> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hypebot.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What 20 Years of Playing Bars Taught Me About Audiences - URL: https://www.hypebot.com/what-20-years-of-playing-bars-taught-me-about-audiences/ - Published: 2026-09-28T11:34:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-28T11:34:24.000Z - Description: One artist reflects on the dichotomy between (and lies we tell about) familiarity versus originality in the live music setting. - Author: Charlie Recksieck - Tags: authenticity, gigging, DIY Advice & Tips, #trending, gigs, Live Performance, Performing Live, advice, artist advice, band advice After **20 years of playing music** — more often in bars than on large, prestige stages — I've learned a lot about **audiences.** Two things stand out: What audiences *say* they want and what they *actually* respond to are often two different things. And that audiences really do respond to [authenticity](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/authenticity/). That might seem contradictory but let me explain. Let's start with... ## **The Contradictions** Everybody says they want new music, myself included. But when do I drift over from the bar for a must-not-miss song? When I hear a local band do a reggae cover of “Turning Japanese” or introduce a new original ballad? You already know the answer. Familiar songs reliably get a bigger response; it’s just a fact of [performing live](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/performing-live/). Then once you’re playing a cover song, general audiences want to hear familiar takes on the song. Drunk, casual fans might demand note-perfect covers. And that bachelorette party who somehow drifted into your show all just want you to basically be a jukebox. Yet, I’ve found that the real fans – not just your own repeat audience, but people there who truly love music – often get more excited if you really make a cover song into something new by making it your own. Most people say they love the connection between audience and live artist and really love getting to know the singer. Fans say they love great musicianship. But then how does that explain the old joke that a jazz musician is defined as somebody who plays 100 chords for three people, while a blues singer plays three chords for 100 people? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/2026/09/wiktoria-skrzekotowska-r8MV31BKCkc-unsplash.jpg) **+Read more:** [*"How to Perform Outdoors Without Sacrificing Your Sound"*](https://www.hypebot.com/how-to-perform-outdoors-without-sacrificing-your-sound/) ## **I Love the Exceptions to the Rule** It might seem like I’m just here to dunk on bad audiences. I’m not. It can feel like a difficult challenge to win over some bar audiences, but the beautiful thing that I’ve found is that there almost always seems to be at least one person out there who gets you and appreciates you. And usually that person finds a way of letting you know, which is all the fuel you need to keep coming back. We all should know the “one for them, one for me” ratio of giving people what they want while making sure you do enough to stay engaged. One such live song for me with my jam band was covering **Chuck Prophet’s** “Summertime Thing.” First of all, it’s a three-chord pattern which never changes, which is reason enough to add it to a band’s repertoire. But it’s got a cool vibe, great up-and-down dynamics, brilliant turns of a phrase, and easy to sing in a low register. Some bands might scoff at wasting a cover on a song that buys you no love of the familiar since most people have never heard “Summertime Thing.” But when it hits, as with the guy here at a nice outdoor show in San Diego who couldn’t stop raving that we even played the song, it really hits. That guy signed on as a fan of ours for good from that point on. Similarly, at a solo residency of a true dive bar, you would think I would have had to stick to a close regimen of Stones and Elton John classics to keep the barflies engaged. Not necessarily. Imagine my surprise when I indulged myself by performing **Warren Zevon’s** “Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)” and this wonderful drunk popped up from the bar to scream-sing every lyric along with me. It was a silly and magical moment on a Wednesday in front of 25 people – but it’s one of the things that keeps me playing music. At that same residency or anywhere solo, it’s fun to drop in a “I Want It That Way” **Backstreet Boys** cover. Not because I ever sounded like the record. Playing solo piano, it was impossible for me to ever play that song “right” but it was so “wrong” it always worked out great. That has almost always been a guaranteed sing-along. The right songs for the right reasons almost always find the right audience. ## **Authenticity** Before I change the subject, when it comes to playing “one for me”, I’ve learned that people can tell when you're genuinely excited about something. Any time I’m in an audience and a performer asks us what we want to hear, I shout back: > *“Whatever YOU want to play.”* Even if it’s an original song I’ve never heard, if I see the performer is into it, then it has a chance to be great or even transcendent. At times on stage, if I’m singing something that particularly means a lot to me, sometimes I play and sing it with my eyes closed and I even forget the audience is there. That’s when things are getting good. When that happens, after the song is over, I tell them that’s what was going on – that I got into it and thank them for listening like that. Is that an overshare or just stage patter? I don’t think so. That’s honesty, which goes a long way. Similarly, if you’re ever nervous onstage and acknowledge it honestly, that can create connection. And it totally releases any stage fright and lifts a weight off your shoulders. The audience doesn't necessarily need you to give them exactly what they requested. They need to believe you mean what you're doing. Or what an audience really needs is to believe you kinda know what you’re doing up there – they don’t want to be scared for you. All of that said, you can’t be in a heavy emotionally connected zone on every song every night. So part of professional performing is to somehow at least seem engaged. As the old expression goes, if you can fake authenticity then you’ve got it made. ## **The Stand-Up Comedy Comparison** Stand-up comics talk about how long it takes to develop a voice and become genuinely themselves onstage. Writing great material is useless without delivery and feel. Anybody just reading Mitch Hedberg, Jerry Seinfeld, or Bill Burr jokes would never succeed. Comedy audiences need to understand who the comic is, or what the character is. They also need to know they’re in good hands, like a dog wanting a confident master. The conventional wisdom I’ve heard from stand-ups is that it takes roughly 10 years to figure out performing and their act. I would postulate that it might be the same for musicians. Eventually you're not just performing songs, you're becoming a particular person that audiences want to hear perform them. My solo act runs a little cynical; I'm a piano-playing wise-ass like a **Ben Folds** or **Randy Newman.** If I suddenly sang an Adele ballad, it doesn’t play the same as if a younger ingenue female singer did it. Believe me, I’ve played **Adele’s** “I Drink Wine” onstage a lot, and it never has translated like I hope; it’s a great song, but I guess I just can’t make it work for me. Meanwhile, if I sing my originals about celebrating TV watching, the trash we’ve left on the moon, California politics or even my “I Wish That I Were Gay” — it works for me, whereas it might not work for you. Let’s face it, unless you have a burgeoning career and a support staff of 10 people, your first most important audience member is YOU. You better enjoy what you do up there. After 20 years, I'm less interested in figuring out exactly what audiences want than I am in figuring out who I am onstage. And go figure, that's often what audiences respond to most. ***+Read more:*** [*"How to Nail Your Next Supporting Act Set"*](https://www.hypebot.com/how-to-nail-your-next-supporting-act-set/)