Why have audiences at concerts gotten so boring in the past 10 years?

This might not be true, but I'm pretty sure it is..

And then when some people in the audience actually get a bit energized and start jumping around and going nuts, they become the assholes..

The last time I went to a concert where the crowd was actually jumping in unison was prolly around 2000 or 2001.. whereas most recent shows I've attended have crowds full of people who are too cool for school standing with their arms folded.

Meanwhile, people aren't wasting time: over the course of the past few months, I've seen them going nuts at shows you'd expect to see them dancing at in this climate (Out Hud, !!!, Radio 4, Liars, The Postal Service, Rjd2), shows you'd never expect to see them dancing at in this climate (Comets on Fire, Black Dice, Broken Social Scene), and shows by bands that don't deserve to be danced to in any climate (Hint Hint, Dance Disaster Movement). Bands like The Rapture have sent their message: The rock show was not meant to be a collegiate study. We have all stopped caring what snotty academics find acceptable, because now there is real, true, palpable fun, and it is the greatest liberation. You people at shows who don't dance, who don't know a good time, who can't have fun, who sneer and scoff at the supposed inferior-- it's you this music strikes a blow against. We hope you die bored.

— Ryan Schreiber, September 9, 2003

you're going to the rong shows. either that or you are old and the bands you like are boring live.

Noooooo it's def not me.. I'm still in my 20's.

What are the right kind of shows? I must attend or die.

It also could be the region of the country I'm in..

Dancing to Live Music

billstevejim, i am 99% sure it is you, not concert audiences

wtf kinda question is this

you there to watch the band or to watch the rest of the audience?

btw come to baltimore, there are still some obnoxious motherfuckers who like to broadcast their enthusiasm to exaggerated degrees here

i don't think watching the band is really the point of going to a concert, dude. last time i checked it was to have fun and hear great music: if people have more fun dancing or flailing their arms around than standing with their arms crossed well i don't blame them at all.

last time i checked there was no prescribed "point" of going to a concert

Judging by the last few shows I've been to, the "point" of going to concert is to drink beer, talk to your friends, and be "seen" at the hip shows.

billstevejim, i am 99% sure it is you, not concert audiences

I'm 99% sure you're a douche.

Sorry about that.. my instinct was to defend myself since I consider that an insult, but yeah.. you don't know me.

relax, i'm just saying it is more likely that your patterns have changed over the last ten years than the patterns of thousands of concertgoers

point is the point isn't to whine about other people's preffered way of acting at a show and let people broadcast whatever they wanna broadcast.

The "point" of going out to a show of any kind (movie, theater performance, rock band, etc) is to be entertained and have a good time, with variance regarding the type of show you're going to...

To some people this means being "seen" and drinking beer. I've heard some suggest that people only go to concerts so that they can later say "I saw this band," which I guess is true for some people.

I guess perhaps the real question is.. who are the best live bands whose audiences always go nuts?

there are still some obnoxious motherfuckers who like to broadcast their enthusiasm to exaggerated degrees here

― windows XD (some dude), Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:38 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark

Is this the way people perceive it? That dancing/freaking out/physically responding to music is "broadcasting enthusiasm"? Cuz I'm one of those obnoxious motherfuckers, and I do it entirely for myself. To the extent that I'm aware that others are aware of me, I'm a little embarrassed, but I try not to let it get me down, cuz the less I worry about it, the more fun I have. I always figure that the stand-in-place-with-arms-crossed set are broadcasting their coolness and/or timidity.

In Seattle, the best live band whose audience always goes nuts = The Spits.

there are basically two things you can do at a club show that make you a dick:

1) it's cool if you wanna drink beer and talk to your friends, but fuck you if you talk loudly over a particularly quiet act

2) if you wanna dance or move whatever but if you repeatedly bump into me fuck you

btw if i'm standing with my arms crossed it's not because i'm ::afraid:: to move but because i don't feel like moving due to the nature of the act or how i'm feeling or something. maybe i'm tired. fuck you.

these tips given with much <3 and respect for yall

Oh yeah I also hate after a band is finished with an amazing set, the house lights are still down and they're clearly coming back out to play a few more songs, but only less than 10% of the crowd is cheering for more.. It's kinda pathetic.

i don't really agree with that--the encore is so rote at this point. i mean yeah it's lame if the band really killed it but that's pretty subjective

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/6507/369043-abe_simpson_large.gif

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/3887602134_b212aa662f.jpg

Is this the way people perceive it? That dancing/freaking out/physically responding to music is "broadcasting enthusiasm"? Cuz I'm one of those obnoxious motherfuckers, and I do it entirely for myself. To the extent that I'm aware that others are aware of me, I'm a little embarrassed, but I try not to let it get me down, cuz the less I worry about it, the more fun I have.

