In one of the threads http://forum.bandamp.com/The_Pit/13937.html toastedgoat said:


We're talking about doing a gig with a band, on stage in fornt of many many people (or not so many)....
How do you that????????? Any ideas?

pre show preparedness. know your sets..... visualizing your success on stage.( take time to mentally prepare yourself for the gig)  Mentally run through your set/s  while your doing this visualize your performance on stage , the things you need to do (sound changes/program changes ect) plus being in control of your peformance and the stage.  Remember this......... the audience wants to love your show. They want to be entertained and impressed.
When you are prepared for the show..knowing the music, mentally working yourself through your set/s  Your nerves will come across as energy ......and when in doubt  light something on fire.......hahahhaha

Edit: PS remember to enjoy it.  You've worked hard, put your show together. once you hit the stage relax and enjoy yourself, you're allowed to show off.

lol
"when in doubt light something on fire" is a great motto to go by...just dont burn anything you cant easily replace...lol

Don't let making mistakes get you down,  IF you happen to make a mistake (you will from time to time) just let it go and give the rest of your perfomance the attention it needs (don't dwell on the mistake).

Exactly if you dwell on the mistake, you keep thinking about it, and that gets you more nervous. then you start messing up other stuff that you easily know and you get even more stressed out and more nervous and by now you can barely breathe and your heart is pounding and sweat is dripping and the feedback is glaring and people are booing you off the stage.

lets not let it get that far...

It's pretty normal being a bit nervous before going up to the stage. In my experience, I just can say I never think about failing in the stage. I love playing live, I love stages, I love big crowds; the bigger the crowd is, the bigger the adrenalin I feel and the will to perform for them (actually, when there are small crowds I don't play with the passion I do in big ones).
My advice is not to think so much in the show technically, but think on it as a pleasure. I don't agree with Greg about visualizing all the show you prepared, and the things you have to do in the stage; If you already practiced weeks before there's no need to worry. Of course it won't be 100% perfect, but you will do great if you enjoy playing and, by the way, all the mistakes you do performing not even 1% of the crowd notice them. You are the only one who will notice it cause you know the song upside-down.
Actually, I have contest show on 21th this month, and I'm counting the hours to play there.
Well, just enjoy live performances and don't think on every detail, cause that will make you more nervous. Just practice, make your rehearsals, and that's it!

        > Iszil

iz when I talk about visualizing , I am talking about  seeing yourself doing the things is an successful manner, not dwelling, but visualizing a successful peformance, seeing yourself kicking ass on stage, and yes if you have a lot of sound changes you need to be mentally prepared cause if you have to think about it on  stage to  much  it'll come at you pretty fast if your not prepared.
   If you check it out you will find most succesfull people see themselves as just that, football players have to see themselves as winners, musicains, motiivational speakers, politlician, businessmen.  When someone is givieng a speech they mentally prepare themselves for it..

 phych yourself up some maybe,.. is what I am trying to say, get excited about your show and your perfomance.   be prepared.

Yes I totally agree. In fact I not only visualise the performance itself, but the entire day and last hour before hitting the stage aswell. Maybe because I don't play out that often, but it helps me to "equalize" or "egalise" the excitement of the entire process before, during and after the gig before hand. This gives me the idea of being in control, and while talking with attendants before the actual show, with my mind already aware of everything that's going to happen (one of the many positive possible scenarios ofcourse) I can invoke more interest in those attendants aswell (so it seems).

And then perform! And enjoy the rush, which is at it's strongest if you just focus on playing your part (don't dwell on the rush itself either, you might get carried away with all consequences..).. if there is a mistake, the audience probably didn't hear it and else we're all human. If the mistake sounded good then repeat it (lol).

Anecdote... I once did a gig where we screwed up an entire song so badly, it didn't at all sound like what it was supposed to be.. screwed up FUBAR style. It was so terrible I wished I would just disappear but no such lack and we finished the job - still, the audience gave it a loud applause - and after listening to that particular gig's recording (once we had gathered enough courage, years later), it could indeed be interpreted as a somewhat experimental song without actual terrible cockups at all.

I still advise you not to take THAT route. But hey ho there's always hope (LMAO)

good luck.

I know what you mean, sometimes stuff just happens on stage, you think crap this is not gonna be one of our better shows, then  you get off stage and people are telling you it's one of your best (sometimes from people that have seen you a few times before).. ahh we screwed the pooch on a cover song at our gig last Saturday night, but we never stopped and just hammered it out till the end, some girls came up and said wow that was the best.. go figure sometimes mistakes can be beneficial ( I would not suggest making them on purpose though).

But DO IT WITH A FULL HEART

(then audience will know!!!!)

every gig is different...............just enjoy it!!!!............100%+++++++
total positive head all the time+

U Will B Great!!!!

fish

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!

I've been to see a few bands where at least one member looks like he's been queuing up to pay for his shopping - this does not make for an enjoyable show!

The bands that go down the best clearly are having fun while they're playing.  Fun is infectious, so the audience has fun too.

Don't worry, be happy!

I though it was pretty insightful.. one of the things that struck home with me , is playing in front of an audience takes practice too... read this page I am linking to, it is pretty cool info on overcoming stage fright.

http://www.metalmethod.com/stage_fright.htm

very, very well written & helps the novice performer.

thanks Goat.