Sound check ^
As a whole, we started off the set really well. The band played in time and made little to know mistakes throughout. We each used each other to work out our timings. For example, the guitar and bass relied on the drums and the singer relied on my keyboard. Furthermore we all finished the song at the same time, ending on a C sharp minor chord. This was good because it showed that we worked well together and made us look more professional. However not everything went well. Kabeer’s vocals were quite shouty in places and it was often difficult to hear other instruments. Personally, I could not hear my keyboard through the monitor and I later found out that it had not been set correctly. This caused me to make a mistake with the chord changes between the verse and chorus. This however was not very noticeable. Apart from this, I would say that this song was a strong point of the performance.
After that, Kabeer introduced the band. This gave us an opportunity to make any necessary changes in guitar tone or changing the voice of the keyboard in my case. It also allowed us to interact with the audience a little bit. We had a little bit of a laugh with each other and then moved onto our second song (Bohemian Like You). Overall, this was my worst song of the set. Although I used the volume to my advantage to create swells and change the dynamics, I made a lot of technical mistakes. An example of this is that in the first verse I played the riff in the wrong place and then due to this I played the wrong chord and struggled to pick it back up again. The band claim that they did not notice this but for me it was quite embarrassing as it made me look like I did not know what to play.
Seven Nation Army went very well. The only issue we had was James accidentally played a note wrong but it was unnoticeable. However to improve it, we could work on the dynamics by changing them in verses to a much quieter dynamic just like in the original version.
At the end of this song, we had a change over. This is because I no longer play keyboard and become the lead vocalist, whilst Kabeer becomes rhythm guitarist. During this time I walk over to the mic and begin to introduce the song, gaining a few cheers from the crowd and allowing Tom to joke around saying the excited audience member is a “disembodied person”. This made the audience and other band members laugh and relaxed us a little more. This reaction to the song choice was good because it showed that the song was well received and got the audience to be on our side. As a whole, each member of the band (including myself) could have smiled more. This would have given off the impression that we were enjoying the performance and this then enables the crowd to enjoy our performance as well. A personal note I’m going to take from this performance is to sing a little bit louder or ask the sound technician to increase my mic volume because the instruments are louder than me and it is difficult to be heard and also try not to look confused during the outro when I have nothing to do.
Finally, we played Burnin’ Up. I introduced this again and I thought that I developed good communication with the band and the crowd due to the lack of change overs unlike before No Scrubs when I didn’t really know what to say to fill up the gap. After the bridge, there is a chorus where we would normally clap but Kabeer forgot to do this and so I think I looked a bit strange stamping and slapping my leg. However, if I had used a mic stand this part would have looked more professional.