I met my wife, Jennifer, at a show in the Brendan Behan Pub in Jamaica Plain, Boston - a cramped, smoky, loud, bar. Jennifer was working full time as a musician and she had band-mates on the stage. Actually, they stood on the floor, with amps piled on top of each other and they had to make way for people heading for the toilet. Paulie, the bartender, kept track of seemingly endless pile of pint glasses in various stages of being poured. The people were mostly there for the music, but the atmosphere was convivial and you could take some time to to meet people. The band would take long breaks and people would spill out not the street to chat and get some air. It was like a good party - a scene. The ingredients are in equal measure: A room that suits the size of the audience, a good band, alcohol, and sex (or at least the potential of meeting someone you iight have sex with).
Thats still more or less my definition of a good show, whether I’m in the audience or performing. For me the great shows have almost all been in rooms with less than 100 people in them, usually packed in pretty tight. You can smell who just smoked a joint or what drink is in their glass. You can feel the “vibe” people are putting out there. You get jostled a bit. Thats good - you feel human. The musicians are telling a story, but you are part of that story. Its been a long time since I was interested in meeting someone for a tryst, I like to be around people who are. To put it crudely, to have a good show you need for there to be some possibility of someone having sex afterward. Its not all about youth either - a really fun show should be able to re-kindle the flame of an old couples passions as well as create an opening for a new spark of lust.
I’ve been to big shows that had that feeling and I’ve played a few but its harder to pull off and never quite as potent. Prince knew it - he would bring enough sex on stage with him to make up for dilution of sensuality in a big venue. And he supposedly played as many small venue shows as he could fit in, often after the big show. James Brown could make a big audience feel small. His band was so dynamic that he could chat with an audience of 3000.