Showmanship

[Minnesota]

Bear with me on this one--I have a discussion question, but it requires a bit of set-up.

Last weekend I went to see Richard Marx at the same casino Vixen played back in March. Before you give me too much grief: the ticket was comped, the audience was about 70% female, and the guy did write "Edge of a Broken Heart." Anyway, his vocals were outstanding and I knew the lyrics to most of the songs but what really impressed me more than anything else was his showmanship.

I live in a very rural area and our audiences are extremely conservative, much more so than what you'd find in, say, the Twin Cities or even Fargo or Duluth. I've been to a number of concerts, including some big-name acts, where the band comes in and plays, but doesn't really do much to engage the audience and everyone leaves disappointed. I've been to a lot more concerts where there's a little banter from the band, but the crowd doesn't really get into it until they get to the big sing-along near the end of the set. Vixen did better than most when they were here, but even they were probably halfway through their set before the whole audience was convinced to really cut loose and have a good time. What Richard Marx did was to stop four songs into his set and have a heart-to-heart with us about what kind of audience we were going to be. From that point on, he was a total cut-up: jokes, funny stories about writing the songs he played, and poking fun at himself and, especially, the guys in the audience. At one point he commented about how "Hazard" was basically a country song, then started playing a twangy, nasally, Randy Travis-inspired version. It was absolutely brilliant. The first fifteen minutes, we were a bunch of lumps parked in our chairs. The last seventy-five, we were transfixed. Everyone I've talked to about the concert has said basically the same thing, ending with some variation of, "he puts on such a good show!"

So: What turns a good concert into a great concert, one that you'll talk about for weeks and months afterwards? Obviously, it has to sound good, but what puts it over the top? Who has really blown you away and how did they do it?

[Shooter5150]

The performer has to do what Marx did in your case -- make a connection with the audience.

The best stage performers do that. It's one thing to regurgitate the contents of your albums, it's another when you can draw the audience into the songs with you. It can be through snappy banter, remarking on current events of a local nature, pointing out someone in the crowd or somehow giving the spiel some thought rather than using the same canned patter show after show.

It's a thin line sometimes. I've seen performers -- Ted Nuggent springs to mind -- where I just want to scream "shut up and SING!" I am all for the 1st Amendment and support what Natalie Maines said about W, but there is a time and place for politics, and the concert stage is NOT it.

If a performer tries to engage me on a personal level, it works best. While I thought Vixen put on a heck of a show here in Merrill, they gained many new fans by coming out and signing things afterward. It made the night extra special for many of the younger kids in the crowd, I can tell you.

For me, personally, it was shooting Dokken elbow-to-elbow with Lynn for a while that made the night extra special. It's not often you get to do that.

:headbanger

[Minnesota]

While I thought Vixen put on a heck of a show here in Merrill, they gained many new fans by coming out and signing things afterward. It made the night extra special for many of the younger kids in the crowd, I can tell you.

Exactly! Dokken was good, but there was a definite buzz about Vixen after their shows here in March. Part of it was obviously due to the fact they kicked ass in concert, but their willingness to come out afterward and meet us, sign autographs and take pictures really left the audience feeling like we'd made a connection with them.

The performer has to do what Marx did in your case -- make a connection with the audience....

It's much different in the Cities or even Duluth, but one thing I've noticed in Minnesota's rural north is that our audiences are EXTREMELY conservative. A band pretty much has to tell us that it's OK to let loose and have a good time before we'll throw ourselves into a concert. That's what Marx succeeded in doing very early in his show. I think maybe we're just overly self-conscious. Usually, most of the audience won't really get into the concert until the big audience-participation number near the end. That's disappointing, because by that point you've missed out on so much of the fun you could have had.

We're so bad about it that I've seen some bands--Dio in particular comes to mind--that seem to get P.O.'d at us and won't even do an encore.