What's the smallest audience you've been in at a show for the biggest band?

It's OK if the band was not yet big at the time you were in the audience,
or if the band is past its peak in popularity. Just try to maximize
biggest band to smallest audience ratio.

Probably Franz playing the Adelphi I guess.

http://www.triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/beatles/aldershot.shtml
The Beatles playing to a dozen people in Aldershot in 1961. Strictly speaking off topic because I wasn't there, but probably the biggest discrepancy between audience size and the band's eventual popularity.

saw modest mouse upstairs at the middle east in cambridge mass - capacity around 100

saw 2 Hootie small club shows

my sister took me to see lol phish in like 91 in portland oregon when i was visiting her at lol college - there were prob 200 people there

White Zombie, maybe six or seven people (including Barry Hennsler from the Necros), snowy night in Detroit, c. 1987

Springsteen and Billy Joel in a theater
Billy Joel in a small college auditorium

I don't even like Billy Joel

billy loel

12-15 people for Will Oldham, Proud Larry's, Oxford MS, I think it was 1995.

my sister took me to see lol phish in like 91 in portland oregon when i was visiting her at lol college - there were prob 200 people there

did Artis the Spoonman play with them?

I don't know if the Shamen ever counted as big, but I don't think their show at the Adelphi when they were still an indie-psych outfit was even full.

U2 in a church hall in Sutton, Co. Dublin in '78 - maybe 60 people there? they did 'Dancing in the Moonlight' and a Stranglers song (can't remember what one, maybe Peaches?) - dreadful then, dreadful ever since.

Sonic Youth, 1986, 25 people.

Rashied Ali and Prima Materia, 1997 or so, 6 people.

Not that big, but probably Skunk Anansie in some Camden sweathole before they were signed. They were actually pretty good back then, tons of energy.

I saw Violent Femmes at an afternoon show in Boston in 1999 with about 10 or 20 people in the audience.

I don't know if this really counts, but when Rush came to the Austin a few months ago, they played at the Frank Erwin Center. It was far and away the smallest venue I've ever seen them play in, but there were still thousands of people there. Still, it was pretty amazing to be able to see them in such an "intimate" location.

Under 200 for Amy Winehouse.
Around the same for Lou Reed/Pete Townshend.

Does an in-store appearance count?

I saw Swervedriver play at Newbury Comics in Cambridge, Mass. when they were touring for 99th Dream. There was a very small crowd there. Even though they only played about 4 songs, it was easily the best show I've seen them play.

I was one of 30 or so at a Blood Brothers show in Dublin a couple of years ago. If they were still together and played today, the place would probably be packed with emo kiddies... I'd take the smaller crowd any day.

nirvana in a record store - maybe 200 people
elliott smith in a bar - a dozen people there?

Modest Mouse in someone's basement in Columbia MO with probably 50 people.

My Morning Jacket opening for Lifter Puller at some bar in Louisville KY during Derby Week around 1998 or so. Can't really remember the crowd cause I was trashed (lol Derby Week) but I feel like half the people weren't even there for the show, they were just at the bar. (Place had a bunch of different rooms and an outdoor patio.) No stage, the bands just set up on the floor. Maybe about 75 people.

There's a few other ones I can think of where I saw a pretty big band in a small place but where the club was actualy packed. Like GBV at the old Cicero's Basement Bar in St. Louis.

also have seen Cluster and Silver Apples in pretty small crowds of about 20 people each but they're not "big" in the way this thread is talkin about

did Artis the Spoonman play with them?

― gabbneb, Saturday, November 15, 2008 1:47 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

am i right in assuming this is the spooooonmaaaaan - i dont think so - maybe we missed him tho? there was def some awful gay terrible jam band opening who for some reason i can still picture to this day

Secret Prince show on the roof of a hotel for less than 150 people.

I probably will never see a better show though.

Also, saw a pre-fame Against Me! play in an anarchist bookstore in Florida when it was just a dude with a guitar and a guy playing drums on a paint bucket, to like 25 people

yeah, xxp. they played 2 portland shows in 91, in spring and fall, but the latter was with him

yah i think i was there in the spring - tho it easily couldve been 92 or it couldve been the fall and i saw the spoonman and dont remember - long time ago

White Zombie, maybe six or seven people (including Barry Hennsler from the Necros), snowy night in Detroit, c. 1987

― xhuxk, Saturday, November 15, 2008 10:37 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Pretty sure I was at this one. It was a awwwful show.

Do bands I played with that later become famous count?

Because we had later-to-be NME darlings like the Gossip and the Cribs and people like that as support bands playing to rooms of not many people, but it was some time before they took off.

Also, lots of soon-to-be-big British bands playing their first US gigs at, like, Knitting Factory or Maxwells.

sure that counts!

dude from my old band opened for Yeah Yeah Yeahs to like no one at Brownies

Mansun at a radio session in 2000 - twenty people, some of whom were parents

tv on the radio @ a loft party - 70 people maybe

My parents hired U2 to play my sweet-sixteen last year, so there was just the three of us in the audience.

decemberists to maybe 40 people

tv on the radio - 100 or so

lol dave matthews - uh 500 or so i was waay wrecked

bubba sparxxx for 15 pplz

Blithe Sons in a run-off ditch/corrugated underground pipe, in Wisconsin, maybe 12-20 people fit in teh pipe. i had to pee really bad.

White Stripes at the Gold Dollar. About 50 people.

