The Artist-Audience Exchange
Several years ago I was at a Phish concert in a large amphitheater. If you’re not familiar, Phish is a band known for improvising significant portions of their show. Watching this show, it became clear to me that the artists and the audience were engaged in a dance – an exchange of energy and attention. The band circled through three stages:
Driving - At times, the band would crescendo (get louder and faster). This would send the crowd into a frenzy. At these moments the band was clearly putting out a big amount of energy. The audience would absorb it and the music would drive them to dance. Imagine the energy from the band getting injected into each person. The band couldn’t sustain this for an entire show.
Cycling – Often times after a crescendo the band would pull it back down into a pre-scripted part of the song (this part not being improvised). At these moments the energy exchange seemed about the same. The audience knew the words, the band knew what to play. This is like hitting even ground on a run or going through the fundamentals at your job. It’s kind of easy compared to the hills. Though it was an equal exchange of energy it appeared to be a more superficial exchange.
Absorbing – Then there were the times, often for extended moments and before the crescendo where the band would open up into an improvisational jam. Often times these started slow and open. The music created more of a landscape that invited the listener to step into it. It was in these moments that the band clearly absorbed energy from the audience. In this case, the audience was “paying attention”. With the audience investing their energy it allowed the band to recuperate a bit and pull in more energy in preparation for the crescendo.
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The best concerts are ones where both the performer and the audience walks away Refreshed. This doesn’t mean they have more energy than what they started with. It means that they spent a huge amount of energy but they got an equal and different amount in return.
These concepts are illustrated here with music but they are universal. Your greatest interactions are no doubt the ones where you get as much back as you put into it. Since we are all artists of life, you could ask yourself the same question performing artists ask themselves on a nightly basis: how to we increase the energy exchange?
If you want to walk around energized and refreshed, then work on getting your balance of cycling, driving, and absorbing. Once you get it down, you’ll feel the applause all around you.
This is an extremely interesting observation. It has made me think (always a useful blog outcome)….
Most people work in non-gig situations, where there is no overt / staged ‘performance’ and it is less clear who is ‘watching’. None the less it is a show. Most of the time not much Driving goes on. People oscialte between Cycling and Absorbing. To follow the metaphor – being driven or at least given a route map by others. And of course, some people spend there time absorbing the hell out of the situation. This is perhaps why when someone who comes along who does some driving (leads the show) they get the reaction they do. Others look on, surprised. Why can’t I get that appreciation (energy) success? Trouble is they are just not brave enough to move into the spotlight. Fear of failure, not getting your sums right, laughed at……A sort of corporate stage-fright.
Chris B~ Thanks for driving that metaphor further down the road! I like your point.
I’d also say that finding the right audience is a part of it. Sometimes you can try to drive but if the audience isn’t right to absorb and then drive back it doesn’t work. Our exchange here is a great example.
I often leave shows physically exhausted and mentally high. I give more energy then I knew I had to give, and I leave with more then I thought was possible. But you are right. They are different energies.
While I see and appreciate how you have suggested this opportunity for exchange in other mediums, I feel as though the live music experience is truly in a class by itself. I’m not convinced that anything else could really hold a candle to the energy exchange at a really good show.
Mud- I agree. Music is very inclusive and invites us to be a part of it.
Great post and observations. What’s more, is that it’s not just the physicality of the exchange, but the intellectualism of the exchange. Not dancing at a concert (whether by choice or appropriateness) doesn’t necessarily limit one’s experience. And I agree with Mud, in that nothing can match the level of energy exchange via sound. It can, in fact, not “invite us in” but also, “show us something we didn’t realize was there.” That observation is always rewarding, whether through listening, seeing, experiencing, etc.
Jon~ Good to read your thoughts. I agree. Some of my favorite concerts have been the ones where I’ve been silent and sitting. I suppose that exchange is more subtle. I’ll have to think on that more. Thanks!