From Soundcheck to Encore: 7 Quick Tips for a Killer Live Set

Introduction:

The internet is the great equalizer, right?

Everyone is provided an opportunity to have their music reach the masses by using the tools provided to them in their pockets.

This is the new age way of building a fanbase and connecting with your audience, but something crucial is missing!

The old fashioned way.

No matter how pulled together you may seem online, if you don’t have a tight and convincing live performance, your buzz will not last.

Live shows are by far the most important part of being a musician.

They are how you show people what your energy is all about, they’re where you sell merch, they’re how you make most of your money, and they’re where you receive physical and verbal validation as an artist, fueling the fires of inspiration for albums to come.

Mastering your live set is a lifelong journey, and certainly can’t be achieved alone, but hopefully these 8 quick tips will help to adjust your thinking, and set you on the path to live performance fluency!

With that said, here are 7 Quick Tips For A Killer Live Set 👊

1. Practice

This sounds simple enough, right? You clearly need to practice, but why? It all comes down to confidence. If you step on stage confident in your playing, confident in your singing, you free up your brain to focus on delivery, energy and swagger opposed to “hitting the right notes.” You should be practicing at least an hour a day for the week leading up to your show. Practice acoustically, practice with the backing tracks, practice with the full band. Every iteration of your show should be explored well before you even step foot on stage.

A well practiced musician is a confident musician, and a confident musician is a commanding one. Be a commanding musician, demanding the attention of your audience. Practice. Hard.

2. Be Efficient

Efficiency during shows is a great way to streamline your set up, simplify your footprint, and significantly cut down on stress during the show and soundcheck. Weeks before soundcheck, you need to learn about all the gear you’re using on stage. Get to know Ableton, toy with your pedalboard, sync your IEM’s, plug in your audio interface, etc. Do dry runs of all the gear you’ll be using BEFORE you even arrive to soundcheck, so that you’re confident in your tech - and won’t be running around screaming at the sound technician for a ¼” cable you’ve forgotten. Additionally, look into ways to have all of your gear pre-set up, like a travel rack case, so that when you arrive to soundcheck, you only need to plug in one or two things, instead of tearing down and setting up your rig every single night. This saves time, and lowers the chances of forgetting a rare German power cable at the previous night’s venue.

Efficiency translates to the day of the show as well. Show up to soundcheck early. Be prepared. While the headliner is setting up, pull all of your gear out of its cases, and get it stage ready. That way when the stage is yours, it’s as easy as throwing it up, plugging it in, and getting started. This will also make the venue staff much less stressed and more excited to help when you’re setting up.

If you’ve got a long list of tasks to take care of before the show, like setting up the merch table, soundchecking, submitting a guest list, etc. you need to take advantage of every moment of downtime. Be efficient! Instead of scrolling on your phone when waiting for the headliner to get off the stage, go start setting up the merch table, talk to the promoter who is paying you at the end of the night, get situated with the surroundings, and familiarize yourself in a way that makes the rest of the night streamlined and easy.

3. Engaging With Your Audience

Engaging with the audience is paramount. It comes in many forms, and you can feel out what is most genuine with your brand and voice, but regardless of how you do it, you need to do it. Engaging with the crowd makes them feel involved, and immediately grabs the attention of someone who may have been drifting off into space. This creates a captivating show, and strengthens the bond between you and your fans. A lot of these are played out and corny, but find what works for you

Call and responses are always fun. “When I say hey, you say oh” Simple, easy.

Talking to the audience in between songs. You don’t need to preach or rant, but having a light rapport with your audience helps to strengthen that connection.

Right side, left side, back, front. Calling out certain sections of the audience always works.

Bring a fan up on stage to dance/play guitar for one of your songs.

Throw merch out into the crowd. Creating excitement, but also converting people toward the merch table.

Clap along, tilt the mic to the audience to sing a part, etc.

All simple, all classics, always work.

Your audience wants to feel like they’re a part of what it is you’re doing. They want to feel the spirit and the soul that you’re giving out. Not only that, but an engaged audience interacting with an engaged artist creates a beautiful cycle of competitive energy that only amounts to a better and more powerful show.

4. Mastering Stage Presence

This one ties in directly with practice. Having a commanding and confident stage presence makes your job 90% easier. People will WANT to engage with you, opposed to having to convince them. Mastering your stage presence is one of the hardest parts of the job, but will pay off in leaps and bounds.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Again - practice every way in which you may be performing your set. Stand up, sit down, dance like a goober, etc.

Similar to practice, but play real shows. That confidence will only blossom when you have the experience under your belt. Say yes to shows, say yes to friend’s birthdays, say yes to an acoustic set at your buddies bar. All of this builds confidence and a commanding stage presence.

Find your stage voice and look. Try out the various call and response tactics, try out little jokes, or stories and see what the audience reacts to. Find your voice and style of performance. Are you a quiet, shy enigmatic type - or a loud, laughing, energetic weirdo?