Seconded. I am not much of a show off but I always tended to be one of the first audience members to start dancing because that was usually more enjoyable to me.

Also, no, people obviously don't necessarily just go to live shows to see the band (and that doesn't necessarily mean they are then there to be seen).

Also, it always annoyed me when bands would exhort audiences to move around. If they don't want to move, that's up to them. Still, that doesn't mean I'm not sometimes disappointed when audiences don't respond as enthusiastically as I think is appropriate.

Hope that was boring.

go to a brokencyde show or something

Go to an old school soul show or an afropop show or a dc go-go show or yea, a Brokencyde show

Whiney, thanks, the digital cameras drove me nuts at the last big show I went to. Everyone (actually maybe 10 people nearby but presumably many more behind me, I did not turn around) spent the whole set trying to get the perfect shot of the band, the a movie of the band, then another shot of the band with a different camera setting, then, in one case, a series of self-portraits in front of the band. Also it was Yo la Tengo - not a dynamic visual act! dudes, listen to the show - take a photo for a keepsake, sure, but spending the whole show in documentation mode does not make sense! How is this fun?

Saw Davila 666 in Portland, OR a month or so ago. They had broughten a fairly sizable crew of piratical Puerto Rican business associates with them to help out with their logistical-type tour planning etc. I noticed that when other bands were playing, Davila 666 and their people freaked the fuck out like nobody's business, yelling shit and jumping around etc. This is probably because they are hot-blooded especially due to their Southern heritage, but it tended to make even the more enthuiastical Northerns look a little staid & uptight. Want to see more maniacal-though-basically-goodnatured drug & alcohol fueled tomfoolery at punkrock shows of all types.

Camera people need to die. If you go to shows and spend any amount of time holding your fucking camera up and are not a professional photographer, you need to die.

i was at a show about a year ago where several audience members taped out a four square court in the back of the room and proceeded to play four square while the band played. it was pretty funny.

every1 dies some day

after you die, audiences are really boring.

are there camera phones in heaven?

Reasons why audiences have gotten so boring:

You stopped going to punk shows, you're too old to get into exuberant bands, you live in a place like Detroit that's famed for blasé audiences. You don't see bands famous for encouraging dancing, you see bands at places that aren't appropriate for dancing, you didn't used to see every show with Ian Mackaye but now you seem to. There are too many hipster douchebags or not enough or not the right kind or there are but you aren't paying attention. You like serious music and talk about the loudness wars and honestly you prefer to wear earplugs at concerts. Hooking up at concerts got to feel depressing after a while, not hooking up at concerts is more depressing still, or you're just there for the music. You're taking the wrong drugs or no drugs, or you didn't used to need drugs. You kinda have seen it before, no matter what it is, and for you that means it's less thrilling. Also, the kids these days are totally boring and bullshit. They grew up post 9-11, man, show a little sympathy. You'd be boring too.

Is that from somewhere? It sounds like it's from somewhere.

btw come to baltimore, there are still some obnoxious motherfuckers who like to broadcast their enthusiasm to exaggerated degrees here

― windows XD (some dude), Friday, November 13, 2009 4:38 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

just got back home from a righteous show in baltimore at the bank, plenty of good times and positive audience rapport in effect, I think the solution is obvious: move to baltimore!

go to metal shows

"Is that from somewhere? It sounds like it's from somewhere."

My unwritten book.

So sick of how watching stuff w/ your arms crossed gets such a bad rep - I'm not being "jaded" or "waiting for you to impress me", it's because it's comfortable

The very first internet music mailing list I got myself on in 1996 was in the middle of (and would repeat every couple of years) an argument about this very subject. I think of it as one of the eternal complaints of the universe, like that 2000-year-old passage about kids being ignorant jerks with no respect for their elders.

(Admittedly it may not map too well onto the classical era, but I like to think of late-20-somethings at folk dances or waltzes throughout the centuries complaining that the kids just wanted to stand in the corner and suspiciously eye up the opposite sex, at any rate.)

In other words, Marauder probably OTM.

Camera people need to die. If you go to shows and spend any amount of time holding your fucking camera up and are not a professional photographer, you need to die.

― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Friday, November 13, 2009 6:26 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

^agree. Really, if you want to get some pictures of the band i) use the internet ii) be prepared to wait at the front of the stage BEFORE the band starts so you can at least get a picture that isn't shit and full the backs of people's heads iii) never use flash especially if you are behind me. iv) stop taking pictures (especially on your phone)

I mean, I like to photograph acts that I've eagerly anticipated seeing (admittedly, mainly jazz greats) but I always make sure I'm near the front for a good shot.

What is even the point of a shitty camera phone picture? Especially at larger venues when you're several rows deep???

