Your first gig

[jools]

Oh totally! - small audiences are far worse. In a big crowd you feel like part of the crowd. In a small room with a handfull of strangers you can feel their gaze burning into you. Watching every move.

I've often played to the bar staff. One of whom exclaimed "I hate jazz". Another time the landlandy actually asked me to play quiter as I was frightening off her customers. So I turned the volume down on my sax. Like that's going to happen.

 

[Bobby G]

I don't mind playing to a handful of people as long as it's in a small enough venue to make it look as if the place actually has some people in it - one jazz jam I've been to a few times regularly attracts only about 20 people but the venue, a tiny pub in St. Albans, never feels empty. I've also done solo gigs in small venues with small audiences and that's ok too. I suppose if you're playing more rocky or energetic music you need a bit of a crowd to get the atmosphere going a bit.

 

[philthd]

one gig i played to all but noone was fantastic. we knew we had nothing to lose and virtually reinvented our set into an orgy of rockstar posing, experimental noise and uncontrolled dancing. probably the most musically free and true to myself i ever felt with a guitar in my hand.

so a quite disheartening prospect turned into a real learning experience