I think nerves are a result of two things: comfort with your material, and comfort with your environment. If one is secure, you can mess with the other a bit.

In the more familiar the environment, I can experiment with material or do a song that I have not sung for a while. My brain isn't muddled and I can generally think while singing. A little bit of cutting edge can make the gig interesting.

However, if I don't know the environment, and I would include many types of events for this.... ie a new concert venue, a session in another city, a company talent show, or singing for my great aunt's Thanksgiving dinner party, I do only extremely familiar- sing it in your sleep material. For a concert, I try to go on stage before and just get the feel for singing, or peacefully standing at the mic in the venue.

In most situations, I have a tendancy to get nervous for the BIG song. The one ballad I get to sing unaccompannied in the evening. I struggle with my nerves, but I often use a particular thought to drive away the heebees.... Though it is not verbalized, it is basically that I only have one chance to give them this present of the song. I think about the meaning of the song going from me to them and going in. I also intellectually remember to work on breath control while singing the Biggie. I've learned the hard way that my breath is always the first thing to go.

I hope this is helpful, a couple of new thoughts for you.

Claire

PS I love the banana idea