If nerves get in the way of you interacting positively with your audiences here are 6 tips to help you

1. Practise the music
The first thing you need to do is to free yourself from worrying about whether you play the right notes or sing the right words. This means rehearsing until all t he material is second nature to you. Don’t try and wing it on the night, your energy and focus will be wasted on the wrong people – yourselves.

2. Practise the moves and words
In the same way worrying about your playing will reduce your confidence, so too will wondering how you look or struggling to think of something to say to the crowd. The secret once again lies with some basic planning and preparing ahead of the gig.

Study videos and performances of other bands to give yourself some ideas you can incorporate and adapt with your own moves and rehearse these, like you once probably did as a kid – in front of your mirror. This way you’ll know which moves are likely to suit you best and you can be confident how these will look at you use them.

Arming yourself with just a handful of one liners or keywords of ideas you can talk about at various moments during the gig will help keep you calm and feeling in control. You need to plan every sentence in advance – you’ll probably want some spontaneity in every show, but a few phrases and ideas will give you something to structure your interaction around.

3. Keep your focus on the crowd – not yourself
Simply remembering that every show should be about the people in front of you enjoying themselves can take a lot of pressure of you. Concentrate on doing what you can to help “give” them a good time rather than just “take” their approval or applause.

4. Learn how to immediately relax yourself physically
Watch and eliminate the physical signs of tension and nervous which, if not checked, will lead on to you feeling uptight and giving a self-conscious performance. Key areas to watch are you breathing (make sure it’s not shallow and fast) and your muscles –especially shoulders, jaws and tongue. Make sure you slacken them a little on purpose if you start feeling uptight.

5. Fake it till you make it.
If you feel nervous you can often overcome this by just “acting as if” you weresuper-confident onstage. You are giving a “performance”, like an actor after all aren’t you? You can even ask yourself how your favourite guitarist, singer or whoever would be behaving if he or she were in your place.

6. Lighten up
Anything you can do to get yourself laughing out loud before you hit the stage will always put you in the right mood to interact with a crowd. Think about listening to some comedy performances on your way to the gig or if you’re in a band make agreement to tell each other your latest weekly joke (one each) moments before you hit the stage. It’s impossible to feel nervous and anxious when you’re recovering from laughing.

Adapted from Rouse the Crowd: How to interact with audiences for gigs they can't forget Order eBook here

Or you can get the Paperback version here

Improve Your Live Shows

How to interact with any audience

More Tips for Booking Bands

Booking Bands - How to compete with Band Agents

The RIGHT way to approach venues when you're Booking bands

10 Essential Tips for Booking Bands

Booking Bands with people you've never even met