When you have 48 hours before performing music live, tips like these are essential because with out a checklist you will certainly have chaos.

Here are few general items for the best chances of a stellar performance:

• Equipment (including back up)

• Proper rehearsal

• Personal maintenance

Equipment

In my case the basics are instruments and amplification

I play a Chapman stick so the Stick plus 2 cables, pedal board, power supply and all the hook up cables… plus extra strings. There is a tuner and tools for the stick in my gig bag.

Using percussion means my hand drum, shaker, Guira, Cajon and some drum pads will need a mixer, mics and cables.

I have 2 amplifiers A Phil Jones (for the bass side of the stick and Fender GT-100 for the treble side.

For vocals I bring my own mic (AKG C-1000) and cable. Plus a few 9 volt batteries in case there is no phantom power from the live event console.

There are few other items I always bring. A video camera and tripod… because to get gigs video is so important, so even if it’s locked down on the tripod, I will get some footage. This is good not just for promo footage but to also see how I performed… what can I improve.

It also helps to have a phone or recording device for an audio reference of your performance.

Now the other equipment is a poster I banner behind me and some merch. At the moment I just have T-shirts as I am still putting a CD together of my original material.

Some basic performing live music tips

I use a spoken word presentation to get people to sign up on my mailing list. Also a hashtag they can use to post pictures/video on social media.

Have business cards and other promo material to hand out to prospective fans, people interested in hiring you or booking agents.