Elitism at gigs

[mixtapelove]

I found Melbourne could be a tough crowd when I lived there. I felt like anything remotely ambitious was too boring for the masses there. Unless you were a straight up punk band or a pub rock rehash, almost nobody ever seemed interested.

Great town but I had a hard time fitting in with anyone musically or culturally.

 

[krdavis32]

2 words:

Pyro Technics

It worked out for Great White!!

 

[Downunderwonder]

Melbourne is very well served by excellent bands. Getting a gig is no mean feat.

My money is on OP's sound just not sparking off the audience, making them a bunch of rude pricks! Nothing a bandmember wears could put me off giving applause for the efforts, slobs or suits it's all rock'n'roll to me.

 

[Jazz Ad]

The audience doesn't owe the band anything. It's up to you to get their attention.

 

[ArvindJayaram]

^^Agreed.

Were you guys the only 2 bands playing? Did some other band come up later and get a response?

The audience is always right, even if they're being a**holes on purpose, but I doubt that happens very often. Could just have been the night or the punch, as someone said. A good frontman should engage the audience, evoke a reaction, shock and awe them or cajole and compliment them. Even speaking loudly into a mike addressing the audience could help them to look and connect to your band.

Sometimes the audience is also not appropriate to your category of music, in which case it's the house manager's fault.

- Jimmy Rage

 

[Robdrone]

The audience doesn't owe the band anything. It's up to you to get their attention.

^ This... Also bringing a few friends to begin the clapping couldn't hurt either. My bands first show was part of a huge 40 band 2 month long battle of the bands, which in of itself makes people standoffish We played the second show with 3 other bands. After the show word got out that one of the other bands (we'll call them band b) that played at a later date was booing us. Fortunately for us we had no idea because the 50 people who came to see us were cheering so loudly.

A few weeks later I went to see band b's leg of the battle. I asked a girl at the bar who the band playing was, and she replied "I'm here for band b, and band b only... You should be too." I just chuckled, got my beer and went back to my friends.

 

[BullHorn]

At gigs, I'm usually the first to clap frantically. The rest just follow my clapping-lead.

Most often than not, I dislike the band and think it's boring.

Meh.

 

[Joe Nerve]

The ony important thing in all of this to me, is to not have the audience reaction affect you. Or if it does, never let it be known. Clapping for yourself is not IMO a good idea. It not only insults the audience, but makes the band look pathetic also. Making any comments about the lack of response does the same.

If you play a lot of places, you're bound to encounter this sooner or later, I don't care how good or entertaining of a band you are. I've been there, and in situations where I'm certain it wasn't because the band sucked. Some crowds are just weird like that, they don't clap, they don't acknowledge the band, and there's no good reason why. Just a group mentality kind of thing. There's an awkward silence after one song, and everyone just follows along. Works the other way too, which is why I always felt it important if showcasing, or playing a really important gig, to make sure you have a good amount of your home team there. People seem afraid to really like something they don't already see other people liking. You have a bunch of people cheering you on, everyone wants to be a part of it. You have silence after a song, and no matter how great you are, people question themselves. That's my experience.

 

[BeJay]

Yeah I know the feeling. My band doesn't play anything similar to whatever rubbish buzz bands Triple J are backing at the moment, so when we hit the city to do originals gigs we get ignored by the hipsters. Some crowds in Australia are trying hard to act like LA/New York 'industry types' and everyone thinks they're Michael Gudinski. But they're all wankers in the end and you learn to give them the proverbial finger when they're pissing you off.

 

[pie_man_25]

Makes me feel like the crowd were in various cliques and if you weren't in a particular clique, they weren't going to give a crap about what you're playing.

I've seen that happen once before, my buddy is in a "heavy rock" band - with songs influenced by metal, hard rock, and hardcore punk, and I watched them play in a venue once, they brought about ten people. The people that came to see them were responsive enough, but the place was full with about thirty other people - all of them seemed like girls that were just barely old enough to come out - who were completely unresponsive. Then the next band came on, they're a pop-punk/powerpop/pop alternative band- I'm really not sure what to call them, maybe windsor-pop? - anyways, these guys literally show up five minutes before they have to set up, and while they're doing so suddenly all of these girls can't seem to find space in front of the stage to cheer the band on.

Yeah, it's kindof a dumb thing, but at the same time, the audience wants what they want and they're never wrong. You can't just blame it on the audience if they don't like what you're giving them. If you get in the same/similar situation that I just mentioned, feel free to just finish your beer and leave, that's what I did.

edit: when I say finish youre beer and leave, I mean just leave after you're finished your gig/picking up cash etc..., I left when the second band came up just 'cause, well, it didn't seem like they needed me there, and I would have rather not been there.

