Hey, some friends and I are holding our first "gig". We are going to play at our (don't know the exact word in English) last school day. We are performing "Nothing else Matters" by Metallica. We are 15 and 16 years old and its a pretty big gig for us, because we are going to play for over 1000 people ! (fuck!) We have about a moth to practice...so...and I'm already shaking of nervousness. So I'm properly gonna breakdown on stage   Any tips, for taking off the nervousness, you know, just before we are going on stage?..anything would be great!

Dude me and my band just had our first gig last saturday...IT WAS A BLAST!!! now there were only about 150-200 people in the audience that day, but the cheering and clapping afterwards sounded like a thousand.

heres what we did....we practiced at least every other day for as long as possible until we were so tired of the song that we exploded. you have to practice like crazy because if you know it down in your heart...you wont forget it as easily, and that takes off a large percentage of stress and nervousness. trust me...you guys have nothing to worry about.

i had to supply all of the electronic equipment for our talent show (mixer, speakers, mics) it was all my stuff and I had to set it up and run it all so we got there super early to set it all up. THAT was stressfull lol.

dont think about "ohhh theres gonna be 1000 people im so nervous" just be excited that this is your first gig and that if you practiced enough youll do great. you have to really practice like crazy and i cant say this enough.

also have your drummer spontaniously combust on stage...that always takes off a bit of stress....or adds to it...

but really you have nothing to worry about...1000 people might as well be 200 people...also when I was on the stage, i tried not to make prolonged eye contact with anyone in the audience...so when i looked out to sing, i was staring out, and it looked like i was looking at people, but I couldnt see anyone. it worked quite nicely.

youve got a month left so dont stress, just practice as much as you cna for as long as you can and really just have fun with it. when you get there on stage dont think about what your doing, just do it just like in your practice sessions. let me know how it turns out!

Yeah as Kunadiun says, the main thing is to practice perfect. Set up your gear and do a sound check, make sure your happy with it, spare strings, pick etc, just in case.
Now your gonna think I'm crazy, but having  pre nerves is a very positive thing, most artist/performers get it, it's perfectly normal.  The main reason for this is your going to face the unknown. It also builds up a lot of energy, energy you will need when you perform.
The good thing is, and I'm sure every one of us who has performed live has experienced this, is that the instant you start your performance, your nerves will disappear, because your will be focused on performing your music and not whats happening out in the audience.
In fact the bigger the audience the better, there will no doubt be a great atmosphere there, so go get em tiger and bring the house down, Man just think of it, if you've got a big crowd cheering, it's gonna make you feel bloody brilliant. Better than play to an audience of ten who are dull and quiet.

Toastedgoat will give you tons of advice, he has a wealth of live experience.

+1 on that The bigger the crowd the better it is.. I would rather play to large ## of starngers  than 5 strangers at a gig..

 You will be playing to school friends , so just relax, know your music, and most of all have fun.

We played a show last Weekend over 2000 people there.  It was not our best performance.. The sound guy we wanted couldn't make it.. New guy on a new console.. screwed our monitors up pretty good,, We're all electronic so we rely fully on the monitors for sounds.. WE did the best we could with the bad monitor mixes.  We know our music.... it came off fine. The crowd was jumping and it was a fantastic gig for us.  To me the more people the better.. more energy , more excitement. 

Have fun. relax , if you love playing music , use that as your focus.. Not so much what you think the crowd will think.. They really just want to be entertained by people that believe in what they do.

Wow TG, 2000 people, didn't know you were playing to such large crowds..... Zitto, listen to this man, he knows what he's talking about!

I agree with everything TG, Denis, and Kunadiun have said - practise until you don't have to think about it, then practise a bit more.
My bands play list is just over 40 songs - we all know them to the point of being almost bored rehearsing, but when you get in front of an audience it's different.  Having an "interactive" crowd there makes all the songs fresh again because it's changed from learning and practising to putting on a show!

The only thing I would add to the comments of others is ENJOY YOURSELVES!  Believe me, if you know the music and play it well then the audience will be politely accepting and respond positively; BUT.... if you know the music, play it well, believe in yourselves, AND are clearly having fun on stage then the audience will join in and have fun with you.

Good luck, I'm sure it'll be great!
Jim A

That is not our usual crowd size.  We were doing the bi-annual cancer pub-crawl .. We are fortunate that our drummer has been involved with this for several years. Because of him we get the hot spot.. the pub crawl ends at the place we were playing at about the time we went on..   Thru out the day they estimate around 5K in crowds down there.  The pub is very big ,, big stage .. jbl vrtech line array pa . lots of lights .. nice set up.. Wished we could play there all the time.. lol.