before you play and stretch them in), your drums have at least a new snare skin, check the condition of the kick drum skin too.
Make sure you have new batteries for pedals and especially tuners, and for any wireless systems you may be using. And don’t forget a guitar stand or two!! Have a spare lead close by even if you are using wireless system as it is a good back up.
If you are doing a gig with a bunch of other bands, make sure your accessories such as leads, tuners , and microphones are clearly marked with your name or at least some special markings, it is strange how much gear goes “walking” at these gigs.
Create a song list for band members and have a few spares for other people. Make notes if you want any special effects done for you by the sound man. Each member should write notes on his or her list if they need to remember certain things such as pedal adjustments or guitar changes. Singers should use a “cheat sheet” and write down the first word of each line to jog their memory in case they get nervous. However, if you rehearse well, you won't need to do that!
Get to the gig early enough to be in no rush and bring as many as your friends as you can. Audiences generally have a ‘sheep’ mentality and if they see or hear a bunch of people making a lot of favourable noises they too will go along and get the vibe.
Enjoy your self and get the whole thing recorded on audio and visual mediums so you can show it to your family and friends and to your grand kids when your old! Either way, you will never forget your first music gig!
