chris_b Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 (edited) A bit of audience chatter? A little light hearted banter with the locals? Sheer luxury! We were playing a festival many years ago and a disgruntled audience member, maybe trying to encourage us to hurry up and get off, lobbed a beer can at us. I was very surprised to see a Watneys Party 7 fly out of the lights, bounce off the Wurlitzer keyboard and over our heads. It didn't work. We had to keep playing because the main band was still getting whizzed in hospitality. Edited April 23, 2018 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Many years ago at a rather dodgy northern nightclub , we found a dart in the wall just between me and the drummer that someone in the audience had thrown during our last set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzy Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 You can always have a polite word with the audience and ask them to be quiet...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 3 hours ago, Buzzy said: You can always have a polite word with the audience and ask them to be quiet...... When I saw The Who at Wembley Arena not long before Entwistle died, Townshend went off on one about something gloomy. Being slightly refreshed I yelled out 'F**k off, Pete, you're such a miserable c**t'. In fairness to him he laughed and gave it a rest. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Punters raising their voices, gosh. In the sixties fights were a regular feature in the halls and ballrooms. One venue was closed down because, as one guy wryly put it, there were too many dances during the fight. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 8 hours ago, DaveFry said: try playing a street piano . ah yes, I've tried busking, being totally ignored is far worse than people chatting while you're playing, the biggest amount I got was for looking after someone's bike while they went in Marks and Spencers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricksterphil Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Regarding artist 'interventions' it seems Peter Frampton has form https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/peter-frampton-throws-fan-phone_n_5659157 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestPoetry Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 (edited) I go to gigs to observe the musicianship of the artists and, where suitable, freak the hell out. People who just use a performing band as a backdrop to some night out annoy the sh*t outta me. Fair enough, you're not obligated to watch, but use the part of the pub/club not currently being occupied by those of us performing/admiring a performance. Edited April 24, 2018 by ForestPoetry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricksterphil Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Having said all of the above, I hear on the radio that Bjorn from ABBA is involved with launching a worldwide event where there will be a virtual ABBA show http://www.nme.com/news/music/a-virtual-abba-tour-is-set-to-take-place-in-2019-2139797 Are we moving to a world where all performances are virtual reality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 31 minutes ago, ForestPoetry said: I go to gigs to observe the musicianship of the artists and, where suitable, freak the hell out. People who just use a performing band as a backdrop to some night out annoy the sh*t outta me. Fair enough, you're not obligated to watch, but use the part of the pub/club not currently being occupied by those of us performing/admiring a performance. Absolutely, couldn't agree more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martthebass Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 19 hours ago, Happy Jack said: All fair enough, but ultimately it's our job to entertain them. If I'm being ignored by the punters then it might be because they're all self-obsessed, selfish Mr and Mrs Silly Billy who should have been drowned at birth. Or it might be because I'm not doing enough to entertain them. Just saying ... You ever played Northern Working Men's Clubs HJ.........a combination of The Doors, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Diana Ross and The Supremes would fail to move them from the 10 rounds of bingo? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestPoetry Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 30 minutes ago, ricksterphil said: Having said all of the above, I hear on the radio that Bjorn from ABBA is involved with launching a worldwide event where there will be a virtual ABBA show http://www.nme.com/news/music/a-virtual-abba-tour-is-set-to-take-place-in-2019-2139797 Are we moving to a world where all performances are virtual reality? What an utterly horrifying prospect. I thought the hologram 2pac and Dio were the most asburd, poor taste things I've ever seen in my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 19 hours ago, Lozz196 said: It does seem to be the more popular type music attracts this - don`t get much of it on the punk/Oi scene but whenever I`ve been to the bigger venues you do wonder why many of the audience have bothered to go. Pretty much happens at football too, when I`ve been many of those in the expensive seats seem to spend equal amounts of time in the bar as watching the match. Likewise for horseracing. I went to the Gold Cup meeting and it aint cheap to get in but many people never ventured beyond the bars / in the tents but only watched the racing on the monitors. I guess these people are only there for the crack with the sport itself only a minor side attraction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Don't get me started. I saw Brian Ferry at the City Hall, Newcastle a week past Sunday. The couple two seats along from and one row in front of us, spent the whole gig taking photos, including flash, and videos of the gig. The guy directly in front of us continued blocking my view, every couple of minutes, by leaning into his partner to say something in her ear, then lighting up his phone to take pics of Brian and the band. Why not simply stay at home and put a DVD on? Its an event, live in the moment, suspend reality, enjoy the spectacle. Why spend all the time trying to capture a "Live" concert on a phone, so you can impress the mates in the pub next weekend? Give me strength. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Years ago I managed to get tickets to see Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall, in a lower tier box. Eric came on to do some acoustic stuff as an opener, but the corporate do in the next box along almost drowned him out. I asked them to keep it down, and am sure most of them didn't even know who EC was and realise he was performing then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 11 minutes ago, casapete said: Years ago I managed to get tickets to see Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall, in a lower tier box. Eric came on to do some acoustic stuff as an opener, but the corporate do in the next box along almost drowned him out. I asked them to keep it down, and am sure most of them didn't even know who EC was and realise he was performing then. I went to the snooker at the Barbican years ago, because it was sponsored by Travis Perkins the entire front row of seats was made up of people made to go to fill up the seats, they sat there bored as nice old ladies that had paid good money struggled to see over their heads. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 To be fair I can only think of one thing worse than an Eric Clapton gig, an acoustic Eric Clapton before it! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 8 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said: To be fair I can only think of one thing worse than an Eric Clapton gig, an acoustic Eric Clapton before it! One thing worse than an EC gig? A snooker tournament.............. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 Some interesting points. At one time I might have gone down the 'you should be more entertaining then' route but I think it has gone beyond that. I'm not talking aboput pub bands here, I can understand that atmosphere to some extent. In that scenario you, the band, are invading someone's local for the night. I'm really talking about the gigs people have actively paid money to go see in 'neutral' venues and the bands are putting on a perfectly good show. It just seems some folk now will buy a ticket as just part of a night out and if they have been shouting at each other in conversation in a bar before the music venue then they just bring that in with them. If the band is playing loud then they just shout louder at each other. Not between the songs, during them. I've paid to hear the band, not their life's trivia. Saw an excellent Fleetwood mac tribute last Sat. The woman being C McVie had to stand there on stage and do Songbird (which she did flawlessly) whilst about 60% of the audience could be heard nattering away from front to back of the venue. It got so bad at the recent Kate Buch tribute I saw that the band leader had to make an announcement about it before they played a particularly quiet number. The band are playing another venue later this year which I know is even worse for this behaviour and I may well give the gig a miss as a result. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4000 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 15 hours ago, gjones said: At the last gig I went to, I got so irritated by a group of morons shouting at one another and ignoring the band (that I, and I assume they, had paid £40 to see) , I told them to shut the F up. This didn't go down well. The main culprit, a speccy wee scrawny guy, bolstered by lager, threatened to thump me. I can't understand why four people, who between them had spent £160 on a night out to see a band, choose to spend the whole night yabbering sh*t to one another and ignoring the band they came to see? Ditto. I went to see The Musical Box at Manchester Apollo a few years back; the missus had bought me a ticket (£30 a head IIRC) for my birthday. Anyone who knows that audience knows that they sit and listen. A group of guys several rows back, probably in their late fifties - and absolutely hammered - talked at ridiculous volume all the way through every song, despite various members of the audience asking them to be quiet. They were reported and one removed, but the rest just carried on regardless. At one point an obviously exasperated woman stood up and very politely asked them to consider that everyone else wanted to watch the band and could they please be quiet, and was told to go away in no uncertain terms. What made this even worse was at the end of the gig one of them went up to her and threatened to beat her up outside; she had to ask security to escort her out. Appalling. Why they weren't all slung out I have no idea. Thankfully the same idiots weren't at the Lowry last time I saw TMB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 People don't have much of an attention span these days. They can't focus on anything for longer than 10 seconds or sit through something they don't like in order to get to something better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 1 hour ago, KevB said: recent Kate Buch tribute I saw that the band leader had to make Kate Butch would be a superb tribute act name to Ms Bush! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzmanb Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Mixed bag pub cover stuff ,prepare to be ignored and its your job to grab them small own material gigs,punters should listen or go home what i've noticed particularly with the older "pay the mortgage" tours ,groups of lads go who haven't seen each other for years and talk all the way through stuff. one answer is to have a Pa with 10k per side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 You could always do prison gigs in a Johnny Cash-Fulsom prison stylee where you'd have an attentive captive audience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.