etiquette-wise, I agree that the behavior described is annoying & stupid. Personally, unless the show had designated seating, or I had camped out stage-side from the beginning of the gig to get a prime viewing spot, I would likely just shuffle my placement in the crowd a bit & let someone else deal with them.
That said, I do love the fact that manned up & got stared down at a Girls show.
― Screeching Weerasethakul (Pillbox), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:04 (fourteen years ago) link
sarge ilu for graemlin
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:06 (fourteen years ago) link
they was wrong and a reasonable motherfucker would have moved
they was dicks
word-- really this thread was just so i could get on some andy rooney soapbox
― jacka in the box (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:09 (fourteen years ago) link
since i'm a short dude i kind of get attached to any position where i have a good sightline -- i was kind of on some costanza shit tbh but there's never really the threat of physical harm on seinfeld
― jacka in the box (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:10 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.virtualsasha.com/images/Andy_Rooney.jpgGET ON MY LEVEL
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:10 (fourteen years ago) link
yo is it true dickhead got sonned by a j0rdan after a etiquette beef??????
― Screeching Weerasethakul (Pillbox), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:12 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/son.gif
― jacka in the box (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 07:13 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think you were being a dick, but people shouting into each other's ears like that during songs at a regular club show is as common as people lifting up their cell phones to take pictures. It can be annoying, but it's something that so many people do, it might come across to the people you called out, if they go to shows more often, that you're being oversensitive and/or don't get out much.
Moving is generally the best course of action, though it sucks if you have a good spot and the place is packed enough so that it's hard to find another good spot.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 09:07 (fourteen years ago) link
j0rdan i don't want to live in a world where it is okay with talking loudly through a show: its so crazy rude, and shows such selfish disregard for anyone in the room who might want to hear the music, that it bums me out big time when it happens.
i also almost got in a fight, at a magnetic fields show, in such circumstances about a decade ago. this guy and two girls were singing through all the 69 Love Songs material, which was kind of annoying but i felt like a grouch for getting vexed, because hey they're just having a good time. but then they started talking loudly during the songs they didn't know, and my then-gf was getting visibly enraged, so i stood up (we were seated, they were stood behind us) and said, hey, do you mind not talking during the songs? i was real polite abt it, btw.
anyways, the guy, who seemed kind of an upper class ponce if his diction and accent were any clue, got all pouty and said, "why don't you fuck off home and listen to the record there?" which upped my vexation levels a thousandfold, and i said that since i'd bought tickets to see the show, why didn't he fuck off home and have his conversation there?
i sat down at this point, and they pretty much shut up, but between songs i could hear him lisping about how he was going to smack me at the end of the show. i don't think i've been in a real fight since i hit double figures, and thought i could probably 'take him' if it came down to it, but still didn't fancy a scrap. the show ended and i stood up, and the guy and his friends abruptly left w/out saying anything, and an old lady came up and thanked me for shutting them up, but it was a lame scene mostly.
i know, wite guy almost sonned at a mag fields show over a loud-talking beef...
― preferred method is to beef w/ ned raggett (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 09:47 (fourteen years ago) link
^had a similar experience at one of the 69 love songs shows. seemed like a bunch of people were only there to hear the one about bunny rabbits (which they loudly sang along to) and talked incessantly through the rest
― trembling blue knees (electricsound), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 09:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Talking during songs is inexcusable, as is bellowing tunelessly along (unless it's that kind of gig, y'know Pogues or suchlike). I don't know if this has got any better or worse in my many years of going to see live bands, but it certainly happens more if an artist is on an upward career curve, or is in some flavour-of-the-month phase just because the shows are full of people who aren't fans as such, or who've been dragged along etc. Bottom line though is that it's incredibly rude both to the performer(s) and other people who have paid to be there.
As noted, yr never going to meet with anything approaching a polite response if any attempt is made to shut them up. Disgusting savages, all of them.
Something else that pisses me off is when people who have been blessed with the genetic gift of tallness choose to stand directly in front of me and/or Mrs A even though we've staked a claim in a good spot early on. I'm only 5'10" so when some fucker who is well over 6 foot barges in my view is ruined. As is my mood.
