Sometime's it's interesting how nonmusicians view bands and artist who aren't their pet bands and artists.
A few years ago, I remember my guitarist and I went to Mayhemfest. We were all Disturbed fans and were quite excited to see them. However, my guitarist's girlfriend at the time wanted to sit in the parking lot and tailgate all day until Disturbed and Slipknot came on. Meanwhile, a ton of second stage bands were playing and kicking ass all day. While my guitarist and I would have liked to have watched some of the second stage bands, it didn't even cross his girlfriend's mind.
Playing to a crowd that just stares at you or doesn't react to you: Yeah, I've been there. Actually, there's a town that we play - we've played there for years in multiple venues and are we're pretty well known. It never fails, the crowd generally sits and stares at us for two sets. Then they'll get up and start grooving during the third set. They do dig us. Otherwise, they wouldn't just sit for two whole sets without leaving. However, this town is notorious for having a jaded audience.
I have a record of Chet Atkins. On the back of the sleeve, there's a write-up that says, at the time, Atkins was the only artist other than Elvis who recorded in closed session in Nashville. Atkins said the reason was because he hates to play if he knows someone in the room isn't digging his playing.
*Yeah, I totally made a post talking about both Slipknot and Chet Atkins. There should be some sort of special forum award for that.