Good thread. Saw Yeah Yeah Yeahs play to about seven or eight people in DC, obviously way before they became megastars. THey were awful.

Nirvana, Southern Bar 1991. It's googleable.

Or:

1991 1st December The Joyriders and "Teen Spirit"

This charity show organised by The Joyriders in aid of the Edinburgh sick kids hospital was advertised on flyers handed out after the Nirvana gig at Calton Studios on the 29th November. The flyers stated "and very, very special (American) Guests". Nirvana played 5 songs acoustically, under the name "Teen Spirit" to about 20 people.

the DBs @ some shitty club in Boston (the channel?) 1984 -- two people in the audience, me & sally cragin. plus the bartenders etc, so maybe 6 tops.

Modest Mouse in someone's basement in Columbia MO with probably 50 people.

THE RANCH! See also: Deerhoof, Bright Eyes, others?

Amputee Set

Again, not ever too huge a band but Masters of Reality played a little joint called The Point in Atlanta touring behind Sufferbus and maybe 100 or so people were in the room with Ginger fucking Baker.

Modest Mouse in someone's basement in Columbia MO with probably 50 people.

THE RANCH! See also: Deerhoof, Bright Eyes, others?

― Tape Store, Saturday, November 15, 2008 5:09 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

I think this is pre-Ranch

MM were supposed to play KCOU Springfest, got lost driving, missed the gig, but ended up playing some random punk kid's house party in the burbs

Saw Jonathan Richman in Lawrence, KS (the Bottleneck?) in 1999, 40 people in the bar of whom maybe 20 were listening to the Jonathan.

lol that reminds me I saw him play in the dining hall at the Mizzou commons

Mega City Four (Manchester, 1989) - 2 people! (or 3 if you count the bar staff)

Boredoms (Brighton, 1995?) - 30 brave souls

John Cale (Brighton, 2003?) - no more than 30 fellows (in a huge venue too!)

back-to-back summers I saw the Flaming Lips, with Ronald Jones still in the band, at a place that holds about 300. Two of the best shows I ever saw.

Bob Dylan at an outdoor show, where less than 1000 people showed up. It was few months before Time Out of Mind came out and everyone started paying him attention again.

blur, 1991 upstairs in a warrington club called LEGENDS. maybe 200 people.

Badly Drawn Boy with about 100 people in Denver. This was post About a Boy so I was pretty blown away that he drew so few people. But then again it was a Tuesday night and snowing.

In a literal sense, when I saw Dark Meat there were 13 people on stage and maybe 25 in the audience. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

I can't think of any except ones that were at fairly standard-sized shows for me (in fact, usually bigger crowds than shows that I usually go to) - the White Stripes and the Strokes both played the Social in Notts (White Stripes were absolutely awesome). Also saw the Gossip play supporting my then-boyfriend's then-band in Bath, at a not particularly crowded show, and the lovely Futureheads touring with the same band playing a few shows to about 20 people...

Also saw Damo Suzuki play to about 20 people - he came down and gave most of the audience a hug, and I nearly cried. Seen him plenty of times since, usually to slightly bigger audiences, but I think his 'bigness' is one of those odd ones that relies on cult status and would never guarantee an audience.

obviously it doesn't count but i used to work in the front office of a theatre, and once in a while, during my lunch breaks i would sit in the balcony of the theatre and watch the soundchecks and rehearsals of some A-list bands. very boring most of the time though.

the hold steady to maybe 200 ppl

All my high school guitar buddies and I had gotten real excited about Night Ranger when they released their debut album. And I still can't think of a much better example of the metal Lite form.

Anyway, shortly after "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" was added in heavy rotation to MTV's playlists, I saw the band at Disney World as part of our Grad Nite thing. There were maybe 75 or 100 people crammed into this little pavillion in FantasyLand, but almost everybody was WILDLY enthusiastic, including myself. I remember Jack Blades called over to Jeff Watson, something like, "not bad for the Fantsy Fair Parade . . ." or whatever.

It certainly was one of the most crowded and most intense gigs I've ever seen. It's always interesting when a band gets real huge in the interim between having booked their tour and actually playing it. I remember seeing Living Color and the Smashing Pumpkins in smaller rooms than they needed on their first national tours, as well.

The other ironny is that the next time I saw Night Ranger, they opened up for Black Sabbath on the Born Again tour, and the much larger crowd could not muster anywhere near the enthusiasm the high school kids had had: they bombed like few bands I've ever seen.

I saw the Cherry-Poppin' Daddies pre-"Zoot Suit Riot," about 25 people in the audience. A church show! Six months later, I am watching MTV, and am like, "wtf."

Also, though they're DJs, I was once in a club in Miami that had stupid low turnout. Derrick May, Lee Burridge, Stacey Pullen and Kevin Saunderson (I think), about 40 people there. Criminal.

Smashing Pumpkins/Hole at the Whisky in LA, 1991. 250 people or so? Whatever the capacity of the place is.

Not sure how big a venue Low plays these days but they played to a crowd of about 20 people at UCI in 1994.

Hole played to about 15 people max at the Republik in Calgary right around
the time Pretty From The Inside came out.

i will admit to seeing the mighty mighty bosstones many times between the ages of 13-15 in boston w/crowds of like 50-300 - they later had a number #1 hit

saw Juan MacLean with about a dozen ppl in the crowd. this was not long after less than human came out, height of dfa-mania and everything. inexplicable.

the pixies opened for throwing muses at southeastern mass. univ, in '87 and there were probably 25 people there when they were on, most of whom were sitting on the floor. my first show, $3.

