Stage presence

PolarityMan · July 2022

lustycourtier said:

HAL9000 said:

Looking at the people that IMHO have/had the most stage presence…

Freddie Mercury
Mick and Keef
Bowie
Elvis
Daltrey
Van Morrison

…they all have a certain arrogance / self-belief about themselves. In several cases there’s flamboyance too, but it’s still the self-belief that carries them through.

Theres a reason why Liam Gallagher is regarded as the best British frontman of last 30 years. He can sing a bit again now (after having a completely shot voice from 98-2015), but such a huge stage presence, and now hes sober when touring the silliness has gone, he is genuinely up there with the greats.

I don't really see Liam Gallagher's stage presence or charimas but I don't think I'm his target audience ...you know gobshites.

CaseOfAce · July 2022

Who's the comedian who did the riff on Liam Gallagher saying his stage act is basically the naughty kid on a school trip to an art gallery who's just seen a really interesting painting on the wall?

uncledick · July 2022

Roland said:

Wireless. I know @Danny1969 prefers cables, but I’ve found wireless liberating because I don’t have to worry about trailing cables catching on something. This means I move about more. We also gave our singer a radio mic, and took away her mic stand, so she moves more too.

Visibly interacting with other band members. Turning round to look at them when they have a key part in the song such as a solo, or even a crash on the drums.

We've had a concerted effort at more practice since lockdown and it has paid off. For me anyway, I can relax more and interact with other band members. Having 3 singers who take turns at lead is good because there are several songs where one of them will go onto the dance floor with a tambourine or similar and get the crowd more 'integrated' with the band.If the dance floor isn't too crowded, I'll sometimes go walkabout for something like Chelsea Dagger and there will always be a few air guitarists to play along with. We recently played in the bar after a Women's rugby final - they knew how to party!

The thing which still surprises me is how much people appreciate the effort we put in. Just last week an oldish (70?) guy came up to us while we were packing away. Judging by his attire and knowledge he had clearly worked in the industry at some point but he shook everyone's hand and thanked us individually for our performance and obviously knew how much went into it before we walked in the door. Times like that make it all worthwhile.

All change this week as we're doing the local school summer fair. We've been practising some Foo Fighters with Year 6 so that'll be fun. Setting up at 9am on a Saturday will be a shock to the system too!

Hurling_Fruitmig · July 2022

viz said:

Silk shirt

Or if you’re Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran, a bright yellow suit clearly visible to the naked eye from the far side of Hyde Park.

lustycourtier · July 2022

PolarityMan said:

lustycourtier said:

HAL9000 said:

Looking at the people that IMHO have/had the most stage presence…

Freddie Mercury
Mick and Keef
Bowie
Elvis
Daltrey
Van Morrison

…they all have a certain arrogance / self-belief about themselves. In several cases there’s flamboyance too, but it’s still the self-belief that carries them through.

Theres a reason why Liam Gallagher is regarded as the best British frontman of last 30 years. He can sing a bit again now (after having a completely shot voice from 98-2015), but such a huge stage presence, and now hes sober when touring the silliness has gone, he is genuinely up there with the greats.

I don't really see Liam Gallagher's stage presence or charimas but I don't think I'm his target audience ...you know gobshites.

You realise its not 1997 right? Are you going to tell us that oasis were just a beatles rip off as well?

Snags · July 2022

I've always thought Liam Gallagher had stage presence in the same sense as the thug-looking chap who's also in the pub and you just need to keep a wary eye on in case he comes over to chin you for no reason, rather than because of innate charisma or attraction. It's more of a safety precaution.

Brent Smith has (had? Not seen Shinedown for a while) a great presence and charisma. The first time I saw them it felt like he'd transported himself from some kind of snake-handling revivalist tent ministry into the middle of a rock band.

And at the other end of the scale, Martyn Joseph (folky-type) has a kind of quiet certainty about him that keeps a room focused, even though it's a really basic 'show'. He's just one of those people that somehow holds your attention in loads of small ways.

PolarityMan · July 2022

lustycourtier said:

PolarityMan said:

lustycourtier said:

HAL9000 said:

Looking at the people that IMHO have/had the most stage presence…

Freddie Mercury
Mick and Keef
Bowie
Elvis
Daltrey
Van Morrison

…they all have a certain arrogance / self-belief about themselves. In several cases there’s flamboyance too, but it’s still the self-belief that carries them through.

Theres a reason why Liam Gallagher is regarded as the best British frontman of last 30 years. He can sing a bit again now (after having a completely shot voice from 98-2015), but such a huge stage presence, and now hes sober when touring the silliness has gone, he is genuinely up there with the greats.

I don't really see Liam Gallagher's stage presence or charimas but I don't think I'm his target audience ...you know gobshites.

You realise its not 1997 right? Are you going to tell us that oasis were just a beatles rip off as well?

Bet you still chuckled

fretmeister · July 2022

HAL9000 said:

Looking at the people that IMHO have/had the most stage presence…

Freddie Mercury
Mick and Keef
Bowie
Elvis
Daltrey
Van Morrison

…they all have a certain arrogance / self-belief about themselves. In several cases there’s flamboyance too, but it’s still the self-belief that carries them through.

