I've thought about this since I first saw it...and I think it's somehow in the performer's Attitude. If the person has a kind of Fuck You, I'm Good attitude, the audience will notice.

I've been to several contests with both open and blind judging. In an Open Judge they can see and watch the performer. The Attitude seldom wins. In a Blind Judge, they can only hear the actual contestant. Even the back up is blocked and in that case I've seen Mr/Ms. Show Off win more than once because the Attitude just doesn't come thru the headphones.

Basically, the Attitude is, I'm one hell of a lot better than anybody else so if you don't like me, just PISS OFF. Comes across in body language, eye contact, physical responses to the audience, etc.

I even saw one fiddle contest contestant turn his back on the audience to fiddle with his instrument....thus, off mic. It was rather obvious that ALL he cared about was winning, NOT performing.

There is also a HUGE difference between a live performance and one for a recording studio. Some people just never get that. If you want to be a Hit for a live audience, you'd best care that they are there.