live music

[zorra_chiflada]

ok, so i went out last night to see a live band. the band was ok and everything (but really loud, me ears feel like they're stuffed with cotton wool now :( )
i really like seeing bands live, so i will continue to do so, but there are a few things about live music culture that i find really bad.
-drunk people everywhere. i don't mean people that have had a few drinks, but folks that are completely and utterly trashed, stumbling around, starting fights, vomiting, sexually harassing people. and they don't get removed from the venue!
-people who go there to start a fight. there were only two security guards around the stage (probably cost them too much to get more) i felt pretty unsafe
-people who dress inappropriately. but i suppose that's their own problem
-the way women are treated at concerts is sickening. some fucking douche bag at least twice the size of me slammed his big fucking body into mine and pushed me over. and nothing was done about it. fucking useless piece of shit. when someone pointed out to him that "hey, you're pushing girls over, that's kinda messed up, man" he started a fight, pushing more people over.
when i told him he was being a jerk, and to tell him that you don't push people around who are smaller than you, just because you can, he said something like "hey, if you can't handle it, don't come here." which basically means, if you're not a big fat douche that knocks everyone over, go home.
it only takes one person to ruin 20 other people's nights.

so, have any of you had any experiences with big fat drunk fucks at concerts, ruining your nights? and why do some males not realise that it's not ok to slam around girls that are half their size. outside of the venue they'd get arrested for it, so why is it acceptable, and even encouraged at concerts.

[jabumbo]

i usually stand closer to the back at concerts because me ears can't take the noise, but i love to go to shows whenever i can, and can afford it as well. i dissapoint myself in the amount of shows i miss. usually i just dont know about them till its too late, and none of my friends care enough to find these things out

[wavin_goodbye]

a lot of people need lessons in concert etiquette.. i generally brush the assholes off and let em butt ahead or whatever... it's just not worth the hassle.

i suggest you use earplugs.. i used them for the first time at a concert in may (the mars volta) .. and it was really, really good... makes everything more audible (and saves your ears, seriously)

[dublirie04]

Shit, live shows are my thing and I have encountered almost every annoying situation:

having people spill on me
people telling me to sit down when I am dancing to the music
people who refuse to let me move through the crowd (territorial about space)
guys behind me in a crowded general admission space that think the can booty dance up on me just cause we are close (that one is really annoying)
people who give me the stink eye because I am dancing and they just want to stand there
toe stepping and smashing
people telling me to shut up when the whole crowd is yelling

I just enjoy myself to the fullest no matter who around me is trying to be a buster and bounce around from section to section to find where the real live music kids are at. To me, I am there to really feel the music LIVE so I will do that no matter the crowd.

[Medellia]

I almost got in a fight with a girl at a show because she kept shoving me. So finally I shoved her back really hard and she started yelling at me (I couldn't hear what she said though) and we would have gotten into a vicious catfight if a) my friend hadn't been there, but she was and this bitch decided she couldn't take on two people as she did not have her own posse with her; and b) we were up front so security would have thrown us out. I could've taken her anyway.

There was another show (both of these were Incubus shows, they have some of the worst fans ever) were I started to fall and probably would have been seriously injured if not killed by those douches, so I grabbed the shirt of the guy in front of me to steady myself. He turned around and glared at me. It happened a couple more times and finally he tried to punched me (luckily he missed). Because, ya know, his shitty thirty dollar Abercromcie shirt was worth more than me life. Really, how stupid was I? Afterward the show this drunk chick came up to me and told me she got Jose the drummer's phone number and showed me the paper, which just had a bunch of scribbled lines on it. Then she told me that she met Mike "the lead fucking guitarist" to which I replied "he's the ONLY fucking guitarist" (no bass comments, people. Besides it made a couple of roadies laugh.) And then she ran off and fell flat on her face because she was wearing stilletoes! :D

[Medellia]

a lot of people need lessons in concert etiquette.. i generally brush the assholes off and let em butt ahead or whatever... it's just not worth the hassle.
I went to a great festival once where all these guys were beating the shit out each other. And then they would stat hugging. Also at that show, a crowd surfer fell on me, because nobody around me would hold him up. He landed on his head and bent my wrist in an awkward position, and even with his head injury he made sure that I got my wrist taken care of. It was really sweet. :D

