Friday, April 30, 2010

Concert Etiquette


Last night I went to see Temper Trap in concert.
I'm not really here to review the gig, but I'll share a few brief words. It was really cool, but since they only have about 12 songs, it was quite short - and they didn't really deviate from the original songs much - I mean, my Tori would have improv'd etc and made them longer and done jams and stuff.

No, my review is of the audience.
What the...!
All night, there was a pub chatter noise. Does no one pay attention any more? You pay 40 quid and don't pay attention to what you've paid good money to go to?
Worst of all... We were sitting right at the back of the Gods... And there were a couple of Australian girls standing behind us, above us. One of them had the loudest foghorn voice and she talked and talked and talked - all about utter crap. It was as if she was in a coffee shop. Each to their own, but the problem was, I couldn't actually hear the singer! Even when the concert got really loud, she drowned them out.
I felt myself getting angrier and angrier.
I finally 'snapped' when the TTs played their best song, Sweet Disposition, and the endless monotone foghorn drone continued. And when a concert is loud, it's hard to get a complex sentence out like 'Sorry guys, would you mind keeping the noise down, I can't hear the music' - so I just turned round and said 'Guys...' and did a 'shush' gesture with my finger/mouth.
Well it seemed to work... for 5 minutes... And then she carried on. And then when I said something random to my concert buddy, the annoying Twat said 'er excyooz may (australian) sssh' at me.' What a c*nt.
It's quite weird having to confront someone. You kind of feel 'in fear', and I wondered if she'd just pour her drink over my head or something (in which case I'd probably have leapt over my chair and punched her in her gobby mouth).
I was chatting to my other chum about this, and he was saying that it's maybe the 'me generation' - the whole world revolves around them. Maybe it is.

It's just sad that people lack awareness of their surroundings and other people - like the people who have mobile conversations in the cinema or the guy who rustled his bag for 2 hours during Clash of the Titans. Cinemas should be plastered with signs like 'no mobiles!" 'shut the fuck up!'
Sigh. Are we getting to a point where maybe cinema staff should step in?

5 comments:

Rol said...

I never understand why anyone would spend all that money on a gig ticket (or even a cinema ticket) and then not want to watch the show. If all you want to do is talk to your mates, why not just go down the pub? Aaargh!

Mart said...

i was so ANGRY!!!

JamieB said...

I think that at least with gigs and the cinema if somebody is talking garbage in your hearing you don't have to think about it -- provided you aren't worried about being bashed :-) -- they're in the wrong and you're well within your rights to tell them to shut up. Late last Thrusday I was on a bus and there was a kid on there shouting "Do you shave your p*ssies?" "Do you want to see my big d*ck?" at a group of American girls the other side of the aisle. I didn't want to listen to that, and I didn't think the girls should have to either, but I put up with it for a few minutes before speaking up, because, you know, what gives me the right to decide what people do or don't say when they're on a bus? In the end I did speak up, because the kid just kept saying it over and over, and it just really bugged me. I told him whatever he was trying to do, it wasn't working, so could he please stop. The first thing he did was tell me it was none of my business. He may have been right, but I told him if he was saying it loud enough for me to hear he was making it my business. To be fair to him, he was good-natured about it all -- apart from, you know, ribbing me about being too old to remember what it was like to chat up a girl (evidently that's what he was trying to do???).

Fanboy Wife said...

I've saw a man in the front row at a show on his cell phone, hand covered over the other ear, yelling into the phone and glaring at the performers because he couldn't hear the conversation. Seriously, what was he expecting when he sat in the front row? Should the performers stopped and turned down the music so he could continue on his conversation?

Mart said...

Lol
(PS Loving your work, Fanboy Wife)