I'm very nervous performing so I need to have the songs memorized completely. I tend to close my eyes, not from "soulfulness', but out of fear and a need to concentrate on the song. My partner does not have all the songs memorized and uses a binder so we put it between us. This means that I open my eyes more and last night tried harder to look at the audience and not stare absently at the open book (I'm a sucker for printed words, I'll read anything, anywhere except on a moving vehicle). I've sung in choirs where we all had our folders out and I used the music as a reminder for some tricky timings etc. Also in the choiurs we went through a lot of repertoire wery quickly and it would have taken a lot more time than I had to memorize everything completely. I've seen performers with cheat sheets and without them, it hasn't bothered me at all. The only thing that bugs me is the person who approaches the microphone with a piece of paper in their hands, bends their head to the words and reads in a flattened reading voice "Thank you ladies and gentlemen for attending our performance this evening..."