5 Tips For A Dope Live Performance

Knowing how to put on a great live performance isn't something we're born with. Most of us learn through practice and trial and error.

I'm sure you've seen a few too many big named artists putting on a horrible live show that made you question spending $150 to see them.

Even if you're the best live performer, you should always work on your stage presence and performance on stage.

🎧 Make Sure Your Setlist Order Is Correct

Structuring your setlist can be everything when it comes to putting on a great live show.

Doing it right will mean that the fans will emotionally connect with your music and remember your performance because of the way the set made them feel.

This change of emotions can be so powerful. Most artists don't understand the importance of which song is first and the order you choose them.

You want to make it like a rollercoaster (up and down) starting off with a calm song, then getting lit with an energetic song, and finally coming back down with a laid-back joint.

Try to avoid starting off with your most powerful song at the start and then the ending sucks. You want to keep fans guessing as to what comes next and give them the feeling of a musical rollercoaster.

👯 Focus On Crowd Control

Obviously, the goal of a live show is to keep fans entertained during your entire set but you can do this by simply interacting with them.

Make sure to talk to the audience throughout your performance not just at the beginning. By doing this, they get to see your personality in between songs and can connect with you on a personal level.

A few interactions to consider are:

• waiving their hands
• chanting
• get them to sing along
• putting phones in the air

By interacting with the audience, you also make sure they're paying attention. It sucks when the fans start checking their phones or talking to their friends when you're on stage so don't give them the opportunity to get bored in the first place.

⚡️ Control Your Energy Levels

When you first hit the stage, try to avoid starting off too crazy with your energy levels. This is even more important if your set is 30 minutes or more.

The reason is that you want to save your energy and make it a more even level of excitement during your entire set.

You never want your fans to see that you're not putting in 100% a the end of your set.

For example, you may want to start off with a love song or a slower temp song and then get a little more hype on the next song and repeat.

😮💨 Breathing & Handling The Mic Correctly

When you perform live for the first time, expect to fuck it up.

It'll take time for you to control your breathing, continue to move around the stage, and rap or sing over your beat.

Do your best to not yell on the mic trying to project your voice. This takes practice and your first performance won't be great but keep at it and you'll improve.

The one thing you really want to avoid is killing your voice.

This is where your setlist order can help you out. By changing up the songs from calm to crazy song, you can give your voice a break in every other song you perform.

🕺🏽 Theatrics To Fit The Songs

Entertaining the crowd is super important. You don't want to stand in one spot the entire set.

Move around based on what the song is about and the beat.

Don't overdo it! You don't want fans to be sold on your theatrics instead of the actual song.

We can't tell you what to do, but be natural and get people excited!

🔉 What About Lighting and Sound?

Lighting and sound are important, however, this is where you have little control if any.

Most music venues have decent lighting and sound for most performances but sometimes it can be pretty bad.

You can make up for this by making sure your music is top-notch and mixed well.

But we always tell artists to have all the other things we listed above done before worrying about sound and lighting.

That's it! Hope you all learned something about upping your live performance game.

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