Recently we were lucky enough to see the fabulous David Gray performing at the Cork Opera House – while I have always loved his music it was the first time seeing him in concert and he didn’t disappoint.
He has an incredible voice, fabulous songs and he delivered a very special performance with the help of a gifted band. He showcased some tracks from his new album, which were really strong.
Before David Gray we had a support act, singer song writer Lisa O’Neill from Cavan who entertained the crowd with her unique style. I hadn’t heard of her before, which seemed to be the case with pretty much most of the audience who had taken their seats early.
It must be difficult entertaining the crowd when your songs aren’t familiar to them and when in truth they are not there to see you at all.
Lisa did something very clever to endear herself to the crowd – she told us stories.
She told us about the honour of being on tour with David Gray and how stunned she was when he asked her to tour the United States with him. While she wanted to grab this opportunity she was apprehensive as an uncle she was very close to, Neilly was suffering badly with cancer.
When her uncle heard this he insisted that she went and gave her €500 to make sure she “always bought a round when it was her turn“.
When she was on tour she kept Uncle Neilly up to date with her experiences and the one thing that fascinated her were fireflies. She had never seen these before and at night on the tour bus she saw many of them who politely decorated the windscreen on a regular basis.
“This song is for Neilly who isn’t with us anymore”. Lisa had our attention and had won us over.
After a really great night and a memorable performance by an artist I really like the thing I remember most is the story about Uncle Neilly.
Whenever you are pitching or selling your wares try to tell a story to bring it to life and most importantly one that makes them remember you.
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion
Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin
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