Well, maybe it’s what I learned, but probably more so what I already learned a long time ago but the CMA Fest stimulated me to remember.
Same for you, if you’ve been around the industry for very long it’s probably about remembering what you’ve already learned than actual new learning…although new learning still happens all the time too.
That said…
1. For an artist/band, every show is exactly the same until you realize and apply the notion that every show is a gift. From Tootsies to Nissan Stadium…I guarantee you there were people who walked off both those stages fulfilled and people who walked off both those stages in the pit of despair. Therefore I deduce that it’s not about the show, but YOUR understanding of the show.
2. For all the hardcore Keith Urban fans that exist who love him and his music, there are 100x more people who like Keith Urban and his music. It takes both groups to make Keith Urban, Keith Urban.
3. Each night there were five A-list country acts playing the stadium…but very few, if any, have ever done a headlining show there. And that’s not a slight to anyone…truthfully, it’s a tip of the hat to the power of the communal country music industry and fan base.
When those acts headline in Nashville they play the arena for 18,000 people. Throw a handful of those acts together during CMA and they play the stadium for 65,000. Sounds like a cool experience…although refer back to point #1 before you get too excited.
4. Festival gigs, perhaps more than any other type of gig…people are looking for something to take a picture of. They’ve been out all day, watching a million artists do and say a lot of the same things. So when faced with a day of not just a little of the same things, but act after act after act of the same things, when you do something out of the ordinary it sticks out even MORE than usual.
If you build it (the exceptional moment), they will come…and take a picture of it and share it on the internet.
If you go skydiving and the instructor says to you…
“Hey, I see a problem, your parachute probably isn’t going to open”
And you reply…
“Well, if it PROBABLY isn’t going to open, that means it still might open, so I’m gonna go for it…”
…then you’re an idiot. Even if the parachute does in fact open, you’re still an idiot for jumping.
It’s important to listen to wisdom. Not only listen to it, but apply it…and not always because you understand the wisdom and it’s application, but because you trust the giver of the wisdom.
Do the same show over and over and over and you’ll finally get to a point where your comfortable enough to start changing it up, to start calling some audibles.
Out of repetition comes variation.
But it’s most definitely important to start with a SHOW. Not just a ‘lets see what happens when we get up there’.
Start with a real, put together, planned out show, do it a bunch of times and then when the time is right you will have new ideas and instincts that develop and kick in and ping your brain and you will be able to implement and use them immediately.
The (perceived) constraints of a planned out show will, in the long run, give you the freedom and fulfillment you’ve always wanted from your show.
p.s. The idea that out of repetition comes variation may not apply universally. But it applies to creative people. Creative people are ultimately restless. Constantly looking for the the magic, even once its found. We know that magic doesn’t last, and that in it’s place comes restlessness, pursuit…and variation.