― Bill A, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 10:24 (fourteen years ago) link
My enjoyment of a Tindersticks show a couple of years ago was pretty much ruined by one girl who talked loudly throughout the entire show, including the quiet songs. Stuart Staples doesn't normally say much to the audience but on this occasion he was moved at the end to say "it’s been great playing for you… except for that woman down there." But she didn't hear him. She just kept on talking.
― anagram, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 10:34 (fourteen years ago) link
genetic gift of tallness
I am five foot nothing and while I don't think this gives me an instant right to be at the front or anything (nor do I particularly want to any more, for most gigs I am at) I am amazed every gig at how people over a foot taller than me will arrive, note my presence, and then stand exactly in front of me. Happens even if the room is almost empty, though at least then they can be sidestepped (until the next lot). If they seem into the band that's one thing, but if they then get bored and chat and twitter all evening, fuck those guys
(sometimes I think indie women are shorter and less assertive than average and indie guys are taller and more oblivious than average, and curse the cruel fate that throws 10 of us and 200 of them into every gig together. this and other women-be-shopping observations are all I have to think about when I keenly arrive at a gig at the advertised door time to find that it doesn't start for 1.5 hours and it's too dark to reread the free month-old listings rag, etc)
― canna kirk (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 11:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Back to the thread topic, those guys were jerks, don't be intimidated by them maybe going to more shows than you, most regular gig-goers I've known wd agree. Though I've never seen anything good come of a confrontation at the time, but I'd like to think they go home and think "I guess we were a bit annoying" and don't do it again. Past experience suggests not though.
(Once the hippest local band included a guy who was somehow able to get guestlisted for everything and would bellow the same injoke repeatedly at every band who came to town. So glad that guy left town.)
― canna kirk (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 11:16 (fourteen years ago) link
you should never be made to feel like you're in the wrong by asking for a little courtesy and consideration.
― m the g, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 11:19 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost: I remember an old acquaintance telling us about the time that she and her friends were shushed at a Tindersticks gig.
"It was SO RUDE! How DARE they tell us what to do? We were at the back, so they could have just moved forwards!"
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 11:54 (fourteen years ago) link
The worst ones are when the chatter reaches critical mass, and everyone gives up and starts doing it themselves. As someone said upthread, this happens most often when the act is at the "flavour of the month" stage. I've witnessed it at Goldfrapp (around the time of "Ooh La La"), at Rodrigo Y Gabriela, and - perhaps more deservedly, because it was a ditchwater-dull show anyway - at Seasick Steve.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 12:01 (fourteen years ago) link
a guy who was somehow able to get guestlisted for everything and would bellow the same injoke repeatedly at every band who came to town
"FREEBIRD!"?
― Bill A, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 12:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Have confronted people about this more times than I care to remember. A bit of chat is fine - it's a night out, after all; and chatting at the bar is fine - it's the bar. But talking all the way through a show when you're standing mid-crowd is unacceptable. I rarely get threatened, though, by virtue of being very tall and not at all skinny. And because by the time I tip over into telling them to be quiet, my rage is beyond containment. As a tall person, agree with those shorter than me who complain about the behaviour of tall latecomers fighting their way into the middle of the crowd regardless of who's behind me. When accompanied by someone short, I have been known to poor beer down the backs of those who come in very late and stand in front without paying any attention. Which makes me as much of an asshole as them.
― ithappens, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 12:12 (fourteen years ago) link
The situation was best handled at a Kathryn Williams show in a small stand-up venue, circa 2001, where the chatter had reached critical mass by the third song. (The same crowd had already talked right over the support slot from Turin Brakes.) The venue was jam-packed, and KW's self-admitted fear of crowds in enclosed spaces was kicking in. Between songs, a young guy in front of me motioned to KW that he wanted a word, so she asked him up on stage.
"I've got a request. Can everyone who's here to catch up with their mates over a drink please FUCK OFF DOWNSTAIRS so the rest of us can watch the show?"
Sustained applause. Total silence for the rest of the gig.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 12:17 (fourteen years ago) link
I am v tall and try to be aware of getting in the way of shorter people, but it's often quite difficult to find anywhere to stand that isn't in someone's way. If I'm at somewhere like the Forum or Shepherd's Bush Empire I'll just stand in front of the mixing desk so there's no-one behind me.
Or I find some other tall bastard and stand behind him cos there's usually space there cos no-one else can see. But that can lead to a huge clump of lanky gits which probably just makes it worse.
