don't underestimate preparations, make sure your stuff is functional, no messy updates queued, you have more than enough cables and other gear you'll need, arrive earlier so you can get to know local staff - and bring your mindset to state "I'm ready, nothing can go wrong, this gonna be fun"

during the performance, just let yourself be yourself - nobody cares about your mistakes unless you admit them
try to enjoy the show together with the people, if they'll like it, you'll see it

 

honestly, the feedback here has been so great, thanks you guys!!! I will take all of this to heart!

as for sex....
im supposed to perform?

 

Any stage performer should watch this “broken keyboard” video, (feat Stevie Wonder and his gigantic charisma)

 

Drink some "organic" (aka. no added sugar) prune juice 2 nights before and enjoy a nice big fat poo the day before the event. You will feel like goliath the next 3 days.

 

Research beta blockers for stage fright/performance anxiety.
https://performanceanxiety.com/beta-blockers-for-anxiety/

They've been widely used in the classical music world since the '70s
A survey of musicians in the 80's found nearly 30% had used them, and 96% reported them effective for performance anxiety.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618811/

There's no way I could ever perform without debilitating anxiety and propanolol was a god-send. Unlike benzos or alcohol etc. they don't impair coordination or thinking, it just blocks the physiological response to fear which makes it manageable.

 

Remember people will betray you, people that you love will die and you too will eventually die as well. That helps with a lot of things.

 

producers are shy entertainers
makes sense

 

Everyone beside Stevie up there has some amount of stage fright, some greater than others. The most famous that I can think of is Carley Simon who actually collapsed on stage in 1981. To take her mind off of her fear she once had the band spank her until the curtain went up.

I have no real advice as everything I have ever tried to do before a performance really didn't help to lessen or rid my dread of the feeling that I'll let the audience down and they'll recognize me for the fraud that I am . Even though I really really really want to just run away I get out there and do my thing. It at times becomes surreal and I feel like everything and everyone has disappeared except for me and everything becomes quiet which is kind of weird, but it passes. When I need to take a solo is when I tend to loose it and I'm on the brink of catastrophe, hoping that I won't forget what I have mapped out in my mind. Too, as a singer I have forgotten the lyrics on a number of occasions which is odd as I am intimate with my own words and emotions which are tied together in a tune.

All that said, just go out there and perform. You probably won't die.

 

If you do literally die, do it on stage - people have paid good money to see you.

 

what's the point of using drugs or meds to overcome it, if you can simply conquer yourself and be proud of your accomplishment instead, and be your own proud master?

 

i have total stage fright
drugs are a lie
alc is a lie
you will only grow if you face your fears

 

Breathing exercises! And not only to perform, every day..... you can easily find on the net how to do it!
it is more important than you think!

 

of course prepare the technical part, rehearse every day, you have to master the basics to let yourself go on stage, you did a good job so go ahead!

 

caution with those,
I have experience with bad "overbreathing" messing oxygen balance in blood (low balance of carbon dioxide actually), causing dizziness and nausea, getting increasingly worse with further inconsistent breathing, resulting in partial paralysis and need for prompt hospitalization,
not fun

doctors may call it hyperventilation tetany I think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetany & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilation

 

You're supposed to feel nervous. Remember that you are getting in "the mode", which requires nerves. If you were too relaxed you would mess up and look boring up there. A slightly anxious state usually sharpens the mind into a performance mode that will execute everything dead on.

I don't care what anybody says. EVERYONE who ever steps on a stage, or walks through a tunnel to play a game is full of nervous anxiety. That's your body getting ready to get into fight mode.

Feel the fear, and do it anyway. It's just part of it. It will pass. Just go up there and do your thing that you know you're good at doing and have fun. I'm a very shy and introverted person, so I'm always nervous going on stage, but once I'm up there something psychologically happens where my body just turns it all off cause it's too late for nerves. I'm already up there, and it's time to do the work. If you knew me off the stage you would swear that I was the type of person that could never get up on a stage in front of people. The first time I did it I was terrified and cursing myself for getting myself into the situation in the first place that I couldn't handle, and then once I was there in my side of the stage something happened where I just let go and let whatever was going to happen, happen. It was the best feeling in the world and truly addictive.

Get up there and make them say your name. Own that shit.

 

I'm with you (but in a more "positive" way) : LOVE is the key
love music you share, love ppl in front of you ...

LOVE because there is no judgement in LOVE
Whatever happens or not

You are not going to "perform" like a p0rnst4r : you are going to SHARE UNIVERSAL LOVE with your public
No performance = No problem with the result of the performance
Because there is no performance

 

The secret to live performance:
You're the dick.
The audience is a pussy.
F**k 'em!

 

I used to have the same problem. What I ended up doing was creating visual elements to project on the wall behind me to take some of the focus off of me. I've had so many people come up to me after shows asking about the visuals and how I made them - so that took a lot of the pressure off of the "they are all looking at me" anxiety I was having.

 

And Funkadelics Maggot Brain was a reference to George Clintons crackhead swiss cheese brain

 

My experience to a "T". I was going to post something very similar, now I don't need to.

Although..cough... I last performed 26 years ago, lone EDM [Electronic Destructive Music ] performer like you. :wink It just shows you remember that stuff deeply until you die. Also, you always wish you could do it again. I know I do!

edit: Now I remembered the advice I was going to give you. These are very different times to 1996. It is absolutely advisable to have some material online before the show because people will want to check it. Youtube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Badcamp. I personally think Youtube is the most important. You can make a video of some kind even with a phone and edit it with a computer. It will surely help so people will know what to expect.

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Aug 3, 2022