Taking kids to Beastie Boys....

[valvano]

Like the BBs are right now, I will soon be hitting my 40s and like them I have children. My oldest, 10, has heard them her whole life so after going to shows with my wife I took her last night to Philly...first group through the gate, we secured spots on the rail, front stage, and waited it out. She has been to shows before (Hillary Duff....ha ha, and High School Musical live) and was somewhat prepared for the loudness. Show starts .....

and we last 5 minutes thanks to all the drunk assholes who pushed and shoved everybody from the front....we worked our way to the side, then the back to get clear but she was by the time no longer having fun and we left during Intergalactic...which I am totally cool with. I am not going to take my chld to anything she is going to be uncomfortable with.

now the BBs are not some new teenie pop group, and their core audience has aged with them and like them have kids... and I want to share my interest and passion with my kids....but geez...why do these assholes have to ruin it...i saw others in the back with kids, 10-12-14 years old, same experience after speaking with them

looking back, maybe an inside show would have been better for her first one, but we picked Philly so we could do other things (we hit Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, etc while there today)...but these assholes sure ruined what could have been a good experience..

so, to those drunk, pot smoking ass holes....keep in mind that the BBs audience isnt still a bunch of beer drinking party all nighters...like the BBs, they too have aged and please respect the other audience members..

[superdupershan]

It sucks that you guys had such a negative experience. I know what you mean about drunk assholes. Not to be cliche, but when I go to shows, I am there for the music and I hate when people seem to not appreciate the fact that music that I love is being played live and I would like to enjoy it. Hopefully future concert experiences are better than this one for your daughter.

[Suavee-Bolo]

I'd like to say first and foremost that I feel bad you had a negative expierence.

BUT,

Seriously, What did you expect?
It seems by the tone of this, and another post you made in the Gen. Beastie forum about your disappointment, that you are inferring that this behavior is somehow singular to Beastie Boys concerts?
People being drunk & smoking weed has been going on at concerts for a long time. Mosh pits and pushing too.
Perhaps YOU are the one who made an error in judgement taking a 10yr. old to a General Admission concert where the core audience is going to be white males aged 20-35.
Expecting 5000 concert-going fans to conform to you because you decided to bring your kid because it was convienient for you to visit the Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross's house is just poor parenting on your part, not the Beastie Boys or the rowdy fans part.

I took my son to the Pagent tour show in Philadelphia in 2004 for his 10th birthday. I felt comfortable doing this because I made sure to avoid the Gen. Admission tickets and get two SEATED tickets. I also knew that the security at that show would be able to keep the weed-smoking to a manageable minimum. He had a ball at that show.
He's now almost 13 and this time around I left him at home mainly because of those magical two words, "General Admission".

I know you are upset that your kid didn't have a good time, but you have to accept some of the responsibility for that yourself, and not blame the fact that the crowd was too rough, or the band somehow didn't try to calm people down. I saw a post in Gen Beastie where someone had a criticism saying the instrumentals took energy out of the crowd and things came too much to a grinding halt, and you're suggesting that the show was too much excitement and you wished it was more mellow and more kid-friendly.

They clearly advertised in their official e-mails announcing these shows the two different types of shows they would be doing. They even went so far as to say the regular shows were for the average "meathead":

THE REGULAR SHOW is, well you know how we do, hip hop, hardcore, instrumental, weird hippie spaced out rock jams... all that type of stuff. These shows are for the average meathead, so you don't have to dress up, though we encourage you to.

It's your job as a parent to keep your kids away from places where "meatheads" are publicly advertised to be invited.

[de-nice]

F*&^ GA!

I'll finally have to pay for a B Boys show if they ever hit Seattle again. (dumped promoter dude)

d

"prune juice, a warrior's drink" :rolleyes:

[de-nice]

ps. (not being a smart ass) you of all people should know the B Boys are R rated.

d

good dad (y)

[thecherif]

Bringing a kid in to GA makes no sense at all. It wouldn't have made sense in 1987 and it doesn't make sense in 2007. If you had gotten seats you probably would have been fine. I'm a 35 yo woman and I can't even 'hang' right up against the rail in the front of testosterone filled GA.

Sorry you had a bad time but I can't imagine how you didn't realize that it would be a problem to bring a young kid into the front of the pit.

[Documad]

I wish that people wouldn't bring kids to Beasties shows, but then I wish people wouldn't bring kids to restaurants. :p

I go to lots of GA shows. It's difficult to predict which pit is going to become violent. I got involved in a shoving match with a drunk guy at a Sinead O'Connor reggae concert. :rolleyes: Even if 95% of the people in the pit are cool, it only takes a few assholes to cause trouble. As an abstract concept, I strongly believe that we should all have the right to stand front and center in the pit and not get assaulted. But then there's reality.

