Audience contracts with the Musicians performing

I attend a lot of live music in small venues – I’m lucky to be in the best city in the world for live music in small venues – you can find something to meet the most people’s taste, most night of the week, somewhere in London – and much of it is free – in the smaller venues it is rarely more than £10.

What never fails to amaze me is the lack of respect some audience members pay to the performers and those around them trying to immerse themselves in the live music – the music may not be to their taste – but others are there to enjoy the music – not raised voices trying converse above the inconvenience of the live music.

There are a number of implied contracts between the audience and the musicians performing:

Contract for Free Events

If you are attending a free event – respect the fact that those performing are unlikely to be being paid to perform – or if they are it will be minimal. Your only payment is your attention to the performance, and keeping quiet to allow everyone to enjoy the live music. All the sets might not be to your tastes – but others wish to enjoy them – and they all deserve respect. If possible take you socializing away from the live music.

The worst I’ve see are musician that have performed or who are yet to perform not respecting their fellow performers. Just think how you enjoy being able to play to an attentive audience, and treat your fellow musicians as you’d like to be treated.

It would be great if those putting people on guest lists could include the the below in the message to their guest gifting them the chance to attend live music:

Contract for Guest List attendees

You’ve been granted free access to the evening by a member of the band, promoter or someone else – please appreciate that while you have not paid to be there – at least some of those around you have. They have paid to support and listen to live music, which they want to enjoy without over hearing the voice you’ve had to raise to make yourself heard above the live music. If you’ve come to socialise, please do so as far from the live music as the venue allows – maybe the outside smoking area!

Venues can also be at fault. There is one, very famous venue, in Soho where I regularly attend, where their cocktails should be stirred not shaken during the live performances. At other venues I regularly hear the crashing of glasses as bar staff are either careless, or have started clearing up before the night has ended. I know the main source of revenue is the

Contract for Venues

• Provide an area away from the live music where those that wish to socialise rather than listen can take their conversations
• Make sure you staff respect the music – waiting to clear glasses and clean up to between sets or after the sets. Don’t make excessive noise with a performance is taking place 

At the end of the day – respect those on the stage, however small, they’ve put a lot of time preparing for their performance. Show some respect for that by giving them your attention – if you can’t manage that , don’t stop others from doing so by raising your voice in conversation.

In larger venues, close to the performers the volume is usually sufficient that you’ll find it hard to socialize without straining your voice – so it is less of an issue – but please still keep those around you in mind before being anti-social to them.

The gig photographer’s collective noun for microphone stands…

…is an obstruction.

All gig photographers know microphones are a fact of life – without them there really isn’t any performance, especially in these days of loop and effects pedals. But if as a musician you want good images of your performance, unobstructed by mic stands, then it would be a step forward to move the microphone stand out from in front of you if you aren’t using it.

It takes effort and adds one more thing to remember to do – but some of the best images of singers are when they’ve got the microphone in hand, making shapes on stage, freed from the restrictions of a mic stand. That is off course if you’ve not mastered the art of wielding the mic stand still attached to the microphone like a sword.

Numbers at the end of my Instagram Postings

No, I’m not marking the performance out of an increasing number of points…

…the last number is the number of days of the year so far, the first number is the number of those I’ve been to a gig on that day, the number after the plus is a count of the number of gigs beyond one that I’ve attended on a day.

So at the time of writing this post, I’ve attended gigs on 110 of the 111 days of the year – on two occasions I attended 2 gigs on a day, and on 3 I attended 3 gigs on a day.

I would have made it 111 days – but understandably, even in a city like London with an incredible number of options for live music on most days of the year – on New Year’s day there weren't an musician or probably venues really ready to be putting on a live music event.

I don’t know how long I’m going to keep the current run up – but there is not sign of it ending.

Norah Jones supported by The Candles

6th July 2017, Somerset House, London, UK

Kicking off the 2017 Summer Series Gigs at Somerset House sponsored by American Express was Norah Jones supported by The Candles. Norah is one of the more established, and familiar names, performing this year during the 11 nights of the series of outdoor music events in the splendour of the open courtyard at Somerset House.

