Best settings for nikon d5000? - 1

I'm very interested in taking photos at events (concerts, raves, etc.) of bands, djs, and people. I have a nikon d5000 and an sb-600 flash.
I don't have any expirience shooting in dark settings.
I'm wondering about the best settings (when the dial is set to "p") to use on the camera, (and the flash), to take pictures of a band from on and off stage. And also the best way to take photos of people at raves or concerts.

The best setting are to not set it to P. Set it to M. Open to 2.8 and push 3200. You don't want to use flash, it kills the atmosphere and distracts people. Maybe, bounce card at a very low power for the foreground but definitely not P mode.

I agree with Applepocalypse, but if you don't use M, use Aperture Priority(A). This allows you to set a larger aperture for low light situations while automatically adjusting to the correct shutter speed. Also increasing the ISO speed is essential to getting the shutter speed needed when shooting handheld to reduce blur.