Gig chat

lloyd

Depends on the gig and the band, I like a bit of chat onstage but not too much. No one really gives a shit about when and why you wrote the song you're about to play. 

We tend to introduce the band, play a couple songs that lead into each other, then play it by ear. Obligatory thanks to the other bands, venue, promoter etc can be thrown in, as well as plugging all the bands facebooks, twitter, next gigs, cd's for sale or whatever.

With all that and a few songs that lead from one to the other then a bit of a joke or bantz with the band is fine. 

Don't overdo it and if you're not really funny in real life, don't try to be onstage, you'll end up looking awkward, which puts audiences off.

Cirrus

Danny1969;1020960" said:

I think some chat is a good idea. Just doing one song after the other with no chat seems a bit detached from the audience to me. What ever you do though keep it natural, not forced. I like an observational piss taking chat myself, one guy I work with is particularly good at that. 

I think so much depends on the style of the music and performance - for example if you're doing shoegaze stuff, and the band and crowd are letting the music transport them somewhere, having the vocalist raise his head, gaze at the crowd through an unkempt fringe and whisper "Try the veal"... it doesn't seem genuine. When we perform our singer's pretty interactive with the audience during the songs, so that connection's already there, and we try to keep the changes as swift as possible. The bastard still talks between songs though, we've considered muting his mic.

ESBlonde

I use some rehearsed style things for some specific titles along the lines of

It's been a bit wet/sunny/windy today blah blah. This ones called 'I can't stand the rain' or 'Heatwave'

Are you ready to dance, I mean are you really ready tonight, are you ready? Well 'Get Ready'

Oh you're all dancing around the tables and out the doors tonight, looks like you'l be 'dancing in the street' next.

This one's called 'take me to the river' and wash my socks because my feet smell a bit.

(Other cheeses are available). Those off pat type links enable the band to have a clue as to what is happening next.

PolarityMan

In an old band the singer would always apologise for Craig David when we played outside Southampton.