I have many adult female friends who can't handle the pit. My choices are as follows: (1) get seats if possible; (2) hang in the back if there are no seats; or (3) leave the friends at home. I've done all of these within the past year. I'd never bring someone under 18 to a pit. I brought a 25 year old woman who's not streetwise to a club show a couple of weeks ago and got her a spot in the balcony because I didn't want to be responsible.

[SpacemanSpliff]

i´m glad you had a bad time, because it (maybe) teached you NOW not to bring kids to those concerts. you should have known before that people, including myself, smoke weed and/or drink some beers to little increase the fun and emotions at the gig, kind of part of the culture, and now you are complaining. you call us 3x "assholes" in your thread. i feel offended.

(disclaimer: i´m also father of a 5 year old beastie boys fan who wanted to attend the gala show with daddy, i left him at home, smoked lot of weed before, at and after the gala, what a great time i had)

[valvano]

i´m glad you had a bad time, because it (maybe) teached you NOW not to bring kids to those concerts. you should have known before that people, including myself, smoke weed and/or drink some beers to little increase the fun and emotions at the gig, kind of part of the culture, and now you are complaining. you call us 3x "assholes" in your thread. i feel offended.

(disclaimer: i´m also father of a 5 year old beastie boys fan who wanted to attend the gala show with daddy, i left him at home, smoked lot of weed before, at and after the gala, what a great time i had)

i feel sorry for your son:(

[gorilla]

Father or friend, the choice is yours.

[SpacemanSpliff]

i feel sorry for your son:(

how come?

[alex4412]

Welcome to the pit area, people shove to get to the front! Amazing! They do have other options such as seating for people who don't enjoy that experience.

I just don't understand your point, this happens at EVERY show I go to because this is what a show usually entails.

[Pootytang]

I bet the pit at the Hillary Duff and High School Musical Live concerts were ruff as well. :rolleyes:

[plutomama]

here's my 2 cents:


the die hard o.g. fans are getting older, and most of us are parents. i'm 34, and my children are 16 & 6. my 16 year old could hang no problem, but my 6 year old that has been asking to go to a show since she was 4, would probably not enjoy it very much once she got there.


the loudness, the smoke & the wild ass people would be overwhelming for her. now a prepubesent kid at 10, 11 or 12, is something completely different. they should be able to go.

i have to agree with people when they mention the seating vs. general admission. the last b-boy show i caught was back in the tibet days in my hometown of san francisco. there were several families that went, some had little kids with them, and they seemed fine. BUT they were seated, and that probably made all the difference.

expecting people to completely maintain in a cut-loose adult after hours enviornment, is unrealistic. there's a time and place for mixed age crowds, and unfortunately, it's probably not a nightime show. would the gala events be any better? i haven't peeped this tour, so i'm not sure.

i know that prince recently encouraged families to attend his last tour, he toned down the show/music and everything. i thought that was cool.

i consider the beastie's to be so unique, that even when these guys are senior citizens, the rebel rowsers will probably still show up!!

*i don't hesitate to bring my children ANYWHERE. whether it's kid friendly or not. but i'm also ready to throw down if someone acts like a fool!


take care,


pm

[Brilmstone]

That was really to bad......

Maybe next time you can take her to OzzFest.

[plutomama]

did you read my post? are you talking to val? i've never taken my daughter to a show. reread the post.

[WhoMoi?]

Crowd issues aside...
Another factor to consider is that being at a concert is really bad for kids' hearing; the volume - particularly of the bass at a Beastie show - can be damaging. It can be especially bothersome to really little ones, who often have hyperacusis (heightened sensitivity to volume).
Us adults have already had some mild gradual loss of hearing through years of exposure to noise, so it's not quite as much of an issue for us (although it still causes damage). But I'd definitely bring ear plugs if I were taking kids to a show!

[ms.peachy]

Whaaa! I brought my child into an inappropriate environment, and people didn't cater to me! Boo hoo!

[SpacemanSpliff]

ps. (not being a smart ass) you of all people should know the B Boys are R rated.

d

good dad (y)

yeahh, good point.

[dropthis]

Whaaa! I brought my child into an inappropriate environment, and people didn't cater to me! Boo hoo!

basically..

[abcdefz]

Yeah, I dunno. I'd probably not take a child to anything until later, unless maybe we had our own box and the music was piped in with controllable volume and air conditioning, etc.

Not meaning to gang up on anybody so much as toss in my two cents. I know that parents probably want to share an awful lot of cultural things they enjoy with their kids, but still... too soon is too soon.