A little while ago, I wrote about the benefits of playing to an empty room. Sometimes it just happens. You show up for your gig only to find that there’s little more than a handful of people milling about.
What do you do to get the room ready for the headliner? There’s a fine line here, right? You can’t just play the best dance music at the beginning of the night. You can’t raise the energy to an electric hum so early in the evening. So, what’s left to do?
Check out our tips then add your own:
- Find out what the club or venue expects you to play. Do they want you to play a similar genre of music that the headliner will be playing or something different?
- Don’t get there on time. Get there early! If you’re early, you have time to check the gear and make sure you have everything you need to play a smooth set. Get friendly with the staff, too.
- Don’t overlook the small stuff, like dress code, pay, fees … anything else that you can think of that doesn’t seem like a big deal until it suddenly is.
- Make sure you’ve brought along more playlists than you’ll actually need. You never know what’s going to happen. So, always go prepared.
- Remember, it’s all about the headliner, not you. As you’re warming up the room, keep the headliner and his or her needs at the forefront of your mind. If you do that, everyone will like you that much more.
Over to you: I have no doubt that a lot of you can offer even more tips thanks to your own unique experiences. Let us know what you would add.
2 comments
Short but sweet. Nice post, Vu!
Here are a few other tips that I feel should have been mentionned in your post, let me know if you think of anything else! You should know the headliner, look him/her up before the gig. the earlier you look him/her up to more time you have to prepare. If you can speak to them prior to the event,ask if theres a specific song they would like you to play before they jump in. You don’t want to be prepping up a room playing deep house when oppening up for a big EDM bangger .Know when the headliner starts playing and time yourself to pump up the energy about half an hour before he/she gets on stage. but have at least an hour and a half of progressively more energetic music in case he/she is late… always keep in mind that your top energy level should match the starting energy level of the headliner. Your sound should sound good but also make the headliner sound good, as in when he puts on his first track it should be noticed. It takes about 2 to 3 hours to fill up the bar/club from the oppening time at first when the people arrive I use loops to extend my songs but never to the point where it sounds overly repetive. If you feel like it feels like its on a loop… change it now …. keep the first 2 hours groovy but not pumping… Gradually increase the volume has more guest are arriving. Music sounds louder in an empty room but more bodies absorbs more sound so if you don’t incrementally increase the volume, people that where there earlier have the impression that you are actually lowering the volume wich kills the vibe… you don’t want that! Also never ever play a song from the headliner. Always Smile and show that you are happy to welcome the headliner… Shake his hand when he/ she gets there it makes both of you look very good.