Big, I don't know but when I saw an Alva Noto, Frank Bretschneider, Byetone, and Signal all play in one night, well this quote sums it up:

Raster Noton label artists are revolutionaries when it comes to pushing the boundaries of minimal techno (sic) with their strong raw vision and stripped-down minimal aesthetic. Nicolai has performed as Alva Noto at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, at Centre Pompidou in Paris, at Kunsthaus Graz and at Tate Modern in London and then when he comes to Toronto he plays a basement venue, that received no promotion for about 30 attendees.

Beastie Boys playing as Quasar to a couple hundred people (rammed waaay over capacity) in a pub in Newcastle, NSW in 1997
They Might Be Giants doing an instore to 50 or so in 2002
LX Paterson from the Orb DJing to maybe ten payers in a 900-capacity room in 2004

not quite in these stakes but notable: Wolfmother as third support to Death From Above to less than 200 before they had a record out - second support was Teenager featuring the now Ladyhawke and Nick from Pnau (now playing 5000-capacity rooms)

hold steady played my friend's birthday party at a weird irish bar in queens

prince appeared to me in my bedroom via hologram! i could have sworn it was real!

LX Paterson from the Orb DJing to maybe ten payers in a 900-capacity room in 2004
-
wow who ever thought he could sell 900 tickets?

the mountain goats first show in melbourne probably had less than 200 people, and the vast majority of those were free tickets as part of a promotion. on the upside, most of those people left as big fans.

there have definitely been shows by jet where the crowd was lucky to number 30, but i was not at any of them

R.E.M. at the Music Machine in L.A. in 1983. Maybe 20 people in the audience? Three of them were Let's Active (who opened)

No Doubt played various UCI shows in the early 90s to tiny groups of students.

oh, snowy-day show in Philly squat-house: Against Me! playing to 10-15 people.

once again, seeing them with feature articles in SPIN a couple years later sort of made my head crazy.

A few dozen people in a basement with the drummer from Lightning Bolt

^^^ i was at the first black pus show in providence in maybe 2002? i don't think he was playing under that name. he played as "lord sun sun" and it was in a loft in olneyville RI, and Barn Own & Ground Monkeys played. Dave F1scher was there IIRC.

also

i will admit to seeing the mighty mighty bosstones many times between the ages of 13-15 in boston w/crowds of like 50-300 - they later had a number #1 hit

we can bond about this. not that i don't totally hate boston, but! i saw the mighty might bosstones more than a few times growing up.

God, yeah, forgot about the Strokes at Mercury Lounge/Barfly madness. I try to blot that from my memory as they were one of the WORST bands I ever saw.

Low played to a half-full Olympia Theatre in Dublin a few years ago. But it was a seated show so it was kinda nice; no mofos talking in your ear all the way through, so I could actually, like, enjoy the music.

Also, they play here so often that one bad turn-out surely didn't put them off (I didn't go to their Christ Church Cathedral show, I don't know how many went to that one).

Mac, was that their 2001 show? If so, I was there (great gig btw. love the Olympia)

Hawkwind at a local park during their free gigs period in 1970. Around 40 of us.
Oasis on the Definately Maybe tour. Around 300 at Rock City Nottingham 94..

probably the stone roses at Middlesex Poly in 1989, there were about 40 people. The following week they played a massive gig at Alexandra Palace.

we can bond about this. not that i don't totally hate boston, but! i saw the mighty might bosstones more than a few times growing up.

― ian, Sunday, November 16, 2008 2:01 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wicked fun right! and i totally hate boston too

Mac, was that their 2001 show? If so, I was there (great gig btw. love the Olympia)

That might have been the one, yeah. Doesn't seem like it was that long ago though. But I've seen them at least 3 or 4 times since 2000 (and that's not counting the shows I missed) so it's all one big blur when it comes to Low for me.

Not a big band in the least, but I went to see Charming Hostess at Tonic before it shut down and the audience was about 10 people including my five friends and I.

White Stripes in the Roadhouse in Manchester. There must have been about 100 people there.

And Julian cope in the mid-90s in a half empty Bierkeller in Bristol, must have been around 50 people there.

new porno's at maxwell's, hoboken

missed opportunity: had a chance to see the white stripes at an off-campus house in college, friend reported < 100 in attendance

went to a shitty disco party instead :-/

I once saw a band where a friend of mine was a vocalist play for maybe 25 people, it was one of their first official gigs. Their next album would eventually top the Finnish album chart.

Boredoms (Brighton, 1995?) - 30 brave souls
Ha I was there, in the back room of a fucking hotel from what I remember.
Also, PJ Harvey playing to about 40 people at the Dome in Tufnell Park, around the time "Dress" was getting Peel airplay (1991?). You could tell even then she was going to get bigger. I think Thieves were supporting too, which was David McAlmont's pre-fame band.
Jeff Buckley in the basement of the Rough Trade shop in Covent Garden, 1994 I think. Pretty much me and some record label turds congratulating each other.

Mekons at Lupo's in Providence - '86 or '87. Couldn't have been more than 30 people in attendance. One song was used on New York - On The Road 86-87.

Pretty much me and some record label turds congratulating each other

They were congratulating each other, I wasn't involved oh never mind.
I once saw The Levellers playing to about 20 people before they got big, not a good experience.