Opening for Norah were The Candles – the band appeared to grow with each of the early songs in their set. First a soloist, then a trio, then they where joined by a drummer and pianist, and finally by a bassist. It became apparent later – that most of the members of The Candles where members of Norah’s band. While I understand that having your backing band open for you, under another name, does keep the costs down and keep things simple while touring – but it really is a shame the opportunity wasn’t take for an up and coming London band to be given the opportunity to win more fans from amongst Norah’s adoring fans.

Beginning her European tour at Somerset House, the set began in a jazz mood, which would have graced Ronnie Scott’s, if you could take the roof off that venue.

A subtle touch on the ivories of the grand piano, which dominated the stage, during instrumental interludes in “I’ve got to see you again” proved Norah is more than just a great vocalist.

As the set progress the jazz mood was replace by a more electric sound – with the pedal steel contributing much to that.

Norah herself commented that she’d not been expecting hot and humid weather, which she likened to that in Texas where she’d grown up. Then she noted that having played at a number of outside venues recently – she always seam time one song on in the set to match the sunset – that being “Sunrise”.

After the gentle breeze, keeping the audience from over heating, caused the smells from the food stands to drift on to the stage Norah was prompted to comment “I smell sausages”, and then realise – “that will be the quote of the night”, the set the took a more melancholy turn with song like “She’s 22”.

“Night and day” moved the set back to a warmer sound and feeling, returning to the grand piano and the jazz vibe returns. The “Peace” brings the set to a crescendo, and then “The Long Day is Over”  was a very appropriate way to approach the pre-encore pause.

The real end of the set was “Come away with me” – she couldn’t have left here fans without that hit.

The whole evening illustrates that a carefully constructed set list or album is why listening to music via a streaming service in a random order which hasn’t been curated in anyway, just isn’t the same as experiencing the music in the order the artist behind it intended . A live performance allows the artist to add careful transitions in mood, taking the listener on a musical journey.  The other artists performing this year have a lot to follow to keep the standard up.

Rhiannon Giddens supported by Bhi Bhiman

21st May 2015, The Rio Theatre, Vancouver, Canada

Continuing my aim to find some live music to sample in every new city I visit, I added a new City and Country to the list where I’ve done so. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a local artist to listen to. Rhiannon Gibbens was on tour in Vancouver while I was there, and her music and the prospect of a gig in a working Cinema both intrigued me.

Having managed to over come my lack of knowledge of Vancouver's transit system I was pleased to have made for the beginning of Bhi Bhiman’s set. I’m not sure if Bhi usually plays with the support of a band – but to begin with he seams a little lost on stage – he soon overcame that – his witty lyrics and topics bring the best out of a growing audience. The highlight of the set was certainly when he was joined by Rhiannon on her fiddle.

Rhiannon, not to be confused for the more famous artist Rihanna, who may sell out stadiums, but has no more talent than the multi-instrumentalist on stage tonight, was given a rapturous welcome by an audience clearly aware of the treat they were in for. The show included a few original numbers – but the highlights where the multitude of carefully and lovingly chosen covers of classic banjo numbers from the great history of American banjo playing – all given a modern Giddens’ twist. One surprise was the almost entirely white audience – yet Rhiannon’s politics went down a storm – not surprising given Canada’s liberal reputation – but I’d have expected a more multi-cultural group– in London I’m sure the crowd will be much more diverse.

Unfortunately working Cinemas, complete with seats, get my thumbs down for this type of gig – I’m sure there would have been more energy coming from the audience had we been standing, and personally it would have helped me fight off the effects of jet lag to be standing – a confortable cinema seat was a little too conducive to the sleep trying to take me over – I only nodded off briefly but the music soon revived me. Rhiannon’s music urged you to get up and move – but the seating discourage it…
I will be making every effort to catch Rhiannon when she plays at the Islington Assembly Hall in London on June 30th. I can highly recommend her to anyone who enjoys traditional banjo music with a modern twist – together with her band she brings out all that is good about the instrument.