This is true - but it can be faked in a way.
If it feels impossible for "me" to be a rock star then it's time to play a role and pretend to be a rock star.

Many performers are very different people on stage and they use that difference to keep those parts of themselves separate.
The start of that process is to play a role on stage. Eventually it will develop into being your own persona and feel less like a role to be played.

But there's also the upside - if it's a role then it's easier to take any criticism - after all, it's not you they have a problem with, it's the character you are playing.

For me personally stage presence is either important or not depending on what I'm doing in that band. If I'm just playing bass then there's a couple of novelty acts out front and I put the rhythm section above all else. I'm happy to be Entwhistle, just standing there ignoring everything apart from the drums. If the rhythm section has a bad day, the entire band has a bad day.

If I'm singing or singing and playing guitar then the stage presence is far more important and I'm less concerned about wrong notes etc etc.

When I started fronting a band I was really nervous about making eye contact with the audience so I wore shades. Then I turned that into a joke. After the first 2 songs I'd lift them and say something like "Fuck - there's people here! I thought it was a rehearsal" and then thank them for coming and then go straight into the next tune.

Just something short and silly to break the ice and take the piss out of myself a bit. Seemed to work.

Hattigol · July 2022

Isn't stage presence one of those very rare things that you can't actually teach?

EricTheWeary · July 2022

Hattigol said:

Isn't stage presence one of those very rare things that you can't actually teach?

It means different things to different people so I guess that’s right. But you can certainly develop what you do have, plenty of musicians who started out painfully shy on stage who became notable front people. Phil Lynott for example (pretty much my bench mark for stage presence). On the other hand the dour/ shy look of Terry Hall from The Specials gives him lots of stage presence but I don’t think they would teach that approach in stage school.

BintyTwanger77 · July 2022

While I may be only a half-decent guitarist (at best), I went to an accredited drama school and I am still clinging on to my acting career hopes, so I could give a few pointers on effective stage presence.

Roland · July 2022

Go on then @BintyTwanger77 ;

BintyTwanger77 · July 2022

Roland said:

Go on then @BintyTwanger77 ;;;;;;;

Sorry, been working!

I think it seems like it might depends what kind of musician you are and what the audience is. You get dramatic singers and more low key ones, and more/less rowdy crowds. but the one thing that gives great actors and performers stage presence is focus and commitment to what they’re doing. If there is a lack of focus, the audience smell it a mile off. Assuming they already have a clear, effective stage voice and physicality, if an actor is fully committed to a scene on stage and their focus is entirely on the situation and other characters around, then immediately they have presence and audiences notice. It’s not necessarily about stillness. An actor who flails their arms around or paces the stage without any focus on what they’re doing, the situation, just makes an audience look uncomfortable because it’s a sign of dissipated energy an actor doesn’t know how to use. If they’re committed entirely to what they’re doing, they’ll look more relaxed, authoritative and skilled, and audiences can tell that. The same goes for all musicians, not just singers.

It seems an overly simplistic point, but it’s so difficult to do in practice: you always have other worries (a big casting director’s in the audience, I always mess up the middle eight in rehearsal, I forgot to take my dinner out of the freezer this morning, etc) that’s just the human brain for you. However, if as much as possible you’re focussed entirely on your playing and the situation, then chances are you will develop some stage presence.

fastonebaz · July 2022

Yes I agree with @BintyTwanger77 . I like to feel committed to the "role " of energetic rock god Guitarist and not break the 4th dimension until after the final song.

It must be such an anti climax for punters afterwards whilst I'm packing away and they come over to tell me how great it was and how awesome my playing was and they're greeted with a shy retiring polite chap who can't wait to get out of there.

BintyTwanger77 · July 2022

fastonebaz said:

Yes I agree with @BintyTwanger77 . I like to feel committed to the "role " of energetic rock god Guitarist and not break the 4th dimension until after the final song.

It must be such an anti climax for punters afterwards whilst I'm packing away and they come over to tell me how great it was and how awesome my playing was and they're greeted with a shy retiring polite chap who can't wait to get out of there.

Sounds like you’re doing it right.

newi123 · July 2022

I think stage presence comes in many forms - as do good guitar players! To paraphrase Steve Vai, when asked about working with DLR vs David Coverdale:

`Coverdale is never going to jump kicking off the drum riser - DLR is never going to stand still mid stage and hit a perfect high C. Both are great frontmen, just different`

Some guitar players I like jump around, some don`t. Some used to and now don`t! :-) - but all of them are authentic, not forced and just exude the feeling that they just should be on stage if that makes sense?

So as far as I`m concerned, I`m into what I`m playing - I don`t consciously force a pose and I try not to be contrived - I just try to look like a musician that can play and not someone who`s been given a tennis racket in a Butlins air guitar competition, or someone that`s desperately trying to remember the chords................

But we`re all different - so whatever floats your boat I guess.

jca74 · July 2022

My amp has a presence knob which looks like it should help, but whatever I set it to I'm the one looking like a knob...

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