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A lot of smaller concert venues across the county have stage lighting available for bands to use, but nobody on staff to operate them. Some lucky bands can get a friend to run them at no cost to the band, and most lighting set ups are so simple, they can learn how to adequately use them in less than ten minutes or so. Concert clubs like Fitgerald’s in Houston, TX, or Kingdom in Richmond, VA, are just a few venues that have really great lighting rigs.

Lights are so easy to do, yet no one does them. Most groups don’t even think about the lights. Leaving the settings the same, the soundman simply turns them on and never changes a thing. Most lighting systems are simple: they have about 6-12 scenes (a group of lights that all turn on or off at the same time with the push of a button) and they have single faders (individual lights on a switch) that can turn single lights on, off, or somewhere in-between.

What many local bands fail to realize though is that having a good light show is extremely important. One of the reasons why they are so crucial is that a good light show can made your bands set more exciting for your fans. In my opinion, the best light shows are all about one thing: movement. The proper utilization of light movement on stage keeps the human eye continuously drawn to it. If people have nothing exciting to focus on, then it’s easy for them to get distracted and lose interest.

A great light show can also make your local band look like a national act, adding a certain flair of professionalism to your performance. There’s one technique that can be very useful, and the effect is almost subliminal; but while almost every national act uses it to their advantage, most local bands don’t use it at all. This technique is called a black-out. All that you have to do is turn off all of the lights for about two seconds or so in between songs. The person operating the lights should turn the lights completely off after a song ends, and then turn them up only slightly until the next song starts. This is so fans can’t see the whole stage until the next song begins, but they can still make out the band members preparing for their next song.

For local groups, maybe the most important thing about your light show is that a good one can increase the energy levels on stage and inside the venue. The great thing about lights is how they affect everyone in the room, including the members of the group. I promise you that the better your light show is, the higher the energy level will be both in the room and on stage. Make every show the best it can be by putting on a great show, filling up the room with your fans, and by making stronger connections with you fans.

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