Gig Etiquette

[kitescreech]

Saw Nightwish last night at Birminghma Academy and, as at the Ginger Worcs gig, a problem occured:

People talking during the band. Am I missing something? Is it normal for people to pay £15 for a ticket and then spend 90 minutes discussing (loudly) the content of you mobile phones camera ? If you want to talk, fuck off to the back of the venue.

Maybe Im just a miserable old cunt, but I dont think so.

[Burnsyboy]

No mate your quite right. I don't pay £15 to listen to some people talk shite all night, thats what pubs are for!

[vanrad]

[rant start]
Actually can I join in on this rant! Mobile camera phones

I have one and they're great for catching snaps of mates and family or when you need a photo and it's in your pocket.

But at a gig.... C'mon!!! You're there to watch a gig and I don't need my view of the band obstructed by a several mobile phones taking videos and pictures of the band. It's actually not all that bad when a person does it once or twice in a gig, but I swear some people watch a gig through a small electronic window!!!

I remember a Ginger gig a year or two ago (Glasgow Grand I think) where somebody in the front row stood right infront of Ginger and placed their phone inches from Ginger's face. Good on Ginger, the 1st time he let them anyway with it, the 2nd tine he confiscated it and it stayed on his amp most of the gig!!

My view is that camera phones spoil it for band and gig goer.... so keep it to a minimum purlease!

[rant end]

[Pauly]

[rant start]
Actually can I join in on this rant! Mobile camera phones

Shouty shouty.......

[rant end]

+1...

gets right on my thrupennys Glasgow Garage 2004 was like that also, fortunately I was too pissed to get angry

[Damian]

I try and be reasonable. Take a few pictures and do a bit of recording for a song or two, not the entire set, and I don't reckon it's the end of the world.

I've had some recent gigs blighted by it. On one band's message board I posted a message along the lines of "note: the 48th, 49th and 50th pictures you took last night will look the same as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd, save for a bit more sweat on their faces..."

[markE]

i went to jimmy eat world at brixton a few weeks back. sold out gig great atmosphere, i'm right down the front on the left near the speakers, maybe five people back from the stage and there is some TWAT and his dumb BINT girlfriend playing fuckin pattacake!!!
all through the gig. i do not think they looked at the stage once. i thought my mrs was gonna chin both of them.


Sorry but this topic has touched a nerve.

[Damian]

i went to jimmy eat world at brixton a few weeks back. sold out gig great atmosphere, i'm right down the front on the left near the speakers, maybe five people back from the stage and there is some TWAT and his dumb BINT girlfriend playing fuckin pattacake!!!
all through the gig. i do not think they looked at the stage once. i thought my mrs was gonna chin both of them.


Sorry but this topic has touched a nerve.

A long time ago I set up a blog with the intention to name, shame and photograph:

http://twatsatgigs.blogspot.com

... then I didn't have the guts to follow it through.

[Sarc]

i went to jimmy eat world at brixton a few weeks back. sold out gig great atmosphere, i'm right down the front on the left near the speakers, maybe five people back from the stage and there is some TWAT and his dumb BINT girlfriend playing fuckin pattacake!!!
all through the gig. i do not think they looked at the stage once. i thought my mrs was gonna chin both of them.


Sorry but this topic has touched a nerve.

A long time ago I set up a blog with the intention to name, shame and photograph:

http://twatsatgigs.blogspot.com

... then I didn't have the guts to follow it through.

Fuck yes, do it, thats a top idea, and even if the named and shamed found the site, they're not likley to be able to find who put it there are they?

ISlightly different note proving once again how my wierd brain works but am I the only person who thinks wearing a bands t-shirt while attending one of their gigs is wierd or overkill?, okay so you've paid for your ticket to see a band that you like and nine times out of ten you're gonna get a shirt after the show so why wear one to the show?

Any friends that I've made at gigs since i started going back in Ocotber '91 (Chumbawamba Wolverhampton civic hall) have been through other band shirts I or the other person had been wearing, A guy I'm still friends with that i met at my first Wildhearts gig back in 95 (Leeds Town and Country was wearing a Ramones Pleasant Dreams shirt I was wearing an Extreme one (ive paid for my sins hehehe) we both like both bands and got talking cuz of that, same thing happened at the leeds festival, Terrorvision, Taking Back Sunday gigs and numerous others, so now I've explained why my wierd brain thinks that does anyone else agree?

