Poster Performace

In an older post, I uploaded a draft poster I was planning to use for promoting my band. I thought this poster would have been good to use because it fit our genre, had a photo of us and had lots of space for gigs. But when it came to actually using it when we had a gig, it didn't really live up to my expectations.

A few things I noticed were:
-We needed a decent photo
-Not enough space for extra information
-No direct links to our Facebook/Twitter

After a few alterations, I came up with this:

This was used to promote a gig we had in a shop at Merry Hill. I'll go into what it was like playing in a shop later on, but for now let's focus on the poster. As you can see, it seems to have a better lay out, in the sense that our name is nice and big, and the photo looks professional. Also, we have the date and time big too, meaning it would be hard to miss. The thing I really like about this poster is the QR code in the bottom right corner. If someone were to scan this with a smart phone, it would take them directly to our Facebook page. This is a HUGE advantage, because most people are too lazy to go wading through Facebook to find us. It's also quite a gimmick. I know I would scan it, just because it's something you don't normally use a phone for.

After putting this up on the band page and around the shop we were playing at, we had quite a big response from people. It wasn't quite the amount I was expecting, but there was still a buzz about it. The shop actually taped these down on the counter, so everyone who bought something would see it. I personally think this worked a lot better than the old one would have, only because it seems a lot more professional.

As for playing in a shop, it was an extremely weird experience. A normal gig for us entails being loud, dancing, running around in the crowd and just having a laugh. Being in a shop, it was quite difficult to do this. We were up on a balcony, so we couldn't exactly give the performance we wanted, but we have it a hell of a go. If we were playing a pub or club somewhere, it would be completely different. And again, if we we're playing a festival, it's another different experience. Having done all of these, I can begin to explain what kind of impact location has on a band.

As I've gone over, playing in a shop in a crowded shopping centre is all well and could, but it almost inhibits your ability to be 'normal'. For me, it was the fear of knocking something over, or injuring someone. However, playing in a pub or club is different. In these venues, you don't share the stage with the public or a shelf full of shoes. You can move, dance, run, anything. Another factor is why people are actually there. Why do people go to shops? To shop. Why do people go to venues? Live music. These may not be the right words to portray what I'm thinking, but I almost felt 'in the way' at the shop. Moving on to playing festivals, it's another story. Again, the stage is yours to own, but the audience interact in a different way. Yes, you still have the drunken fool screaming 'PLAY FREEBIRD!' but at a festival, there's a whole lot more. It's a much more relaxed kind of gig.

All in all, each different location is influential. It shapes how you play. Having never busked before, I'm quite interested as to how musicians react to that.