The feeling you get when you book your first gig is amazing. The excitement and joy can quickly turn into a bit of a panic, as landing your first gig is the best chance to start pushing your band up the ranks in the music world. That means that getting it right is crucial for success!

Gigs are an important marketing platform for musicians and you want to provide the best possible show for your listeners. But what are the key components of a great gig?

Prepare for the Venue

First, you need to know about the venue itself. You might have visited the place yourself or you may have never been there before, but either way extra information never hurts. It’s crucial to visit the place at least in the morning of your gig to have enough time to figure out how your equipment will fit the stage and where the crowd is going to be.

Imagine yourself on stage with the crowds cheering you on. Think how you can best interact with them and if there are some fun facts about the venue you can talk about between songs.

Promote Your Gig Beforehand

Marketing your gig is a crucial part of guaranteeing you can create the right atmosphere at your gig. If you have enough enthusiastic and interested people coming to see you perform, you’ll get more energy from the crowds and will therefore produce a better show. In order to have the right crowds, you need to do marketing.

Blog about the coming gig on your website and make sure you get your existing fans in the area to talk about it. Use the Internet to find local music bloggers or other bands and see if you can get them to promote your gig. Connections like that can be a vital way to ensure more people hear about your band.

Generate Buzz with Advance Tickets

You want to put at least some advance tickets on sale because this can generate more buzz around your show and it’ll commit people to your gig well before the show. Advance tickets often sell slightly cheaper than tickets on door, which can help incentive people to buy them.

Do something a bit different with your ticket campaign. Organise a competition where you also hand out a few free tickets or follow the example of Mötley Crüe. The band has often organised a ticket scavenger hunt in the city they are performing. You could do something similar and provide hints of the ticket locations via Twitter, for example.

Interact with the Crowd

When fans were polled in The Escapist forum, majority of them said the crowd interaction is crucial for a gig to be great. If you are just going to stand there and play, people won’t feel as connected to your performance.

Think of different ways to get the crowd involved. This can be small talk between songs, asking the crowd to perform certain tasks, like waving their hands in the air, or just mingling with the crowd before, during and after the show.

Remember to make the audience feel like an important part of the gig. You want to make sure they know you appreciate them coming to see you and don’t forget to plug in your new album or single!

Rehearse Your Songs to Perfection

Finally, you can’t organise a great gig if your music is not good. Don’t start booking gigs for your band until you are sure your talents are up for it. You don’t want to ruin your chances by playing semi-rehearsed songs.

It’s a good idea to film your rehearsals and see what you sound and look like live. You might also want to organise a preview gig to just a few honest friends and family members to get some feedback on the performance.

Make sure you rehearse both the songs, so that you won’t make noticeable mistakes, but also give some though to the actual performance as well. This will give you much more confidence and it will guarantee you rock the show.

The above tips will help you create the best gig. And if you want to add a bit more tricks to your repertoire, you can check out our video lessons to practice your guitar playing skills.