Jump to content
Jambands.ca

Hey buddy! Sit down, I paid for these seats!!


Velvet

Recommended Posts

BWM, a friend of mine a long time ago (98-99) got beat up by some bikers at an Allman Brothers show at Pine Knob Amphitheater near Detroit. Security did the same and moved him to the front row....this was all because he wouldn't sit down during the show. Same sort of confrontation happened to me at the same venue some years later but people are a little more hesitant to take a swing at me so after him telling me he'd kick my ass and me laughing at him we had some words and his girlfriend spit on me. I complained and got moved up, but not far....like 20 rows or so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ugh.

I got the biker treatment at Kingswood once. Nobody hurt luckily. ABB show. Had to boogie. We were right at the front of the lawns. Got a growly "sit the fuck down" from behind. Did the "ignore" option, but that didn't work. On the second or third order from behind I turned around. Noticed it was a huge-ass motherfucker of a biker and a couple of buddies. Gave him a "come on, really?" look and decided it wasn't worth it.

Waited it out and in about 30mins everyone was up and dancing and all was good.

Pick your battles ... enjoy the show first and foremost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw Dylan at Maple Leaf Gardens in 98 or so. Guy behind me told me to sit down - I asked him if he knew he was at a concert. No more said......but still enough to have that energy exchange linger in my mind and take away from the overall enjoyment of the show. So I stood my ground until set break than found some space side-stage at break where I could do as I please.

Around the same time, I got front row tix to ABB at the Amphitheatre. Full boogie mode and the people behind us want us to sit down. Ignored them - didn't bother me this time.....way to happy to care! THey complained to security who told them we were in the front row and were allowed to enjoy our show however we wanted.....ha ha!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At The Other Ones 2002 Palace of Auburn Hills show, of course, everyone dancing from the get go... except for a couple young guys in front of us. I wanted them to be funning it up too so made them a deal that if I gave them the ginormous draft beer I had they would agree to stand up and get down! They happily obliged!

More on the topic of the thread... if everyone is sitting, I'll sit too. I tend not to even enjoy dancing if I feel like I'm in everyone's way. Maybe I'll trade back rowers for their seat or something or go to the side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw Neil at Camden on the Greendale tour and some guy starts heckling Neil halfway through the opening set in between a song as Neil is trying to narrate the story. Without missing a beat Neil tells the guy loudly, "sit down and shut the fuck up or get out of here." Audience applause.

Accommodation is the key: work with the people around in a way where everybody can be satisfied to the best of our collective abilities. If you wanna dance, awesome, just don't be a fuck head and ruin others times. You wanna sit when others are dancing? try to find another spot where you can see (if possible) instead of bitching about someone standing in front of you.

The whole business about the lawn chairs would drive me fuckin nuts if I hit the Blues fest more often. Have a seated section but don't let those fuckers take the best spots because they use a lawn chair to claim it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw Neil at Camden on the Greendale tour and some guy starts heckling Neil halfway through the opening set in between a song as Neil is trying to narrate the story. Without missing a beat Neil tells the guy loudly, "sit down and shut the fuck up or get out of here." Audience applause.

Accommodation is the key: work with the people around in a way where everybody can be satisfied to the best of our collective abilities. If you wanna dance, awesome, just don't be a fuck head and ruin others times. You wanna sit when others are dancing? try to find another spot where you can see (if possible) instead of bitching about someone standing in front of you.

The whole business about the lawn chairs would drive me fuckin nuts if I hit the Blues fest more often. Have a seated section but don't let those fuckers take the best spots because they use a lawn chair to claim it.

You should check out wanee. Moving up close is near impossible because of the sea of lawnchairs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This happened to me once at a Phish concert in Vancouver 9.9.99. The whole place was up and grooving. We had a crew of about 15 people dancing in front of our seats when an older guy there with his kids asked us to sit down.

The venue wasn't full, but everyone in front of us was also up out of their seats and getting down. I had to laugh and tell the guy that there was no way I was sitting down while listening to my favourite band and that if we sat then we couldn't see. I pointed to all the empty rows behind him and politely suggested that he could move up a few rows. He was pretty grumpy at first but about 5 songs later, he was up and dancing as well. We even cheersed during the YEM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to see Gov't Mule in NYC for NYE, I had a seat in the back row of the front section of the balcony. All I wanted to do was dance to my favourite band that I had travelled so far to see.

These eight people kept throwing glowsticks at me and one even threatened to fight me and grabbed my shoulders to push me down. I told him to go fuck himself and kept dancing. Awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am seeing a trend here: ABB shows can attract the wrong kind of fans!

I will almost always trade down in this situation- I hate being in front of people, especially the crusty kind. Fond memories of shows that I went to a place I could dance and traded (and in a few cases even got a few bucks for the better stubs) tickets with folks there for my closer seats:

Rheostatics 3.30.07

Roger Waters 11.17.10

ABB 8.24.98 (physically threatened by, you guessed it a big biker dude and his buddies)

REM/ Radiohead 9.28?.95

Counting Crows 8.22.94

Black Crowes 10.17.96

And I am sure there are more....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A different take on dancing...

I went down to see Phish with a little crew from PEI in June 09 at Great Woods. We had some good seats in the Pavillion Fishman side. Everybody was getting down except for a couple B-boys sitting down in the seats in front of us.

Towards the end of the first set several friends of these guys start to pile in "our" row in front of us ( there's about 2 feet of concrete before the row starts in front of us. ) There's this one girl who's standing 1" inch in front of me dancing it up. I tell her this is not GA, and she says no big deal man and keeps dancing. I can't move at all and I'm a bit spaced out - I need my own space to groove. I tell her that she's harshing my buzz and she's got to move. She reluctantly obliges (read: cries) and goes to wherever the hell her seat is, but for the rest of the show, I kid you not, the Dude in front of me is staring me down. Good news is Phish sounds better with your eyes closed. No trouble had.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...