It has been tough for live musicians singers DJs actors and many other creative professions but luckily things are looking up again. Maybe some people have already forgotten what it feels like to be on stage or they’re planning their very first performance right now.
To make sure you’re fully prepared for the upcoming festival seasons we interviewed a musician who already has stage experience and shares four important tips for your own show.
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Your First Performance – singer LMXX shares 4 tips for the stage
Q: Hey LMXX great that you had time on such short notice. In this new format we give musicians and producers behind-the-scenes insights into the music industry and we’re genuinely happy to have you here because today we’re talking about something refreshing: performing live on stage. Can you quickly tell our readers what you’ve experienced on stage so far and what impressions you’ve taken away?
*laughs* First of all thank you for having me and letting me share my experiences. I’ve been in it for a while—my musical career kind of started around 2010. We were young hungry and just made a lot of music. Back then everything was a bit harder—producing connecting on social media organizing shows and all that. Still my guys and I tried to move the crowd at every gig. We dropped our first English single back then and just did our own thing.
Q: So with your first songs you immediately tried to play shows?
Yeah we wanted to see how far we could go and we landed two cool gigs right away. We went so hard live that the promoters said we were even better live than on the record.
Then a little journey started. We didn’t always play our own headline shows but we got booked a lot as an opening act for big artists from the US and Germany. The bar was extremely high. Today I only perform as a solo artist and I’ll be playing my own shows in Hamburg again soon. The experience from the past years definitely helps.
Afrobeats paired with pop melodies. German mixed with English. Brought together like milk and honey it creates a new generation of AFROPOP. Africa reconciled with Europe in its most beautiful form. Nobody is doing it better right now than LMXX. With his latest project Sonne im Norden he breaks down all barriers between German pop culture and African rhythms.
Q: I can imagine there’s a lot of respect for the crowd before a show like that—expectations are high when people go to a concert by a sought-after US artist. Did you ever have experiences as an opening act that changed your sound or your artist identity long term after watching the main act perform?
Absolutely. That’s a really good and important question. It’s not easy—you’re booked and wanted but at the end of the day you’re still the opener for someone who’s already fully established. Expectations are high. The only way to win is to show your passion and leave a lasting impression.
People should think “That show was so good I need to know who this artist is.” That should be the motivation for every artist. It’s your chance to reach the next level because live shows are still the main source of income for many artists.
Q: How do you deal with nerves before a show like that?
Personally I treated every show like it was my own. Every performance was the performance for me. The highlight. The main show. I didn’t care who performed before or after me.
With that mindset I went into those shows often with songs the crowd didn’t even know. That makes it even harder—the artist is super famous and the room is sold out.
As the opener for Busta Rhymes Trey Songz Ace Hood you’re suddenly in front of 5,000 to 10,000 people who don’t know anything about you. I always wanted to prove to them that a real artist is standing on this stage right now and that they just got properly entertained.
That was my formula and that’s how I kept getting more shows. Promoters came to me and called me directly whenever artists flew over to Germany. It was crazy—Cologne Düsseldorf Hamburg Berlin o2 Arena Alsterhaus Große Freiheit 36 Docks—I did everything and took every opportunity.
Q: Nice. So you also stayed in contact with promoters and handled gigs yourself?
Every artist who’s in the music business and wants to achieve something is responsible for themselves. Even if I work with a label or something it’s still my job to get myself where I want to be. No matter what others do for me I have to do more.
For me it was normal to call promoters myself. Sometimes I handed things to management but I always made sure I kept moving forward.
Of course you should set priorities first and build your plans around them. I wanted to meet new people and present my music to an audience.
I mean these days you drop a single and you don’t know what the people look like how they react how they go off live. And I wanted to find that out.
Q: Thanks for the insights. Give us three tips that singers instrumentalists or producers and DJs should keep in mind before their first performance.
The first tip we can give you is: be clear about why you’re doing this performance. For me it was always about leaving a lasting positive and authentic impression on the audience. When you know what you’re doing the doubts start to fall away on their own.
Q: And tip 2?
