This past weekend, by strange coincidence, I had two shows back-to-back Saturday & Sunday. It was a very interesting weekend from a couple of perspectives.
- It was the first time I’ve done many of the songs in public
- The shows had completely different audiences.
Below is a summary of the shows and what I learned.
PA Fest – Saturday, November 15
DESCRIPTION: Mostly hardcore show. It was an all-day music festival and some of the bands were REALLY good. It was not a Christian event, which is interesting because it was basically the first event I ever performed. I had the first time slot: 12pm, and there were a surprising number of people there. Almost everyone was there to see a Christian hardcore band called “Those Who Fear” – you can check them out here.
HOW IT WENT: I thought it went really well actually. It’s surprising. I think Christians have this view of the hardcore scene where they are like satanists and completely against any Christian message at all. I’ve been to a few of these shows now, and while there are a lot of different people, and probably a few satanist types, the truth is that most of them are just folks who don’t fit the mainstream mold, but are surprisingly open, and receptive to different ideas. I found the crowd to be very receptive and welcoming even after I announced that I was a Christian and all my songs were written for God. Matt Brooker planned the show and played Djembe along with the tunes.
THE SET:
- Wonderful
- Oh How I Need You*
- All I Need*
- Here
* better song titles pending… we’ll poll you guys for your opinion once I upload some tunes.
WHAT I LEARNED
Even though I announced that I was a Christian, and explained some of the songs, I thought I could have done a better job connecting the dots for what was a pretty receptive audience. I can’t be ashamed of the Gospel, and I’d rather offend a few if some hear and are saved. All in all, I think I need to take more risks when I’m playing in a non-Christian venue.
I also learned that you start out every show with some grace from your audience, but that can be used up quickly if you don’t connect with them right away.
Good songs for non-Christian venues: Wonderful, Oh How I Need You & Here. Not so good song – All I Need.
Love Songs For Haiti – Sunday, November 16
DESCRIPTION: In contrast to PA Fest – this venue was very Christian. The premise was to get a bunch of local artists / aspiring artists together for a concert in a coffee-house setting to inspire folks and raise awareness of some of the terrible difficulties and trials the nation of Haiti is experiencing. It was a very cool night, and while it wasn’t quite as coffee-house like as I expected, it definitely accomplished its purpose.
HOW IT WENT: I thought it went pretty well. I definitely learned some things about how I want to go about performing in general. I only did two songs, and then called Smith Paul up for a third – a Starfield song called “A Cry in My Heart”. Smith singing was definitely the best part of the set, hands down. I started off the set by saying I was going to play a song I wrote for a girl I met down South. I then proceeded to play about 5 seconds of John Mayer’s “Why Georgia Why”. That went over well and I think helped with the connection. However, I kind of blew it with unintentional multiple album plugs (whoops!) I don’t think it’s wrong to plug your album, but it wasn’t appropriate for this venue. Definitely a live and learn moment for me.
THE SET:
- Song For Sarah*
- Here
- Cry in My Heart – Starfield
* Sarah is begging me to change the title of this song.
WHAT I LEARNED
Humor is good. Plugging your future album release at a benefit concert is not good. Ryan Stauffer and I had a thing where he sent me 3 words that I had to work into the set. The words were “coffee”, “expectation,” and “cell phone”. It was surprisingly easy. I may do that in the future. Here definitely worked in both venues. It’s definitely almost cemented as the title track.
Thanks those of you who were at these events. Can’t wait to see you again. If you’re an aspiring artist, hopefully you can learn from my mistakes above.
Stay tuned – I will upload an mp3 later today of “Here”.
~ Tim
