Recap blog opener by Hive Backstage

---
name: recap-blog-opener
description: Draft a 250-word recap blog opener from setlist and crowd notes that opens with a scene, lands a clear editorial angle on why the show mattered, and sets up the rest of the long-form piece without summarizing it. Trigger whenever an operator says "write the recap blog opener", "draft the long-form recap", "we need a blog post from the [artist] show", "open the recap blog with something", or pastes setlist plus crowd notes and asks for the longer-form piece for the venue's content surface. Also trigger when the operator says they are turning a show into editorial content rather than a short email recap. This is the long-form content skill for the post-show cycle. Distinct from the recap email (use `post-show-recap-email`) and the social pack (use `post-show-social-pack`). Use it when the show warrants a blog post on the venue's site, the Backstage Dispatch, or another editorial surface.
---
# Recap blog opener

## What this skill does

This skill writes the 250-word opener of a longer recap blog. The opener is the highest-leverage section in the piece. It earns the rest of the read or it loses it. The job is narrow: open on a scene, name the editorial angle that makes this show worth writing about, and set up the body of the piece without summarizing it.

The opener is not the whole blog. The operator finishes the piece themselves or runs the rest through a separate skill. This skill produces the front of the post that decides whether anyone reads on.

## When to trigger

Trigger when an operator says they want a long-form recap blog rather than the short email. Trigger on "recap blog opener", "long-form recap", "blog post from the show", "write the opener for the recap", "[Backstage Dispatch or venue site] post about the show", or when the operator pastes setlist plus crowd notes and asks for editorial copy.

Do not trigger for the short recap email (use post-show-recap-email), the multi-post social pack (use post-show-social-pack), or for venue news posts that are not recap content. This skill is the editorial opener only.

## Required inputs

Ask for these in one message before drafting.

Artist name and show date. Confirm spelling.

The setlist. Full if available, partial if not. The opener does not need every song, but the setlist is the editorial anchor.

Three to five real moments from the night. More than the recap email needs because the opener has more room to work with. Examples: a song the room sang loudly, a guest, a cover, an arrangement choice, a stretch where the band locked in, a story the artist told, a quiet song that landed, the support's standout. Real moments only.

The editorial angle the operator wants the blog to argue. Examples: this artist is in a career-best run and the room felt it; the artist's last visit was the small room and this one was the big one; the support act will be a headliner by next year; the setlist read like a deep-cut night; the room was younger than the venue is used to and the show changed shape because of it. Editorial angles are not "the show was great". Editorial angles are arguments.

If the operator does not give you an angle, ask before drafting. The opener cannot land without an angle to land on.

The target word count for the full blog, so the opener knows how much to set up. Default: full blog is 800 to 1,200 words.

The publishing surface. The venue's blog, the Backstage Dispatch, a partner publication. The voice flexes slightly by surface.

## Voice

Read the venue voice profile if one exists. The recap blog is the editorial surface where the venue's voice is loudest. Pull the voice samples from the profile and write toward them.

Also read the `hive-backstage-voice` skill if the publishing surface is the Backstage Dispatch or any Hive Backstage surface. That voice is specific and the opener should match it.

Default Backstage operator voice if no profile exists: declarative, punchy, scene-first. Short complete sentences with rhythm. The opener should sit next to the strongest blog the venue has published and look like it belongs.

Hard voice rules:

No em-dashes. Use commas, semicolons, or periods.

No fragment chains. Short complete sentences are good. Three noun-phrase fragments in a row is not.

No fabricated specifics. The opener pulls from the operator's notes. Every detail in the opener is something the operator told you.

No generic recap-blog openers. "Last night was one for the books" is the failure pattern. The opener names the specific moment or the specific argument the rest of the piece will defend.

No throat-clearing. "When [Artist] took the stage at [Venue] on [Date]" is filler. Open on the scene or the argument.

## Structure

The opener has three beats. Lead, argument, hand-off. Each beat is one short paragraph.

Lead. Two to three sentences. Open on a specific moment the operator gave you. The moment can be from the show, from the crowd, from the support set, from outside the venue, from anywhere the operator anchored it. The point is to put the reader in a scene without throat-clearing. A line of dialogue from the artist works. A line about what the crowd did works. A specific song with a specific reaction works.

Argument. Two to three sentences. The editorial angle. The opener stakes the argument the rest of the piece will defend. This is the line that gets quoted in the Backstage Dispatch teaser. The argument needs to be the venue's argument, not a hedged review.

Hand-off. Two to three sentences. The bridge into the body of the piece. The hand-off names what the rest of the blog will cover (the setlist run, the arc of the night, the support, the room, the artist's catalog) without summarizing it. Think of it as the road sign for the reader.

## Length cap

The opener is 240 to 260 words. Under 240 and it does not have room to land the argument. Over 260 and it is doing the body's work.

Word count is a hard constraint because the next skill that runs (or the writer finishing the piece) needs the opener to leave room for the rest of the blog.

## Common failure modes to avoid

Generic scene-openers. "The lights went down and the crowd erupted" is the AI-default. Pull from the operator's actual notes.

Reviewer voice. The opener is editorial but it is not a review. The venue is not handing out star ratings. The argument is "this show mattered because" not "this show was good because".

Argument without anchor. The argument needs a moment to point at. If the argument is "the artist is in a career-best run", the opener gives one specific moment that backs the claim.

Hand-off that summarizes. The hand-off is a road sign, not a recap. If the hand-off says "in the rest of this piece I'll cover the setlist, the support, the room, and the next show", the rest of the blog has nothing to do.

Burying the setlist. The setlist does not need to appear in the opener as a list, but at least one song reference is in the lead. Recap blogs without a single song name read as generic.

Treating the show as a setup for the venue's brand. The blog is about the show. The venue's brand comes through in the voice, not the content.

## What to deliver

Return:

The 250-word opener, in the structure above (lead, argument, hand-off).

A short note at the end naming what the rest of the blog should cover next, in two or three sentences. The note functions as the brief for whoever writes the body. Do not draft the body. The opener is the deliverable.

If any input felt thin (especially the editorial angle), name what would tighten the next pass. Do not walk through every word choice.