The conventional wisdom is to start the night with an upbeat song, not a slow ballad, but not to waste a strong banger this early. Let'em know that you are here! That is easy to say, but quite a balancing act. Maybe I would understand better if we created a list of songs that are upbeat and strong, but not wasted in the warm-up. I haven't tried it with audiences, but my guess is 1. I've just seen a face - Beatles

What's something you used to do at gigs that you NEVER do anymore? Could be gear, song choices, stage banter, setup, dealing with venues, taking requests, breaks, whatever. For me, it's bringing a spare guitar. For years I thought I HAD to have one sitting there in case I broke a string. Because obviously if that happened, the audience couldn't possibly survive the five minutes it would take me to change one. Eventually I realised... nobody cares. 😂 If I break a string, I stop. Change it. Have a drink. Maybe have a chat while I'm doing it. Five minutes later we're off again and civilisation has somehow survived. So now the spare guitar stays at home. One less thing to carry, set up and pack away because of an emergency that isn't really an emergency. It's funny how many things we do at gigs because WE think they're a big deal, when the audience barely notices. What's something you've stopped doing after enough gigs taught you it wasn't necessary?

I'm just getting into backing tracks. Looking forward I want to use wireless IEMs for my performances. Just curious what headset/system everyone is using. Trying to keep the cost of the headset down to below $300.

When I decided I to learn folk music last year, acoustic was the obvious way to go. Since then, I've added popular songs I used to play electric, and I'm planning to do gigs with backing tracks. Watched another reel today of a woman who does this on electric, and I wondered if I should change, or do both. Do you play acoustic or electric, and why?

Ok lets have a bit of fun. Personal appearance can say a lot about a person. I see many musicians on stage that look more like a roadie that forgot to take his clothes on tour. There are of course many different styles of music, there are many types of venues / audiences / occasions. Do you make any considerations to these when deciding what to wear. I once read that when a musician walks into the room, the audience should know that they are the musician by the way they dress. Others have written that the audience will have taken the time to dress for going out, so should the musician. Whats your approach. Personally I quite like getting dressed up a bit when I play - if its a formal function I might wear a jacket and tie, if I am doing a country night its out with the cowboy shirt and boots, if its a summer afternoon at the pub, its flowery shirt etc. Give us your take on it.