I did get some cameraphone shots at the last Gig I was at, they came out OK, but I think the rule is the same as for Proguys:

Get them done by song 2.

people are more into showing everyone they were there then just enjoying being there. more fun to be had posting photos on facebook/blogs etc later on.

basically ppl don't know how to act

I dunno, I take a fair few pictures at gigs, but as soon as it seems like I'm on the verge of watching the band through my viewfinder I put it away and get down to the proper business of actually enjoying the show.

Also, I think with dancing, there are clear delineations between the band being kick-ass and the entire audience having fun dancing along, and having a couple of jerk-offs who would flail wildly to anything barging into you repeatedly.

going to see the Muse is a cure for this particular ill

though may carry ills of its own

FYI kids still spend months wetting themselves in anticipation of seeing this or that band, not really sure why anyone thinks this has changed

onimo pretty much otm except uh, don't be an asshole and talk to your friends while the band is playing, esp if it's a "quieter band". also don't dance by yourself like an idiot

the best is when one of your friends is at a show and they want to share the experience w/ you - which is great and all - so they call you and hold the phone up so you can hear the music. except it just sounds like a fucking dump truck unloading or something.

don't be an asshole and talk to your friends while the band is playing, esp if it's a "quieter band"

goes without saying you don't drown out something like Low but I think yelling "HOLY FUCKING SHIT AT THIS NOISE!" 200dBs under a wall of Mono is allowed, even if it only leads to your mate going "WHAT?" and the two of you grinning from ear to bleeding ear.

FYI kids still spend months wetting themselves in anticipation of seeing this or that band, not really sure why anyone thinks this has changed

The other day I saw a huge, HUGE line at the Palladium in Hollywood in mid-afternoon -- it wasn't even three yet, I think -- for Paramore's show that night. Stretched for a couple of blocks and more people arriving as we passed. No, it definitely hasn't changed.

"Ok guys, this is a new one" ------> 500 cameraphones raise in unison

I keep thinking that there is a more effective way to do that post argh

no, you nailed it in one

One of my big bugbears about dancing is people who dance facing their friends but away from the stage, actually.

i do this a lot! but usually only for electronic music.

If there's some dude onstage with a laptop looking like he's checking his email, I think it's perfectly acceptable to dance facing your friends, actually.

every band has an email checker or a tweetist now

Its always acceptable to dance facing your friends! It makes more sense really. Everyone has seen people play instruments, most of them aren't entertaining to watch. But your friend's happy faces, thats priceless.

I agree with those annoyed at the standard pair of twats barging everyone but that isn't symptomatic of some new societal malaise. There have always been dicks acting like dicks at gigs.

I used to hate these guys(and sometimes still do) but I was next to some at this Stereolab show years and years ago who were on Ecstacy and banging into everyone while dancing. Eventually I just gave in and started dancing more exaggerated than usual to carve out my own space. It led to one of the best times ever with most of the crowd around us eventually dancing and having a great time.

Lately, I think I would like shows more if I brought my DS. Or bands should play softly so people can mingle.

i try and get to the front row to avoid watching people futz with their cameras who are not being paid to futz with their cameras

i tend to believe the most cynical ideas above about how people would rather tweet about shows than actually enjoy them because the person i usually go to shows with is one of them.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/19/dan_deacon.jpg

^^ is that from a dan deacon show?

Yup.

recognized the skull

Complaint about ppl dancing facing their friends is silly. Maybe they just wanna hear the music and don't care to watch the performer's working methods. That's okay, right?

Mainly I don't care what people do in an audience so long as they aren't dicks, eh? I saw Jarboe in a bar in Boise once and that was the worst. 1. Audience would not stfu even kind of in this very small room and 2. some guy had flown in from Maryland and was photographing her. There wasn't really a stage, so he was just standing a foot or two away from her, seriously, the whole show, changing lenses & taking photo after photo, lady shooting him the stinkeye hardcore the whole time. And this is Jarboe, who I think is already sad about life without assholes to make her sad. She must have had to pet so many puppies to get over this!

I used to hate these guys(and sometimes still do) but I was next to some at this Stereolab show years and years ago who were on Ecstacy and banging into everyone while dancing.
― brontosaur, Friday, November 13, 2009 1:36 PM (1 hour ago)

Wait a second, where was this show? Was it in Boston? I think that might have been me bumping into everyone...

goes without saying you don't drown out something like Low
― I'm Still Stanning (onimo), Friday, November 13, 2009 10:19 AM (5 hours ago)

Ha ha, I think this happens quite regularly at Low concerts and that the members of Low are actually pretty bitter about it.

http://www.dailydemotivators.com/pics/hardcore_dancing.jpg

She must have had to peat so many puppies to get over this!

― we are normal and we want our freedom (Abbott), Friday, November 13, 2009 9:17 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

j/k I *heart* Jarboe

also why have concerts gotten so boring for audiences in the past ten years?

its not all twitter

some shows i go to it looks like the guitarist is still wondering if they have their guitar strepped on the right way or not. this does not make me feel like dancing.