Gossip in Cardiff to about 40 people, just before 'Standing...' came out. Joe Lally from Fugazi last year to about 20 people - I'm aware no-one gives a shit about Joe Lally but it did strike me that he was finding himself playing to 1% or less of the crowds Fugazi often commanded in the UK

- Faith No More, Cook College Student Center, 1986. They were stranded in New Brunswick with a broken van and played a few local shows for $.

- Jeff Buckley at CBGB Canteen to about 100 people. During opening act Dog's Eye View, the entire band was spread around the near-empty bar area, and Buckley sang along from the booth behind mine.

I saw REM play to a couple of hundred people earlier this year. Either that or Keane playing to about 30 people in 2003. They were shite.

New Order at Loughborough University Student's Union. Not that small but I was within touching distance of Barney's guitar.

wau @ dog's eye view

Soul Asylum circa Hang Time at Newcastle Riverside. Few enough people to actually count (around 32, if memory serves) a minimum of 20 of whom were there to see the support band, Crane.

Soul Asylum realised pretty quickly that no-one there knew anything by them and played requests instead of their regular set. It was pretty great. I remember them doing "I can see clearly now the rain has gone" for instance.

A few years ago I caught Elvis Costello at an 800 person venue for SXSW in Austin. Normally he's played the 5,000 person joint in town the past few trips.

i guess they're not a big band, but i was virtually the only audience member at a Homosexuals show in a london bar, 2005. (can't remember the name. very goth.) there were twenty other people or so at the bar, but i was the only one in the stage area, and the only one who seemed to be paying attention or have any idea who they were. and they played my requests!

Elvis C. played a couple of nights with the Imposters at Proud Larry's in Oxford MS when he was there recording The Delivery Man. The place was packed, but the only way to get more than a couple hundred people in there would be for everybody to grease up. (I'm terrible at estimating venue capacity though...maybe Roxy or someone else who's been there can confirm that.)

Actually I've seen a few bands at the Charlotte in Leicester. But I probably got bored and went back in to the bar. Husker Du, The Mondays in 1985, MBV in 1987 (?), and..ahem...Deacon Blue. I definitely didn't see Radiohead there because someone told me they were rubbish. I regret this a great deal because the next time I got the chance to see them was at that intimate venue, the NEC and it wasn't great. although DJ Shadow did a nice set (mostly ignored) at the start of the gig. Perhaps there should be a thread for the smallest band at the biggest gig?

No, that wouldn't work. Forget I said it.

wow who ever thought [Alex Paterson] could sell 900 tickets?

Mysteriously enough, he moved hotels the next day and refused to take calls from the promoter for the rest of the tour!

My high school band played the Espresso Roma coffee shop in our hometown of Corvallis, OR. It probably had a capacity of about 25 people if it was super crowded.

I still have the calendar handbill that shows Green Day playing the same coffee shop the day before us.

I also saw a crowd of 20 people boo the Melvins off the stage once. (Eggnog/Joe Preston era)

lol i heard they got booed off stage every night opening for primus around that time

foools!

With all apologies to Alex in NYC, I only counted about two dozen of us in the audience to see Killing Joke in 1991 (playing Catal Huyuk in Houston). Jaz was wearing his purple Ferrari mechanic jumpsuit. It was an enthusiastic audience, though.

King Tuts in Glasgow holds 300 people when it's full. I have seen Radiohead, Verve (pre-The) and Manic Street Preachers in there, all of whom can or could comfortably sell out stadia in their day. I saw Oasis third on the bill supporting Verve at the Cathouse in Glasgow, possibly bigger capacity than King Tuts, but Oasis arguably bigger than any of the above. I saw Franz Ferdinand playing a gig in a pub earlier this year, and they were rubbish. Belle and Sebastian in the basement of Nice'n'Sleazys in Glasgow, maybe about 100-150 people there? Teenage Fanclub + Alex Chilton downstairs in the old 13th Note in Glasgow, maybe about 100 people max? (though every jangly checked-shirted fucker within a 1000 mile radius claims to have been there)

nada surf in 2001 w/ about 30 people. i think that i was the only one there to actually see them - they played all my requests including 'zen brain' w/ the lyrics in french

Minus the Bear played a free show at a coffee shop at USC circa 2001-02 (could maybe hold a couple hundred people at most), and at the bottom of the bill... My Chemical Romance.

like 30 super amped dudes for a ghostface show in a tiny dive outside san antonio

he's not particularly huge, but i saw liam hayes of plush as part of a crowd of about six people. four of which weren't paying any attention

Oh oh oh NOW I know!!! The Dandy Warhols at CBGB (filled to capacity which still can't be more than a few hundred) during CMJ '05. Best. Show. Ever.

That's actually a big show for them in America

the hold steady to maybe 200 ppl

― lupe fiasco from the hilarious lupe fiasco albums (J0rdan S.), Saturday, November 15, 2008 9:13 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

They probably play to less than that when they play any show outside NYC/Philly/Boston

I saw Dwight Yoakam circa 1985 at NYC's Folk City during a big (for us) snowstorm. Maybe a dozen in the audience?

Dunno how "big" he was, but there were about 25-30 of us seeing Wayne Kramer in Toronto back in '96. The vast majority of the crowd (in the hundreds, at first) had obviously been there to see the opening act (worthless locals Change of Heart) and left right after.

xp to me: altho the math might fit Beck at Maxwells (capacity maybe 200) in 1996 better?

you all have just written the lyrics to "Losing My Edge 2.0"...

o yah i saw beck w/a couple hundred people too

i sort of knew his tour manager and got him to put the sticker for my high school band on becks already sticker covered acoustic guitar

I saw Blur at the GAMH - capacity around 400.

