crowds at a show

[phishtaper]

ive noticed a lot of dicussion here about crowds at shows. so, i'd like to toss these out for discussion:

can a bad crowd ruin a good show for you?

can a good crowd make a bad show good?

what makes a crowd bad or good?

and yeah, i know, Toronto crowds are the worst, yadda yadda yadda.

i'll offer up my opinion to start. if a show is good, it's good. the crowd can make it less enjoyable, but can't ruin it for me. a crowd can make a mediocre show better. but even the greatest crowd cannot make a bad show good.

i really cannot say what makes a "good" crowd, other than they are into the show and seem to know (at least, some of) the music.

my pet peeve: people who spend the whole show on their blackberry, shining that damn screen in my face.

[phorbesie]

fighting with lawn chair people pretty much ruined van morrison for me last year, so i guess it can affect me. it's hard to ignore what's going on around you sometimes.

other than lawn chairs, my pet peeve at shows is people chatting.

i think a good crowd can make a bad show good if the band can feed off of that

[Velvet]

Agreed with the lovely phorbesie, except I'll say that it was Dylan that the lawnchair crowd ruined for me.

[Hal Johnson]

Crowds never bother me. If anything its staff at different venues. Nothing I hate more than dickhead security guards. They can ruin a good show for me.

Only once has another member of an audience got in the way of my good time. This guy kept asking me to shut -up. We were sitting in the last row of the top level at the ACC. It was a rock concert. He didnt get the best of me.

[Ms Zimmy]

A crowd can ruin a show for me too, not always, but sometimes.

Like at the Nero show, very smelly crown

[Gr8FuL]

no crowd has ever ruined a show for me. I do hate the smelly ppl at shows or anywhere fro that matter...really though, you're an adult, clean yourself up for Fuck sakes...Deoderant and Soap are 2 very good things. but usually after expressing my displeasure at the "STENCH", very loudly, mind you; the offender usually moves off and keeps a good distance.

[bokonon]

It's pretty rare that a crowd can ruin a show for me. Unless I am personally offended by someone, ie. slimy come-ons that aren't funny or violence than the crowd can't wreck a show. I can just ignore them and concentrate on the tunes. However, an awesome crowd at a bad show can make it all worthwhile. If the band completely lacks talent but the crowd is super friendly and just wants to dance and have a good time with everyone present than it doesn't really matter if the band can only play two chords and is tone deaf, it'll still be a good night.

Personally, I like outdoor shows the best. Being able to appreciate music and nature simultaneously is heaven. I also like having a lot of space to dance, I hate having people in my bubble. Mind you, I think everything is better outside, the three f's of human instinct especially!

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

stinky fucking dread locked mutants ruin shows for me. and big assholes that push their way to the front with their tiny girl friend leading them, and thens tand directly infront of me.

i'll elbow his back to death.

[SaggyBalls]

Crowds can make a show lifeless and a waste of time.

Why not get a great album and a pair of headphones?

to hope the crowd isn't luke warm that's why.

[Schwa.]

The crowd at the first Greendale run in Toronto nearly ruined the show for me. Two drunk hillbillies were having a domestic in front of me and the group of 4 suits sitting behind us (given the tickets by their business no doubt) never stopped talking about how much the tunes sucked because he wasn't playing cinnamon girl.

I say nearly ruined because i eventually embarrassed the hillbillies into leaving and flat out told the suits to fuck off. probably not the most diplomatic solution but it worked.

A crowd that never disappoints are the spreadheads. i've never felt that funny intangible energy outside of a Phish show until i saw WSP inside at the shows in Detroit and Cleveland in '06.

[Freak By Night]

It's never "crowds" that have ruined shows for me

in the past. All it takes is a few "bad apples".

For example:

- that kid who, at his first concert ever, and drinking for probably the first time in his life, puked all over my $49.50 charcoal-gray suit.

- that lady who freaked out on me for stepping on the corner of her blanket while I walked through the crowd. Your blanket is 8 feet by 8 feet, and you're sitting alone for crying out loud!

- those people in lawnchairs yelling at me to sit down, then threatening violence when I don't. Jesus H. Christ dude, get up and dance!

- that couple who lost it on me because I bumped

into the back of their stroller. The stroller contained their baby who couldn't have been any more than 2 months old. Wait a minute, you brought your newborn to the front of the crowd at a rock concert, and I'm the bad guy?

- that weirdo who grabbed my girlfriend's ass last year at the bluesfest. What's up with the sexual assault, jerkwad?

- that weirdo who grabbed my ass at the Bela Fleck show (that was Booche, so it was OK)

[color:purple]For these reasons, I refuse to go to any concert now without my gun. Anyone hassles me, they're face to face with Messrs. Smith & Wesson.

Edited April 29, 2008 by Guest

[Animal Chin]

Ya people in the crowd have ruined a show for me, I had to tell this couple to shut the fuck up at a phish show cause the never stopped talking, they didn't even watch the show just talk talk talk. Sometimes the drunk loser who wants to chat with you can wreck a good show too.

I do thing bands get their energy from an audience too, if the crowd is quiet and not into the show the band starts to deflate.