A Beginner’s Guide to Hosting a Show at MOON Base One
Looking to host a show at MOON Base One but have no idea where to start? Then you’ve come to the right place! Up until a month ago, I also had no idea how to put together a show and yet I just recently successfully ran my first ever show full of extremely talented local artists, and I’m here to take you through the process.
Lauren Norcia captivating the crowd during her MOON performance. Photo provided by Frances Gervais
The first place to start would be figuring out exactly what kind of show you want to run. Do you want one specific genre? A specific theme around the artists? For my show, as a college intern, I wanted to be able to promote local artists that are around college-aged that haven’t had as much opportunity to put themselves out there in front of a bigger audience. As a result, I sought out different artists that fit this description and put together a show of three different bands/artists, two of which are college bands and one who just recently graduated from college. The lineup chosen was Lauren Norcia, an indie-folk solo-acoustic musician performing her recent debut album, Holes in Socks, an indie-rock band from Berkley College of Music, and Barbed Roses, an alternative-rock band from Salem State University. The genres for the show had a bit of range, but the lineup was organized in a way to make them all flow together.
Once the lineup is put together, you would want to go to MOON’s website (MOON-ns.org) and go to the page titled “booking”, where you’ll find the different kind of shows you can book at MOON - which vary in price depending on how much help is required for the show from MOON staff. A Full MOON Show, which is one where MOON helps book and run the show, provides assistance in the booking and promotion process, including but not limited to handing all booking emails, designing a poster, and regular promotion leading up to the event. This level of booking may be especially helpful if you’ve never run a show before and may require a bit of extra assistance. Once you fill out a booking date and time, you should hear back with approval from MOON within the same week. If your show is approved by MOON, you should also receive the booking advance form from them, which details a lot of information regarding their shows including their sound system, the backline equipment they carry, typical door and show times, and merch and payment details.
The simple poster I created for the show I hosted just using Canva and Adobe Stock.
Depending on what level of booking you choose, you may have to find someone to do sound for the show yourself. If you know anything about soundchecking and audio engineering, then you could do it yourself if need be. Or if you’re like me and don’t know a single thing about how to work sound equipment, then you’re going to need to find someone yourself who is knowledgeable in that field to help for the show. Thankfully for me, my friend Sam knows all about sound equipment and audio engineering and was able to run the sound for the show that night.
If you are planning to handle the poster design yourself, then your next steps would be figuring out exactly how you want to sell these artists to an audience in your poster. It doesn’t have to be too complicated, if you’re someone like me with no graphic design experiences, then Canva and Adobe Stock are going to be your best friends for this. However, someone with more experience with graphic design or even photography may have other methods and tools for creating a poster. Whatever your skill level may be, you want to make sure to create a design that is not too busy with minimal colors in order to draw the most attention to the lineup and other information being displayed. The other information, which should include the date of the show (with the year), the door time, the price of tickets, and stating that the venue is an all-ages, sober space.
Once the poster is completed, you can move on to promotion of the event. Depending on the level of booking you choose, MOON may handle a chunk of the promotion for you. Regardless of if they do or not though, you should still be regularly promoting the show where you can and encourage the performers to do the same. I also, along with the performers, printed out flyers to put up around Salem wherever I could and I would recommend doing the same.
By this point you should be preparing for the show to approach and focusing on trying to promote it as much as possible. This is also where I want to emphasize the importance of communication with all parties involved, both MOON and the artists. In the time leading up, it’s important to reach out to MOON with any questions or concerns you may have regarding the show, especially if this is the first show you’ve ever booked. With the bands as well it’s important to be communicating with them any information they may need going in, such as what time they should get to the venue prior to the show or the order for the lineup.
The show itself started at 2 pm on Sunday, April 6, 2025. The artists arrived a half hour before the doors - at 1 pm - and after a few rounds of greetings and thank yous to the artist, we started to prepare for the afternoon’s performances.
The first artist to grace the stage was Lauren Norcia, an indie-folk musician from Salem who performed a solo-acoustic set that afternoon. At the show, Lauren debuted her recently released album, “when i close my eyes,” which is available on all music streaming platforms.With no backing band, just her and her acoustic guitar on that stage, Lauren’s voice lured in the audience, pulling them into a trance with her lulling voice. Although she opened softly with mellow songs such as the self titled track “when i close my eyes,” she took the audience for a complete 180 and blew them away with her powerful belts in tracks such as “Deep Breaths.” Her smooth and passionate vocals combined with her heartfelt lyrics allow Lauren to captivate her audience and mold their emotions at will. An amazing album debut performance and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future, hopefully one of those things is performing at MOON again soon.
Holes in Socks delivering a powerful performance. Photo provided by Frances Gervais.
Next to the stage was Boston-based indie-rock band Holes in Socks. With the first funky but light taps of the drums and riffs from the guitar, you could tell you were in for an exciting set. Their first song pulled you in with a more jazz-inspired sound and made you instantly want to dance. Their lead singer, Mars Chambers, at just 19 had the kind of voice that completely took over your attention and left you in awe. Guitarist David Nissem delivered an exhilarating performance with his fingers moving through the guitar like lightning, especially during his thrilling solos. Their drummer, Chandler Rosenzweig, took the stage with a guitar at one point to grace the audience with an emotional solo track about nostalgia and missing your loved one, and left me choking up in the crowd. I was beyond blown away by this band and have no doubt in my mind that they will go on to continue creating amazing things and I’m personally counting the days until the release of their debut album.
Barbed Roses electrifying the crowd at MOON Base One. Photo provided by Frances Gervais.
For the last show of the afternoon, alternative-rock band Barbed Roses took the stage and took an increasingly energized audience and charged them up to 100% with their impassioned electric sound. Lead singer Spencer Milagros introduced the band to the crowd in a gentle tone before switching to beautifully guttural vocals and taking the audience for a spin, which seemed to be a theme among artists that afternoon. The already charged and captivating vocals met with the thrilling guitar and rich bass created a wall of sound that trapped the audience inside and pulled them in closer with each track. Guitarist Allison and bassist Eden bounced off each other beautifully, both delivering a captivating performance. At one point, they played a cover of Bôa’s “Duvet,” which left the crowd swaying and singing along in a beautiful moment of audience camaraderie. Barbed Roses left a lasting impression on me that night with their fierce and gripping sound and I know they’ll continue to sweep crowds all over the North Shore off their feet.
While running a show felt daunting at first, I could not be more glad that I did it. It was such an amazing experience and I felt incredibly proud of the show these incredible artists put on. If you’re thinking about putting together a show at MOON, check out the booking page at MOON-ns.org for more information.
Additional photos from the night. From left to right: Lauren Norcia smiling after her set, Chandler Rosenzweig from Holes in Socks delivering a solo performance, Barbed Roses bassist Eden shredding on the ground, Lauren Norcia performing on stage, Holes in Socks performing on stage, and Barbed Roses performing on stage. All photos taken by Frances Gervais.