But if I am there it is because I am watching the show not talking to people so pls don't hate me.
― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 12:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Lanky gits do tend to clump, 'tis true...
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 12:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Sorry Colonel, I don't really hate the tall people. 99% of you are fine, just the ones who stand in front - I mean exactly in front like they deliberately lined up elbows, this is what makes it really odd how often it happens - of the smallest person for several metres even when there's plenty of other space, and then don't even seem interested.
I (used to) go to a lot of gigs more or less out of curiosity, so if I'm there just to see what's what and someone who likes the band wants to stand in front of me, no problem there. Though I tend to lurk near the back unless I like what I'm hearing or am really excited to see them. Actually there's often a spot at the very back where the shallower angle lets you see one or two band members between the heads, which is more than we shortarses get from most of the crowd.
― canna kirk (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:04 (fourteen years ago) link
I go to tons of shows and it drives me nuts when everyone seems to be talking during the bands, but refreshingly I don't seem to see it super often -- maybe it's the shows I go to (either so small that there's not enough of the audience to out-chatter the band, or so big that the band drowns out anyone who is talking). I'd say what Jordan did was avoidable but I kinda applaud him for doing it, I totally fantasize about doing that kind of thing but never do. closest I got was at a movie once when a guy would not stop talking next to me, and I turned to him like I was going to say something important or friendly and just went 'SHUT THE FUCK UP' and amazingly he did for the rest of the movie, which was such a great moment.
― goodness gracious great walls o gina (some dude), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link
If you are in an assigned seat and can not move, then yeah, tell them to stfu.
If you can move, then move. always easiest first best choice.
― nicky lo-fi, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I turned to him like I was going to say something important or friendly and just went 'SHUT THE FUCK UP'
heh. I did this too, at a seated GYBE gig. the exact same words, the exact same effect.
I genuinely intended to be polite to the endlessly chattering gimps next to me, but all my pent-up rage just fell out of my face.
― m the g, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:26 (fourteen years ago) link
The first time Brian Wilson did Pet Sounds in London - the OPENING FUCKING NIGHT, his first involved gig here since before the old queen died and all - there were two fellas a couple of rows bag talking at normal conversational volume throughout. Finally leapt out of my seat and pleaded with them to let the music talk. One of them told me he'd been waiting 40 years for this night and I was not going to ruin it for him by making him be quiet. That he had paid for his ticket and he intended to savour every minute however he chose.WTF do you say to people like that, who know they're ruining it for others but completely don't give any sort of a fuck?
― ithappens, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:42 (fourteen years ago) link
killing's too good for 'em...
― preferred method is to beef w/ ned raggett (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Typical Londoners. You wouldn't get that anywhere else in the UK.
― anagram, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 13:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Hard to know how much of an asshole one will be. I loathe bullying, so the staring-down bs just makes me want to goad them into action. The key is for them to swing, and you not be embarrassed to dodge or back off, so that it's obvious to security that those people need to be kicked out, and you get to stay. I've only accomplished that twice in 25 yrs of shows. Usually they'll back off. Another tactic is to push past them and say you figured they wouldn't mind since they don't seem into the show, ha ha. My best experiences are showing up early and staying right up front. If I come late, I hang in the back, since I'm 6'1"+. Also, it's helped that bands I've seen lately are way too loud to even attempt to talk over.
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:13 (fourteen years ago) link
I have heard people complain that they went to a gig where the band was so loud that they couldn't even have a decent conversation...
― m the g, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:14 (fourteen years ago) link
i prefer talking to people over going to concerts but its pretty lame that these people are paying $15 to talk in a loud bar
― max, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Stevie ... they were Glaswegians who'd come down to London for the opening night.
― ithappens, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:16 (fourteen years ago) link
last gig I went to (and I don't get to many these days) featured someone shouting I LOVE THIS SONG! repeatedly throughout about three quarters of the songs. AAAAAAAH.
― FC Tom Tomsk Club (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, right. Good job you didn't try and fight them, then. Although, my name's not Stevie. xp
― anagram, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Sorry anagram. Misread which post I was replying to.
― ithappens, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:22 (fourteen years ago) link
I was not going to ruin it for him by making him be quiet. That he had paid for his ticket and he intended to savour every minute however he chose.
This level of selfish asshattery just boggles my brain. What a frightful human being.
