Audience lack of respect for bands

[Elfrasho]

It's the other punters that should be shown the respect, not particularly the band. If it's affecting the entertainment for the others, then it's annoying. If it's not, then just get on with the show! 

 

Standing at the front staring at a mobile is very off putting though, I find. But again, they still might be enjoying the self and its not affecting anyone else so we just need to suck it up! 

[dave_bass5]

41 minutes ago, Elfrasho said:

It's the other punters that should be shown the respect, not particularly the band. If it's affecting the entertainment for the others, then it's annoying. If it's not, then just get on with the show! 

 

Standing at the front staring at a mobile is very off putting though, I find. But again, they still might be enjoying the self and its not affecting anyone else so we just need to suck it up! 

I find a lot of people can enjoy the music without having to stare at a band all night anyway. It can get very boring.

[PaulWarning]

6 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I find a lot of people can enjoy the music without having to stare at a band all night anyway. It can get very boring.

this can be true, I don't think us pub bands should be so far up our own backsides that we should imagine the only reason people are in the pub is to watch us

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

this can be true, I don't think us pub bands should be so far up our own backsides that we should imagine the only reason people are in the pub is to watch us

Agreed. When we used to play weddings i used to  remind the others that the 'audience' weren't there for us, and to accept they dont want to stop socialising and listen to us all night.

[bassjim]

This weekend just gone. Friday night gig. Singer is giving it her all on the intro to Somebody elses' guy '. Rude silly billy sitting straight in front of the band talking loudly to his mates as if there is no band in the room. Woman from other side of the room strolls up to him and slaps him ( gently but firmly) round the back of the head and pulls his baseball cap down over his face. He looks round somewhat shocked, she indicates that there is a band and puts her finger over his mouth doing  "shhhh"  thing with her lips. Audience cheers.He shuts up. By end of the number I look up and he and his two mates are gone. Table now full with more enthusiastic punters. 

Its nice when the audience helps you out.

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, dave_bass5 said:

Agreed. When we used to play weddings i used to  remind the others that the 'audience' weren't there for us, and to accept they dont want to stop socialising and listen to us all night.

This. Wedding/function bands are part of the event, along with the flowers, catering, disco, photographer, etc, etc and not the main attraction. This also applies in pubs and clubs and even at ticketed gigs - many are there to be sociable, enjoy themselves with friends and so on. That's their right.

[ricksterphil]

On 30/04/2018 at 19:10, Muzz said:

Personally, my criteria for a good gig is how well we play and how good we sound. Anything else is mostly beyond our control: the venue, the crowd on that particular night, other distractions (anyone who's ever played a wedding when they open the buffet during your first set will know there's only ever one winner there) and it's really not worth worrying or getting upset about. We played a big wedding the night Anthony Joshua won the world title recently, and I'd spotted the potential issue beforehand, so we made sure we weren't playing while the fight was on. The main room didn't have a TV (obv), but there was a bar elsewhere in the venue that did, and for more than half an hour there wasn't a bloke in the main room. The bride wasn't amused...  We could have huffed about lack of respect, but if even the bride's getting abandoned for half an hour...

Now, a GREAT gig is one where we play well AND go down well... 

Her fault for getting married on the night of a big fight!

[LewisK1975]

Haven't read this whole thread (so this may have already been said)..

I think to a certain extent we all need to remember when we're out gigging that (assuming it's a PAID gig) we're actually working. 

Hold that thought and think about your day job, how many of us feel we get the appreciation we deserve every time we go to work in our day jobs?  Why should gigging be so different?

As always, YMMV!

[Happy Jack]

4 hours ago, bassjim said:

This weekend just gone. Friday night gig. Singer is giving it her all on the intro to Somebody elses' guy '. Rude silly billy sitting straight in front of the band talking loudly to his mates as if there is no band in the room. Woman from other side of the room strolls up to him and slaps him ( gently but firmly) round the back of the head and pulls his baseball cap down over his face. He looks round somewhat shocked, she indicates that there is a band and puts her finger over his mouth doing  "shhhh"  thing with her lips. Audience cheers.He shuts up. By end of the number I look up and he and his two mates are gone. Table now full with more enthusiastic punters. 

Its nice when the audience helps you out.

But you have to wonder how this would have played out had the Helper From The Audience been a bald, fat bloke ...

[Woodinblack]

34 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

But you have to wonder how this would have played out had the Helper From The Audience been a bald, fat bloke ...

Very badly. At this weekends gig, a large middle aged drunk woman was rubbing herself against this 20 year old bloke who looked pretty terrified while his mates were laughing. I said when I described it when I got home if the genders were reversed it would be sexual assault, to which my wife pointed out the gender made no difference, it was still sexual assault.