The last two nights I worked as an act in bar comedy shows. The two rooms couldn’t have been more different. One room was poorly laid out, had no light on the stage and a bad sound system. The other room had great sound, all of the audience was directly in front of me and the performing area was lit. One show went better than the other…can you guess with it was?
I was the second it one, that had good light, sound and layout.
It’s all the little things that go into making the show easier for audience to watch. When a show is easy to watch, it’s soo much easier for the audience to enjoy. They don’t have to work to hear or see you. It can be tiring watching a show that you have to concentrate to enjoy.
So how to you fix a bad set up?
The first thing you’ll hear magicians on the internet say is “make your contract say ____”. Sure you can write that, but the reality of what you consider good sound and what the venue does can be two different things. One thing is you can try to get to the venue early and do your best to adjust what you can. That plus having a solid show and moving forward definately does help.
Is it the venue’s fault?
No.
Lots of times they don’t know better. They may be used to an acoustic guitar player in the corner doing ambient entertainment and not a show. You can educate them after, like mentioning they need speaker stands, or whatever to make it easier for the next show that comes in.
Hope that give you some perspective,
Louie