Concert Snobs, Can't stand em!

Speaking of Led Zeppelin, I have several friends who saw them multiple times in Chicago. With the exception of the Kinetic Playground, every show was plagued with screaming, fighting, standing, pot use, and throwing cherry bombs. So you Old Timers who complain about today's shows, remember that the people of your era, perhaps some of you, did it, and were probably far worse than today's crowd. Thank the heavens that no one chucks cherry bombs in the crowd anymore.

 

The Fillmore East required attendees to sit.

 

Some of us just want to sit, listen to the music, and enjoy the show. Just because we're not flailing our arms around or jumping up and down doesn't mean we're not having a good time or are lesser fans.

 

He's been doing this for many years now. And until recently, GA was cheaper than the seats behind that section so that was an extra bonus.

 

one of the coolest things i ever saw at a concert was at a neil young show in seattle in 2007. he played at a venue that absolutely SUCKED, the wamu theater. this place is basically a big, soulless concrete space with some curtains thrown up to make it seem more like a "theater". neil opened the show with a solo acoustic set. of course, everyone sat during this part (except to cheer after particularly good songs). then neil came out with a band for the second set and proceeded to rock. i had seen him the previous night in portland, and for the second set everyone got up and stayed up. AS IT SHOULD BE!!! that's neil young and ol' black, folks, and he's playing the loner. get your ass UP. but in seattle no one got up. it was really strange. the electric set continued, and still no one got up on their feet. i was about 10 rows back from the stage in the more expensive seats on the floor, and i was seriously getting pissed off that no one was standing and getting in to the rock that neil was putting down, but i wasn't going to be "that guy". you know...the only guy standing.

and then it happened. neil went in to "spirit road". you could tell he was getting pissed off too that no one was responding to what he was putting out there, and he just TORE INTO the solos. during the last solo of the song he was really getting in to it, and this ONE GUY from the "cheap seats" simply could not take it any more. he ran up to the front of the stage and started rocking out, which neil really responded to. soon after a bunch more people ran after him to the stage, and before you know it the aisles were full of dancing folks! it was security's worst nightmare, but holy crap did it elevate the show.

the crowd was up for the rest of the show. here is a brief clip of the end of the song, after the crowd rush.

 

I agree with you about the WaMu Theater, truly an awful venue, but disagree about everything else. I'm sure people were happily "getting into" the music while they were sitting. Did they applaud between songs?

 

The drummer of the opening band is on a show called Hard Core Pawn, and I was explaining to my cousin who he was. I wasn't have a long, drawn out conversation. We were still looking forward and watching the show....it was a very loud rock show. The bar was 30 feet away from the front of the stage, lots of people were holding drinks. This was at a casino. Open floor, general admission. I specifically go to these types of venues because they are way more fun than sitting in seats way back, away from the action. I want to be in the action, at the front of the stage. These guys were literally at the front of the stage (dead center, earplugs in, arms folded). What do you expect will happen when you stand at the front of the stage at a general admission, open floor venue, for a hard rock band? I think their behavior was rude, my behavior was typical....we went to have fun (which includes jumping, dancing, singing, screaming, yelling into the face of your friends because either of you can hear the other, spirits, and hopefully a few picks). They need to stay home and watch it on TV, I went to a party to have a really good time. Rick doesn't yell "let's listen" during Ain't That A Shame, he yells "let's party."
The crowds haven't changed, you have.

 

Actually, no. You didn't go to a "party", you went to a concert. You THINK it's a party. That's the problem- people (of all ages) think that going out to a show is an excuse to misbehave and act stupid. It's not. You can do that at home, can't you? If you wish to drink to excess, dance to loud music without watching the show and talk loudly to each other, then stay home, drink all you want, yell all you want , crank the stereo up and dance your ass off. That's a party. A concert is a performance of musical art, to be watched by the appreciative audience. Doesn't matter the format, as some claim. It's a social event where you have a responsibility to control yourself at all times. The line has been blurred for some time now where concert goers have become selfish and wish to have a good time for themselves regardless of it's impact on anyone else. It's really easy to do what you want in a proper venue- yelling, dancing, loud music, all can be achieved at any local bar or dance club- that's why they exist. A concert venue isn't for that- it's for the show. Especially if it costs you a large sum of money to get in!! Its boggles me the sheer number of folks who drop a hundred bucks on a show and all they recall the next day is a hazy blur of the event, whereas my clear mind can still recall the first time I saw Tom Petty play, in 1980. Because I sat there and listened and watched the entire show. And still relish it to this day...

