What makes a gig great - and what makes it go from bad to worse? We asked some of the regular gig-goers among our panel for advice, and also asked them to share a few of their best, and worst, experiences

For the music fan, an intimate live gig can be a fantastic experience. Within the confines of a small, enclosed performance space, in a crowd united by the desire to see a long-admired artist or hit song played, once-in-a-lifetime memories can be made (or life-long loves shattered). So MusicLab asked the gig-goers among its panellists to draw on their experiences of these intimate live music events, and tell us – what makes for a truly great gig?

Do you have a great (or awful?) gig memory you'd like to share? Maybe you have some top tips that you've picked up from your own experience?

Whatever your stance, why not scroll down to our Disqus comments section to add to the discussion?

Breaking down the gig experience

There is huge affection from those in MusicLab for any sort of involvement between the crowd and the act which cements the intimacy of a moment of musical experience. Watching the musician whose career you’ve followed; whose music has resonated with or excited you, walk through the crowd, and hearing the shared euphoria when the crowd sings the same songs together, seems to touch on something it is hard to put into words.

But MusicLab’s gig-goers did also flag-up what can irritate at these events – and perhaps what to look out for if you’re not so practised. Beer-throwing ranked top of the most-hated and disliked elements of a small live music event, closely followed by people sitting on each other’s shoulders, presumably because this can obscure other people’s view of the stage.

Drunken behaviour also rankled amongst MusicLab’s gigging panellists, while crowd-surfing and screaming were considered highly irritating.

To witness the best-loved part of any live performance, the majority of our gig-attendees say, you must of course stay on for the encore. This moment, where musicians feign a goodbye at the ‘end’ of their set, then run back on stage to stamp and applause, has lost the spontaneity that brought it into being – indeed if you steal a look at a set list the encore is often built-in. But the tradition thrives; the suspense generated by the promise of an encore is something which has the power to make us all feel warm inside. And the musicians don’t seem to mind it either.

A MusicLab gig-goers’ guide: some practical advice

Almost half of the music fans who attend gigs or intimate live music events in MusicLab said they go to between 6 and 10 gigs a year, so we asked if there was any practical advice you’d give to less-seasoned gig-goers.

We were interested in two things in particular:

• Where the best gig-watching position is in a crowded gig-space?
• How close is too close is when it comes to standing among other music fans?

The consensus here may just serve to intensify the competition for an ideal watching position from here on, as we found that most of MusicLab’s live-music lovers would prefer to stand in the same middle strip as one another when they go to a gig – in the heart of the crowd, in the centre of the space, facing the stage. Little wonder then that as everyone surges towards the front things can get a bit heated.

But what does this middle-centre spot before the stage offer people by way of a prime gig-viewing position? A combination of optimum sound, visuals, and atmosphere, as well as being the most practical option, say some of our commenters below:

"I prefer the middle-centre area of the crowd because..."

‘Chest to back in a mosh pit…’

Besides a packed commuter train at peak rush hour, gigs or intimate indoor live-music events are one of the few times when you can expect to come into close contact with people you don’t know. So we asked you to draw on your experiences, to weigh up what was acceptable, unacceptable, and preferable to you in this situation.

• “Occasionally coming into contact” with other people was the most accepted turn of events
• However, the thought of being “chest to back in a mosh pit” was simply not an option for most of the seasoned gig-attendees responding to our poll
• Thinking about what you’d prefer, you’d ideally like to be at arm’s length from other gig-goers, or half a metre away

To round-off our understanding of the MusicLab panel’s experiences of intimate live music events, we asked you for your best and the worst gig-going moments.

It was the best of times…

It was the worst of times…

Do you have a great (or awful?) gig memory you'd like to share? Maybe you have some top tips that you've picked up from your own experience? 

Whatever your stance, get the discussion going and make your voice heard in our comments section below.