Just for the record we got talking before and inbetween the bands sets so we werent aren't those irritating bastards that talk during the show

[Col]

I take photos and vids with my cam at gigs. If you don't like the answer is simple - move.

[DangerousBeans]

Any friends that I've made at gigs since i started going back in Ocotber '91 (Chumbawamba Wolverhampton civic hall) have been through other band shirts I or the other person had been wearing,

Ah i really wanna see the Chumbas..even now when they're not doing the full band thing.

The t shirt thing..i try not to wear the t shirt of the band i'm going to see as every bugger will be wearing the same stuff so i try to wear something that nobody else will.At the Wildhearts i think i wore My Levellers shirt.However you do meet loads of folk this way.The first time i ever wore my Never Mind the Scallops t shirt after seeing Clam Abuse there were loads of Wildhearts fans in Ayr i didn't even know existed came up and started discussions.My mate is never wearing his Ramones t shirts to Glasgow again as the same wee guy always comes up and tells us the same stories

As for gig etiquette..one thing that gets right on my tits at Gigs is the over protective boyfriends.Stand there the whole gig refusing to let their girlfriends move out of a 2ft radius.
This is especially annoying when the girl is clearly into me...

[vickyp]

oh god please don't get me started.

There were so many twats at that Velvet Revolver gig. Sometimes I think it's just me being a grumpy old mare, and then I look out at the sea of camera phones, held aloft by 7ft tall jerks with earplugs in (I shit ye not) and they're all videoing an empty stage, only to capture footage of all the other camera phones and then they stand there and play it back to their mates, whilst talking about it. And I can't see a thing or get them to shut up and I've paid XX amount for my ticket and all I can do is stand there and seethe. So I move to a better spot, only to find more of the same.

I'm kind of torn on the idea of cameras at gigs. On the one hand, I hate them getting in the way and I have a problem with people recording the moment rather than being in the moment. On the other hand I'm really glad I have some of the pictures I've taken, and I do watch the videos on YouTube etc. So I guess I'd say they're ok in moderation. Sure, take a shot or two but don't ruin it for everyone else. I try not to use flash wherever possible. Camera phones on the other hand... is it really worth it? Probably not.

I know what you mean about t-shirts too, I rarely wear the t-shirt of the band I'm actually going to see, because that would be a bit obvious. Unless it's a Wildhearts gig, in which case I usually manage to show up in the same t-shirt as Mikey, no matter what it is.

[earthvs]

i went to jimmy eat world at brixton a few weeks back. sold out gig great atmosphere, i'm right down the front on the left near the speakers, maybe five people back from the stage and there is some TWAT and his dumb BINT girlfriend playing fuckin pattacake!!!
all through the gig. i do not think they looked at the stage once.

These type of people have always baffled me - why pay a sum of money to see a band, no matter how big or small, and then pretend you're too cool to acknowledge the show; Do they think maybe the band will notice and be upset that these groovy guys aren't paying any attention to them (the band).
I used to think that it was the 'football fan' mentality - the kind of people that ferociously support a certain team, stand in the pub chanting, stomp on rivals' faces etc, just because that's what their great chums do, and they have such a desire to be accepted by their peer group that they follow along like sheep, unquestioning.

At Cardiff University in '95, Ginger delivered the best put-down line to these type of tossers that i've heard. He said, at the end of the gig,

"And to all those of you who are in bands stood at the back and are too cool to dance - Good luck."

Or something like that.

I rest his case!

[kitescreech]

I take photos and vids with my cam at gigs. If you don't like the answer is simple - move.

Hang on there; isnt the use of recording gear etc forbidden at gigs ? So your attitude of "Ill do what I want, fuck everyone else" is 1) selfish and 2) in breach of the terms on your ticket ?

[Damian]

I take photos and vids with my cam at gigs. If you don't like the answer is simple - move.

It's just about consideration. Take pictures/ footage but don't block peoples' views for a long period of time. Jump up and down but don't barge people or dance with elbows. Talk to your mates but not loudly during the quiet bits. And so on.

[vickyp]

Talk to your mates but not loudly during the quiet bits.

Quite right - if you are talking so much that people are giving you evils and even the band tell you to shut up, it's a sign.