 

I love it that this thread has got to the point where the people who are sitting quietly and minding their own business at a concert are the ones who are being denounced as entitled and obnoxious.

 

Okay, it goes both ways. My definition of minding my own business is being passively aggressive. Sure I see folks whip out their phones, I don't but I used to be one of them 10 years ago. Then I realized why in the hell would I want to record a concert when I could listen to the studio album at home. A concert for me is enjoying the band in front of you in the moment. It's like nothing else. I can't understand how someone can enjoy a concert and record it at the same time. Even at that I still don't make a fuss about it and let it happen if it's going on around me. Honestly if somebody is being obnoxious around me I'm too lost in the music, too amazed to notice little annoyances. I gues that's just how my mind works. I can easily filter out Humming, Tapping, Singing, talking in any situation. I tend to do it myself. Some people can here pins drop onto the floor so I guess for them it's hard to enjoy a show with that going on around them.

 

How do you filter the drunk fool who stands up in front of you the whole concert sings every song louder than the band only out of tune and spills beer all over you? Some things I can filter, some things are just a minor distraction. But some things are deal breakers.

 

I can filter a lot out but there is nothing worse than soneone singing over the performer
Lip sync if you have to get into it

 

Ha ... never knew I was a "concert snob".

Never fear, I've pretty much stopped going to live concerts; can't stand all that stand up/ sit down nonsense (I'm on my feet nearly all day at work, for f**k's sake.) I was there to enjoy the show; not get up and wobble my pork about to prove what a massive fan I am. I thought hearty applause and the occasional "woo!" was enough to appease the Gods Of Rock onstage ... I didn't realise that just sitting there, minding my own business, I was engendering such resentment.

Thank goodness for the DVD at tour's end.

 

Certainly. In your opinon what is the purpose of all these old rock concerts and shakespearian plays? What is "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" new meaning and how does that correlate to staying calm at one of CSY's modern shows. In my opinion I feel it's more the people than the music. Sure you say 1969 is long gone, what do we have today then? At what point do these songs become relics of the past? I like to think if historical emotions were once felt they can be felt again. Kids were kids, teens were teens no matter what era we are talking about. I think it all comes down to older adults forgetting their past, forgetting how easy it once was. Would you call it giving up? I don't know, but I know many in their older age who have kept the same philosophies from their past. It becomes a permanent part of you, a way of life that you can either ignore or embrace.

 

What's the purpose? Entertainment. And if the work and the performance is ambitious maybe something a little more than than, something about having your soul touched and feeling connected to your fellow man. And for me, also, sheer interest in and curiosity about the mechanics of it all -- the acting, the musicianship, the writing. Same reasons I read a novel or go to a movie (actually mostly I go to a movie because my wife wants to go to the movies!) or whatever.

Of course the work, and certain works in particular can speak across eras because they are about universal human emotions. Othello's a play about career and sexual jealousy, attitudes about race and sexuality, those kind of things, and those kind of things are still deeply meaningful. Even a series of plays about fate and revenge and being doomed by circumsatnce to have to make an choice between to things either of which will have awful consequences, like the Orestia or something, can still speak to us today despite the very foreign formal elements of the actions of Greek gods and an the presence of a chorus.

But you said:

That's what I think is an impossible, unrealistic thing. I don't go to see Romeo & Juliet to recreate Elizabethan England after watching Elizabeth or Shakespeare in Love. The play is what it is today. It's both part of history and when I go to see it I know it has some kind of historical place, and the the drama itself is good an engaging and romantic and sad so I might feel all that stuff if the performance is good.

But I'm not looking to do the impossible of recreating the past or thinking I can experience something I missed out on in the culture in 1597 by going to see it in 2015. I also don't behave at the show as if I were in Elizabethan England -- I don't look for hookers at a theater they way they might have in Elizabethan England or expect to see them working the NY Shakespeare Festival or something, I don't walk around and eat during the show like Elizabethan audiences might have (though booing, hooting, hissing, at a bad guy like Iago, engaging that way still might go on), and I don't have the expectation that the performances are going to be replicas of Elizabethan performances with say, real animal blood used as prop blood or men playing all the female roles, and no electric stage lights or PA or whatever. The play is the play today, it carries it's history, it may even be altered, set in a different time, etc, perhaps it tells us something about its era, but going to see it I don't expect to relive Elizabethan times.

