Dead time between songs ideas???

I would say there should be zero dead time between songs, transition between one song and the next should be completely seamless. Unless you are introducing a new song and want to explain where it came from I would think you should be transitioning from one song to another with zero gap or just enough gap to let the audience get some clapping and cheering in.
 
Agreed, there should be no gap, unless your singer wants to talk to the crowd.
The drummer drives this seamlessness. When we start a set, we do not stop until the set is over.

Mick, are you playing in a band???
 
We also have chunks of songs we'll bounce through with no gaps. If they are dancing, we don't want to give them any reason to stop. We do have a few spots where we know we will break so we can check our tuning, or I can grab a capo, or we can get some water, etc. That's where we will give the speech of "Thanks for coming to the show. Tip your bartenders and wait staff. This is where we are playing next. Visit the website. We have merchandise for sale, etc. blah blah blah." We try to keep that short. We also do a lot of interaction with the audience, but that's usually while we are playing/vamping.
 
Some guys do the crazy delay or hold reverb thing. Personally, nothing beats talking to the audience. I feel like a lot of live acts behave more like human jukeboxes and hardly make an effort to connect to the audience. I would study artists who can have an audience eating out of the palm of their hands: Freddie Mercury, James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Dave Brockie, Devin Townsend... It's really not that hard to beat "How are y'all doing? Are you ready to rock?" Just be yourself and acknowledge that we are all together to have a good time.
 
My band will typically do 3 or 4 songs in row without a break between songs. We play to a click, run an automated light show but put in the breaks for changing instruments, tuning and acknowledging the audience.
 
We are essentially a pub band comprised of "retired" pros, and quite often most of the crowd is made up of our personal friends. We try not to take ourselves too seriously. We do a fair amount of bantering with the audience between songs, as well as giving each other crap in jest. The crowd either laughs with us, or at us, lol. But if the dance floor is hopping, we tend to segue straight into the next song as quickly as circumstances allow. I do a lot of guitar changes throughout the show, but I can do it in less than 10 seconds...about the same time it takes for one of the other guys to introduce the next song.
 
We try not to have it. We'll segue as many songs as we can in a set. And if there's a brief break we make sure it's short.
 
Great topic. My singer is obsessed with dead space between songs. I have to change guitars sometimes. I bet I can do it in 15 seconds, max. He says it feels like an eternity. I think there needs to be a balance between "dead air", banter, mashing up one song into another, etc. I will qualify this by saying we're a bar band, so it's not like someone paid for a ticket to truly come and watch us. As we get later into a 3 hour set, we do try to keep the up-tempo stuff going, if people are up dancing. Personally, I think there's something to be said for the occasional bit of space between songs. The other caveat is, if you play a killer tune and people are clapping, take a moment to take that in and acknowledge it. A performance, at it's best, is interactive.
 
Hi all,

What are approaches y'all take to fill the dead time between songs?

Thanks,

Mick
is there a reason for the dead time in question?

i play restaurant gigs a lot where they just want constant sound coming from me and the speakers. ideally they don't want ANY stop between songs, but that's just not natural for a performer. songs end. so i keep it brief and let the last chord ring out or something. i always say the name of the song and artist after a song. it's just my style. it connects me with the audience as a person and not a machine, and many people do go "ohhh yeah that's ___ band" and appreciate that. then i start the next song.

when solo, i either have a set list prepared with a general flow of songs (slow, fast, different keys, etc) that i can skip around if needed, or i use my "smart list" arranged by top songs, genre, fast vs slow, etc and just choose from there to adapt to the room that night. if i need time to choose a song, i'll loop something at the end while i choose the next song, then finish the song, say title/artist, wait a beat, then start the next one.

with a duo, during the last chorus or so of my partner's song, i'll choose my next song and be ready to go. sometimes i already know what i want to follow up with at the start of my partner's song. but i pretty much always know what i'm singing next before that song is done. for the most part, my partners also do that, but sometimes both of us either can't think of a song, or need to tune or something. at that point, i tend to play chords or a short 'whatever' slow chord progression just to keep sound coming out. sometimes we have to discuss something or take requests, and dead silence just won't do. it makes people look at the stage! so i play anything, then transition to the next song.

i don't think music should be a seamless sound like a crossfaded ipod playlist, but dead silence is not the best in most situations. make some sort of sound. in bands, i think you just have to start the next song quickly, or have something specific to say. people will understand short breaks for adjusting this or that, but you have to have something to say, or at least let them know what's going on. one thing i think to never do is have the drummer fill the void with "any ol drum beat" then when the next song is determined, stop and start the new song. that's too jarring. people might have started dancing or grooving, and then seconds later a different song is started. try to play the next song or match tempos or something.
 
