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concert fools |
ikitnrev
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jul 27, 2002
Posts: 1298
From: D.C. / Virginia
|  Posted: 2004-07-20 05:40 am Permalink
Today's Washington Post had a great and amusing article today about an annoying subspecies of people - the concert fools. These are the discourteous people who disturb the decorum at shows, by doing things like
a) singing along - way too loud
b) constantly screaming out the song they want to hear
c) talking loudly during a show - sometimes even on their cellphone ....
There are other types listed too, and sadly, I have personally experienced every one of them.
The full article can be read here ....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63181-2004Jul19.html
Vern
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Feelin' Zombified
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 15, 2003
Posts: 1328
From: The Exotic Shores of Lake St. Clair
| Posted: 2004-07-20 06:07 am Permalink
FREEBIRD!
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MachTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 16, 2004
Posts: 1363
From: San Diego, CA
| Posted: 2004-07-20 07:37 am Permalink
STAIRWAY!!!!!!
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Geeky Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 15, 2002
Posts: 533
From: Las vegas
| Posted: 2004-07-20 07:54 am Permalink
I like going to concerts with the wife, we've finally started using a hierarchy for determining the likelihood of lousy crowd behavior.
We have started selecting shows based on the likely predominant drug of the crowd.
Ecstacy crowds are polite and friendly. People help make way for each other to walk past and don't litter the floor.
Alcohol crowds are the classic screaming, fighting, barfing, debris jettisoning folks we have grown accustomed to over the last few decades.
Pot crowds like the sway-dance kind of motion and make accomodating gestures and winks at everybody.
Sober crowds - like many punk acts - tend to be sober (as in not innebriated), as I mentioned, and also very energetic. You can pick your energy and physicality level by where you go in the room.
Old sophisticated drunk crowds - Shows like Simon and Garfunkel, Bruce Cockburn, Cowboy Junkies, They Might Be Giants, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt....still get drunks, but the concertgoers are usually concerned about bashing up the Volvo on the way home if they get too loaded. They also seem to act as though they think their bosses are one row back so they behave like they are being supervised. Lotsa jackets with leather elbow pads. How do you act up in a jacket with leather elbow pads?
Anyway, it seems every crowd except the basic alcohol crowd is low on the annoyance scale. Alcohol must be the hardest drug for people to titrate.
Wow, that wandered off topic, apologies!
[ This Message was edited by: Geeky Tiki on 2004-07-20 07:55 ]
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2014
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2004-07-20 09:27 am Permalink
Vern, you opened a can of worms for me here!
This is a huge peeve.
I was at the celebration for the grand opening of Chicago's public park this past weekend.
Thought I'd take in the nice weather Chicago is enjoying this summer, relax in the new outdoor concert venue, and enjoy some Shostakovich and Elgar.
I didn't manage to enjoy (much less hear) any of the music, because most of the audience were talking, laughing, making all sorts of other sundry noises through the whole concert. I'd say 25% of the audience were paying attention to the orchestra. It was really annoying.
At a punk rock show, I would expect the crowd to shout and act as though a riot was in progress, but don't people know that when you're going to see the orchestra, you're supposed to shut the fuck up?
Now Geeky - your observations are interesting. But I think that I wouldn't give the pot smokers so much credit for politeness. I see concerts for a living (I estimate about 2000 to date), and I have noticed that the neo-hippies who go to see 'jam bands' like Phish (and their legions of imitators) are the WORST.
The jam band crowd vandalize the venues more often, make more of a mess, smoke FAR more, are more disrepspectful to the venue staff and the venue itself, and are more likely to pass out, piss in the corner, or sneak their friends in the back door than any other scene: punks, hip hoppers, metal heads, or (pick your favorite formerly subversive musical scene).
This observation isn't based on a few shows - this is based on seeing HUNDREDS of shows, and after a while, I noticed that every time Galactic, Bug Wu, Umphree's McGee, or some other Phish/Dead-type plays, the crowd are a nightmare. Every time.
Oh, and out of the 2000-odd shows I have worked, I'd say that some jackass has yelled out "Freebird" at 1998 of them. It isn't clever, funny, original, or nescessary. I estimate that most of the people who yell it don't know that it's the name of a song by Lynrd Skynrd, and wouldn't realize that their request had been honored if that band indeed started playing it.
If any of you are the Freedbird guy out there, then stop it. Now.
Okay, thanks for letting me rant.
Now, back to TIKI!
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Sam Gambino
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 02, 2003
Posts: 2198
From: www.samgambino.com
| Posted: 2004-07-20 09:57 am Permalink
I had a jerk throw up on me at a Clapton concert in '87 - so drunk he couldn't hold his head up.
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[ This Message was edited by: Sam Gambino on 2005-04-10 11:56 ]
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Geeky Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 15, 2002
Posts: 533
From: Las vegas
| Posted: 2004-07-20 10:17 am Permalink
Hi Tikibars,
My observation is hampered by having avoided jam band shows!