 

[Qlanq]

Yup, some folk at gigs at gigs just don't want to know. At least you weren't booed off. This actually takes me back to the time a band I was in 25 years ago played The Ruskin Arms in East Ham, and within 3 songs we had cleared the bar apart from the 20 or so people we had brought with us. As a bloke said to me after the gig: " It's not you guys, we just don't like that kind of music". We were a kind of G'N'R trash type band. We might well have just been shite though.

 

[sevdog]

There ya go

I like the way I spelled it better. More oomph and kaboom.

 

[Lazylion]

Why not clap for yourselves after the song? The audience just needs some encouragement

I worked with a keyboard player who had a sample of applause at his command. Came in handy sometimes.

Is is possible that both bands were....um, ungood?

LOL Always a possibility!

...I always felt it important if showcasing, or playing a really important gig, to make sure you have a good amount of your home team there.

Aye, that's the trick, isn't it?

 

[jarrydee]

even a sucky band will get a "sympathy clap" from me.

+1..I have never played and not got an applause after we finish a song. PLUS I always stop what I am doing and stop talking to who ever I am talking to and clap for ANY band after they finish a song, dont matter if they suck or not, I CLAP...It is just the right thing to do.

 

[pklima]

The ony important thing in all of this to me, is to not have the audience reaction affect you. Or if it does, never let it be known.

If you play a lot of places, you're bound to encounter this sooner or later, I don't care how good or entertaining of a band you are.

Very true. It will happen sooner or later. Even the most party-oriented cover bands will sometimes get that treatment at gigs like corporate parties. You can play "Ai se eu te pego" and nobody dances, no girls sing along or anything. Just do your job like a pro and move on to the next gig.

 

[puddin tame]

I saw this happen to a comedian, it was excruciating. It didn't help that he wasn't a very good comedian anyway, telling the same old airline jokes and "funny" accents we've heard a million times before.

It was a fairly classy restaurant/bar establishment in a nice part of town, but 2 parties had booked it out. One was a birthday dinner and one was this C grade fundraiser tied into some beauty pageant, who had booked various entertainment. The birthday party couldn't have given two craps about whatever the fundraiser crowd was up to.

So this comedian booked for the fundraiser comes out and tries to get everyone's attention, to absolutely no avail. There must have been about 7 people paying attention to him (so even most of the fundraiser party that had booked him were ignoring him!!), and 2 of them were me and my girlfriend out of pity. He then launches into the most painful 20 minute routine i've ever seen, he got no laughs the whole time, not even from the people listening to him. I would have felt bad if the dude had good material but come on... do I really have to hear another recounting of a comedian's most recent airplane flight and airport experience? The second half of his 'set' was filled with cheesy racial stereotypical 'funny' accents. Absolutely hack and cliche.

Gotta hand it to him, he didn't really show that he was phased by a room full of 150 or so people absolutely ignoring him.

I've never seen it happen to a band, though. Even one of my first bands, which I now realise absolutely sucked, got half hearted sympathy claps at the worst of times.

side note and possible useful lesson: I did overhear the owner of the establishment grumbling about how he was never going to have 2 simultaneous booking like that again. I guess if they had booked a band instead of a comedian it probably would have been the same result, so I guess that's the sort of thing to avoid

 

[Groove Doctor]

Toured a lot with a indie-folk originals band few years back. So many different reactions and crowds and venues that I'm almost immune to it now.

Some gigs are just for the money.... clock in- clock out. Or if pay was crap we saw it as a 'free rehearsal space', and maybe tried new ideas out live.... extended build ups, new harmonies, spicing up drums/bass grooves, segue into next song, etc - if it tanked we didn't worry.

 

[SBassman]

... Also bringing a few friends to begin the clapping couldn't hurt either...

This helps.

 

[Mr Grady]

had this at a 40th birthday gig we played.
we found out on the night it was black tie dress.....some very attractive and classy ladies, which is always easy on the eye, but after each song.........nothing, not even a tumbleweed blowing across the floor......id say 99% were stone cold sober when we went on, and some filthy rich folks who didnt care for the music we played.
it was my first experience of this, but i got payed, was with my mates, played some rock..

 

[capnjagg]

even a sucky band will get a "sympathy clap" from me.

Definitely this. Growing up in a sort of hardcore/punk scene, this is the norm. Everybody (or almost everybody) tends to clap after every song for every band, even if the band isn't very good or isn't what they're into. The only time there isn't really any clapping is when there are no breaks between songs.

Funny story about audiences not being interested though. This one time my brother's friends' band (a noise rock band) played a benefit show for one of my brother's friends. All of these teenage girls showed up and were standing around because a popular local band, who were only booked because they would definitely draw a crowd, were playing that night (they were also a bunch of pricks, but I won't get into that right now). As soon as my brother's friends' band started playing, all of the teenage girls cleared out fast. There were probably ten or so of us left standing there watching them.