At most other events (theatre, cinema, etc), you'd be able to get an attendant to give them them "you're spoiling it for other patrons" warning, but when faced with that kind of gibbering selfishness I doubt even that would work.
The biggest problem for me is that the talking itself is super distracting, then yr own irritation adds to this, THEN one's indignance and rage takes over with a final result that you're completely removed from the moment of enjoying the music, and it can take an age to get back into that mindset EVEN IF the yapping fuckwit does shut up when asked to. Which they rarely do, ime.
― Bill A, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Last year I went to see Neko Case at a seated show, and one girl in the audience was yelling shit loudly at the stage after every song -- nonsense stuff like "Neko, I want to have your baby!" to which Neko rightly responded with, "Uh, I think you're a little confused" -- until Neko finally asked her to please not ruin it for everyone else. Audience girl then called her a bitch, so Neko stopped the show and asked security to remove her, to thunderous applause.
― El Poopo Loco (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:29 (fourteen years ago) link
There was a pretty classic discussion about this here several years ago, btw, but no phrases I'm putting into the search engine ("Talking At Live Shows," etc.) are turning anything up. Maybe it was just part of a bigger thread, I'm not sure, but somebody else can find it. Definitely also delved into the phenomenon of tall people standing in front of short people at shows, fwiw.
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Tall people look over the heads in a crowd and go "Oh look there's a hole in the crowd, nobody there!"
So they go into the spot, and see it's populated by shorter people.
And then go "oh. Oh well, it's better than over there" and STAY!
― Mark G, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 14:45 (fourteen years ago) link
The guy in front of you who insists on taking camera phone photos the whole time is just as annoying. I once had to watch an Animal Collective show through the camera of the jerk in front of me because it was packed and I couldn't move.
Also annoying to stand near: the freaky dancer.
Damn hippies.
― Sam Weller, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 15:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Dealt with to some extent on this thread (but apparently there was an earlier one that talked about it more, because I mention it here too):
people who doesnt like to go to shows , although they love music, and live in a place where it's available - c/d?
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
I actually really enjoy between song heckling, especially if it's at all witty. Though maybe this girl was just more obnoxious than anything. But if I could be disappointed in Neko case and her fans, if that were at all possible, I might be after reading this.
― Mister Jim, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 19:45 (fourteen years ago) link
I hope I never attend a show with you Master Jim. Between song heckling is almost never "witty".
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
And even if it is, you have to choose your marks. For one thing, you don't do it after every song. For another, Neko Case?
― El Poopo Loco (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 19:51 (fourteen years ago) link
kinda disagree
"you don't rock" and "play the hit" were two of my favorites
when i go to a lot of shows i start to see a lot of the same people, 'specially if it's a trendy act in a small venue. i have sympathy for the idea of concerts as just an extension of your social life. but you should be nowhere near the front and respectful of listeners and if you're a ligger talking loudly i'm not sure i'd step in to save you if it led to your being beaten viciously.
― chronicles of ridic (zvookster), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 19:52 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not saying it can't be witty, but nine times out of ten the heckler thinks he or she is 1,000,000 times more witty than they actually are.
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 19:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Pretty glad I didn't go to the Girls show at teh Blue Note last night tbh
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Though I would have liked to see Smith Westerns
In DC most (if not all) venues post set times on twitter. Very helpful.
― skip, Wednesday, 14 October 2015 18:33 (eight years ago) link
Promoters here don't post set times pretty much ever, and they delay start times waiting for people to show up, which gets into a vicious circle of people not showing up til later and later because bands start later and later. Sorry, fuckers, headliner starting at 1:30 on a weekend is hard to stomach; 1:30 on a weeknight is impossible. i've pretty much stopped going out to shows now. WHERE ARE MY SLIPPERS & BATHROBE?
