Reaching out/inviting the audience

morty_man · Feb 8, 2011

I got a writing gig for a Cole Porter/American songbook music-show. My job is to write the manuscript for the spoken texts in between songs. Handed in a first draft a few days ago and one of their requests were that I should reach out to the audience more. So I thought I'd ask you guys to share your tips and advice on how to reach out and invite the audience in concerts or shows of this kind.

Do you have any innovative ways to get the audience involved? Ask them questions or talk to them personally? Get them to sing along, get them to speak, feel involved, those sort of things or any other ideas you have. Much appreciated

alleycat · Feb 8, 2011

First, did the "request" really mean get the audience involved, or to engage the audience more?

morty_man · Feb 8, 2011

Well, both I guess, either.Not that they should come up on stage or anything, but more that they should feel like the show is for them, so engaged is probably more correct.
They said something like "don't be afraid to break the fourth wall, on the contrary, get the audience to feel that the singer is singing/talking to/with them." So in other words, they want me to use fun ways to break the barriers between stage and audience.

Got any advice?

Caitlin Black · Feb 18, 2011

Watch live music DVDs religiously for a week. You'll come up with some ideas from those.

Just from 1 DVD I watched recently (Bullet For My Valentine), I can give you:

"Let me hear from my boys!" (The male fans went nuts.)
"And now my girls!" (The female fans went nuts.)
"This song is for all of you." (A good one even without the set-up.)
A brief speech about how the fans got the band where they are.
Encouraging "circle pits" - big circles of moving/dancing people in the mosh pits. A little rough, but the crowd seemed to love it.
Asking who of the crowd bought their latest album. Saying thankyou in a unique way.

There were probably more examples just from that one DVD, but I can't remember right now.

1 other example, from a Machine Gun Fellatio live DVD, is that the lead singer started making jokes based on what the crowd were yelling, in between songs.

...

Just make sure to put it in your own words, and give credit if it's a really unique example to showcase your general advice.

trailerbride · Feb 19, 2011

Totally depends on what your show is like. For example, is it Mamma Mia meets Gay Divorce or is it something more like a tribute to Porter? But either way I would have thought there was enough material in Cole Porter's life to inspire some relevant interaction with the audience.

Reaching out/inviting the audience

morty_man

alleycat

Still around

morty_man

Caitlin Black

Wild one

trailerbride

Northern scum. Southern belle.