Towards the beginning of the show tell the audience something you’re going to do later in the show…and then later in the show, do it.
Something like…
“Later in the set I’m going to give a toast to this beautiful city.”
“There’s a drum solo coming your way later tonight, have your cameras ready.”
“Don’t worry people in the front row, I’m coming down to meet you in a bit.”
Verbalizing some of your own foreshadowing accomplishes a couple things.
It creates tension and anticipation.
It positions you as a person who comes through on what they say. You’re a keeper of promises. And people like those kind of people.
And it positions you as a professional. A professional remembers what they said they were going to do. A professional doesn’t make an empty promise.
Find your version of this and start doing it.
***The first way I gave this idea to an artist was “Tonight I’m going to give three toasts. The first one is…” This gave a great pacing to the night. The audience knew two more toasts were coming and that in order for the show to feel complete the toasts had to happen. So when the artist comes through with a toast in the middle and another one at the end, it gives a sense of completion to a simple story, and made the artist look like a total boss.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com