How to write gig notes you will still understand in five years

Future you needs who, where you stood, and one concrete detail. “Best night ever” is not a detail. “Surprise song was the 2014 single, Alex had to leave before the encore” is.

Write it on the gig in Radar, not in a note that is not attached to the date. Detached notes become orphans.

Who did you go with. Did you stay for support. Was it your first time at the venue. What did the crowd do during one specific song. Those prompts still make sense in 2031.

Skip setlist transcription if the setlist is already attached. Notes are for what the archive does not know.

Rate the night, not the artist’s career. A bad mix in a good venue can be a 3. You can change it later. A rating without a sentence is hard to trust next year.

If you have nothing to say, log the facts and stop. Empty praise is worse than blank notes.