thank you Jeff Tweedy/rude audiences

[;ivlunsdystf]

The Dead show I saw in 1989 was totally cool, mellow scene; I saw them again at Mile High Stadium in 1991 and it was fucking crazy - I swear there were multiple reports of people soaking the crowds with LSD "tea" via super soaker water gun - multiple people being carried out on stretchers - FREAKY

I was also around for the ascent of Phish starting in 1990 with a show to a crowd of about 70 totally average, nice people at Macalester College in St. Paul, and ending with a crazed freakout session in the Target Center in 2001 or so - lots of intermediary shows in between on the east coast and one out west - things progressively got seamier and seamier with each passing year -

By the end of both of those bands there were considerable numbers of people for whom the music was a diversion from partying - in all cases I could see that the band was really trying to wow the crowd, but at least 1/3 of the crowd wasnt' even tuned in -

the saving grace for both bands was the VERY loud PA which at least drowned out the Dionysian revelry -

[b3groover]

Jesus, you folks have never gone to a jazz show, have you? Talk about music that deserves attention and usually get absolutely none! My trio is so used to people talking over our music that when we played The Green Mill in Chicago and the emcee told the audience to be quiet during the set, it was FREAKY!!

"What the hell?! People are actually LISTENING?! Oh shit!"

I know where Tweedy is coming from, but it's partly the venue's fault for not having someone come out, say that there is absolutely no talking during the show and to be respectful to the musician and your fellow audience members, and then introduce Tweedy.

But it's also modern society's fault for breeding a bunch of attention-deficit disordered, waaay over-stimulated humans with no sense of musical culture (or arts culture in general).

[mertmo]

every concert I go to these days, there were way too many people talking throughout the show.

Yeah, this is getting really bad. It's a fucking epidemic here in Albuquerque, always has been. I play drums in a really quiet band, kind of like a mazzy star/low hybrid. It can be very frustrating to play out, even our CD release party was a joke, noone was even listening, their partying was louder than we were. Everyone was just there for the "scene". I wanted to just pack up and go home in the middle of the set. Not a very encouraging CD release party.

When I went to austin last year for SXSW, everyone was truly listening at every show I saw, I almost didn't know what to do it was so cool.

[kingnimrod]

I have to put up with the same crap at about every show I go to here in Atlanta, too.

Often I find myself saying to people:

"could you please speak up? I can barely hear you over this music!"

that usually embarrasses people who have some concept of manners into getting quiet.

"shut up" doesn't work, especially when you're dealing with drunk people. Also, I've learned from past experience that when I tell people to keep it down they think I'm threatening them physically. I guess that's just how my demeanor plays.

But I found the best way to get these rude a-holes out of my vicinity is to pretend like I'm really about to puke - doubling over and slapping my hand over my mouth. "I think I'm gonna puke!" and fake wretching. It works. No one wants to be hurled-upon.

[;ivlunsdystf]

I usually have a bad case of the farts, which seems to help especially now that there is a smoking ban in Minneapolis

[honkyjonk]

Yeah,

I pretty much hate all talking everywhere. At any volume.

For Tweedy's sake, well for my sake I guess, I'm kind of glad that this is happening at his shows, because the more Tweedy starts to hate his fans, the better music Wilco will make. I want to hear them do something even more far out, more noisy, and more annoying that either of the last two albums.

[JGriffin]

Often I find myself saying to people:

"could you please speak up? I can barely hear you over this music!"

that usually embarrasses people who have some concept of manners into getting quiet.

At a Santana/Jeff Beck show there was this couple obviousy just killing time during Beck's set waiting for Santana, chatting up a fucking storm. I leaned over and pointed to some empty seats and said, "if you go over there you won't be so bothered by people trying to listen to the music." They looked at me like I was the biggest asshole they'd ever met.

[numberthirty]

I think that at a certain point an artist should just accept that as more people come to see you/your band and the ticket price increases, you should assume the ratio of idiots to well-meaning fans WILL increase. This is a hard-and-fast rule. If you want people to pay attention to your music: Try opening for let's say, Grand Champeen. The last time I saw them there was a grand total of maybe seven people but, every person there was there for the right reason. I can see Jeff's point but, this has been happening since the old Lounge Ax solo shows(with high percentages of well-meaning fans in attendance) The only other possible solution I could see is for a Tweedy-authored pop-quiz to be handed to every person who wants a ticket. No pass, no ticket. However, I think this method will wind up making an acoustic tour a venture that will wind up being less than sensible once it's time to check the evenings take.

[CharlesM]

Man, I thought this was only an obnoxious New-Yorker phenomenon. Lincoln, NE??? That's disheartening.

This kind of thing is commonplace in NYC, where our audiences are oh-so-sophisticated. The back of venues are always abuzz with socialites, poseurs and barflies, as if the musical act is an afterthought.

I think there is something to the DMB-audience theory, too. I'm also a big fan of the whole Tupelo/Farrar/Tweedy lineage and have seen a bunch of Farrar and Wilco shows in NYC. At EVERY ONE, it seems, there is some drunken jock who is at the foot of the stage shouting songs, singing, or otherwise adding sound effects that have nothing to do with the performance happening. I can still see the cowboy-hatted doofus shouting "Oh, yeah!" repeatedly as Jay Farrar was trying to quietly sing "Too Early" solo at the Bowery Ballroom on the Sebastopol tour.

