Talking during the show.....Is Jeff Tweedy right or wrong here?
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Artist:
OK, so personally, I've had quite a few "quiet" concerts ruined by talkers...an Ani Difranco show comes to mind. She requested the amplification to be minimal (which I can understand), and a majority of the people that PAID to go and see her (and not PAID as in 5 bucks, but more like 35 bucks) chose to spend the entire show talking as loudly as possible, as if they were competing with Ms. DiFranco. WTF?
But on the other hand, I also don't mind talking if the situation is right. Loud shows, bar shows, big shows, opening acts....do whatever you want, in my opinion. Just don't be oblivious to your surroundings. Realize when you're being a jackass. Shut up when you need to shut up. Talk before the show. talk after the show.
There are many differing opinions though, and I'd like to hear some of your thoughts!
Where is the line drawn when it comes to talking?
Does Tweedy get a little bitchy/diva-ish? (I def. think so)
Share your thoughts and esspecially experiences. Please.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (10)
from the few shots they showed of the place it looked like an open backed auditorium, probably with a bar back there as well and access to bathrooms. Which is not conducive to an accoustic night with Jeff Tweedy. Queens of the Stone Age, yes. One singer/songwriter strumming his guitar, no.
There's too many people today running around with ADD to make a place like that work for him.
Yes, he was a bit bitchy but I think rightly so.
Talking during a gig depends on the size of the gig...and the volume of the gig...and well...the gig.
I went to see (my wife made me!) The Eagles here in Australia. We had the very pricey tickets in the 5th row...and the first set was very mellow..well the whole damn show was. The audience was 1/2 dead. We had some mild substances onboard and we were a bit chatty, but were not talking non-stop.
The guy behind me shushed me once...then a second time he tapped me on the shoulder and was down my throat telling me how much money he had paid for the ticket, that he didnt want to hear me talk, and that we should shut the f&#@% up. OK I took it on board and realised that I was at the wrong gig. This was not The Eagles of 1974 and 30 years had turned them into a lounge act.
So it's more about being sensitive to people around you and sensitive to the artist...I can understand that.
Take it to the bar if you want to have a chat....unless they are LOUD.
But what about dancing at gigs where people are seated in an arean show? That is even harder to fathom, especially here in Australia where the seat nazi's rule....ie security. Just saw Neil Young in a 12000 seat barn the othe rnight and only the first 4 rows were dancing....ewww that was bad...even Neil was pissed off. Played less then 2 hours!
Oh.....seat Nazis will kill a show WAAAAY faster than talkers...
They killed a White Stripes show here in Providence. Jack and Meg spent 30 minutes on stage, and left.
I'm sure Neil was antsy as hell. Man, it must suck, being a successful performer and not being able to properly perform for your audience, or watching as your audience is being terrorized.......told where to sit, and stand, or being carted away for smoking substances. that must suck.
Paul Busch says:
{snip}
We have a venue here in Atlanta, Chastain Park Amphitheatre. Theoretically, it ought to be a great venue, but there are two problems - and one sort of reinforces the other.
The biggest problem is flaming yuppie assholes. The area in front of the stage is a good-sized lawn - which would be perfect for dancing, with the right acts, but instead it has these lovely little tables - with umbrellas. The table seats cost Way Too Much for normal people to buy them, and so they tend to be bought by people who might have been cool when they (and i) were twenty, but these days they're bankers and lawyers and politicians, and while to the unbiased observer in the cheap amphitheatre-style seats (or to the average act on stage) it's obvious that they are now clueless yuppie scum, they think they're still cool, and they want to go see Real Concerts ... or rather, they want people to see them Being Cool at Real Concerts.
But they want their yuppie comforts - so they have champagne picnics catered to their tables. With waiters in dinner jackets to serve the wine.
And since most of them, no matter how much money they've made, couldn't afford to buy a big enough clue, they either pay no attention from the beginning ... or they get bored.
And they talk. Loudly enough to be heard over whatever's on stage - and not just by their tablemates, but by the acts on stage.
And by the people in the cheap seats who are actually there to enjoy the show.
Some of them actually bring portable TVs so they can keep up on ball games or their favourite "reality" shows...
When Garrison Keillor - who seems to be a fairly laid-back guy who doesn't swaet the small stuff, brought his Prairie Home Companion radio program here, to Chastain, it was so bad that he cut some parts short, and later gave an interview to the local media in which he put the blast on the asshles and swore that PHC would never come to Chastain again; i wasn't altogether sure he wasn't saying he'd never bring the program to Atlanta, period.