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Some guys do the crazy delay or hold reverb thing. Personally, nothing beats talking to the audience. I feel like a lot of live acts behave more like human jukeboxes and hardly make an effort to connect to the audience. I would study artists who can have an audience eating out of the palm of their hands: Freddie Mercury, James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Dave Brockie, Devin Townsend... It's really not that hard to beat "How are y'all doing? Are you ready to rock?" Just be yourself and acknowledge that we are all together to have a good time.

Totally agree - a little comedy riffing and trying to connect seems to go a long way with a crowd - case in point Devin Townsend and Mikael Akerfeldt..
 
Great topic. My singer is obsessed with dead space between songs. I have to change guitars sometimes. I bet I can do it in 15 seconds, max. He says it feels like an eternity. I think there needs to be a balance between "dead air", banter, mashing up one song into another, etc. I will qualify this by saying we're a bar band, so it's not like someone paid for a ticket to truly come and watch us. As we get later into a 3 hour set, we do try to keep the up-tempo stuff going, if people are up dancing. Personally, I think there's something to be said for the occasional bit of space between songs. The other caveat is, if you play a killer tune and people are clapping, take a moment to take that in and acknowledge it. A performance, at it's best, is interactive.

If it bothers your singer so much, let him come up with a solution. Musicians are not robots. Guitars need to be exchanged or tuned between songs. And while a U2 or Metallica can do a seamless show, they all have guitar techs helping them making changeovers as short as possible. Most of us lesser gods have to do everything ourselves. So maybe your singer should do the guitar tech thing and help you, rather then bitch about it? Or come up with some comedic banter to help pass the time? Or something interactive to do with the audience? You're a band, bandmates should help each other out.

I get the impression that too many bands frown upon actually planning their shows ahead from start to finish. Everybody loves it when things spontaneously work out and magic happens. That's the holy grail of live music. But magic does not happen automatically. And when it doesn't, its usually blatantly obvious for everyone. And that's where coming prepared comes in handy. Because sometimes, magic, like love, has to be helped along. Yeah, you'll lose some spontaneity by running routines, but you'll gain consistency. After all, if it works for Bono, why shouldn't it work for you? So write your comedic banter, work those setlists and plan your changeovers and everything else that requires a pause between songs very well.
 
Since it's an election year, don't waste the opportunity to discuss politics, your favorite politicians, your personal views on religion, climate change, gay marriage, the economy.... The list is endless. People crave this stuff.

On a more serious note:

Jokes

Band intros

Please take out your phone and like us on Facebook.

Explain how you're going to prepare so there aren't so many awkward interactions between songs.

The score of the game is...

Ask if anyone's pregnant, offer to name their baby.

Play "Mustang Sally"

Drum solo

Have singer ask if everyone can hear him okay. Wait for affirmative. Turn up singer anyway.

Show drummer how to wrap cables again.

Performance art.

Ask audience to scream loudest for either Zeppelin or Stones. Announce that Zep wins. Immediately play an Allman Brothers song.
 
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No dead time at all. Learn the applause cycle and follow it religiously. I use to teach a seminar on this very subject. There is a tension and release to your entire performance. Learn how to build momentum in your shows. PM me if you want to discuss this in more depth. This is something that all successful bands learn.
 
Monty Python bits. Just preface with "...and now for something completely different," and you should win them over!
 
Since it was briefly mentioned, I personally hate applause in most situations. I want my music to be an element, not the focus. Of course it depends on the gig, but nothing disrupts the flow with that one person clapping which causes others to nervously start clapping, and now everyone who was just chilling is looking at the stage like something happened.

If I’m hired to be the focus that’s different. But most of my gigs aren’t that, even full band typical bar gig I don’t think of it that way. We provide atmosphere and energy. Don’t clap for me please.
 
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