― hardcore dilettante, Wednesday, 14 October 2015 23:59 (eight years ago) link
yeah where's my bathrobe, good question
― brimstead, Thursday, 15 October 2015 00:04 (eight years ago) link
Are promoters/venues not informing the public of lineup changes becoming a new thing? tonight I was gonna go to a local metal show cos there was an interesting death metal band called Masticator from West Palm coming. So I get there and they ask me who I'm there to see and after I give their name they're like "oh, they...actually won't be here tonight, they bailed". the FB event from the venue still had their name in the title, and the venue had been making posts about the show throughout the day, but all they did was go in and update the show description to remove the name of the band that bailed with no other comment (and then deleted my note warning other concertgoers that they wouldn't be there).
a few months earlier, I went to a touring festival show where the promoters/venue made no comment about two bands that would not be showing up that day and one angry fan posted a seething rebuke on their page as he had driven for hours to just see those two and then promptly peaced and went the fuck back home.
on the one hand, I can see that with festival shows (even if I disagree w/ not making the announcement), esp when the no-shows aren't the headliners, as you always run the risk of not getting the full lineup. but when the 'headliner' of the local show bails, what's with not saying anything and trying to sneak one past people?
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 14 August 2016 07:17 (seven years ago) link
the thing that has been frustrating me about shows for the last few years are the steady stream of rude fucks who decide they deserve to shove by you to get to the front even though you staked your spot out an hour ago.
to the point where I tend to pick shows at places where I know the layout makes that a non-issue. i have mild claustrophobia, I can't focus on a show if I'm constantly being banged into and have to turn my head and let you by. if I decide to tell you to fuck off and block you or tell you to sod off, that's another thing taking me away from the concert I paid for, even though it makes me feel better. one dude banged hard into my shoulder and i nailed him in the head with my still semi-full beer can a few years ago.
so I usually wind up either finding a spot where there's not much traffic, or get up front if I'm early enough. it's not an issue at 98% of the shows I go to, but those 2% frustrate me to the point where I can't enjoy myself.
is this just a 'me' thing or does this aggravate anybody else? I'm not talking about someone who went to take a piss and is coming back to the spot their friend saved them, I mean people who legit are latecomers who want to trudge their way to the front when there's no feasible way to get through and use your body as Jenga pieces.
― Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:24 (four years ago) link
tale as old as time ime
― kinder, Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:43 (four years ago) link
beauty and the beatdown
― Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:43 (four years ago) link
meanwhile, I feel guilty if I'm standing even partially in front of someone who is shorter than me (which is most people).
― Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:44 (four years ago) link
you think you're in a decent spot, then 30 secs before the band comes on this endless stream of fuckers just keeps on coming, culminating in tallest guy in the world stood square in front of me.If there's gonna be jumping, he has a backpack on
― kinder, Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:45 (four years ago) link
and he's holding up his Ipad to video the show
― Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:46 (four years ago) link
this has always happened -minus the iPod - ime and i went to my first show in 1997 (korn, limp bizkit, helmet at the barrowlands in glasgow)
― bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 23:47 (four years ago) link
People see me (a short person) and it’s like a fully lit corridor opens up in front of me. I’m easy to pass so everyone chooses to pass right in front of me. Annoying but I don’t see it changing unless I grow a foot or so taller.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 23 January 2020 00:53 (four years ago) link
otm: has always happened (first show was The Ocean Blue in 1993). I like to stand in the back and off to the side, even though I am fairly short, so I have freedom of movement and my main show partners were all like 6'3" so I took over their blocking people anxiety.
― Yerac, Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:08 (four years ago) link
Lol The Ocean Blue! I won one of their albums off the radio.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:13 (four years ago) link
I'm a tall guy -- my thing is to choose a spot early (around 1/3 of the way back), leaving plenty of time & room for shorter folks to fill in between me & the stage.
― dad genes (morrisp), Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:13 (four years ago) link
(I will also gladly move if asked -- i.e., to make room for someone's friend -- though the strategy seems to work out well.)
― dad genes (morrisp), Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:14 (four years ago) link
Second row or stay home
― calstars, Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:15 (four years ago) link
Yah - there's goofs at shows when I stake a spot (9x outta ten, I'm just looking for best venue sound). I tend to not let it bug me much, but I'd be liar if I didn't say that there's just certain bands I don't see anymore. Sometimes it helps me when I say to a goof, 'hey, I'm recording the show, gimme yr email and I'll make sure ya get a link to torrent or cloud sharing solution' - & that usually chills things out a bit.
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:16 (four years ago) link
the last time I was in a prime show watching spot was because friends wanted to stake out a place so we were upstairs against the railing (terminal 5, terrible venue in ny) and it was humid as shit (august), sold out (pj harvey)and i just had people pressed up against my back the entire night trying to burrow their way past me. It sucked so bad.