[dublirie04]

At a Bad Brains show I was at in Portland Oregon, a dude climbed the speaker stacks (about 20+ feet) and the crowd was urging him to jump. He did and the crowd split like the red sea and the dude fell straight to the floor. Everyone paused including HR and the band for about 45 seconds of total silence and suddenly the dude jumped up and started ragin again. I thought he was dead

[Medellia]

Oh I remembered another shitty one. A group of about ten guys were standing behind me and they stared playing with my hair, lifting up the back of my shirt, stroking my back, grabbing my ass. I thought there were maybe two at most and I could slap them and get security's attention so they could kick those guys out. And there were ten! And they wre very clearly in a gang. They were wearing colors and had gang tattoos. :(

I just let them continue to stroke my back for a few minutes until my friend passed out and we got backstage.

[jabumbo]

last year at the warped tour, some guy started convulsing during the yellowcard set, and they had to wheel the guy out in an ambulance


the lead singer for the used jumped off the speakers into the crowd, that was pretty crazy, esepcially since he started singing right away

[alruggs]

last year at the warped tour, some guy started convulsing during the yellowcard set, and they had to wheel the guy out in an ambulance
I'd start convulsing too if I had had to watch Yellowcard live.

[Documad]

I don't go to shows where it gets completely out of hand anymore. If I'm going to be in general admission, I'm careful to wear good solid shoes. And I look like a cupcake, but I get territorial if someone tries to push me when I got their early for good placement. Men are usually okay, it's the super cute young women who try shit because they think they can get away with it. Well, they can't.

What continues to piss me off is how many people come to a sold out show, arrive early for good placement, and then proceed to talk to each other through the whole fucking show. This happens most often with artists who have gotten a lot of press lately and these people are obviously tourists rather than fans. That's fine. Go stand in back if you want to talk!

I am also sick of all you young people and your god damn cell phone cameras. People are so busy sticking their hands up to take crappy photos that they aren't paying attention to the music. Seriously! And no flash photos at acoustic shows. EVER!

The dressing appropriately thing is funny. When I saw Violent Femmes a few weeks ago, it was summer and thus hot outside, and thus hot and sweaty in the club. My friend and I were standing behind this man and woman and the woman was wearing a WOOL skirt, and a JEAN JACKET over her blouse, with LEATHER BOOTS up to her knees. No one wears wool in Minnesota in July, muchless to a hot club. My friend had a question about the band and she asked this woman's boyfriend. He answered her question, and my friend went back to dancing. For the rest of the night, the woman hung all over her boyfriend and rubbed his shoulders, etc., while sneaking looks at my friend, like she was nervous. My friend iws practically married, didn't flirt with him, and he was nothing special. But this woman was so strange, that my friend told me she was thinking about asking him another question just to freak her out and I said, "please don't because she'll probably pee on him."

[Medellia]

The dressing appropriately thing is funny. When I saw Violent Femmes a few weeks ago, it was summer and thus hot outside, and thus hot and sweaty in the club. My friend and I were standing behind this man and woman and the woman was wearing a WOOL skirt, and a JEAN JACKET over her blouse, with LEATHER BOOTS up to her knees. No one wears wool in Minnesota in July, muchless to a hot club. My friend had a question about the band and she asked this woman's boyfriend. He answered her question, and my friend went back to dancing. For the rest of the night, the woman hung all over her boyfriend and rubbed his shoulders, etc., while sneaking looks at my friend, like she was nervous. My friend iws practically married, didn't flirt with him, and he was nothing special. But this woman was so strange, that my friend told me she was thinking about asking him another question just to freak her out and I said, "please don't because she'll probably pee on him."
Hahahahaha!

I think the inappropriate clothing thing generally refers to young women in heels and miniskirts in the mosh pit. Although Sweater Woman was certainly dressed inappropriately for that show. :D


PS-I don't have a camera phone. If I'm gonna take pictures I bring a disposable camera, and I tend to use up all the exposures by the third song as I get a bit overzealous when taking concert pics. And I don't use flash. Ever.