Maxwells (capacity maybe 200)

Wow, that small? I expected bigger considering some of the names I've seen playing there.

I saw Sonic Youth at Barrister's in Memphis when I was fifteen, right after Washing Machine came out, I think. The place was already full of people (capacity was maybe 250, they jammed considerably more in there) and I was able to just cross the threshold of the door and see Kim Gordon's hair waving around. Then the door guy asked me for twenty dollars and I left. Saw them years later at the Last Place on Earth in Memphis at a one-off show while they were on tour with Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder jammed with them on stage and jay reatard called him out, lol. There were probably 300 people there? I don't know, I'm bad at estimating crowds.

death cab played to about 100 people around the time of their first album

elliott smith: opening for, ugh, now I can't remember...someone I don't like.... maybe 35 people there? it was his first SF solo show ever.

I guess Interpol at the Empty Bottle (capacity: 400) in early '03. That's probably the best example of seeing a band at a small club who would later go on to play large theaters.

(That also reminds me, I went to see the Fall about five years ago, also at the Empty Bottle. My friend and I decided to skip the opening band, who we'd never heard of, called TV on the Radio.)

I've seen Jeff Buckley in a smallish club, and Sonic Youth to fewer than 250 (in a big, outdoor space)

I saw Sonic Youth at Barrister's in Memphis when I was fifteen, right after Washing Machine came out, I think.

Are you sure this was after Washing Machine came out? They played a semi-secret show, a fairly short set, while they were in Memphis recording it. I was at that one. (Forgot to mention it on this thread, duhh.) SY played first, followed by some German all-female band and then Lorette Velvette.

downstairs in the old 13th Note in Glasgow, maybe about 100 people max? (though every jangly checked-shirted fucker within a 1000 mile radius claims to have been there)

We need a thread for the greatest discrepancy between how many people claim to have been at a particular gig vs how many people were actually there.

#1 - Sex Pistols at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall - actual: forty, alleged: thousands

Oh, maybe Joanna Newsom, too -- saw her open for Will Oldham in 2004, and there were probably fewer than 40 people in the room when she went on stage. Obviously she's not a mega-star now or anything, but she plays orchestra halls!

Are you sure this was after Washing Machine came out? They played a semi-secret show, a fairly short set, while they were in Memphis recording it. Yeah, that must have been it. The show at Last Place was also "secret."
Oh, speaking of the Ranch in Columbia MO upthread, I saw Bright Eyes there, lol. The Liars played there right after their first record came out but I missed that show. I saw Erase Errata there with maybe 12 other people.

The Stooges at the Austin City Limits soundstage. Maybe 300 or 400 people.

oh elliott smith was opening for half japanese, or one of the fair bros, can't remember, 'cuz I didn't stay.

I saw joanna newsom open for smog in berkeley to about 30 people as well.

not a huge band or anything but superchunk played in knoxville to like <20 ppl once

i couldn't believe it, but i guess they just weren't that popular here

and so close to home!

not a huge band at all, but still.. One dayCaesars Palace (now Caesars) from Sweden, played in my hometown. Me and a friend were excited, what the fuck are they doing in this place!? Turned out we were about 50% of the attendants. There were some Swedish groupies who (we figured) probably travelled with the band. They paid no attention to us unfortunately. Band were NOT in a good mood, played for like 30 minutes and left. heh.

Also forgot to mention... Beck at various Silver Lake house parties in the very early 90s.

I also saw a sparsely attended Sonic Youth gig. I saw them in early '87, on a quick Midwest tour they did to try out the Sister material. They played Oberlin with Big Black. A few hundred, Big Black putting on a far better show. The next night, we interviewed them in Pittsburgh at the Katz and Kids deli. They weren't too happy with the previous gig. But they were great fun to interview. We followed them down to the Electric Banana where they played for 20 or 30 people, mostly WRCT deejays. They sort of gave up on "Beauty lies in the eye," couldn't get it to gel. None of the Sister songs worked that well, except for White Cross. And that really colored my opinion of Sister when it came out. Saw the end of the tour that autumn (in Cleveland) for a much bigger crowd, and they were fantastic. I think they closed with Beat on the Brat. Seems like the songwriting and studio process is far removed from performance for them.

Caesars Palace (now Caesars) from Sweden

Weren't they known as Twelve Caesars at one point, too?

can't recall that, might be one of those bands that has several names in several places. (What do you expect when you call yourself Caesars Palace)

Wikipedia informs me you're right though (and i am too) apparently at one point they were Caesars Palace in Sweden, Caesars in the USA and Twelve Caesars in the rest of Scandinavia!?!

Bypassing a slew of outrageous gigs I was fortunate to be @ small clubs with a couple of 100 people (all dates approx): Herbie Hancock @ a little theatre in Los Gatos (1970), John Fahey @ the Paul Masson Winery (1972), Melvins outdoors in the park @ the IPU festival in Olympia (1991), or Melvins @ some club in a mall in Long Beach (???), and all those gigs @ the I-Beam in SF (more-or-less across the street from Amoeba) including New Order, the Birthday Party, Foetus, Sonic Youth(mid-80s), Big Black @ Shubas (late 80s), Butthole Surfers @ Dreamerz, Thrill Kill Kult @ Dreamerz (late 80s), I plant my flag with Flaming Lips @ Batteries Not Included in Chicago in the late 80s.

