A Hard Act To Follow

byhalinphilly

2.4K followers

7 years ago

One of my favorite activities as a singer/songwriter and musician includes going to open mics nights. Back in the day, I frequented open mics quite often, and I attribute honing my skills and cutting my chops to playing open mics. Well, that and then there were six years as a singing waiter, too. but that's a story for another post.

One of the things I like about open mics - you usually have a very supportive and forgiving audience, because most open mic crowds consist of others just like you. If it's a singer/songwriter open mic, you find a room full of sing/songwriters there to try out a new song in front of their peers. Comedy open mics are comprised of a bunch of aspiring comedians trying to make each other laugh (or "borrow" each other's material for later). There are Poetry Slams, which are open mics for poets, rappers, and other forms of spoken word. And then there are "anything goes" open mics, which are usually a bunch of baby boomers playing classic rock songs for each other, with an occasional original song in the mix.

In the early days of my open mic performing, no matter how supportive and forgiving the crowd at an open mic might be, it never stopped me from being a big bundle of nerves. But over time, I learned that this was not a competition. Sure, I wanted to leave an good impression, but at the end of the night, I would go home, unscathed, with a little more experience under my belt.

But every once in awhile, when it was my turn to take the stage, I was preceded by what was undeniably a hard act to follow. Someone who commanded the room as soon as they took the stage. Someone who could sing a song with the emotion of a young Linda Ronstadt, and wring out every last bit of emotion and bring the room to its knees.

Or someone would blow the roof off with something raucous and outragious, like Elvis or Chuck Berry, bringing the room to its feet.

People with that kind of charisma can, quite literally, make it quite difficult for the person who's next in line to take the stage.

One night, I had an epiphany. I realized that I didn't have to follow anyone at all. I noticed there was a trend... That is: On any given night, if someone brought the house down with a rollicking rock and roll song, the next person up would try to out-rock them. If someone evoked a strong response to a sad song, the next person would play something as sad or sadder. This often led to audience burnout. After an hour, the energy in the room was fairly zapped.

On the night of my epiphany, it was one of those nights where poignant ballads were trending. One ballad after another, a tale of heartbreak and tragedy followed by a song of a broken childhood or near-fatal misunderstood.

It was my turn. I sang a song parody I wrote about a bad experience with a terrible mooch of a roommate. I called it, Freeloading; based on the song Freefalling by Tom Petty.

By this time, the room was in need of a good laugh. By the end of the evening, everyone wanted to talk to me. I dared to be different. I found my niche within the confines of a completely different theme - and I owned it.

Over time, I got a reputation for showing up with a new funny song every week. Pretty soon, other songwriters began to show up to the open mic with comedy songs and parodies, too. I guess I had inspired their funny bones. So what did I do on one particular evening when everyone got up for their turn and performed their latest stab at musical comedy?

That's right - I launched into a couple new heartbreaking power ballads I had in my catalogue. The very songs I almost performed on the night I had that epiphany. I got quite an ovation. One might say, I was a hard act to follow :-)

You can apply that same principle when writing blogs or choosing a theme for your website. Find that sweet spot that allows you to stand out. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, but don't follow the leader too closely either. Dare to be different. Take your cue from the person in front of you. Zig when they zig, zag when the zag and then suddenly... ZIG ZAG!

Be a hard act to follow.