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is it just me ??? crowds have changed???

No offense, but this thread makes one realize how old the average TBer apparently is.

You're a bunch of ranting old men! :roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Can't blame you guys really, but seriously? "They don't make em like they used to no more"?
Lol hey now it's not like I'm in my 40s or 50s. I was 23 in the video on the original post. Hasnt been that damn long
 
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New stage gear: wi-fi jamming, cell signal jamming. The Feds won't like it, but f'em. :bassist:
I can see that becoming the sole reason that a particular show sucked- No signal! That band blows!

One of my favorite shows is an outdoor stage at resort where there is no cell service. Kids are running, swimming, playing with each other, etc. Only a few people are doing anything with a phone in their face. We are doing more each summer with this resort and with the owner who sings as well and it's one of my favorite gigs. That said, you just have to roll with whatever crowd your given. I agree with some on this thread that said crowds have a lot higher expectations. Your average Top40 act is lip syncing and dancing with lights and explosions. If you're standing there contemplating the number of eyeholes in your shoes, your going to lose them.
 
I like to enjoy music without having to put on a show myself to let everyone else know I'm enjoying it. I'd be fine with sitting down in my chair the whole time. You'll know if I enjoyed it if I buy a ticket next time.
 
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Yeah I get that, Im still trying to figure out where things got lame as well. I attended a Voivod gig with an intimate crowd of about 200 maybe and one guy tried desperately to get the mosh pit started and it was pathetic that all of his energy barely moved a handful of people for a very brief moment. In the 80's and 90's the mosh flared up on the first note, the skankers were already stirring at the sound check and I was scouting out the highest point of elevation to dive off.......all fn' night long!.
 
I do have encountered young musicians complain about this too. It's not only old geezers.

Remember Rush Live DVD/CD from Brazil a decade or something, ago? The audience of Sao Paulo/Rio (I think it was Rio that was on DVD) shows sang along to an INSTRUMENTAL prog number with odd time signature, the YYZ one. That's my kind of appreciate and considerate audience. Although they like to dance, they still can hang in there with some complex instrumental. They sang along to most of the concert really. But I think these days those people are preoccupied with the cell phones too.

I really can't get it. If they show to friends later on, as they occasionally do with me like "I've been this night to this concert...look here" I just ask them "Hey, but where are you in there.. can't see you, just the band playing on stage?" and they get grumpy. No selfies or anything which means they can have copied that from anyone else or downloaded from the net.
 
I like to enjoy music without having to put on a show myself to let everyone else know I'm enjoying it. I'd be fine with sitting down in my chair the whole time. You'll know if I enjoyed it if I buy a ticket next time.
Nothing wrong with that if you're in a seat at a big show with seats or in the back at a local show. I sit down when I see shows at the house of blues in Myrtle beach. I don't even mind people having phones. I realize adults have kids at home, kids have parents at home and so on just takenthe phone outside to the smokers area or to the bathroom, parking lot whatever. My issue is what looks like the total lack of interest of some of the people right in front of the stage that sucks. The let me show up early to get at the front of the line so I can be right up against the barricade to look at my phone all night people.
 
funny, we're all staring at our phones posting about kids always staring at their phones posting :D



Or not,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



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The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.

-Socrates

This stuff isnt new. We have always been selling perception vs authenticity, we just didn't have the same tools and venues (high tech gadgets and social media) that these kids do today. You better believe that if I was 18 today I would be a social marketing engine, live feeding my awesome personal brand via every social outlet there is, meeting chicks via Tinder and leveraging every bit of this easily accessed tech to satisfy my wildly out of control testosterone.

Humanity didn't change, just the tools got better.

I'm still trying to understand why the damn pit seems to be almost more important than the music?

Mugre
 
I mean, hasn't it always been like this. I remember clearly interviews with Jethro Tulls Ian Anderson, that in order to reach the ones at the back throwing frisbees at each other, you have to have on stage antics, and "overcook" it so to speak. Do the Spinal Tap. Same with Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, early on critized for letting their light show distract from the music he said too "Well, whatever that keeps the from playing frisbee at the back is a good thing.. it's like ... hey!!! over here!!!". Both alluding to large outdoor festivals.

The cell phones seems to be the frisbees of today. And if something distracting occurs on stage (ha!) that interrupts the people for staring at their cell phones, they just raised them up - and not take pictures - but films it in a long video sequence. I do not think anything on stage would be sufficient enough to keep them from staring down at their cell phones. You had even Apple try this:

Apple granted patent for way to stop iPhones from taking photos at concerts or sensitive locations

Apple wins patent on technology to stop fans filming gigs

Which is in line with former post who wanted to invest in anti wi-fi gear, and anti filming gear.

But wouldn't be surprised that they pull out their old analog film cameras, and vhs camcorders... ;)
 
I wonder how much of this "watching the show you're at on your phone screen" started with sports and concerts where the only way to see the band or the teams was to watch the Jumbotron?

I refuse to attend shows like that. I'll buy the DVD and order in a steak. If the tickets are cheap enough to not care, I'll see a basketball or hockey game where I have to watch the screen, but I can get the idea from the rink pretty darn far away, and its a whole lot easier to sneak down than at a concert venue.

I've also been seeing a lot of aging "cougars" all gussied up who appeared to have been using the phone to zoom in and see instead of wearing eyeglasses. you'll see em pretend to text vacantly, the dude they're about to prey on looks away, they're zooming furiously to see their surroundings...
 
I refuse to attend shows like that. I'll buy the DVD and order in a steak. If the tickets are cheap enough to not care, I'll see a basketball or hockey game where I have to watch the screen, but I can get the idea from the rink pretty darn far away, and its a whole lot easier to sneak down than at a concert venue.

I've also been seeing a lot of aging "cougars" all gussied up who appeared to have been using the phone to zoom in and see instead of wearing eyeglasses. you'll see em pretend to text vacantly, the dude they're about to prey on looks away, they're zooming furiously to see their surroundings...
First I've heard of a cell phone being used to replace glasses or contacts! :laugh:
 
I was recently watching a Richard Marx concert/interview on the Audience cable channel recently in which he said something interesting. I'll paraphrase:

Marx said that a few years ago, we was first-worlders reached a moment when we could have every piece of music we own and/or desire placed on our phones... and with that, the excitement that we once had as music enthusiasts started to die. We used to get so thrilled to know that an album was coming out... and you'd truck off to the store to buy it... you'd bring it home... you'd listen to it... you'd read the liner notes... and it would let you escape to a different place... a happier place.

Now, everything happens so fast thanks to buying from home on the Internet, most of those special feelings don't have time to exist.

Back to my own opinions... it's a fascinating time to be alive right now... but instant gratification isn't always a good thing. If I could go back to the way life was in the early 1950s and live through the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s again, I'd do it. Everything seemed to be more special during that time. People got excited during all those little waiting periods... waiting to buy that new album... waiting for a new episode of a TV show to come out... waiting to see an artist in concert. It was a magic time.

These days, technology makes us all say "wow!"... but only for a few minutes... and then we're typically on to being consumed by something else.
 
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