Batteries was tiny (it's a pizza joint now, I think, capacity maybe 50-75. It wasn't even full.

For power pop geeks, this club was booked by Jim Ellison of Material Issue. Here's a nice bit about Jim Material Issue's Jim Ellison that talks about the club.

Fucking hell, dude, can I have your concertgoing life?

i saw sonic youth play an instore (well parking lot gig) at tower records in SF when goo came out and there were maybe 40 people there, one of whom threw bagels at the band, and hit kim gordon in the head.

Melvins @ some club in a mall in Long Beach (???)

Hahah, yeah, I was at that club a few times when I went to UCI for grad school -- Hancock's or something like that? Saw Ween, Helios Creed and Negativland there for separate shows.

o yah i saw beck w/a couple hundred people too

― ice cr?m, Monday, November 17, 2008 10:24 AM (3 hours ago)

I saw beck w/ a couple people opening for the treepeople (pre-BTS) in early 90s LA right after the earthquake.

The Killers supporting, uuuuuh, Stellastarr (you haven't heard the last of them!) in the aforementioned King Tut's, a couple of hundred people. That's about it. Totally doesn't count for very obvious reasons, but at (the also aforementioned) Nice n Sleazy I saw the legend that is R. Stevie Moore support Ariel Pink while everyone there (maybe fifteen people?) but me and my girlfriend were sat at the bar or tables.

I saw Mercury Rev on Sunday (2 days ago) here in Luxembourg in front of, I'd say, no more than 200 people. This could be a reflection of where the band is up to in their career, but I suspect that they'd just picked a place where they're simply not known and where they were poorly promoted. To their credit, they belted out a hell of a performance.

Was the Long Beach club called Bogart's, in that huge & mostly deserted mall? I saw the Chills and Eleventh Dream Day (and one other band) there. Also Tom Verlaine (solo acoustic) at McCabe's which must be < 80 capacity. Beck at the Alligator (< 200?). And Kaki King at the LA car show in 2004, playing in front of the Mercedes Maibach. Lots of people in the hall but less than half a dozen paying any attention to her.

I guess my most appropriate gig would be NIN at King Tut's in Glasgow, just as Head Like A Hole was having it's second wind.

As has been mentioned above it was almost capacity so I guess around 300 people.

If memory serves, it was a good gig, quite high tension, very loud.

They still had Richard Patrick (who got bodychecked by Trent at the end of the first song and the poor bugger went sailing off the side of the stage), the whole cornstarch/UV lights thing and binliners covering the monitors because they were throwing 2 litre bottles of water around everywhere.

At the end of the set all the equipment got trashed and I remember a punter walking swiftly past me carrying one of the keyboards (a lot of the keys had been ripped out, naturally)

The Kooks played their first gig at East Slope bar, Sussex University about 4 1/2 years ago. Probably fifty people in the bar, maybe five of whom were actually paying attention.

I saw a bunch of bands early in their careers with small audiences but ones with the largest disparity between show attendees:current fanbase would be

nirvana, maxwells, nj, '89: as a 4 piece on the bleach tour, decent crowd of about 75 who were mostly there to see headliner tad. I was able to download a recording of this show a couple years ago, thanking u internets.

my bloody valentine, tla, philly, '89: less than 50 people in a big concert hall. kevin shields said their nyc gig at brownie's the night before was so sparsely attended they were putting passersby on the guest list, imagine that. every time colm hit the bass head it felt like someone was jabbing a knuckle into my sternum. they played "you made me realise" with a 10 minute interlude. openers were the ocean blue who, after irritating me, had a minor alt rock hit. the keyboardist's stand was an ironing board.

live, brighton bar, nj, '91: crowd of about 30-50 at this perennial jersey shore dive bar. don't think their first album was even out yet, they sounded like a pack of prog-boners backing a david byrne impressionist. opened for irish ne'erdowells the fatima mansions, o what a night.

cat power, ??, nashville, tn, '98: solo in a small bar with tables, back alley venue near the exit in. 20-30 people. she wore a herringbone sportcoat with suede elbow patches and played a quiet, hypnotic piano set.

espers, as220, providence, ri, '03: so they're not huge but when they opened this sparsely attended gig in the upstairs gallery, I was the only audience member besides the bands on the bill. when they were done greg weeks said, "we'd like to thank ed for showing up..."

my ex saw No Doubt play in milwaukee to a total crowd of 3 people, just before they hit it big

Oh god, I forgot one! I saw Belly playing in a college rock type bar in Upstate NY, just before the MASSIVE single came out, to less then 100 people? Tanya Donnelly made some comment about "Come closer... I won't bite. Though I could probably fit all of you in my mouth..." which I don't think she realised sounded as dirty as it did and the whole front row went ROFL ROFL.

I think I saw Thursday as part of a hardcore fest in the basement of the Knox College cafeteria the year before their big album came out, but I can't confirm it anywhere. There were about 15 people there.

Skankin' Pickle to a crowd of about 30 at a youth center in Virginia on their Green Album tour.

Forgot about seeing Cat Power in 96 or so (also at Barristers in Memphis) opening for Guv'ner and Bardo Pond. There were maybe 25 or 30 people there. Best show I saw at Barristers was Brainiac, though. They were great. Jeff Buckley did a set that night, too, which is why this show is being mentioned in this thread, I guess.