― Yerac, Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:20 (four years ago) link
i have the claustrophobia thing as well as the fire thing, so my desirable spots are never near the front (unless the crowd is sparse, which is fairly common).
― sarahell, Thursday, 23 January 2020 01:48 (four years ago) link
― dad genes (morrisp), Wednesday, January 22, 2020 8:13 PM bookmarkflaglink
― dad genes (morrisp), Wednesday, January 22, 2020 8:14 PM bookmarkflaglink
Yea if i am choosing a spot i will typically scan behind me to see who i am standing in front of since i'm tall. I will move over if someone shorter than me is behind me. Sometimes unavoidable but generally I'm a hippie at shows, i just wamt everyone to have fun
― Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 January 2020 02:11 (four years ago) link
Our House of Blues i swear gets oversold. I went to see Meshuggah one night on a Monday, nowhere near sold out, had a blast. Next night, Bad Religion sells the place out. I went onto the floor, all the way to the back.
Once the pit opened up, i couldn't flinch without making physical contact with someone. People's heads brushing my adam's apple, a few accidental head bumps.
I started breathing heavy and then found a spot that opened up when some people vacated the floor so i could at least breathe.
I hate HoB. Even the one in Vegas has the same shitty layout
― Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 January 2020 02:16 (four years ago) link
I'm with J0rdan's original post.
I am sick of being in a good spot watching the music only to hear the loud conversation cut through from people on both sides.
Like why are you even here
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 November 2023 02:41 (four months ago) link
I'm a tall guy -- my thing is to choose a spot early (around 1/3 of the way back), leaving plenty of time & room for shorter folks to fill in between me & the stage.― dad genes (morrisp), Wednesday, January 22, 2020The last show I was at (Liz Phair) was seated, and I was up front (lucky!)… everyone stood when she started playing, and so I did too… but I was super self-conscious about blocking the view of folks behind me. So I sort of stood awkwardly “sideways” most the show, facing the dude to my right, in an effort to minimize my effective surface area. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
― This field is required (morrisp), Thursday, 23 November 2023 04:16 (four months ago) link
(I was in the 2nd row; so if I didn’t stand, I’d be looking the whole time at the butt of the guy who had the front-row center seat.)
― This field is required (morrisp), Thursday, 23 November 2023 04:20 (four months ago) link
the worst 'neighbor' i ever had at a show was at Pulp in i think 1998 (they were touring This is Hardcore). i was lukewarm on the band even then, but being 14 years old my friend and i staked out spots in the front early on. He spent the time grabbing random women by the arm and helping them towards the front (i.e. in front of us), sitting on the floor and setting fire to any litter he could find with his lighter and, towards the end of the show, grabbing the left shoe off my foot and hurling it into the middle of the crowd. I had to wait until the room cleared out to find it. The guy was like the same age i am now.
― Deflatormouse, Friday, 24 November 2023 18:06 (four months ago) link
xpost was it a good butt?
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 November 2023 18:08 (four months ago) link
I always--always--end up close to the woman with the most piercing voice in the venue.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 24 November 2023 18:09 (four months ago) link
I don't mind people acting enthusiastically for the show (as long as you're not bowling me over as a result of your enthusiasm). but like...look, there are tons of bands on any bill I'm not there to see, some I hate. if I have shit to talk about the band or am completely disinterested and want to talk to my friends, I go outside. where I can hear, for one, and where I won't be shouting over the music and ruin something else's time.
any time I'm at any show to see someone that isn't the headliner at this one particular venue, I have to deal with people dicking around in very loud, distracting ways. the other night I would have moved but unfortunately where I was standing was the best available sight-line combined with best area for sound (this venue is very spotty). wanted to be stubborn and say "why should I move, I was here first and shouldn't have to".
I did see something at a show once where this fan was standing near the back, near the merch area, and he was texting, and it was an opening band, and the bass player in the band pointed at him, pantomimed texting with his hands, and flipped off the fan. then when the fan looked confused, did it again. all while still somehow playing the bass. in fan's defense, this was a sprawlingly large venue and he was very far away from the stage and wasn't actually watching the show or obstructing anybody for doing so, but it was hilarious
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 November 2023 18:16 (four months ago) link
Um … fuck that bass player, I suppose. (Or don’t.)