Try different outfits. Do you feel incredibly confident wearing a ball gown and a big flapper hat? Great! Use it. Try out different outfits, and looks, until you land on something that makes you feel incredibly confident.

Photo Credit: https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/music-promotion/stage-presence

5. Improvising & Adapting

Shit happens. Tech takes a day off, a drunk audience member will heckle you, people will talk through your set, the volume will be way too quiet, etc. You need to have thick skin and learn to roll with the punches, both good and bad, as they come. You are the performer, you are the commander of the room for the 45 minutes you’re on stage. Be a leader, be strong, show humility, laugh things off, and most importantly: keep it moving. Nobody wants to see a mopey dwelling complainer or to see you verbally fight an audience member (unless of course they were incredibly deserving in which case, we’ll allow it). Being able to adapt and improvise works in many ways, here are a few.

Read the room. You need to be able to read the room and adapt in order to make the strongest impact on your audience. If people aren’t connecting with your slow, sad songs - maybe change up your setlist on the fly to incorporate your happier, groovier songs. This also applies if people are losing their minds (positively) during the chorus of your song, maybe you should communicate with your band and play that section one, two or three more times to really milk the energy from the room!

Know your tech. Again, be prepared and familiar with the tech you’re using on stage so that if anything goes wrong, it’s a momentary fix opposed to an entire shut down, causing you to visibly melt down on stage and storm off.

Keep it moving. You’re not always going to get the response or energy you feel like you deserve from an audience. This struggle builds character and confidence. Play the same show for 5 people as you would for 5,000. If someone gets under your skin, or the audience just isn’t reacting - DO NOT let that frustration show. Again, not one single person in that room wants to see you pout about the lack of connection you’re receiving. Smile through it, power through it, use that as fuel to go even harder, and leave it all out there. Wait until the green room to complain, never do it on stage.

6. Managing Your Energy

A live show is physically taxing. Even if you’re not very active on stage, it still takes a pretty hefty toll. The stress of preparation, travel to the show, concern of reaction, friends and family in the audience, self consciousness, whatever it is, it all adds up and takes a toll. You need to be kind to yourself, and cautious with how you treat yourself on the road, so you have enough energy to push through the show or the entire tour.

Pace yourself through your set. If you’re very energetic, don’t go too hard on the first song, or else the rest of the songs will be affected as you attempt to recover from the first.

Pace your vocal strain. Again, don’t start with the most vocally demanding song. Put it halfway through the set, and leave the easier stuff for the moments in which you really need to catch your breath.

Vocal break. If you’re starting to feel hoarse, go on a vocal break. Wear a little sign around your neck that says - “on vocal break, don’t talk to me.” It’s that easy. Additionally, drink tea, take certain supplements, and avoid alcohol when on vocal break.

Don’t be too much of a rockstar. That “F it” attitude can look really cool every now and then, but 9 times out of 10 it’s hurting you a lot more than it’s helping you. Drinking too much before the show will affect your energy and performance. Drinking too much after the show will drain you of any potential of recovery for the next show, and you’ll stay up til 4 AM screaming at a dive bar. This does not end well, and won’t help you pace your energy.

Take physical care of yourself before and after sets. Stretch, warm up your voice, your hands, your body before performance. Doing even a little bit of this will increase your stamina, and will make playing multiple shows a lot more sustainable. 

7. Finishing Strong

Building a killer setlist takes time. You need to shuffle the order around, and feel out which songs have the most energy, which are most heart-wrenching, and so on. While this takes time, the flow and energy of your set is crucial to leaving the best impression, and finishing strong.

Know what songs evoke which emotions. Once you know that, you can decide the note you want to end your show on. Your most energetic, grooviest, dance song would work perfectly for an encore. Do that! Try a bunch of different iterations out, and stick with what feels most fluid.

Leave them wanting more. This may be more of a personal preference, but I feel as though too much of my favorite band doesn’t help anyone. Ha - I just mean, I don’t need to see EVERY single emotion and up and down of a set - I want them to put their best foot forward, no matter how long it is. If you’re confident in putting on an action-packed, high energy 45 minute set, but scared about “filling up” the time of an hour and a half, then maybe just play the 45 minutes. Leave your audience wanting more, not deciding they’re bored halfway through and leaving.

Call to action. Thank your audience! Let them know how much it meant to you. Let them know how and where they can find you (at the merch table, on Instagram, etc) and what new things you’ve got coming up. 

Conclusion

Complete mastery of your live performance will take a long time. It will take on (maybe literally) trying on different hats, and reinventing your set up, presence, lineup, setlist, etc. over and over. It will take hours of practice, hours of building confidence, and lots of embarrassing teachable moments. That’s the beauty of finding your groove for your live show, everyone goes through it. Join the pack, start booking some shows, and begin that journey toward complete stage mastery.

Photo: Author of this blog & professional songwriter + touring musician Carter Reeves