The Importance of Energy on Stage

e n e r g y

Someone on stage needs to be an absolute vibe to watch. Audiences especially those that can't appreciate intricate pedalling or technical pocket work feel awkward when all members of a band are stiff as a board on stage. You gotta show emotion. If people just wanted good music and no show, they would stick to their headphones. They came to see you live for an immersive experience. You as a band are the template and inspiration for how people should feel and move to your music. What the audience members see you doing on stage will move them and the most moving things - physical movement and emotion. With practice, conscious effort, and maybe untying some inner knots, you can deliver!

Tips

For lively and heavy shows, physical movement is especially important. Audiences are expecting to move at these shows and it's your job to show them that it is in fact time to move. If you are an artist in one of these categories and not confident moving around the stage and having fun while you do it - we’ve found these FUN MUSIC EXTREME PERFORMANCE TACTICS©... helpful:

• Queue Dancing with myself by Billy Idol - Play some of your favourite songs and dance in front of the mirror with your instrument like a total nut until you have that beautiful-psychedelic-mirror-moment where you realize: I am human, this is human, and this beautiful (shed a single tear and bring that energy to stage next chance you get)
• Mandatory movement in band practice - playing while moving IS something to practice. If your static in band practice playing to your songs you’ll be static on stage. Plus it’s more fun and you’ll start doing it naturally as you start to feel the movement of your own music.
• Be weird - the weirder the better. some of the most famous bands become famous not just because of the music, but because the front person is an absolute SHOW to watch. Think amyl and the Sniffers, Iggy Pop, Matt Shultz, Michael Jackson (any pop star really), most punk and hardcore bands, Elvis, and every single K-pop group ever. Find an artist whose movement on stage inspires you and think to yourself - I can do that!
• Close your eyes and lose yourself - If you're still self conscious - close your eyes and move as if no one were watching. This is your show, dance for yourself. Find catharsis in knowing that this moment is one of artistic beauty and you get to have it on a stage with your friends playing music that you love. Move to your music in celebration of that fact. If closing your eyes doesn't work, costumes and masks are a great way to disassociate from the self and express your artistic inner self without inhibition.
• Lock in with people in the crowd - Find someone in the crowd thats having a great time and mirror them, its fun for the audience and its great crowd work
• Dance with the band - have fun with your friends on stage, it doesn't have to be crazy movement even just show the audience that you’re up there having a great time together and they will too

Get Creative

Having fun on stage is level 1 and it sets the scene for level 2 which is crowd work. Once you are comfortable in front of the audience and they see that you’re loose - you gain the ability to blur the line between band and audience. This is a feel thing and when you feel it, jump into the crowd and start a mosh pit, point out and sing to that person in the audience having the most fun and singing along, start a goofy dance with your hands and maybe some people will follow along, you can split the see, surf the crowd. It all starts with your movement on stage. If you want to see a master of this at work try to catch a B.A. Johnston show.

Watch Victoria locals Standard Issue Pleasure Model putting on an absolute clinic on onstage energy in November 2024, despite being tied down by guitars and mic stands.

Once you have the energy, like a flame it must be tended. In between songs bring notice to how fired up you are. Dramatically take a drink of water yell a battle cry and charge into the next song. At some point, the guitarist WILL break a string, make it a bit. Say I told you those cat gut strings from the witch on glen street were a bad idea! Have something ready for this and any unplanned mishap. Everyone in the band should have an emergency kit of jokes and banter for this exact moment. The guitarist, depending on how many beers deep is probably DYING inside while panicking to restring and tune so the show can go on. Help them out. You’re a team, so distract from the situation. Use the mic and start an impromptu interview with the band, tell the audience those jokes in the emergency kit, talk about the opener. Tell everyone an intimate story that inspired the last song and it was likely those high emotions that caused the strings to break, everyone knows the guitaaaarist, they’re one big softy. They jsut feel so much and the strings just couldn't take it. Anything. Basically never give the audience the chance to look away. If they feel the need to grab a beer they should feel rushed into a shot so they can get back to the dance floor.

Playing Mellow Tunes?

Never ever say ‘Talk amongst yourselves’. to the audience! This might sound like a funny thing to say but it is a short-term gain for long term pain kind of deal. They will start talking. Good luck getting them quiet again when you are done tuning or changing guitars or doing up your fly or whatever you wanted to do. Instead, Keep their attention. Tell a joke. Tell a story. Do something. Anything. Just don’t let their attention wander. It’s good to practice these things. They can be the difference between an ok show and a great show.

Don’t be afraid to ask the audience to be quiet. Politely of course. It is the worst form of hell to play quiet music to a crowd that is talking over you. Let them know that. You don’t have to suffer through your beautiful songs. They came to see you. Command the space. Tell them to zip it. (Though probably not like that). A quiet attentive audience makes a better experience for everyone, not just the performer. I'm just a punk though, and seldom play mellow shows so if anyone out there reading this has some good suggestions to share please reach out on our contact us page and maybe your blog can be next!