show etiquette

Yeah, I've completely given up on asking people not to talk at shows or movies or whatever, because the seething rage I've gotten in return is far more upsetting than just dealing with it.

I still have to give Bernard Butler credit all those years ago when he did a solo show in LA -- 1998 or so -- when he pretty much told all the music industry hacks at the bar to shut the hell up, to the mass applause of the audience. Said hacks then seethed about it via stories from friendly journalists to make it seem like Butler was the rude one.

I saw the Dan Deacon ensemble in Milwaukee, and if you've ever seen his show, you'd know they get some really bizarre opening acts. This time there was this collective of like 7 guys, all with these weird electronic instruments (and maybe one guy with a bass guitar) that played this long, droney junk for like 20 minutes at a pop. No rhythm or melody, just dense noise. Of course if you're at a Dan Deacon show you're expecting to see something weird but all you could think was "what the hell are they doing up there?" At the end of the second piece I shouted, "ONE MORE TIME!!" which got a laugh but the group ACTUALLY PLAYED ONE MORE becuause of it, and it sounded just like the other two!! I thought the audience was going to kill me!!

do you remember what they were called?

Arcade Fire

who the fuck are theY?

Just looked it up...they were called Teeth Mountain

The other opener was Future Islands and they were really good.

Is it me or does anyone else want to deck people who spend entire shows screaming out the title of one song over and over in hopes the band plays it. It's usually less an honest attempt to get the band to play it and more to show off how 'hardcore' a fan they are...especially since most setlists are pre-determined.

When I saw Savatage in 2001 this asshole kept screamong "fuck this, play SIRENS" over and over until they finally played it halfway through the show. It's like he paid 30 dollars to hear one three minute song.

Also at Deicide last year this fan kept screaming for one song...problem was they'd played it already. Shouts of "THEY ALREADY FUCKING PLAYED IT" had little deterrence.

The entire front row at the School Of Seven Bells show last night consisted of photographers (at maximum I counted 14). And I'm not counting folks with cameraphones either - these were all multi-thousand buck rigs with big lenses, etc. I've never seen that many photographers at a show before (outside of like of something like U2 or the Stones) and I had to wonder how many of them were actual music photographers and how many were there just to perv on the Deheza sisters.

I was just about to complain about the exact same thing at the recent DC show. Some pervy guy immediately in front of me (I was 2nd row) was taking pictures of her every 15 seconds for the entire show. Snap, wait, admire the pic. Focus, snap, wait, admire. He must have taken 200+ photos.

xpost

I'd like to hear that fan at a Bal Sagoth gig.

"PLAY THE SPLENDOUR OF A THOUSAND SWORDS GLEAMING BENEATH THE BLAZON OF THE HYPERBOREAN EMPIRE PART THREE!!!"

Lol I totally forgot about Bal-Sagoth. Fun stuff.

Yea death metal shows make it harder to shout requests for me. Like I would feel really mortified screaming "ENTRAILS RIPPED FROM A VIRGIN'S CUNT!"

Haha, is that Regurgitator?

cannibal corpse

no hang on - there was a band that began with R who had brilliant Carcass meets Anal Cunt song titles... I forget their name. Like Regurgitator, but not?

AG - did you ever see the episode of Monkey Dust where the divorced Dad goes to see his son who has moved to Newcastle. He brings him a present of the latest Now! compilation, and the kid's reaction is: "Noo forty-two? I only listen'a Speed Metal. Yas got any Cannibal Corpse?".

It's like he paid 30 dollars to hear one three minute song.

Lots of people do exactly this, sadly. I remember seeing a Smashing Pumpkins show during the Mellon Collie tour where a row of eight people in front of us sat on their asses, talking and bitching about how crappy it was for the entire show, stood up and cheered for "1979", and then promptly left.

i thought teeth mountain was a highly rhythmic everybody-plays-drums drone band? i actually really liked the stuff on their myspace.

Hmmm yeah looking them up it seems like there were drums. Still didn't find the music terribly distinctive or very good. I might have them confused with someone who opened at a different Dan Deacon show, who basically breathed into a microphone for like 15 minutes at once and modified his voice with random electronic shit

AG - did you ever see the episode of Monkey Dust where the divorced Dad goes to see his son who has moved to Newcastle. He brings him a present of the latest Now! compilation, and the kid's reaction is: "Noo forty-two? I only listen'a Speed Metal. Yas got any Cannibal Corpse?".