The only time I've ever seen an audience completely quiet was when Ray LaMontagne opened for Tim Easton at Mercury Lounge a few years ago. This is before most anyone knew who he was. The guy hit the stage with just his guitar and had this presence like he'd just walked out of the woods. He started singing and this tremendous voice and these great songs just completely blindsided EVERYONE. I mean, it was DEAD QUIET, even between songs. It was like a chapel in there. Never saw that happen before or since.

But a lot of people do go to these shows more for the social event of it than the music, and the venues would do a tremendous service by making an announcement beforehand about audience respect and quietness. Won't expect that in NYC, though...it would be too "uncool."

[comfortstarr]

This will be unpopular, but I think it's all about the venue choice. Rock clubs and quiet music don't mix well and it's a little arrogant to think you can overcome that--if you can, cool, if you can't don't complain.

I saw the Cowboy Junkies years ago (not a fan, but I could get in free) and they were at a bar/rock club. They were dead quiet and complained about talking. I saw Magnetic Fields (it was just him and a woman, so it might not have technically been Magnetic Fields) at Shuba's in Chicago (I'm a fan of him), they were really quiet and people were talking, they complained. In both cases I felt like: um, hello, this is a place where people come to drink, smoke, and talk. If you don't want people being loud, play somewhere else where people go to not be loud.

I've seen Low 3 times, twice in clubs and once in a theater setting. In clubs people talked, but Low never complained. In the theater it was nice and quiet. I think they take the right approach.

[whatchamachicken]

This will be unpopular, but I think it's all about the venue choice. Rock clubs and quiet music don't mix well and it's a little arrogant to think you can overcome that--if you can, cool, if you can't don't complain.

I saw the Cowboy Junkies years ago (not a fan, but I could get in free) and they were at a bar/rock club. They were dead quiet and complained about talking. I saw Magnetic Fields (it was just him and a woman, so it might not have technically been Magnetic Fields) at Shuba's in Chicago (I'm a fan of him), they were really quiet and people were talking, they complained. In both cases I felt like: um, hello, this is a place where people come to drink, smoke, and talk. If you don't want people being loud, play somewhere else where people go to not be loud.

I've seen Low 3 times, twice in clubs and once in a theater setting. In clubs people talked, but Low never complained. In the theater it was nice and quiet. I think they take the right approach.

The concert in Lincoln was at one of 3 places that could ever potentially accomodate a Jeff Tweedy show. There is one arena and two theatres big enough to hold a show like this. The theatre it was at, the Rococo, is far from a bar/rock club. They just happen to sell alcohol at this venue. If he had played at the Lied Center on the University of Nebraska campus, it might have been a different story, but they rarely ever have concerts of this sort there. (I did see Ben Kweller there though, and the crowd was wonderful. Amazing how different a crowd acts when there's no booze involved.) I don't think it was a bad choice of venue on anyone's part. More of a bad choice of city because there really isn't a music/art scene here sadly. I did see Nickel Creek at the Rococo a couple years ago and the crowd was much better behaved than the Tweedy audience. Hopefully the same will hold true when they play there again in April.

[JGriffin]

The audience at the Jandek show in Austin was amazingly quiet.

[Maurice]

This isn't just a recent phenomenon. There's a story about Mingus playing some NYC club, where the audience wouldn't shut up, so he had the band play four bars, then rest for four bars so the audience could "solo." When that didn't get them to pay attention, he had the band order their dinners from the kitchen, which they ate on the bandstand.

[bplr]

This will be unpopular, but I think it's all about the venue choice.

I've seen Low 3 times, twice in clubs and once in a theater setting. In clubs people talked, but Low never complained. In the theater it was nice and quiet. I think they take the right approach.

Interesting ... I saw Low at the same place (the Crocodile) I saw Tweedy play a dead quiet solo show. I've never seen such a still and absorbed audience. I almost passed out from the effect of the music. Maybe they got close to "the brown note".

Speaking of the mythical brown note ... maybe that's the answer. Bring yourself a giant subwoofer with a mad powerful PA and after insistent loud talking, blast the audience with a quick 40 Hz or whatever it's supposed to be. They'll all buckle a little bit ... pinch a few kegels. Then if they don't shut up, really lay into them and watch the whole audience shit their pants. Then exit immediately.

Sorry, did I cross a line?

[famulous]

This is not a new phenomenan but I think it's intensified recently with the media-consuming generation that is upon us - people who are more used to watching movies and listening to music at home rather than in the 'real' world.

Sometime in '86 or '87 *whichever year "Element of Light" came out, I saw my first Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians show (with Young Fresh Fellows opening!). About 4 songs into Hitchcock's set he began one of his amazingly entertaining introductions to a song (for those who've never seen RH live these stories are easily as entertaining and fun as any song he's ever written). Well, the chatter from the crowd was pretty insistent. So finally Robyn says, "Hey, this is important, I'm not just fucking off here!" to which the crowed quieted for what, maybe 15 seconds. Then back to chatter.

This takes the cake though: Got to see Pharoah Sanders at Bumbershoot in the Opera House about 5 years ago. We had the balcony. A cell phone rang in the CENTER of the auditorium. Rather than seeing an embarrassed audient fumble to shut the phone off, the entire audience watched as the dickhead ANSWERED his phone and CHATTED for about two minutes. DURING A PHAROAH SANDERS PERFORMANCE!

A shining light of performer respect though, awaits you in LA. When you enter Largo in Hollywood the man at the door tells you to turn off your cellphone, Raspberry, Calico-vision, and any other electronic devices and to be quiet during the performance. It's an understanding between the venue and the audience. I think maybe more up-front announcements, like "SHUT UP KIDS!" might catch on. Probably not though.