Gamer Superstar - Chapter 173

Chapter 173: [Bonus Chapter] 173 – Benefit Concert
Since Selena had been to my house several times before and my parents had met her at my concerts they had attended, it wasn’t strange to have Selena with us while we enjoyed the barbecue.

As I looked around, there were a few dozen families enjoying the barbecue, but the place seemed a bit empty.

Even though there were a few dozen people, the place could hold at least a few hundred people, so since the number of people wasn’t close to the maximum number, the place gave the impression of being rather empty.

To help with this, I decided to record a story for my Stabram account announcing that I was playing a free show here and encouraging people from San Francisco to come and help out.

Even though the organizers had already announced me as the singer who would be performing today, the money they spent on marketing wasn’t much since they didn’t have that much money to begin with, so not many people knew about it.

As a singer who has grown a lot through social media, unfortunately my audience wasn’t concentrated in a single city like the other singers of the same rank as me, but if of the more than 20,000 people who saw my stories, at least 2% were from San Francisco and came to the event, that would mean I could help bring 400 people to the event, which was already a great number.

And considering that even if my followers weren’t many, there were still a few thousand who followed me after my gigs at the bars, I think that help would be useful.

The event itself was a barbecue festival where the profits from the sales of the barbecue and drinks would go as a donation to the orphanage, so even if the people who came didn’t want to help by donating, if they just ate and drank here, it would help the kids a lot.

Speaking of children, I noticed that most of the children at the orphanage were helping with the barbecue, not making the meat, but helping with the trash, serving tables, and things like that.

Only the very young children were playing a little farther away, so the older ones were all helping to raise money.

While I was tasting some mini hamburgers I’d bought for me and Ethan and chatting with my parents and Selena, an older man came up to us.

“You’re BlackVelvet…right?” he asked a little uncertainly as he looked at me.

I noticed that his eyes were fixed on my hair.

I guess my biggest feature that he used to decorate my appearance must be my bleached hair…’ I thought. I thought as I laughed.

“Yes, I’m BlackVelvet.” I replied in confirmation.

“Thank you so much for doing this show for us…you don’t know how lucky we are to have an artist like you helping us out today.” He said gratefully as he held out his hand to me.

“You’re welcome…” I replied a little uncertainly, having some doubts about his identity, but without confirmation.

“He’s the director of the orphanage, Noah. He’s the one who requested an F-rank performer for AJP and organized this event.” Selena explained, confirming my suspicion.

Listening to Selena’s explanation, the man was surprised to realize his mistake and laughed embarrassed. “I’m Benjamin Sparks, the director of the orphanage.”

“It’s a pleasure to help, Benjamin.” I replied as I shook his hand. “I’ve actually come up with some ideas to help the event even more, I think you might be interested.”

Hearing that, Benjamin was surprised. “Your presence here is already more help than I could ask for, but any ideas to help are more than welcome, BlackVelvet.”

So I told him that I had made the song for the children and suggested that he gather them in front of the stage so that I could sing it at some point during the show.

He was surprised and quickly agreed.

I also explained how I planned to donate the MeTube and Spokify monetization from the song to the orphanage, as well as donate the MeTube vlog monetization to them, which he was grateful for, but I realized he had no idea how much it would bring in.

Although I could explain it to him now, I was afraid it would overwhelm him, so I left it until I donated whatever the song and vlog made next month.

After chatting a bit more, he said goodbye to us and went back to taking care of things at the event.

I enjoyed another hour with my family before heading backstage to get ready when Mark and Frank arrived, followed shortly by Jason.

When I told them about my donation idea, they decided that they wouldn’t charge anything today either.

Even Jason said he would record for free after he found out that I would donate the entire cost of the video to the orphanage.

For them, it was their way of helping, which was very much appreciated.

As time went by, more and more people saw my stories and the place got more and more crowded.

Since the concert hadn’t started yet, people used this time to buy food and enjoy the event, but when I took a look at the audience, I noticed that at least 50 more people had arrived in the last few minutes, and with more people arriving every moment, it was quite possible that we could fill the place.

“Are you confident about your new song?” Mark asked curiously, since they hadn’t heard my music yet.

“Yeah… it might not be a viral song because this song doesn’t have the style to go viral, but it’s a great song.” I replied.

After a few minutes of preparation, with everything ready, we finally went on stage to start the show.

Since it was a small event, there wasn’t even a master of ceremonies, but since I was used to such environments from the weddings I’ve performed at, I wasn’t nervous and smiled as I looked at the audience.

“Good afternoon, everyone.” I said in a calm voice as I looked around.

Just by looking around, I could already see more than 100 people at the event, with more arriving every moment.

When they heard my voice on stage, hundreds of heads turned in my direction, with younger people, both men and especially women, getting excited when they saw me and coming closer to the stage.

“I am very happy to see all of you here today. I want you to know that for an event like the one we’re participating in, everyone who contributes, even if it’s just eating a small piece of meat or drinking a can of soda, is already helping the orphanage a lot and contributing to building a better structure for the children. I started talking to people.

I knew from my experience that it wasn’t the best idea to start singing on stage before talking to people, and with my [Stage Presence Lv 17], I was able to attract people’s attention and curiosity much more easily.

[Stage Presence Lv 17:

Effect: Develops a better understanding of stage presence techniques, increasing the singer’s confidence and ability by 17%. This includes mastery of posture, body expression, audience interaction, and emotional control during performances. It also improves lyric retention and practical application during performances by 17%. Gain a tangible advantage by absorbing the fundamentals of captivating and engaging stage presence].

Even though the Stage Presence skill was created with a focus on the singing part, even the part where I was just interacting with the audience was already very good.

“So, to start the show on this Sunday afternoon, I thought I’d start by singing one of my first songs, my song that I feel feels most like a Sunday, and to thank those who got out of bed to come and help… The Lazy Song!” I said, giving Mark the cue to start counting out the rhythm with his drumsticks, and Frank and I played along.

🎼🎶🎤

Today I don’t feel like doing anything

I just want to lay in my bed

Don’t feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone

Cause today I swear I ain’t doing nothing

🎼🎶🎤

As soon as I started singing the lazy song, the people who came near the stage and knew me started singing along with me, so that other people’s enthusiasm was also affected and more people’s curiosity was aroused.

There were several families who didn’t know me, but after hearing the lyrics of The Lazy Song and seeing how excited people were to see me, it infected them and made them interested and pay attention to the show as well.

The loud music from the speakers also served to attract the attention of the neighbors, who gradually arrived with curiosity and took the opportunity to stay for the free concert and eat some barbecue.

I decided to sing only my more upbeat songs, leaving my sadder songs like Numb and In The End out of the repertoire, as the lyrics of these songs wouldn’t fit very well with the current environment, so this show was quite lively.

With each song I sang, the crowd in the venue got bigger and more people came up to the stage to see me perform.

As it was more of a family atmosphere, there were a lot of children on their parents’ shoulders to get a better view, which was a very new sight for me.

“Now I have a surprise that I’ve prepared for today, I’d like to ask Ben to help me gather the children from the orphanage closer to the stage as I have a message for them.” I said with a smile on my face, arousing the curiosity of the other people who began to look at me expectantly.