i've got musical A.D.D., which means i can't even listen to a song the whole way through before skipping to the next tune (yes i'm one of THOSE people). in my perfect world....
- don't play too long. this depends on the band, but i would say if you're just putting out your first album, 30 mins is more than enough. anything over an hour is overstaying your welcome. if you're a band thats been around for 15 years and you have a gazillion albums and are charging a gazillion dollars for tickets, i spose you could play a little longer, but nobody should EVER play for 3 hours. not even metallica or guns n roses. quality not quantity pls! best set i ever heard was 12 mins long, and yes it definately left me wanting more. no, i did not feel ripped off (i think it was $5 though).
- don't do the "between songs banter" thing if you don't have the personality for it. ask your most honest friends if you're not sure. also, saying shit like "-city name here- is our favourite city in the whole world!!" is lame, cliche and dishonest (most of the time) so just skip it.
- you don't have to destroy your gear if your heart is not in it. we can tell.
please add your own and also rip mine to shreds. thanks!
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Quiet a few years ago when I
Quiet a few years ago when I was going to quiet alot of accoustic gigs, Most people would get on stage and do the standard set of 3 songs, most people would have songs about 3 or so mins long and be on stage about 10 mins which was fine, as a punter you knew if you didn't like what you were hearing you only had 10 mins to sit through .. but then there were the ones who would be on stage for about 20 mins still doing just "3" songs, but what they'd do to get around the 3 song limit would be to carry on singing and just meld 2 songs together .. and for some reason it was pretty much newbies and most sounded like a scalded moaning cat after a while.
The worst was one evening when I was talking 2 a bloke who I kinda knew through a mate, I also knew he sounded awful just one long moaning drone, he was saying how he thought 3 songs weren't enough .. I think no songs was more than enough when it came to him thou in my book .. however not really thinking I said you know what I hate .. I hate it when people double up their songs making 2 become 1 ( to quote the spice girls ... oh the shame I know that !!! ) .. yeah you got it ... I had 20 mins of him on stage, I nearly hung myself !
Personally, I think a set
Personally, I think a set should be about 40-45 minutes long, and if a band can't entertain you for 45 minutes, then they shouldn't be onstage anyway. A band that can't be entertaining for 45 minutes should go home and write more songs.
I don't know what you mean by the "between songs banter thing", precisely, but I really like a band to tell me a) who they are (ferchrissakes) and b) what their songs are called, and maybe something about one or two of the songs. Simply because if I like the band, I'll want to see them again, and in that case, it's really handy to know their name. But it's amazing how many bands neglect this elementary bit of info.
I also think frontpeople who do meaningless/irrelevant introductions (ie "This is for everyone who's ever been to Porirua"!"), come across like total cretins. But you're right, for more involved banter, there's a fine line between communication and self indulgence. Bands who stand around onstage chatting among themselves bore the crap out of me.
// I really like a band to
// I really like a band to tell me a) who they are
ok yeah i do agree with that. however, even if they don't say who they are (or they do, but all you hear is intoxicated mumble mumble), you could easily find out by asking someone around you or just checking out the gig poster. spose introducing the songs is good too, but i hate backstory. just play the song - i don't care about how you wrote it when you were on drugs in christchurch!
to make it really good the
to make it really good the performer should buy me 5 or 6 cocktails at least an hr beforehand
I hate bands fucking about
I hate bands fucking about on stage before the play. You should have tuned your guitar before you played arsehole. You should know your gear well enough to walk up, set up, and play.
yes! i've once waited more
yes! i've once waited more than an hour and a half for a certain band to take the stage after the previous band had finished. when they started playing i was so over it, i went somewhere else.
they weren't having gear problems though, they were just pissing around drinking beer, being social, and playing "hard to get".
Acknowledge the audience.
Acknowledge the audience. Don't play with your back to them! ... unless you're John Paul Jones on the pipe organ - then, and only then, is that ok.
... and really really loud
... and really really loud does NOT equal really really good. Best bands I've seen live probably have it set to 8 not 11.
As far as between-song
As far as between-song banter goes, I don't think it's necessarily about content. Two people in different bands could make the same quip, and one I'll laugh along, and the other I'll just think "what a geek". I think, like playing, it's something you have to practise in order to get good at; and it depends on the context.
I think bands should consider it with the same attention that they consider the setlist - and I don't mean they have to script what they're going to say, but just think about whether they're any good at it, how long they can realistically hold the audience's attention, and whether or not that kind of engagement even fits in with the atmosphere they're trying to create.
I think some of it's down to
I think some of it's down to confidence, If your confident in what your doing you can sway alot of people with alittle banter, a quick quip here or there and a smile ( or not ) to go with it.
And this song ladies and gents is "dadada" again with or with out the smile .. but really launching with ease and conviction into the music it helps to keep the momentum, you also have to have the confidence in your fellow band mates to tap into your stage persona. It's no good with you standing up there giving a "performance" be it the surley goth, a pop princess or a rock god if your back up as in the band don't follow through.
Mind you the above doesn't mean you have to introduce every song with alittle intro, if you have a fan base you could maybe introduce a new song to the crowd, *swing into that one, then without so much as a break kick into one that the fans will know two/ three songs* one intro.
if your a shy mumbler, sometimes it's best to keep it to a minimum, but I guess that comes naturally :-)
I agree with the poster
I agree with the poster above who says that it's nice when the band tell you a little about the songs. But that doesn't always have to be between songs. Sometimes it's good when they say a few words during a quiet part of the song (not every time, tho').
Just a couple of examples off the top of my head:
Ah yes .. okay Nana
Ah yes .. okay Nana Mouskouri :-)