Lionel Blair-king of the showbiz entrance!
I once saw Lionel Blair running out of a TV studio in London.He stopped,briefly,to wave at no one in particular and hopped into a courtesy car.
About fifty yards down the street the car stopped.Lionel Blair hopped out,waved again to the same few people standing on the same street and ran into a different TV studio.
It was the most show business thing I have ever seen.
It was exactly what I would have wanted a show business lovey like Lionel Blair to do if I had simply imagined this scenario.
The showbiz entrance is a dying artform.
Brucie had a great one.
Bruce used to pop into the spotlight,throw a shape and kick his leg out.It was recognisably Forsyth and it is imitated by impressionists and Robbie Williams to this day.
Talking of Robbie he is one of the modern (ish!) pop stars who still maintains the show business tradition of taking to the stage like a star.At the Brits in 2010 he acknowledged the crowd,did his trademark smug mug and pointed a few fingers at the audience before he sang a note.
It was a showbiz entrance steeped in tradition.
Back in the dark ages one of my favourite show biz walk ons was legendary Cliff sidesman (a lead Shadow) Hank Marvin.He would walk on playing guitar and,between licks,point at imaginary people in the crowd,push back his glasses and grin.
It was pure show business class.
The walk on strut is something perfected by the soul men of the sixties and seventies.The master of this being James Brown who finishes off his walk on strut by knocking his mic stand over and kicking it back into place with his foot.
I saw James Brown in action in Birmingham back in the mid eighties and even then in the twilight of his career this walk on was something to behold.A beautiful arrogance which said,”I’m here,I’m back and,by God,I’m funky.”
It was a pose nicked by Prince in the late 80s and 90s who topped James Brown at Birmingham NEC by starting the strut off on top of the piano before proceeding to play almost every instrument on the stage before finally duplicating James Browns mic stand manoeuvre.A masterful performance!
Pre rock and roll when cool was king Sinatra was the player who could stroll onto the stage with a roll on his step and take the limelight without fanfare or pyrotechnics but was able to command the auditorium by sheer charisma alone.
In the 21st century that player roll is exaggerated by the kings of hip hop who saunter out onto the stage like they own it.
Contrast this with Michael Jackson who ,conforming to show biz tradition ,either walked swiftly to the mic with a purposeful stride or,as seen at the beginning of several of his routines,popped up from behind the stage as if shot out of a cannon.He would then stand still and take in the applause like the freaky God he was.
Working the front row is a favoured tactic of the rock front man (and at the end of the concert by the rock drummer) and many a standard Jon Bon Jovi move would be to run your hands across the stretched out hands of the adoring fans.Classic rock stuff.
Springsteens 2009 Superbowl performance saw him condensing his entire on stage career into a two minute preamble before the first song where he took to the stage,chucked away his guitar,slid on his knees,worked the crowd and preached to the camera before launching into the first song.He managed to cram more into that first two minutes than many shoe gazers put into a lifetime of on stage shuffling about.
You can start your concert on your hands and knees like Iggy Pop sometimes did or you can swing in on a rope like Pink but you gotta make that showbiz entrance count.
Its the thirty seconds before the singer opens his mouth that can be the difference between hero and zero.
You can be the Talk Of The Town or the whisper in the village and it’s that first ten,twenty,thirty seconds that make it.
I can’t promise you that all our acts will make the grand showbiz entrance eulogised above but I can promise you will be booking first class entertainment if you choose an LMM act for your wedding,event or party.
The Showbiz Entrance …..We Salute You!!