Play it FUCKING loud !
This always works.
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BOSTON8BIT, MA
Get a little buzz on to kill the nerves if necessary, and don't forget to enjoy yourself. Worst case scenario your PA bums out or everybody hates you... neither of those are a big deal unless everybody *does* hate you, and you decide not to figure out why. Check out the audience's reactions to your songs and adjust appropriately. You'll have one song that nobody except you likes. If the one guy in the audience that is SUPER-PSYCHED about what's going on isn't a complete toolbox, play into his excitement and trick him into starting a dance party.
And most importantly, if you're playing somewhere random like a sports bar and you get the one heckler that starts giving you shit, your best response is a "what's with this asshole" look in his direction before you continue to rock the fuck out. Forget about what others think, even if it's only while you're on stage.
But trust me on the sunscreen…
SUPER LATE EDIT: I can't tell you how much more enjoyable shows became for me when I decided to let loose and start channeling the energy in my songs into movement. Dancing is awesome, and it's a great way to train yourself not to get worked up about what people are thinking about you. Is dancing too much? That's okay, just focus on your songs and convey the feeling behind them to the audience in whatever way you're comfortable with!
Last edited by Active Knowledge (Oct 12, 2010 12:48 am)
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Sure last night was probably my 30th or so show, but a glass of wine before I got onstage kinda rocked it.
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Washington DC
I slammed a beer or 2 right before my open mic song on Saturday. It worked.
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rochester, ny
Active Knowledge wrote:
But trust me on the sunscreen…
lol
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BK
have fun.
revel in the fact that there's probably at least one person there whose mind you're blowing by using game hardware as an instrument.
don't get too down if some people walk out or seem annoyed.
Bring a spare game boy in case something breaks.
ALWAYS recharge your rechargeable batteries the day before the show.
have more fun.
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IL, US
i played one of my better gigs with a really bad throat infection, so i advise getting physically ill before you play live 
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Yuma, AZ
Sorry to re-animate a dead thread, but I figured I may as well piggy-back this one than make a new one.
Playing a Battle of the Bands on the 30th.
It'll be my first performance with the gameboy (and kaossilator/stylophone) but not my first performance in general.
It'll be a 30 minute set amidst hardcore bands, country bands, and the like.
Anyone have experience chipping at a venue that isn't expecting that at all? any advice? or just read the above? haha
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Matthew Joseph Payne
The performance situation is about the same as above - try to be animated and engage the audience.
The technical situation is quite a bit different. You'll be dealing with an engineer and a stage setup prepared for the specific purpose of full guitar/guitar/bass/drums bands.
Try to make sure the show or at least the sound engineer knows what you'll be doing ahead of time and that there will be enough direct boxes for your gear to plug into the PA system. Probably nobody there will know what chiptunes are, so just say you need a "stereo direct in to the board" or however many channels you need - I'm assuming you're using a mixer?) Make sure your gear is reliable and act like you know what you're doing so the sound guy doesn't get nervous about the "weird shit you're trying to do".
Also, if you don't want to give away any surprises from your set, prepare an extra piece of "test music" that you can use as a line check/sound check. Whatever you do, don't sound/line check with the first tune you're going to play - at most "battle of the bands" type shows, the audience is hanging around in front of the stage while each band rushes onstage, does a very quick line check, and starts, so hearing something twice like that is a great way to bore people and make them step out for a smoke. The line check is a great chance to pique people's interest.
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Yuma, AZ
Yeah i have an 8 channel mixer im going to be running everything through. I figured that would make it easier on the sound guy.
That's some great advice. Particularly about the line check. Thanks turtle!
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Yuma, AZ
here's another bit:
How about the "dead space" between songs when performing with a single gameboy? any thoughts there? I have a kaossilator i was planning on doing some ambient noise during the loading periods. Any better ideas?
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thats a pretty good idea.. maybe mp3 player with other ambient shits...
or tell some stage jokes.
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
herr_prof wrote:
thats a pretty good idea.. maybe mp3 player with other ambient shits...
or tell some stage jokes.
Yeah, being comfortable on stage can really help if you have a mic. Crack a few jokes, chat up the audience and just show the audience that you're having a lot of fun, too.
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Philly, PA, USA
I always enjoy stage chatter, like seriously, gapless sets are cool, but i like nothing better than some good stage talk.
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Westfield, NJ
pixls wrote:
I always enjoy stage chatter, like seriously, gapless sets are cool, but i like nothing better than some good stage talk.
I think the audience can connect with you a bit better if you talk to them. Even if you have the ability to play gapless, it might still be a good idea to crack a joke here and there.
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Matthew Joseph Payne
Get comfortable with the audience and talk before songs, but don't talk before EVERY song - that pattern wears thin. It's true that a second gameboy can help here, but if people are at least applauding, you should have enough time to select the new song while they're still clapping, say a quick song introduction while it's loading, and then hit start!
Practice changing songs so you can do it quickly and flawlessly.