I went to two dead shows in my life.
I only went to the second one to make sure the first one was as bad as I thought.
I have one more obeservation I'd like you to verify, though.
At the Dead show, I saw people with the worst sense of rhythm, ever.
Do all the crowds at jam band shows dance to a random beat that has nothing to do with the music?
________________________
My wife says that the Dead crowd gave me my 'cooties' posture, where I walk around with my hands crossed across my chest, shoulders a little forward - not wanting to touch anything.
The people seemed very nice, though. I don't mean to over-judge.
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McDougall
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 02, 2003
Posts: 489
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
| Posted: 2004-07-20 10:48 am Permalink
I was just wondering were in the heck the weekly hippy bashing thread was.
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martiki
Official Mixologist
Joined: Mar 29, 2002
Posts: 3056
From: http://www.smugglerscovesf.com
| Posted: 2004-07-20 10:54 am Permalink
What happens to me, without fail, is that I get to a show early as hell, sit on a sidewalk for hours (which is no fun in front of the Warfield in SF I assure you), rush in to get the perfect place to watch the show on the floor...and then it turns to shit. Someone who got there 5 minutes before the headliner always pushes in front of you. And that person is always pablusized. (that's a new word meaning "big guy"). So you watch a head for two hours. I mean, I am six feet tall, but there's always some 6'5" guy who shows up at every band I like. Grrr..
As an aside, JT: the most recent show this happened at (last week) was Neil and Tim Finn. I was tempted to yell out "What does the name Split Enz really mean?!" but I showed good concert manners and refrained.
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Feelin' Zombified
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 15, 2003
Posts: 1328
From: The Exotic Shores of Lake St. Clair
| Posted: 2004-07-20 11:11 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2004-07-20 09:27, tikibars wrote:
If any of you are the Freedbird guy out there, then stop it. Now.
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just incase you are hinting in my direction, no I am not that guy. Though I did think it was funny when someone yelled it at a VERY ethnic wedding where 1/2 of the guests did not understand the language of the singer.
BTW, I nominate the air-guitar or air-drummer guy as most annoying.
-Z
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Feelin' Zombified
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 15, 2003
Posts: 1328
From: The Exotic Shores of Lake St. Clair
| Posted: 2004-07-20 11:31 am Permalink
And speaking of "concert fools"...
Back when I worked for a record distributor and was privy to such information, I heard that Patti Smith was going to do a short set at a local small club (I believe as a birthday present for one of the members of REM who were in town that day; he had never seen her live and wanted to) Anyway, a smattering of music industry folk who had gotten wind of the performance started to fill the dancefloor as she was setting up, forcing the Bud-guzzling fratboy types off the floor.
We stood there listening, enjoying, having a good time until I heard a conversation from behind us:
"Who the hell is she?"
"That's the lead singer from Scandal"
"Well when is she gonna sing something we know?"
-Z
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mattfink
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 05, 2003
Posts: 579
From: Detroit
| Posted: 2004-07-20 11:37 am Permalink
careful F.Z.ied, you're dating yourself with the Patti Smith stuff.....lol!!!
Matt
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SallyandJay
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2003
Posts: 111
From: Boise, ID
| Posted: 2004-07-20 11:43 am Permalink
I've been Anglered. After waiting near the stage for the headliner bands, sometimes 2 or more hours, someone manages to stand in front of me. I just wonder what they were thinking when they do this because I'm only 5' and pretty much everyone in the U.S. is taller than me.
Only other annoyance is stuffed animals at gigs. At a recent gig a kid would lifted his duck above the crowd and wave it at the band in between songs. Granted it was an all ages show, but really, stuffed animals?
[ This Message was edited by: sallyandjay on 2004-07-20 13:10 ]
[ This Message was edited by: SallyandJay on 2004-07-20 13:11 ]
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sweetpea
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 14, 2003
Posts: 879
From: Seattle
| Posted: 2004-07-20 12:01 pm Permalink
Geeky,
I've never been to a Dead or smellyPhish show, but I know that those "types" if you will, sometimes show up to my local Rockabilly hangout (cause they often have hippy-ish shows) heehe, and trust me, nope, none of em have rhythm. hahaha. As luck would have it, I'm the gal they always wanna boogie with. I used to be nice and try to dance with everyone, but I've finally learned to nicely decline, as I'm no good at the Patchoulli Prance.... hehehehe
PEa
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naugatiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 02, 2004
Posts: 809
From: Port Angeles, Wa
| Posted: 2004-07-20 12:06 pm Permalink
I've decided long ago that when I pay to see a rock concert I'm paying for the whole experience, the drunks, the distractions, the whiffs of pot smoke, and the bad fashions Looking back on bands I've seen in the past I can't remember who played there but the memory or someone passed out in the toilet is etched in my consciousness. I mean what would Star Wars be without the 2 hour line?
Fortunately cocktail music followers are very well mannered, must be the gin.
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