Biggest crowd...

[MojoRedFoot]

I don't think church crowds count. If they do...roughly 1,000.

[Andre S]

See' date=' the smaller the group, the more nervous I get. When I see a bunch of people, it doesn't freak me out as much, not really sure why.

 

I have never shaken or twitchy though, which I really don't get. I stutter sometimes, but not twitchy. The most nerve racking time in my life is when I played for my parents, just my parents, in my basement. Just two people who love me, what could go wrong? But I was seriously tweaking on that one, playing in front of other people, eh they are just random people. I don't mind that[/quote']

 

They all freaking bug me...

[zombiebear]

@Fred- I go through the same feeling.

I get nervous with smaller crowds but am just fine with big ones.

 

The only reason i think this is because, i feel like they are more judgmental for some reason, cause after the show there are only a few people. With big crowds i don't feel that.

 

I have never felt like in a pressure cooker. When we played shows all the time, we usually had a 45 minute set list. We took 38 minutes for songs, and 7 minutes to talk to the crowd before, during and after our set list. It was nice to get the crowd interactive and such.

[milod]

Couple thousand live, I 'spose; that was a long time ago.

 

But the most terrifying wasn't with an audience.

 

Back in the early color TV days I was the tame folksinger for a community fundraiser thingie. So to promo the thing, they put me in a dead-end hallway just a little wider than needed to stand with a guitar. The camera was huge in those days and almost filled the other end of this ... room.

 

"When you see my hand circling, get ready... then when I drop it, start playing."

 

So here I am, 20 years old, singing into what looks like the bottom of a big milk bottle attached to a carton that once carried a washing machine. Couldn't see the camera guy or anything beyond him, the lights were hotter than do-do, and there was that big glass eye... Sheesh.

 

m

[eallenb]

The crowd I played for was around 11K. Although it wasn't on my Guitar I played this Console Organ for a Minor League Basketball Title Game at the Event Center in Casper, WY. When the Home Team won I had em cheering and stomping when I played the Theme Song to "Rocky". What a rush!!

[Witmer]

um... 200-ish ..

[zombiebear]

um... 200-ish ..

 

Thats still a good crowd my friend. Just think of all the people who will never get to experience something like that...

[cookieman15061]

2000 give or take for a 4th of July outdoor gig.

[milod]

I'd agree that if you're either listed on a sort of program or otherwise scheduled to perform, even it it's a horridly small crowd, you're still there as a performer.

 

It counts.

 

It's a different discipline than even working on the most complex technical challenge. Again, that's true whether the crow'd huge or small.

 

Frankly my personal least-liked gig is on a stage with heavy stage lights and house lights down so I can't see an audience. Makes no diff it's just a sound guy and light tech, a hundred or 500 who paid for a ticket. It's kinda like that @#$%@#$% television eye staring at you with no redeeming human qualities. <grin>

 

I like to "communicate" with an audience most of the time. Sometimes you're hired as background music, but even then, it's better to occasionally swap looks with folks. At least it is for me. In an ensemble gig I like to be able to keep some of that communication going too. One fun one for that was with a really good picker who's mostly blind. We still had musical signals passed regardless to swap who's doing what - and that was from the first time I played with the guy.

 

m