Last night I watched the Pittsburgh Penguins wrap up their Stanley Cup victory in a game televised nationally on NBC. In other words, “the whole country was watching,” some might say. Of course, in this day and age of live streaming, there were likely others viewing the game from outside the U.S. as well (certainly Canada).
The game was played in Nashville, where we all had been told about how rabid their fans had become. For all the goodwill that was attempted to be fostered as the Predators went deeper and deeper into the playoffs, my lasting memory of their fans is not a good one. Not only did they throw debris onto the ice when it became apparent their team was going to lose (prompting the p.a. announcer to have to implore the crowd – with repeated requests – to stop) but they stuck around after the final horn seemingly just to boo the winners. In fact, I even saw something projected over the glass and towards a winning Pittsburgh player who had previously played for Nashville. That’s not the type of picture the organization or the city would’ve liked to have had on display for the vast viewing audience.
I wonder how performers were reacting on nearby stages in Music City? Were they cursing out the victors?
When you close a show, you want your audience members to end with you on a great memory. Perhaps you save your best song for last – the most powerful tune. There is someone I went to see here locally a week or two ago and when she closed out the night, wow, it brought the house down. And mind you, this was not a stadium or arena show, but rather, just a local place that has live music. But she treated it as though there were music legends in the crowd.
Folks should be going home from your performance with that last song of yours stuck in their head. Maybe the next morning they are waking up with it still playing in their subconscious. Or if it’s not the last song, it’s one that really brought down the house or simply moved them. It could’ve been a song that they needed to hear, even if it was a cover song. Remember that when you’re playing something that you are getting bored with and feel yourself about to just go through the motions.
Now, on the other hand, if you give a great show but then start mouthing off to someone in the crowd, that’s what people are going to be talking about the next day. If you don’t believe me, re-read the second paragraph above. It’s the day after the game and I’m remembering that the Penguins won the Cup with a 2-0 victory with Sidney Crosby as the MVP and the Nashville fans looking like sore losers.
Perhaps challenge yourself with an exercise. Start a notebook where after every show you have to write down what the high point of your show was. And perhaps consider having a second field that calls for you to enter what the low point was. You’ll know you’re doing good when you have to really think over and over what the latter could’ve been. When all you can come up with was that traffic was bad or the venue’s air conditioning went out during your last set – in other words, circumstances beyond your control – you’ll know you’re on the right track.
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