I was once actuallt told by Security to either sit down or move away from the stage area, because i was blocking people's view ... at a Roches set at an outdoor music festival here in Atlanta (Music Midtown 3, the last of the series i wnet to, and the best, i think...)
The complainers were (again) some yuppie types who were sitting demurely on their blanket right behind me. At a perfromance whic had by no means drawn so many people that they couldn't have, say, moved their blanket a couple of feet to the left.
But they wanted to sit there right in front of stage center. So i had to move.
Oh and i was already standing there as the set began, before they arrived.
And they never said a word to me, even though i was about five feet form them - but one of them had the energy to go find a security guy and get him to come hassle me...
I may be biased (big Jeff fan), but I feel, he goes the extra distance to explain himself. I find all the little dialog bits in this performance are great.
I just picked up a Tori Amos DVD (Live in Montreux 1991-1992). She is famous for demanding quiet during her performances, and this was no exception. Right in the middle or her first song (1992), she stops, and gets whoever to shush up.
I feel it's just as much for those around you who really, really enjoy the artist. Let them (and me) enjoy it!
I went to a Ben Folds show at the University of Tulsa last Feb. I paid about $30 to go, but apparently the UT students were able to get in for free. That was a disaster. Eef Barzelay opened and people gave him a little bit of attention. "Okay," I thought, "He's the opener. They'll settle down once Ben comes out." Boy was I wrong. It was more of a social gathering for UT students than a concert. Ben played maybe six songs and it went alright, but then he slowed it down and played Fred Jones Pt. 2. The crowd was too loud for him and he seriously stopped and started over six or seven times. The first time he just stopped and simply said "I'm starting over because I can't hear myself." Then he began to get a little more agitated and he said, "I love this song. And I can play it the rest of the night. I only signed a contract to play for a certain amount of time. It says nothing about me playing different songs." He would sometimes make it 3/4ths of the way through the song and he'd stop. It was one of the worst crowds I've ever experienced. He still played a decent show. i think if it had been any other band, they wouldn't have put up with it.
Undoubtedly, the venue has a lot to do with the crowd and sometimes crowds just suck. I went to a New Amsterdams' show in a bar last fall and the crowd was unruly, but it was a bar and what else could you expect. Lead singer Matt Pryor was so pissed the whole show. I felt for him, but like it said it was at a bar. Granted they were playing a show in their hometown, but still. What else should expect? When it comes to talking it really just depends on the band, the vibe of the show, and the venue. And sadly, many times people forget the the show is about the music.
I went to a Damien Rice show a while back (this is my last example I promise) and it was absolutely phenomenal. It was in a concert hall and the music was just great. Beside the occasion "I love you" from some girl with a little too much to drink, the crowd was pretty sensitive to the whole vibe. The dynamics of the concert were phenomenal and the crowd just felt it. He finished the show with an unplugged encore of "Cannonball." It took people a little while to realize that they had to quiet down to hear him, but overall the crowd could just feel the whole experience. It was probably the best show I've ever been to.
I don't think he's bitchy at all. I agree with him 100%. People who talk during shows to the point that they annoy the rest of the audience and even the artists should simply shut the fuck up. It's a show. If you want to talk go to a freaking bar. I've experienced people talking so loudly that they were louder than the singer. People that talk so loudly that made an artist stop a song. Shut the fuck up!
And it's also extremely disrespectful and bad-mannered towards the artist and the audience. Now you got me all worked up and I'll punch the next loud-mouthed twat I meet. mwuwhahahhahaha!
This is why I love MOG. You guys write essays! Hell yeah. And threaten violence! Double hell yeah.
I'm TOTALLY on Tweedy's side. If you didn't come to the show to pay attention to the artist on stage, you shouldn't be there. And, if the opening act isn't to your taste, go to the friggin' lobby. One of the most disgusting things I've ever witnessed at a concert was the way a supposedly spohisticated San Fran audience treated the brilliant Martha Wainwright when she opened a show for Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova. Martha was performing solo, and people refused to shut up in the hall, staying there and yapping when they could have just gone to the lobby, through closed doors, to talk. If they were truly fans of Glen & Marketa (who performed acoustically), they should have known better and behaved more respectfully towards the handpicked opening act who even gently asked for a little quiet at one point in her set - and didn't get it.