Does seeing Jeff Buckley in his rehearsal room count, coz if it does, I pwn you all! ;-)

All-American Rejects on a ten-band bill @ Fitz in 2002. Maybe a couple hundred people in attendance, but they were split between the up and downstairs clubs (five bands in each). On top of that, the show was big enough that many of those folks were in the other bands or were their friends and family.

I've mentioned this one before, but my school won a radio contest in 98, and the prize was an *Nsync concert during lunchtime on our football field. IIRC, only my class (the freshmen) got to go, so it could only have been about 200 people (students + faculty). Although the seniors shared our lunchtime, so it may have been 350-400.

my bloody valentine, tla, philly, '89: less than 50 people in a big concert hall.

Last I checked, the TLA was not a 'big concert hall'

Was the Long Beach club called Bogart's, in that huge & mostly deserted mall?

Yes, that was the name! Thanks Nick.

The shins maybe. O!IW had just been released and I think the band was still operating out of whichever SW town they were from. There might have been 12 ppl there. To be fair, modest mouse was playing an hour away in a college town and I suspect that hurt drew a lot of corny fuxx0rs.

Or maybe a very bitter, aged Cracker some time around '02 or '03. By the end there couldn't have been more than 32 people in the 450+ (I think) venue. I only went because I got in for free somehow.

I've also seen Gong a couple times in clubs, and they've played Glasto!

my bloody valentine, tla, philly, '89: less than 50 people in a big concert hall.

Last I checked, the TLA was not a 'big concert hall'

it's no carnegie hall, but wikipedia puts the room cap at 810. with < 50 people there it probably seemed more cavernous than it actually is...

oh yeah I'm reminded I saw CAt Power at the Hemlock in SF a few years ago (maybe four years ago), probably 25 people or whatever the capacity is there. this was a special show though, not something where people didn't know who she was. tickets for it sold out very quickly.

a couple of other shows i've seen w/ fewer than a hundred people present

death cab for cutie
rilo kiley (about 50 people there, my band opened)
devandra banhart/joanna newsom

My parents hired U2 to play my sweet-sixteen last year, so there was just the three of us in the audience. ― Øystein

Oh Øystein, ya poor thing, still living with yer parents... and having no friends...

Saw Nada Surf play for maybe 30 people at a club in Melbourne, FL. This was like 5 years after "Popular," so maybe it's not too surprising.

Stereophonics, playing to 7 people in the Drum and Monkey, Ipswich just before they released their first single. We got bored after a few songs, so three of us went to play pool in the room next door.

Saw PWEI to a crowd of maybe 150 at a uni bar in Canberra Aus in 1990or 91 when "This is the day" came out.

Saw the Smashing Pumpkins at a pub that I'm pretty sure only holds about 500 max and it wasn't remotely full. The next time they came out, they played a stadium.

Apparently a workmate of my bf saw Genesis once in the US in the 70s and only about 300 people showed up.

The Power Station on a 1998(?) comeback tour at the Fillmore in San Francisco. I was reviewing the show, I swear. Wikipedia tells me The Fillmore can hold 1250 people -- there could not have been more than 100 people there-- it sort of felt like I was watching a soundcheck. I remember a crazy drunk frat boy in a polo shirt yelling out "HARVEST FOR THE WORLD! HARRRRRRVEST FOR THE WOOORRLLD" (which they did not play). At some juncture, a woman jumped on stage and wrapped her arms around Andy Taylor -- it took security an uncomfortably long time to realize (or I guess care) that something was amiss. Robert Palmer ended the show with a very sarcastic 'Thanks for coming out. Until next time-- Yippie!"

Everlast at Slims in San Francisco before 'What It's Like" took off -- there were like 20 people there. 6 months later, same venue, sold out.

Ani DiFranco played my hippie college a few times -- our biggest hall could not have fit more that 500 people.

Kid Rock, Bottom of The Hill in San Francisco, many months before Bawitaba took off. 20 people, max.

Was the Long Beach club called Bogart's, in that huge & mostly deserted mall? I saw the Chills and Eleventh Dream Day (and one other band) there.

Hey, I was at that show too! I saw Let's Active there right around the same time.

Couple more I forgot to add... The Replacements at Al's Bar (Hootenanny had just come out) and Robyn Hitchcock/Peter Holsapple at some student union cafe at Cal State Fullerton.

Do you remember who the third band was Chris?

Also, the Dream Syndicate never got huge, but I saw them play in this short-lived retail store in Pasadena around 1980 and there couldn't have been more than 15-20 people there.

I saw Peter Case at the CalPoly Pomona student union but that was probably a pretty big show for him.

Oh yeah, and Richard Thompson at a free Earth day festival in the SFV 5+ years ago, not very many people watching (40 or 50?).

Went to see Genghis Tron in Belfast last night. There were probably fewer than 50 people there. Security and the barman told us that the promoters fucked it up; there was no advertising, etc. Sucks, but at least there were no tall mofos to block my view.

lol that reminds me I saw him play in the dining hall at the Mizzou commons

― dmr, Saturday, 15 November 2008 22:37 (5 days ago)

This was a great show by the way. Playing in a school cafeteria made him act even more like a kid than usual, dancing like a goofball for forever.

I was part of an audience of two or three at a Vertical Horizon show

the I-Beam in SF (more-or-less across the street from Amoeba

The 'more' being down the street opposite Cole...

SF folks, I saw Pavement in 1995 (height of popularity?) at the Kilowatt when they still had live music. 200 people max?

