Small artists and amateur artists don’t think they have to put much time and energy into building their show.
Big artists and great artists know they have to put a lot of time and energy into building it.
It’s not a question of which camp you’re currently in, it’s a question of which camp you want to be in…and then start acting that way immediately.
If you’re a spaceship in an intergalactic movie, you can go faster, you can increase your defense shield, or you can increase your blasters…but not all three…the ship can never handle all three.
If you’re custom NBA Jam character you get to choose where to spend your avatar bars…do you want to use them all on height and dunking, or spread some around to shooting and speed and defense too?
If you fuel up in Nashville you can drive to Atlanta or Cincinnati, but not both.
A simple metaphor worth remembering.
Where will we spend our (limited) energy?
If you’re going to focus on one part of your show, make an unforgettable ending.
If you’re going to focus on two parts, beginning and ending.
Three parts…beginning, ending, and the build up to the ending. The turn into the home stretch. The part where the audience knows here we go. Foot on the gas.
If you build out these three parts of your show and can get them slammin, you’ve got more currency in your pocket than most of the artists you listen to.
You put in the hours to get really good but it doesn’t feel like you thought it would.
Just because it doesn’t feel like a superpower doesn’t mean it isn’t.
We are quick to discount what we’re best at.
Part of the magic is fooling the audience into thinking it’s easy…but sometimes we end up fooling ourselves, equating the look of ease with cheap.
You’re a new act selling out the local club.
So they give you a shot at the theater…can you handle that?
The spotlight gets turned up brighter, do you have the guts?
Then an amphitheater, then a tv spot, then an a-list collaboration, then a sold out European tour.
The business is designed to see what you’ve got, how much stress can this thing take, how much self control do you have over your thing…to see what the breaking point is.
You can be great on while sitting on the edge of your bed…but what kind of foundation do you have to build so that you can keep on being magical as you take the ride?