How to throw a perfect show

This story is part of our fall 2025 series, Offline, where we investigate IRL spaces and explore our relationships with music and the internet.

You’re at a house party, or a rave, or a DJ night, or the third night of a festival, vibrating from the blissful peaks of the evening. That’s when the thought arrives: I should try and put something like this together. Maybe the notion has come to you only once on a really special night, or you get the desire every time you enjoy music in a space with other people. But if the event you’re at has done its job — if it feels like a sanctuary from the outside world sprouting the seeds of a new community — the prospect of creating your own can feel like a bolt of lightening.

But that electricity can be neutralized by the hardest part of any new project: getting started. The anxiety of underplanning, underpreparing, or otherwise failing can be overwhelming: Maybe it’s best if someone more experienced does it, you think. But nobody other than you could throw the party that’s in your head, because nobody but you has the ideas and the community swimming around right now. And the internet’s mass greyscaling of modern life has only deepened the hunger for passionate events created by real people. There’s no time like the present, sure, but the present is also a really good time to throw a party.

Over email, we asked 8 artists and event planners of varying experience for their advice on how to throw a show. Some of them have only done house parties with their friends; others have put on wildly successful music festivals. But taken all together, their pointers will leave you more confident and better equipped for organizing a gig that leave others inspired to do the same.

L.A-based label and party series

Co-founder David: Hosting shows in a chaotic yet beautiful city like Los Angeles comes with endless highs and lows. From police raids to dancing on walls of speakers inside foggy, bass-thumping warehouses, every night tests your love for the scene. The heart of Power Source has always been friendship — five of us (Ddos, Henny, Junior, Brandon, and myself, David) investing paycheck to paycheck to build and put together our own sound system from the ground up. True DIY in every way.

From the start, we didn’t want to just fit in, we wanted to innovate, to push the scene forward and keep it from going stagnant. Inspired by early rave culture and by doing the homework, we built our world through design, producing die-cut flyers, with the help from our friend DJ Flapjack, to creating dissolving gas station pills, lottery scratchers, MP3 players, cigarette boxes etc. Physical memories people could hold onto and talk about.

True collaboration drives us and working with good friends that assist in putting our parties together and LA crews like Neurotek, United Selektor Network, and key hang out spots like Nothing Usual ran by our OG, Francis who all share similar views and manifestos of creating parties that are built around the music and providing unique experiences for the real protectors of the scene. We’ve lost and gained so much, but everything always goes back into keeping the project alive. It’s the music, the people who come and support these shows, and the hope — to inspire the next generation that will keep the underground moving.

Artistic Director, Wavelength Festival

Putting on a show is like putting on a house party – you get to see all your friends and hopefully meet some new people and show them a good night out. Everyone’s lives are so busy these days, especially in a hectic city like Toronto, so you really want to make it worth it for people to leave the house.

That’s why at Wavelength we put a lot of thought into curating every element: Choose the most interesting and exciting bands or performers or DJs, maybe someone coming through town who hasn’t played here in a while (or ever) or a local hero coming out of retirement, hopefully someone who will draw a few people and pair them with some deserving locals in a complementary but not identical style, who will appreciate the chance to play for a new crowd.

Choose the right venue for the lineup, somewhere where the acoustics suit the music you’ve selected and ideally has an amazing sound system (and sound tech, of course). If you can’t find a place that works, try and see if you can go the DIY route and transform an unconventional space into a music venue for one night (warning: this can cost a lot more money than you might be ready for).

And then think about visual presentation: connect with some artists that can animate the space and the stage with installations or projections that will make the space look stunning. We’ve all been to lots of shows at bars and while that’s fun, at Wavelength since we only do one show per month, we like to make our concerts into special occasions.

Make sure all your staff and security have safe space training, to ensure attendees feel comfortable and well taken care – it’s really important for us to make all our shows warm, welcoming environments where people know to treat each other with respect. And make sure you get lots of rest and get to enjoy the show yourself!

Guitarist for the Indiana jangle pop band

I like to think about every bad experience I’ve had at a show and avoid those things. Big scary bouncers, egotistical sound guys, expensive drinks, none of that stuff. The rest is just people believing in the power of love, community, and rock and roll.

Give yourself a to-do/check list — sufficient power, mics and cables and stands, check on what they need for backline, what they need to feel comfortable and taken care of. You’re inviting people into a situation where primal instincts come out and they might slam or make a mess depending on the music, [so] just try to prepare the space for that and mentally prepare for that. Asking for money is the hardest part but I just get on the mic between songs and say “hey they’re here from California let’s keep them on the road and fed” and that usually works okay. Otherwise, don’t stress and let the music guide you.

good flying birds: talulah’s tape by good flying birds

N.Y.C.-based singer-songwriter

The first time I threw a show was at a family party hall across the street from my apartment in New York City. It was also 12 hours long. I think what I’ve learned from that show and since is how crucial it is to ask for help from local businesses (silly and simple but…true). Even the pizza shop or ice cream parlour around the corner might be down to help finance or contribute to your show if it’s doing something interesting and subverts venue culture. I think we all are craving these unexpected sorts of places. It’s what makes me wanna go to a secret event in Forest Park or to the basement of a retail storefront instead of at a venue with a $20 cover.

Red sky at morning by h. pruz

Porter Robinson‘s manager and co-founder of Second Sky festival

The best entertainment in the world doesn’t pander to an audience, it focuses every ounce of itself on being a love letter from the artist designing it. Everyone wants to be at a party where the star of the show is in their own utopia, because that energy is just unbelievably infectious. Designing Second Sky that way gave every aspect of the festival that energy, and that’s what led to it being so successful.

Bassist and co-vocalist for the New Orleans indie rock band

Always check with the neighbors. My friends and I used to throw these gigs out of our place called the Adams House and the one neighbors we had that weren’t other college kids would leave for the night or the weekend as soon as they caught wind of what was happening. They never called the cops or anything.

We threw a Monday night show once for Radiator Hospital when the police did show up, and the neighbor came out asking to keep it down after and seemed genuinely distraught. I found out later that he and his fam would go to the burbs to stay with the grandparents because one of his children had some sensory issues and would get overwhelmed by the noise. It would be quicker for them to leave for the night and let the college kids be than wait for the cops, plus he did not want to be a bother. I still feel really bad about this, especially now that I have a toddler. Have fun and everything, but just check in with your neighbors before you throw a whole function.

God Made The Highway by Lawn

Founder, Hula Hoop

We started our party because we felt inspired by our favorite parties that curated a very specific vibe. We are a euphoric, fast, fun, hard dance party centering DJs and producers that aren’t just white or dudes. Our best parties are the ones where we leaned in and created something specific with the little things, whether that’s trading cards or Dance Dance Revolution promo videos; people showed up. It’s almost never been about a big conglomerate co-sign or the one big name headliner booking. I’m most proud that people love coming to our party — the dancers, the DJs, the venues and the staff, even other promoters. This is really hard to do in 2025 — you really have to love music and really be bold to ask others to help out and lean in to make this work.

Founder, Hast du Feuer / Programming Director, Transmission DC

My best piece of advice for those trying to organize their own shows or to get on bills themselves is truly tap into your local scene and SHOW UP to those gigs. There are plenty of people who want to get involved in their scene but haven’t really spent the time learning the dynamics, what sounds people gravitate towards, and how best to position their party series. Don’t just grab some massive headlining out-of-town DJ or producer, slap their name on a bill, and pray for the best – that’s not how you build or work into your scene!