How do you judge your gig?

[Ed-in-Ohio]

Originally Posted by hotroad

I am wondering how you judge your gig.

1. By how you feel afterwards
2. By how you sounded
3. By the audience reaction
4. By what close friends tell you
5. By the lack of problems during the gig
6. By the amount you get paid, if so
7. By how you felt during the gig
8. Etc.

3. By the audience reaction
The audience reaction and takeaway is really all that matters to me. If they had a good time, I had a good time.

[tadol]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

More audience members than band members?

That works, as long as audience number doesn't include wives, partners, kids, extended family, and close friends you had to promise a free beer to -

[terken]

If I had fun it was a good night.

[Al Acuff]

A commercial airline pilot once said to me as I exited his plane, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!"

You can finish the analogy...

[L20A]

1. By how you feel afterwards
2. By how you sounded
3. By the audience reaction
4. By what close friends tell you
5. By the lack of problems during the gig
6. By the amount you get paid, if so
7. By how you felt during the gig
8. Etc.

For me it's
#1
#3
#7
It can be hard to know how we sound when we only hear the monitors.
We depend on the audience to let us know how we sound through the mains.
I have also used the sound people for their input as to how we did.
But not by asking them their opinion rather just go with what they volunteer to say to us.
When we are playing at a place where a tip jar is appropriate, the amount of tips can give us an idea of how we reacted with the audience.

[rokdog49]

I judge the gig by how well we sound and perform.
The audience can be fickle, indifferent and a whole lot of other things. I play music to be good at it whether people approve or not. As an aside, of course we want people to like us but we don't depend on it as a reward.

[jaybones]

How much I was able to connect with and entertain my audience. That's why I'm there, if I'm being ignored as background music then I'll play the rest of my show then decide whether I want to go back.

With that being said, I usually try not to play dinner places with people more interested in the dinning experience than my music.

Give me a deck outside in the afternoon, happy people hanging out possibly having some wine, cocktails or beer, and that's my audience.

[Wild Bill Jones]

I have two friends in the audience And I trust their opinions, feedback and know they will give me an honest, factual appraisal of our performance. They know they don't have to worry about hurting my feelings. I've gotten a few critical reviews.
The band and I take under the comments under advisement. We don't always agree with what they say but we have often made changes in material, sound balance, how we approach an audience and arrangement, etc.

[ManyMartinMan]

By how I feel I did my job. How I feel, while I'm playing, changes. Post play evaluation is how I determine. How was the playing? How was my voice? Everyone who plays has off nights/days. Sometimes I'm loose and feel great and others I'm tight or tense but everything is great and others my attention wanders and I'm distracted. In the end, I set up, I play, I break down and go home. Once it's over, it's over and I get ready for the next one.

[Goat Mick]

My shows tend to be fairly intimate events regardless of whether I'm playing for 5 or 500 because I'm a songwriter and the focus is to communicate my songs and the stories behind them. Even when I play rooms that require me to lean heavily on cover tunes I still do a lot of interacting with my audience. So my indicator of success is audience interaction and enjoyment along with how long people stayed. If the audience is enjoying your performance, they're not going to get up and leave after 30 minutes or an hour.

Also the concept of being hired as "background music" baffles me. As a business owner, why am I going to spend the money to hire musicians and pay all of the PRO fees if I'm not expecting my customers to come specifically to listen to the music? If background is all that's needed I can stream Pandora and get the same effect for a lot mes expense. I approach every venue like its a spotlight performance.

[AndrewG]

Number one. I hate it when I know I played like a beginner, screwed up, and an audience member applauds me on my performance. I feel like I cheated!

Originally Posted by tadol

as long as audience number doesn't include wives, partners, kids, extended family, and close friends you had to promise a free beer to -

I used to feel that way but soon learned that the venue owners don't care who you fill up the tables with as long as they're filled.

Wives count. Girlfriends count. - As long as they're not there at the same time. Sitting together. Looking at you. Not smiling.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by hotroad

I am wondering how you judge your gig.

1. By how you feel afterwards
2. By how you sounded
3. By the audience reaction
4. By what close friends tell you
5. By the lack of problems during the gig
6. By the amount you get paid, if so
7. By how you felt during the gig
8. Etc.

Obviously, there are many factors involved. For those that feel that the audience reaction is unimportant, in my opinion, you're simply not there to play for yourself. If that were the case, then perhaps you should consider not leaving your rehearsal space. This is especially true if the audience has paid admission. You are there for their entertainment. If the audience is happy, then the buyer is happy, which is a win-win for everyone.

In addition to the other factors mentioned above, I think these are also important.

• Merchandise sold
• Ease of dealing with the buyer (venue manager) during negotiations.
• Ease of dealing with sound technicians and stagehands.
• Accommodations when applicable.
• Prompt payment.
• Good sound system and stage lighting.

[troystory92]

Originally Posted by hotroad

I am wondering how you judge your gig.

1. By how you feel afterwards
2. By how you sounded
3. By the audience reaction
4. By what close friends tell you
5. By the lack of problems during the gig
6. By the amount you get paid, if so
7. By how you felt during the gig
8. Etc.

By how I feel during and afterwards.

With that said, things like how I sounded, how the audience acted (clapping, tips, etc), how much I get paid and the lack of problems all affect this.

Played a quick 2 hours on Saturday night and I'm a little sick so it wasn't my best performance IMO. But always blessed to play and get paid for it.

[mr. beaumont]

I would say all, to an extent, and they get weighed differently depending on the gig...except the pay--I don't think about that as part of it being a good gig or not--I think of it as part of whether or not I'm taking the gig in the first place!