Playing a lot of shows is great, but if you want to build a following you need to work on the show that you put on.  Good music alone just isn’t enough sometimes, especially when your audience has never heard it.

So what makes a performance memorable?  What separates successful bands from the rest?

It’s called stage presence, and the best performers have it in abundance.  When you’re on a stage, you become a performer and as a performer it’s your job to put on a good show. You need to get the crowd pumped; you need to make them excited to be there.

People can buy a CD or download a mp3 and listen to it anywhere.  If this is the case, what would make a sane person want to go to a specific place at a specific time, pay their hard earned cash and negotiate a crowd of people to listen to music?  The answer is that they aren’t coming out just to listen, they’re there for a good show.  A performer has to work ten times harder to build a following if they have as much charisma as a potted plant.

Here are some suggestions of how you can work a crowd and improve your stage presence.