It's only an opinion, but i feel, when palying
live, a band should give as much as they can to the crowd. After all, it's
the crowds who make the shows possible. No crowd, no ticket sales, no show. I
play guitar at my church and it goes off. It's not your typical church music. We
just cut a new live album 2 weeks ago and it's being mixed right now by the guys
who did Kylie Minogue and The Corrs latest live DVD's. In 2 weeks they're off to
do a live recording for Elton John, that's the calibre I'm talking about. Our
Music Director is always encouraging us to go for it when we're on stage, which
we do....despite how we feel sometimes. Our job on that stage is to engage the
crowd, in this case the congregation......to get their minds off their troubles
and into a place where they can worship (worship God, not us!!!). We do
that every week in front of 1500 people per service, 5 or
6 services which last for a few hours at a time.....and we do it
for free!!!! I've been in services where someone has droppd the ball, sometimes
it's me, sometimes it's others, but when somone drops it you can feel it, and so
can the crowd. I've had times when the last thing I wanted to do was jump around
and sing along but have chosen to do so even though i felt like crap. I come off
that stage totally exhausted. Why? Because it's not about me. It's
about the people. Afterwards people have come up to me and told me how
they were encouraged to get into the service just by watching me. It's
contagious. Brett was like that for me. I saw Bon Jovi live on the Keep
the Faith tour and Jon had the flu badly but he still came out and gave
everything for over 2 hours. That's what makes a great show....passion,
intensity. Anything from the heart of the artist to move the hearts of the
crowd. I've payed big dollars to come see you.....at least look like you're
glad I came.