[Rancid_Beasties]

The worst thing ever was when the big hairy fat dude in front of me at the offspring show took of his shirt cos he was sweating alot, and then instead of the shirt absorbing the sweat it was everybody in the crowd around him..

Yuck

My offspring shirt still smells like that dudes sweat :(

But for a small gig like the spazzy's, you shouldnt have had as much trouble as you did. I've seen the spazzy's live before at places in melb (before they were anywhere near famous) and the crowd was jumping and stuff but generally composed of young, pop punk girls and a few of their boyfriends. I couldnt really picture a huge guy moshing to the spazzy's. I guess it all depends on the venue, for smaller gigs a generally go to venues that i know are chilled, but for big gigs you just have to put up with the louts and most of the girls i know team up with a guy friend and have them basically just act as a bodyguard, especially in punk shows when you have those pits where people run into each other, its never good when a girl gets thrown in there :(

[GreenEarthAl]

I saw Michael Franti & Spearhead (http://www.amprosoft.com/Journal/NewsCast.cgi?t=SpearheadPhotojourna) last week. Most of the people at such a show are pretty cool to be around. BUT I could do without:


People spilling half their beer into my bookbag. I had a whole lot of fruit that I WAS planning on eating.
People blowing menthol cigarette smoke at me from every direction and then you move and the next person down starts doing it.
Dirty stoners coming up and asking me if I have drugs every 10 minutes just because I have a backpack.
Overbearing security.


And I definitely DID appreciate

So many nice people that moved out of the way to let me get up front for a minute to take pictures
Everyone being really into it and dancing and enjoying the music and singing and such.
All of the beautiful women
And the beautiful lyrics

[enree erzweglle]

I don't think I'd go to live music without a guy. Sorry to say it, but if I don't, the night is ruined unless I spend it in the women's room.

[Freebasser]

I always try to respect women at gigs, by giving them breathing rom for instance. I always get labelled a pussy by other blokes though, because everyone else seems to have a "first come first served" attitude.

Nutters.

[zorra_chiflada]

yeah, just going to gigs makes me wish that is was 6 foot 2 and 200 pounds, but then i would be huge. :(

[Medellia]

I think it's sometimes more fun to observe the crowd than the act. The last bboys show I went to, I had a sureal/clear moment when I looked back at everyone and they all looked hypnotized, like a cult or something. It's just interesting to see the way people act when they're in a crowd or don't realize someone can see what they're doing.
In the Crowd-The Jam
When I’m in the crowd, I don’t see anything
My mind goes a blank, in the humid sunshine
When I’m in the crowd I don’t see anything
I fall into a trance, at the supermarket
The noise flows me along, as I catch falling cans
Of baked beans on toast, technology is the most.

And everyone seems just like me,
They struggle hard to set themselves free
And their waiting for the change

When I’m in the crowd, I can’t remember my name
And my only link is a pint of wall’s ice cream
When I’m in the crowd - I don’t see anything

Sometimes I think that it’s a plot,
An equilibrium melting pot
The government sponsors underhand
When I’m in the crowd
When I’m in the crowd
When I’m in the crowd

And everyone seems that they’re acting a dream
’cause they’re just not thinking about each other
And they’re taking orders, which are media spawned
And they should know better, now you have been warned

And don’t forget you saw it here first
When I’m in the crowd
When I’m in the crowd
When I’m in the crowd

And life just simply moves along
In simple houses, simple jobs
And no ones wanting for the change
When I’m in the crowd
When I’m in the crowd
When I’m in the crowd

[beastieangel01]

I get the following probs (some are the same):

-drunk, stumbling all over the place types that run in to you and just cause problems in general.
-the guys that run in to people, girl or guys, small or not, just to do it.
-guys MOLESTING girls (I've gotten groped several times at concerts, it's fucking ridiculous).
-sweaty ass people and their sweaty skin and/or hair STICKING to my skin (EWWWWWWWWWW)

and it seems every time I see a show, I happen to be standing near the worst person/people in the venue.

Blah!

Otherwise, yay live music ;)