I don’t know about you, but I want to go to a show and feel something. Be moved. Inspired. Jubilant. Maybe even angered, if I’m already mad and need someone to pour a little fuel on the fire — just to feel some commonality!
Having your audience “get” what you are giving them at your concerts is the ultimate goal, right? You want people to feel what you felt writing the song. Otherwise, what’s the point?
The potential power of a great live show is beautifully illustrated in a blog I just read by author & certified life coach Craig Daliessio as he wrote about hearing an artist for the first time. (The artist just happens to be a friend of our team, and a former bandmate of our own Tom Jackson!)
Craig was in a bad place in his life, when a guy in a black leather jacket came out and wowed him with his Fender Strat, and his lyrics. He writes:
“Rick Elias noticed me. He didn’t know it. We’d not met at that point. But when he wrote his stories of pain, and hurt, with harrowing honesty, and the brazen chutzpah it takes to dare ask “Why?”… he’d noticed me. I listened to him tell my story. And I wept because finally someone was telling it, and that meant maybe someone else was asking the same questions. When Rick’s show ended, I sat there in silence. I could not move for several minutes. When I got my wits about me I ran back to the merch table to buy anything of his I could get my hands on.” Read entire article here…)
If you write your story, it’s bound to intersect – at least in part – with someone else’s story and strike a chord. (Pun not intended but I’ll go with it!)
It’s kind of like finding your tribe. If you like playing alternative/cowboy/punk/fusion, there’s sure to be others out there that like listening to alternative/cowboy/punk/fusion. You find each other and connect.
Same way with life experiences. Even if it isn’t the exact thing someone else has gone through, it parallels and ends up at the same funky place.
So, if you’re able to perform live and make your audience feel what you feel, get your message across, and drive off with some cash in your pocket so you can get your amp fixed and order some CDs, what more can you ask for, right? You get to continue doing what you love to do.
That’s the response we want, don’t we? To have the audience connect in such a powerful way that they even want to ‘take us home’ with them. The purchase of merch simply means they want to re-live that experience – those moments, over and over again.
Craig felt noticed, and became Rick’s fan for life. Tell your stories well — with honesty — and you’ll create amazing moments and attract fans that will stay with you for life.
For more info about the first steps in how to create moments for your audience so they’ll “get” what you’re saying, click here to read “It Starts With a Vision” – Backstage Pass required…
Amy Wolter
As a trained Live Music Producer for Tom Jackson Productions, Amy Wolter brings her years onstage as a lead singer & keyboardist - along with her experience as a producer, arranger, and songwriter - to singers and bands who won’t settle for ‘good enough’. She’s worked with artists at all levels, and genres ranging from Rock to Celtic, empowering them to have confidence and authority onstage, and put on memorable live shows, a few of whom have been on two of the largest US tours in recent history. Some of her clients include Grammy award winners The Band Perry & Lacrae, CMA and ACM –winning country acts, Gloriana & Thompson Square, 2016 The Voice contestant Mary Sarah, CCMA (Canada) winners High Valley, Jess Moskaluke & Chad Brownlee, and Winter Jam Tour veterans Sidewalk Prophets & Love and The Outcome.
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When it comes to Rick Elias, I totally get it.
Rick doesn’t just have a couple great songs, per the usual of Tom’s teaching. Rick writes some amazing thought provoking and heart rending realities into his lyrics. it is more difficult to find the nice songs amidst the great ones, as opposed to finding the couple of great ones midst the handfuls of good ones.
“Ten Stories” is one of my favorite CDs of his but “Blink” has some awesome pokes into our every day lives as well. “I need a hole in my heart like a hole in the head” Great stuff!
Rick and many others inspire me to not be lazy but to look at words and all they can do, what emotions they can pull out, what scenes they can describe. There are many great songwriters out there, but then there are folks like Rick who raise the bar all that much higher. If you want to learn to write great songs, pick up a couple of this guys CDs! Just sayin’
Great post, Amy!