why do bands turn around a lot during a live performance?
I went to a few concerts, after also watching a few live clips off of youtube I noticed that a lot of bands have members that will periodically turn and face away from the audience briefly for some reason. I just wanted to know if they’re doing anything special (i.e. Checking something, Tuning, Giving Signals, Screwed up perhaps) Thanks, any help would be appreciated.
There’s various reasons we do that. One being just to interact with each other musically. I will turn towards our drummer quite a bit during solo passages that our guitar player does..(im the bass player/keyboardist)… its a way that I can interact dynamically with the drummer. After all.. its the drummer and bass player thats the meat and potatoes of the band! Cueing each other is another reason, as sometimes we will extend a certain part of a song if were having fun with it. Another reason… stage presence. Hey.. this isnt a church choir where everyone stands on risers and looks at the audience. Its a rock and roll show! Gotta move around a bit.. have some fun. Plus, standing in one place to long you start to cramp up.. maybe a certain stage light will start to bother you. Keeps from getting so claustrophibic too.
chrysostomon Says: 20.03.09 at 4:44 am
Disorientation caused by damage to the interior ear following exposure to long periods of loud noise.
They forget which direction the audience are.
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Maximus Says: 20.03.09 at 5:19 am
Is it usually during a solo? People sometimes need all eyes off them during a hard part in the song.
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sbdfhs Says: 20.03.09 at 6:03 am
Usually they are telling other band members off for hitting wrong notes or doing something wrong!
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Saul Says: 20.03.09 at 6:26 am
I’ve done it to keep eye contact, to share the excitement of the moment, to physically watch a player if I can’t hear them that well, to see who’s effing it all up, and just to do something different. Facing the audience the whole time can be kinda boring, especially if you’re on a small stage. Gotta move around.
When we’ve done cues its been more like “okay we’re doing this at the same time, right?” You know, eye/facial communication. It’s too loud to talk easily, usually.
Saul
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pooryorrick Says: 20.03.09 at 6:43 am
There’s various reasons we do that. One being just to interact with each other musically. I will turn towards our drummer quite a bit during solo passages that our guitar player does..(im the bass player/keyboardist)… its a way that I can interact dynamically with the drummer. After all.. its the drummer and bass player thats the meat and potatoes of the band! Cueing each other is another reason, as sometimes we will extend a certain part of a song if were having fun with it. Another reason… stage presence. Hey.. this isnt a church choir where everyone stands on risers and looks at the audience. Its a rock and roll show! Gotta move around a bit.. have some fun. Plus, standing in one place to long you start to cramp up.. maybe a certain stage light will start to bother you. Keeps from getting so claustrophibic too.
References :
Source is myself: Musician of 45+ years, playing 4,5,6,7 and 9 string basses, Upright bass, Guitar, Piano, Organ, Synthisizers, and Recording Studio Owner.