How to prepare yourself for a gig?

It got my attention that when I had my first gig I was so unprofessional. I didn't know anything about performing and the experience was nice and challenging, but as it says in that song of the group Faces: "I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger". So, I'm going to share with you some little advice that I found in the way, and I hope it will help you in your next presentation.

1. First of all, don't, please don't perform if you haven't practiced at all. You will have a bad time if you don't know the songs or if you just barely know them. This may seem a little obvious but it is the best pease of advice you can have, I swear.  

2. Bring all the drumsticks that you can carry on your bag. Also, place them in strategic points where you know you can lose them of your hands. You know your songs better than anybody and you we all know accidents can happen, so don't worry if you need to take and extra pair of sticks. 

3. Never start playing if you don't feel set up. It is better to take a little time to fix every detail with your drums and the position of the drum throne or your cymbals, than making mistakes all night because you wanted to start earlier. I can assure you, an audience prefers to wait a little longer than hearing an awful presentation. 

4. Always see the band. If you don't have the greatest audio you should always look for your bandmates to see in which part you are and keep on following the structure of the song. 

5. And finally, interact with the audience. The least important thing is that you're in the back. Neil Peart, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Phill Collins, Tommy Lee, etc, you have some great teachers in them, so just watch their videos and take some of their actions with the audience and improve them in your presentations, you'll leave the gig as an absolute professional.