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 24 November 2023 19:38 (four months ago) link
When you’re playing a set on stage, who has time to care about something like that?!? Weird.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 24 November 2023 19:39 (four months ago) link
Yeah, that comes across very entitled and self-important to me. Would the musician have acted the same way if someone in the audience were writing in a notebook?
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 24 November 2023 20:03 (four months ago) link
I saw Jeff Tweedy once call out people for holding their phones at a Wilco show.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 24 November 2023 20:05 (four months ago) link
Roger Waters has a voiceover tell the entire crowd to 'fuck off' right at the beginning of his show nowadays.
― MaresNest, Friday, 24 November 2023 20:40 (four months ago) link
Lol yea I heard that last show
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 November 2023 23:13 (four months ago) link
Pleasant fellow
― calstars, Saturday, 25 November 2023 15:56 (four months ago) link
What the message actually says is "if you like Pink Floyd but not Roger Waters' politics then you can fuck off to the bar." Which I think is something well worth saying.
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Saturday, 25 November 2023 16:21 (four months ago) link
Long show review whose structuring “hook” is the band berating the crowd for a lack of enthusiasm: https://racketmn.com/this-is-the-last-sleater-kinney-show-ill-ever-review
― let’s get intertwined (morrisp), Thursday, 28 March 2024 05:34 (yesterday) link
Oh yeah, saw that review by a former ilxor. Not a good look from Brownstein imho, although it might have been more gentle than "berating"
I’d never been called “tepid” quite so gently in all my life. Granted, Carrie Brownstein hadn’t directed her comment at me specifically; you might even say that I (notebook, pen, working, etc.) had something of an excuse for not exactly kickin’ up my heels, more so than the many paying customers nodding in subdued approbation for Sleater-Kinney at St. Paul's Palace Theatre on Saturday night.
Not that any of them—any of us—had some obligation to go crazy out there, as the singer/guitarist acknowledged even as she noted what she more euphemistically called our “shyness.” When she thanked us “for bringing whatever version of yourself here that you could tonight,” it came off as a genuine (if a tinge Portlandic) attempt to meet a reserved Minnesota audience where they stood.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 28 March 2024 16:47 (yesterday) link
although it might have been more gentle than "berating"Yeah maybe I should’ve said “chiding”
― let’s get intertwined (morrisp), Thursday, 28 March 2024 16:52 (yesterday) link
It’s funny bc when we saw the Breeders recently, the crowd was very tepid. I just chalked it up to “tired Gen Xers,” but the crowd for Liz Phair at the same venue was much more lit.My wife saw Madonna recently (much larger venue), and she said the crowd’s energy collapsed as soon as Madonna came onstage, in a weird way…
― let’s get intertwined (morrisp), Thursday, 28 March 2024 16:55 (yesterday) link
I was at the S-K show, "chiding" would still be far too strong
― soup of magpies (geoffreyess), Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:07 (yesterday) link
My thesaurus is coming up empty for synonyms of criticism milder than chiding, perhaps Sleater-Kinney are admitting that they themselves are the problem?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:36 (yesterday) link
it's just a different vibe with MN audiences
― budo jeru, Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:50 (yesterday) link
I’ve seen plenty of shows in NYC where the crowd is just standing still. Esp for these older bands, are they expecting moshing?
― calstars, Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:56 (yesterday) link
xpost I just saw Unwound in Jersey City on Sunday and was in maybe the most violent mosh pit I've ever seen first hand. I think part of what made it terrifying was that so much of Unwound's whole thing is that many of their songs go from thrashing to more mellow passages very suddenly and then during the mellow parts I would forget that I was still in the pit and then I'd get my bones crunched as the more serious fans were ready to pounce the moment the band went back to thrashing. Super fun show and they played lights out.
On the note of show etiquette, there was an older couple that moved near the pit about halfway through the set (there was at least one older couple in the pit and they were having a blast) and the husband was being really standoffish towards the younger punks who were just having fun. The band played For Your Entertainment to close out the set and the pit opened up for the start of the song. The husband stood defiantly in the middle, refusing to clear out and kind of looked around daring everyone else to do something about it. Then he tried to fight one of the younger punks when the pit closed, but people pulled them away from each other and the old dude left.
I get not wanting to be in a mosh pit, but he very literally walked right into it.
Maybe Sleater-Kinney did expect moshing!
― Ubiquitor, Friday, 29 March 2024 04:21 (four hours ago) link