You need to know what your sound is and what your own vibe is. That way you can transfer your energy to the crowd more effectively. Are you more of a party type? What do you have to support your party sound visually? How do you want to perform your songs? If you play a big party track but perform it super mellow that kind of contradicts itself.
To come back to “knowing your own sound”—that also means knowing yourself. What you like what you don’t like. Knowing how to translate what you like into music. That’s how you develop your sound over time. And it’s not something that happens overnight. It takes time. It has to live learn and evolve.
Q: So to find your own sound you need to listen to your songs regularly analyze them and rehearse?
One hundred percent. I’ll go even deeper: when you hear my songs you know how I speak and how I behave. The listener gets an even more direct connection to what I’m saying or how I’m feeling. Diving deeper into the vibe and trying to trigger empathy through sensitivity — that’s what helps me.
Q: That sounds nice. Do you have a tip 3?
The crowd is king. You have to be flexible because if I show up somewhere and I do my thing but the crowd isn’t feeling the vibe then it’s my job as an artist to find out what vibe actually works here. And then that’s what I drop.
So you shouldn’t go on stage with a textbook set and say “Bro I’m doing my thing. Track 1 track 2 track 3.” You should be alive and feel the moment.
If people aren’t reacting to track 1 and track 2 but you still have track 7 and 8 in your pocket that you didn’t plan to play—and you bring them in to give the crowd a twist—you can still turn it around. If you want people to follow you or take what you do seriously and respect what you love then that effort is worth it and it’s the right path.
Q: Kind of like a good DJ in a club. They also know when it’s time to switch things up. Being flexible is something people often forget. Great point.
I remember that from my early days too. As a musician you couldn’t always afford your own DJ or you didn’t have a friend who could do it. If you perform in a club you might end up with the resident DJ. But in general—especially in clubs—it’s always better as a singer or rapper to perform with a DJ you know. Someone who knows your vibe. Someone who can help you out when the crowd isn’t moving. Then your DJ can play something a few BPM faster or throw in some effects.
That’s a whole different level of art. But it’s also a luxury. grins Still it’s something you should work towards.
Locations with different sound environments:
- Club
- Beach club
- Open air
- Festival
- Concert hall
- Arena
- Live TV
- Radio
- Live or playback
Q: Since you already brought up DJs and producers—one more question. Can you share a fourth tip specifically for producers? Let’s be honest a DJ has audience experience but many bedroom producers have never been on stage. How can producers prepare for their first live gigs?
First you need to know what kind of gig it is. Is it a concert hall a club show an open air? And most importantly you need to know your role—are you performing on stage with the artist are you more in the background or are you mainly responsible for the sound.
If you’re performing with the main act you need to know your technical setup but you also have to stay flexible. That’s true for the DJ too. If everyone is on trap and you want to start with dancehall it helps when the DJ knows what they’re doing and can adjust the set list.
If you’re a producer in the background then what matters is how the sound translates. How do the PAs (speaker systems) sound in the venue? How is the artist performing the song I produced? Does the beat sound great or is the bass booming somewhere?
Most of the time you get a soundcheck and we think that’s the most important window for the producer. That’s when you can check your sound and the room and communicate with the local engineers. If your sound is good you’re already halfway there.
Q: So the first performance doesn’t have to be the best one. There can be many great moments on stage if you keep working on yourself.
You can leave a lasting impression even if something went wrong. People should go home and say “That LMXX guy had something interesting. Let’s see—maybe I’ll hear from him again.”
Q: Thanks so much LMXX for the insights and the great conversation. Before we wrap up tell us when new music from you is coming. Is something around the corner? You mentioned a show in Hamburg.
On the night from 22.07 to 23.07 my new single dropped. It’s the first single from the upcoming Afrobeat album coming at the end of the year. It’s called Sonne im Norden.
On 24.07 there was also an open air concert in Hamburg. The event is called ROOTS and people could see me perform live again and check out the new vibe.
I also have a YouTube channel where I feature young upcoming artists. Anyone who’s into the movement is very welcome.
Want to learn more about LMXX? Follow him on Spotify and on social media.