Not quite exactly on topic, but I remember seeing Of Montreal a bunch back in college, when they were playing before 20 or so people at a time. It's amusing they're playing in front of 40 times that now.

Oh and I saw the Zombies on a recent tour (2002?) play to about 100 people, which I thought was pretty funny. Ok, they only deserved that many people because they're just sad now, but you know...

saw modest mouse upstairs at the middle east in cambridge mass - capacity around 100

― ketchup bro (ice cr?m), Saturday, November 15, 2008 1:35 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

gasp! i saw this show. it was good.
i don't know how big the rapture really are, but i saw them at brownie's which i remember as really small but could be wrong.

hmm..nothing too big...i saw the strokes open for the doves in front of about 150 ppl....julian was drunk and walking around after they played and tripped and almost burned me w/his cigarette. they got really mad during their set because the crowd wasn't into it enough. but they played well.

i saw um...gong in front of not a lot of people. and ian hunter in front of almost nobody.

Saw Royal Trux with a crowd of maybe 75-100 folks in St Louis in '99.

Just wanted to say that I love this thread. Too bad The Go-Betweens weren't ever big else I'd have something to contribute.

I also saw a sparsely attended Sonic Youth gig. I saw them in early '87, on a quick Midwest tour they did to try out the Sister material. They played Oberlin with Big Black. A few hundred, Big Black putting on a far better show. The next night, we interviewed them in Pittsburgh at the Katz and Kids deli. They weren't too happy with the previous gig. But they were great fun to interview. We followed them down to the Electric Banana where they played for 20 or 30 people, mostly WRCT deejays. They sort of gave up on "Beauty lies in the eye," couldn't get it to gel. None of the Sister songs worked that well, except for White Cross. And that really colored my opinion of Sister when it came out. Saw the end of the tour that autumn (in Cleveland) for a much bigger crowd, and they were fantastic. I think they closed with Beat on the Brat. Seems like the songwriting and studio process is far removed from performance for them.

!!! I was at this show and have a flyer for it on my wall. $3 for Oberlin students, $6 for the public.

i saw built to spill play at under acme in NYC during the tour for "there's nothing wrong with love"

there were about 20 people there. it was a school night.

oh, doug martsch needed a light for his marlboro red. i lit it for him.

Thanks for the refresher about Bogart's... what a weird scene that was, and the geography re: the I-Beam. Fond memories.

Ned, you could borrow my early concert-going years if you also take the 57 times I had to sit through the Elvin Bishop Group and/or Tower of Power in my high school years, even if TOP are considered cool now.

Then we can do the gigs we missed, or the gigs that we saw that are on the thread of performers/performances that other people would go back in time to see. I'm older than (at least most of) you-all here, stick around long enough and you can do this too!

Were Luna ever considered big? My band supported them in Leicester once, there were about 12 people there, at least half of them for us.

At their peak, they could sell out the Fillmore here in SF.

o gigs we missed is such a massive bummer

I was a sound guy at my alma mater, so there's too many to name.

Probably the best example was Counting Crows in early 1994 at the UC Irvine Student Center, a week before their debut album came out. They played to about 20 enthusiastic people. Their manager was a complete asshole. "We played with VAN MORRISON last night."

Had Korn not cancelled, they would have played to about 50 enthusiastic people at the same location a week before their debut album came out. I do remember talking to Jonathan Davis on the phone who was like "yo. yeah bro, we just need to make sure we can support a low end sound system if you know what i'm talking about, yah"

Hahah, I remember interviewing someone else in the band around the same time for the New U. Them days.

i just remembered i've seen mercury rev, sloan and smog in audiences under 100, but they were radio live-to-airs that had some invite-only people watching. there was a polly harvey one too that i didn't see

not sure these really count

Do you remember who the third band was Chris?

I *think* it was either The Silos or The Rave-Ups (or someone like that).

Also, the Dream Syndicate never got huge, but I saw them play in this short-lived retail store in Pasadena around 1980 and there couldn't have been more than 15-20 people there.

A lot of those early Dream Syndicate shows were like that - the audience would basically be the other bands, an assortment of Robacks, etc. In the late 80s, I saw Steve Wynn play a daytime solo show to maybe three people at the UC Irvine student union.

haha, UCI Student Center, the place to see bands play to 7 people before they become huge

Hey, Japanther is playing there at noon tomorrow.

I remember similar shows at UCLA's Cooperage. That burnt pizza smell was so pernicious, even your clothes smelt like burnt pizza after you left.

The Fields of the Nephilim were supposed to play at the Cooperage once in 1989. I wonder what that was like.

dark plates in a metal abyss
the bread is made of charcoal
your last meal... blacken this

MoonPIE!

Speaking of college student center shows... I saw The Raveonettes at the Cal State Long Beach student center on either their first or second tour of the US. Maybe a dozen people there who stayed for the whole thing?

I know I posted this upthread, but I'm still astonished by the Mercury Rev gig I went to last Sunday...

The thing that took my breath away about the show is that they are incredibly well known (ie. this is no 'before-they-were-famous' experience) and yet still only managed to get 100... 200 max to come and see them. As my friend who went to the gig with me remarked, 'I feel as though we've just seen a band of world renoun play my local village hall'.

I saw Howlin' Rain in the new Stereo, Glasgow last year when the audience consisted of little more than myself, the support bands and a record company rep. who had managed to blag his way in.

Not a 'big' band per se, but a pathetic turn out nonetheless and they definitely deserved and could have done better. A pitifully poorly promoted show was to blame.