I just went to Cloud Cult‘s triumphant hometown gig at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.  It was my first-time seeing them, and I only own one album out of their lengthy catalog — 2010′s Light Chasers — so I wasn’t sure if I was going to really enjoy it.

Enjoy, I did, as the show featured basically “Light Chasers and some hits” set list.  And while the show in no way seemed fully realized — the big projection screen in the back of the stage sometimes enhanced the show, other times detracted — but they did many things right, and more importantly, they did things in their own unique ways.

Below let me pick out some of the lessons I learned from watching them:

Engage Multiple Senses

More effective than their projection screen was the presence of two live painters.  Yep, two of the eight-person band don’t really contribute to the music, except for occasional participation to choruses — they just stand in the back of the stage, with their backs facing the audience, and they paint during the show.  They start with blank canvases, and by the end of the show they complete their paintings, which are auctioned off to audience afterward.

Now, many things set Cloud Cult apart from other acts, but this I have never seen done before.  Their emerging paintings added great visual engagements to the show.  Their canvases were racked up on this special easel that allowed painters to spin the canvases rapidly.  And in the beginning of the show, they both spun them wildly, just letting their brushes taint the whiteness randomly with splashes of the color.  As the show progressed, the canvases spun less often, as the painters focused on making more concrete shapes and filling in specific spaces.  But at more raucous moments, it seemed they’d just spin the canvases while they were mixing new colors or something, adding to the sense of movement in the music.

It really added an organic, unique touch to the show.  I really enjoyed seeing paintings emerge out of nothing in the course of the show.  Somehow, their presence lifted a mere concert into a true show, much more so than their hit-and-miss video projection did.

Interact with Audience

Which brings me to the next point — the first few songs of the night, I could tell, were tightly scripted because they had to synch with the video.  On one hand, I enjoyed the brisk pacing and it’s good not to dilly-dally, especially at the beginning of the set, so that the momentum can build.

But the show definitely took a turn for the better when that portion ended, and the leader Craig Minowa started talking to the audience, for the more casual, acoustic segment of the night.  Suddenly the show seemed to change from mono-directional performance to two-way conversation.

It’s worth remembering that people are more engaged in situations when they assert a bit of themselves, instead of just being passive spectators.  I’m not saying you have to make up your setlist as you go depending on what’s working each night, but you just relate more to an act who responds to the audience.  You wouldn’t want to be a friend to someone who just talks your ear off and never listen to you, right?  It’s nice when the performer addresses the crowd, and let their presence and interactions affect the performance.

The Primal Power of Drumming

Another really effective element was when the band congregated around a couple of floor toms, with drum sticks in hand, banging out tribal beats together.  I always knew that percussions are powerful, primal instruments, but seeing them just pound the living daylights out of those poor drums really hit me hard.

Rhythm is the foundation of any music and strong beats really affect us in more instinctive way — if you hear great grooves, you can’t help but react by moving your body.  Loud drums, you feel their vibrations with your body, rather than just hearing the sound.  And the act of putting your whole body into hitting a drum unleashes powerful energy that quickly got the audience up on their feet, immersed in music.  That sound, that sensation is something you really can’t recreate with any recordings.

It’s easy for anyone to beat simple rhythms on drums.  Get a few beaters — how they sound don’t matter as much as the manner in which you hit them — and get your whole band to just strike a simple rhythm together.  It’s a really powerful element and I think any acts that want to energize their audience should incorporate this into their shows.

How You Play Matters More Than What You Play

Which brings me to the final point.  Seeing the whole band congregate around a couple of drums, creating unified, simple groove together, is a great visual metaphor of togetherness, a moving way to create a sense of community.

Truth be told, Orchestral Hall is a very live environment, designed that way for acoustic performances.  The reverbs were too much for amplified band, though, and a lot of the details really got washed away in muddy reverbs.  But then, what rock concert has crystal-clear sound where you pay attention to every detail and nuance?  Once again, a live gig at its best is a two-way interaction between the performer and the audience, through multiple senses.  It will not make a great show if you stood perfectly still and played your part perfectly.  What engages your audience is how you play, from your body rocking to the beat to your gazing out into the crowd to your smile on your face.  How you play matters more than what you play. Engage your audience by letting your body express how you’re pouring everything you got into playing your music.

Conclusion

There are many other techniques to making each show unique and organic, and you should experiment and employ as many as you can.  It creates more incentive for someone to come see you.  The above are some of the highlights I got from seeing Cloud Cult, a band very much homegrown by their own hands.  They used what they had in creative ways to make their show engaging — you should discover what your particular assets and interests are, and use them in your own ways, to engage your audience.