Wait a second, where was this show? Was it in Boston? I think that might have been me bumping into everyone...

― Moodles, Friday, November 13, 2009 9:31 PM

It was in St. Pete, FL. Maybe on their Dots and Loops tour? i dunno, but they played alot of Emperor Tomato Ketchup stuff and it was a blast!

As an old man I would like to defend audiences being boring but I will ensphincterate the next mobile phone I see at a gig.

i think this is more a general crankiness on the part of folks as they get older. you work more, sleep less, and seemingly anything and EVERYTHING can be annoying. people dancing and enjoying themselves man funk that i hate those mutherfockaz: having a good time while i feel like shit. then the peeps having a good time are all like you emotionless idiots standing there with yr arms folded, fucking cut it loose duudez! add more and more alcohol and it just amplifies . . .

Personally I'd rather watch the show, drink a beer, and be low key but it's not because I enjoy it any less than someone who dances/flails and yells "wooo!"

People should be allowed to chill at concerts if that's what they want to do.. but the front section of the crowd, right next to where the band is located, is normally supposed to be where 30-40% of the crowd is jumping in unison and going nuts, and I kinda miss that.

"See Brokencyde" is the worst suggestion I've ever read on ILX.

the "or something" should probably tell you a bit

I spend too much time here.

It's wrong to think there are no general changes in crowd behavior, only in individuals viewpoints or choices. Developments in music scenes create new roles for the audience, and that can sometimes spread beyond the genre of music that's developed those roles. eg. concerts in general were much more fun after grunge hit because the audience was supposed to be part of the action, getting filthy, drunk and losing your shoes became part of the experience. That spread to non-grunge bands such as Carter USM, Cud, Teenage Fanclub, etc all of whom I can remember having really out of control gigs, weird though that seems now. Another example is how non-punk acts like Tom Robinson or Ian Dury used to get "gobbed" on by audiences after punk took off.

But that's a generalisation and no more than a personal observation. Go and see fun bands if you want to have a good time dancing and getting off your tits. Location is less important than the show itself. Here's a couple of gigs I was at in the last 4 months. Same venue. Same stage. Probably quite a lot of the same people (it's a small city). First one is pretty much the epitome of what the original poster is talking about - "people who are too cool for school standing with their arms folded". The second one is...er...something else.
http://yfrog.com/5ximg0734aj
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3385/3661438258_dfa175454d.jpg

Sorry, here's the other one. Broadcast doing their best with a very boring crowd:
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/921/img0734a.jpg

the Biltmore! I was there! I was standing on the other side, about halfway back - maybe 6 people back from the speakers. I was swaying, not dancing, but I did not have my arms crossed. I was grouchy about how awful Atlas Sound was and drunk on gin and tonics and feeling very happy about how loud it all was in front of the speaker. Weird show, weird crowd.

To be fair, Broadcast are not exactly a jump around wave your hands in the air dance classics band. I think that standing, quietly contemplating is probably the correct response to spooky radiophonic soundscapes, and anyone leaping about in the front is probably at the wrong fucking gig.

As someone who grew up going to gigs in NYC, inappropriate crowd behaviour is probably my number one bugbear. You'd get asshole B&T dicks coming in and just going to gigs at the Ritz or something, totally ignorant of who the bands were, and you'd get idiots stage diving to, like, Mazzy Star.

I saw Broadcast in DC. the music didn't demand movement. actually, i would have really appreciated a chair.

I'm with Masonic Boom here -- present state of concert-going FAR SUPERIOR to the early 90s "people must mosh to every band that has a drummer, no matter what." Moshing at Mighty Mighty Bosstones, great, moshing at Pavement estupido.

haha i still remember going to some dumb radio station big "holiday fest" bill and seeing people most to the cranberries

people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some of them are cool and some of them are lame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

woah think about it

I saw Mastodon and Dethklok last night and the audience seemed to be having a blast.

I think it truly depends on the type of music and the band's ability to whip a crowd into a frenzy.

That said, the cameraphone thing is truly a new phenomenon that adds a weird element to pretty much every show.

i think max has really gotten to the crux of the matter here.

as always

lock ilx

i once had to be carried out of a show by security after having passed out. sorry, guys, just trying to keep things interesting!

i've had to ask audience members to leave shows for being too "interesting" before

naked guy at greek theater shows to thread

I think this belongs on this thread.

I'm with Masonic Boom here -- present state of concert-going FAR SUPERIOR to the early 90s "people
must mosh to every band that has a drummer, no matter what." Moshing at Mighty Mighty Bosstones, great, moshing at Pavement estupido.
--Guayaquil (eephus!)

Agreed. Still have flashbacks of Jabberjaw idiots moshing to Spectrum and Jessamine shows in 1995