My producer once famously commented “A live gig is worth ten rehearsals” and I have realised how true this is. Audiences and venues can vary massively and I have some to have a whole new appreciation and respect for professional performers.
On stage there are endless moving parts and the possibility of “a fuck up factor” is always surprisingly high. To date I have learned two main lessons from live gigs. The first is regardless of what happens, carry on playing and singing. The second is that even it a song goes “off road” it almost all cases NOBODY NOTICES except the musicians on stage! I recently looked at some video of a live Small Change Diaries performance and was really pleasantly surprised at how well the set was played and the overall look of the band. It’s a totally different experience being in the audience, than being on stage.
To date the band have played a variety of different venues with an even bigger variety of “sound engineers” The best sound was when we used our own new Bose PA system and hired our producer and long standing recording engineer Carl Rosamond. The worst was a duo set when I couldn’t hear anything at all, no vocals, no sound, NOTHING! That was a somewhat surreal situation to say the least, BUT the key is carry on regardless. After all, there is really no other choice.
I was recently talking to a good friend and longstanding band singer of over thirty who sells out stadiums. He commented that he still gets nerves before gigs, but is fine as soon as he is on stage. In band situations its crucial that one member doesn’t start to trigger a chain reaction, so we don’t end up in a Clive Dunn type scenario in the classic Dad’s Army sitcom.
Playing live can summon up all manner of emotions and its an extraordinary privilege to be able to play to a live audience. At the end of this month The Small Change Diaries will be playing the prestigious 3rd Lagoa Guitar Festival. Certainly there will be no problem with space on stage looking at the photo below which I confess does start to crank the adrenalin just a bit…
state control in live gigs