 

oh, nevermind. casino show. the worst of all worlds.

 

oh come on. this is very simple. there was an acoustic set. THAT'S when you sit and applaud. they there was an electric set. THAT'S when you stand and move. this ain't rocket surgery or brain science.

 

Maybe you want to stand and move, but it doesn't mean that everyone else should have to simply so you can enjoy the concert more.

I say stand and move and face the consequences when people start to shout "sit down!" or toss cans at your head.

There is an untapped market here for a special section for those that want to "party" separate from the rest of us that want to sit and enjoy the music.

 

Saw Brian Wilson in Glasgow a few years back and managed to get a seat at the front, but a bit off to the right. Great view, so I'm not complaining. What surprised me is that when people got up to dance, take photos and shake Brian's hand, security just stood and watched. Saw Southside Johnny at a local theatre and security gave up asking people to sit! Saw Jackson Browne's acoustic show in the local arena (half of it curtained off and nowhere near full - but it was a great show, despite what some of the local whining Dylan fans later said... ) and I was third row from the front, dead centre. Great seats. The row ahead of me, this middle-aged woman spent the whole of the first half of the show moaning to her guy. Second half, the seats were empty. Not the choice I would have made.

 

Lets remove the drunken' a-hole from the conversations-that is in bad taste no matter the venue. I think that large gap in people wanting to go and rock out and others who simply want to listen intently to the performance is why they sell floor/pit seats. IMO if you are in the pit, it's pretty much fair game. Singing, headbanging, etc. If you don't like the vibe, move around. I have certainly had to move many times, but it all seemed to work out. But I can't understand someone going to a Metallica concert for instance and expecting to sit quietly and listen to the music and being perturbed that the rest of the crowd is not doing the same.

As for sitting or standing, I, being 42, have never attended a concert-been to 20+, where I sat more than a ballad or two. I never expect to sit. If the rows in front stand up I stand. If the majority sit, I sit. I try not to impede anyone elses time with my actions, but if you want to sit and 94% of the arena is standing, that's on you. Stand, it won't kill you.

 

well, back to the story i told. the standers and movers won that night. and you know who was the most pleased about that? the guy on stage...neil young.

 

Yep. I have a zero-tolerance policy these days. And yes, I will go get an usher, and if he won't fix the problem I'll find his supervisor and then both the drunken fool and the usher are in trouble. Every major venue wants you to have a good time and they will take care of problems by simply throwing the problems out. You just have to stand up for yourself.

 

Years ago I was seeing a British band at the Metro, in Chicago. Might have actually been Primal Scream but could have been anyone (Hard Fi, Editors, who knows) It's all standing room there. In front of us, some college girl who probably just discovered the UK, British accents, and British slang, constantly yelled out "Smashing!" "Right-O!" "Bloody great!" "Good job mate!" and other words between every song.

I have never wanted to see someone get hit in the face with a huge trout as much as I did that night.

 

I'm going by my own personal experiences. When I saw Led Zeppelin (twice -1969, 1971) people were sitting and standing. I was sitting. Fortunately those around me were too...so I didn't HAVE to stand. I also saw the Stones. People were sitting there too ! Ask drbryant here if he remembers. He was there too. (Jan. 21, 1973)

The occurences you site are true. Sure, nearly every kind of situation happened. I've been to many shows of all types and sitting and standing and slamming and body-surfing and and and....

By 1974 I was listening to a lot of ProgRock and JazzRock. The vast majority of those shows were attentive listening ones and most all, if not all, sat.

I remember a few instances of firecrackers at some outdoor, stadium shows..but not many inside, in my experience. And I didn't go to the 'balladeering rock' shows where everyone put their lighters up in the air ! Few, but rare for me. I 'spose I was mostly lucky and the shows I WOULD expect raucous behavior at...I embraced and participated myself.

And yeah...it WAS better then.

As far as pointing you in a direction of 'sitting shows'...you can google those yourself. But obviously if you can't find them, then that stuff didn't really exist.

 

You know this how? We're people not showing enthusiasm between songs by applauding?