― chandelier falling through a bar in a batman costume (dog latin)

I dont even know what Monkey Dust is!

teeth mountain were the judge judy dead cat people, right?

Is it me or does anyone else want to deck people who spend entire shows screaming out the title of one song over and over in hopes the band plays it.

I once read an interview with JAMC's Jim Reid complaining about how there was always some drunken idiot at Glasgow gigs shouting for "Vegetable Fuckin Man!" between songs. A few weeks later I was that drunken idiot :(

Um, Jim Reid? That was you, that was...

last week this one freakin tiny girl pushed her way to the front at some show, in an small club, to take pictures of the band with her freakin IPAD

prob one of the most ridiculous things I've seen so far

I hate the worthless fucking life-failures who record an entire show on their little digital camera. They usually have to hold it up like a foot above their heads, so if you're standing behind them, you have to look at a little TV screen the entire show. I've seriously considered just slapping it from their hands and when they turn around just staring them down.

so not cool

I've seriously considered just slapping it from their hands and when they turn around just going http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

whiney imagine that but with an ipad

like there were people standing around recording the show on their iphones all weirded out by it

yeah but sometimes it's fun to see your show on youtube the next day.

I would not feel the least bit guilty after "accidentally" knocking it out of her hands and stepping on it a few times.

i rely on these ppl so i can see shows i was at on youtube the next day

i roll my eyes at people who pay more attention to capturing the show on their phone than to the show itself but i'll take a thousand of them over the loud talkers (and for that matter over the tall, oblivious people who stand in front of you just as you thought you;d found a nice sightline)

man, i hate people

gonna bring my macbook & use the isight camera next time i go to a show

hahah

Only if you livestream it for us markers!

i got ur back www.ustream.tv

I'm just going to bring a full length mirror to the show

wait what band are we doing this for

well its like, i dont really care that these people dont know how to enjoy a show. like i can enjoy it and then be like, omg this new song they did was so good to my friend alicia and make her watch youtube videos the next day. everybody wins. except for like the people who miss the show because they were filming it and the people who couldnt get tickets because it was sold out and the band who have to look at a row of cameras. and i guess my friend alicia.

I'm just going to bring my desk, chair, laptop, and snacks to my next live show so I can sit just like how I would when I watch it on youtube the next day.

pretty much everyone at shows i go to are cool. this one time a girl asked me to stop smoking a joint at an acid mothers temple show. that was probably the worst, but she had asthma so i couldn't not do it, i just gestured at the stage and threw my hands up in exasperation like are you even AWARE of where we ARE right now

someone took a video of me playing a show a while ago & watching it was v instructive actually, made me realize what a dork i look like when i play shows

I don't really care about ppl who film things or take pictures, I'm tall and will help you take a pic if you're short, I don't really have a uniform viewpoint on show etiquette really, but I try to act less like the dick I know I've been when I was younger

(and for that matter over the tall, oblivious people who stand in front of you just as you thought you;d found a nice sightline)

we're often not being oblivious so much as cruel

oh god people who blow fag smoke in your face >>>>:(

wat

Two whammies. The first was at a rare US show by the Bats. I was so excited to see them. So was the dude behind me, who decided to do one of those crazy loud finger whistles about a foot from my ear. Without even thinking, I whipped around and angrily yelled at him to shut the fuck up. He was just a little dude (like me) who clearly didn't consider that someone might like the sound of the band more than his loud whistle. He meekly apologized and didn't do it again.

The other one was better, one of my all-time favorite anecdotes. I went to see Kathleen Edwards at a smallish club. I was standing in the back. This dude and his friends were talking near me.

Girl: So, did you bring your harmonica?
Dude: Nah, not tonight.
Other dude: What harmonica?
Girl: Oh, you don't know? Dude's jammed with Dylan, Dave Matthews, Blues Traveler...

I started eyeing this alleged all-star harmonica jammer when it the gist of their conversation suddenly struck me: this asshat brings his harmonica to shows and plays along in the crowd! I can't imagine anything more hellish, and that includes seeing Blues Traveler and DMB.

idk im making an effort to not be annoyed by everyone and everything i guess