I still admire your courage and would love to follow your steps one day! Donāt get too discouraged next time crowd might be different and more engaging or venue might have less intense lighting - I would feel very proud now if I were you 
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Well done, Kevin, sounds like it went really well.
Audience engagement at OMs seems variable. Are the people there for the Open Mic or just enjoying an evening out, and the Open Mic just happens to be going on?
Perhaps for more engagement try songs that the audience will know, with the potential for joining in. Then comes the banter to encourage that participation.
Itās a steady progression from player at home, to live performer, to ultimately entertainer. Enjoy the adventure.
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Thanks for touching base with us Kevin. Congratulations.
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Iād agree with David engagement at OMās is variable. Sometimes people are there for the music and sometimes itās just incidental to their night out. Good experience in terms of the lighting etc. one or two we attend have lighting rigs and they are good but can be a hindrance as well. Another slight block to engagement can be song choice as well and sometimes something known by the audience can get a bigger connection than an original.
Sounds like a good step forward though and plenty learnt.
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Hi Kevin,
No boo`s and you have not stopped or passed out ā¦ and people say afterwards that they liked itā¦ Your first performance is a successā¦ 
. 
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HI Kevin,
I listened to your song this morning and it was really good and congratulations on your performance last night.
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@Richard_close2u it has Richard, lots to learn and to process, I believe this will do lots of good for my musical journey.
@adi_mrok Cheers Adrian, this was one of my ādream goalsā since I started messing around with the guitar, if you would have told me then I wouldnāt have believed it. Let us now if you do
@DavidP Thanks David, I believe it changes as it goes, people seem more engaged or interested in the beginning of the OM and then start talking more, or going for a smoke, etc. Everything you said is something to have in mind, like I said to Richard, lots to learn from this, Iām very happy I did it.
@batwoman Thank you Maggie, good to have this space to share.
@Rossco01 Thanks for your thoughts Jason, the most important lesson from this would be to try to play as much as possible, to force myself to be comfortable in these situations, but a lot of other things. All in all a positive experience.
@roger_holland haha so true Rogier, no bad at all if you put it like that. Thanks for the encouragement.
@R.F.W Thank you Rob, Iām very happy you enjoyed it
Thanks again everyone, I couldnāt manage to convince a friend to come and record the performance, but the bar has an Instagram account where they post a little video of every performer. Itās a story so itāll only be available for today, but hereās a little piece of what I did, maybe youāll get a sense of the stage/lightning, etc.
Cheers!!
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Nice performance Kevin. Interesting venue! nice little stage area and not too overwhelming in terms of numbers. Iām guessing a lot of the audience were performers as well. Yeah those are bright lights on the stage which doesnāt help but every venue has its challengesā¦we have a running joke about whether the monitors will actually work or not and if they do whether theyāll actually provide any help. Looks like there were a lot there and I thought your performance looked pretty relaxed and comparable with others. Wouldnāt have guessed it was your first time.
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Hey Kevin,
Major kudos to you for going and performing an original at your first open mic. Hope you feel proud of yourself and took a big bow! 
Zoom OM will be a stroll in the park after that
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That was really good, i think you will be fine!!! Im about to soon go and perform at a open mic next thursday also. Cheers!
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@Rossco01 I actually did perform there last week, played a cover in a very improvised way. This was actually more challenging, not only for being an original but also for knowing in advance, I was pretty nervous the days before as you can tell by the creation of this topic 
About the venue, it did get a little crowded towards the end, and a looot of people permormed, I think it was almost 30 people who played a song.
@brianlarsen Thank you Brian, letās hope I can figure out the technical stuff before the community OM, I got my first mic today so Iāll try to learn to use it this weekend.
@Bytron08 Thank you Byron, the open mic was actually yesterday and I was surprisingly fine
Break a leg! Make sure to share your experience on the site!
PS: Fear for your earsā¦
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Man, what a line:
āIām not OK, but Iām doing better today.ā
Thatās next level my friend.
I like what you did here a lot. Dynamics are important, but a good song with good lyrics, a nice chord progression, and a tasty melody trumps all else. Play on playa!
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Thanks so much Clint, Iām trying to write ārealā things intead of thinking what would make a good song I guess, Iām glad you enjoyed it.