I Believe in Audience Energy

I believe there is a direct correlation between the energy of an audience and how well a band will perform on any given night. I find this particularly true with bands that play avant garde style of shows, where no show is the same, which are now days referred to as jam bands.

Even though the band performing does have a great deal of control of how well they will play, if the audience is filled with crazy energy, I believe it will push that band to new heights. There is some kind of symbiosis between the energy of an audience and the energy and effort that musicians will put forth during a concert. They feed off each other, it’s cyclic.

I first became aware of this in the summer of 2005 when attending my first performance by The Dead, which is comprised of the four remaining founders of the Grateful Dead, at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. This was always a special place for them to play anyway, but even before the show I felt electricity in the air like I had never felt before. A celebration started in the parking lot, which is common at many of their shows, about twelve hours before the show even started. Needless to say, the party was just getting started. When Bobby, Phil, Mickey, and Billy took the stage and played their first notes, the mood and energy of the audience erupted. It was a sea of dancing and spinning, of tie dye and dreadlocks, of some of the wildest people I’ve ever seen, all with huge smiles on their faces. The audience celebrated when they played amazing jams, and even cheered when they messed up. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, and the band felt it too, and played their hearts out until the very end. I heard many members of the audience say that this was the best show of the tour by far.  

So now my eyes were open, and so began my long strange trip. I have been to many other incredible shows since then, and this is just an example that sticks out in my head of how human energy can influence a musical performance. So I hope in the future anyone who may listen to or read this will remember what I said. If good and passionate energy prevails at a concert, you might just end up being a participant in one of the best shows of your life, or better yet in one of the best shows in a band’s history. It only takes a spark to light a fire.