Venues, and the audiences in them, differ, and a good performer takes the audience into account when deciding what to play. I like to think that I’m pretty good at judging what to play in a given context (or, at minimum, I’m enough of a control freak that I think about these sorts of things when designing a set list), but twice this past month I’ve misjudged the audience. The first time was a showcase I hosted at the International Studies Association annual convention; I played at the beginning and end, and in the middle hosted a lineup of people (many of whom don’t regularly perform) each playing for about 10 minutes. The people attending this conference are scholars of international studies, mostly political scientists. So I’d concluded that what made sense would be to play the songs of mine with political (especially international) aspects to them. What I failed to anticipate (and really should have) was that it was also an audience of people who don’t normally go to folk shows. And my political songs are complex and the sorts of songs you have to pay attention to in order to appreciate. This wasn’t that audience. The second was last night – I went to an open mike at a newish venue (this is a long-standing open mike that had to move locations recently), and played a song. And because most of the people who play at this open mike are people I know through songwriting contexts, I figured that it made sense to play my newest song. But this new place is in a restaurant, not set up well to be a listening environment. There were people there just to have dinner, and have their dinner conversations. And even the crowd of people I know are mostly friends with each other, and they spent a lot of time conversing with each other. A new song (and a complex story-song at that) does not go over well in a room that doesn’t start out with an audience that’s paying attention. In both cases my mistake wasn’t the initial misconception of what I would encounter in the venue – both initial assumptions were not unreasonable ones to have made, and you have to base a set list on something. In both cases, though, I actually realized before I started playing that my assumptions were probably wrong. And that was my real mistake. I should have had the courage of my (new) convictions and changed course, to play material that would have worked better in those settings. Neither of these shows went badly, but they could have gone better if I’d adapted to the situation I found. Because when you do get the right mix of audience and music nothing is more satisfying, for everyone.