You weren't raised to be civil towards your peers that you are voluntarily whining aloud to on the internet, I blame your parents.
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What's wrong with 2023 audiences?
- Thread starter Lance Bunyon
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Yeah as much as I could say about this in either direction, here’s an important point-
none of the other sponsors or donors went without their shout out. at least if it was anything like any fundraiser I’ve been to.
In a similar situation, I had a band leader reach out to an organizer, and point out to them that it was customary to offer food, (or at least be clear whether or not it would be offered), and that one of the small perks of playing a fundraiser for free is the modest and tasteful publicity. Details like this are simply part of an organizations job, and if they want to be good at their job, and do their best for the cause. , they should know these things going forward.
Now… as far as the audience goes.. some shows just stink, it happens, and certainly you weren’t playing at a music festival. Are you guys good? If you’re absolutely killing, in my experience those gigs are fine.. it’s funny and a surreal gig to be on fire and jiving with eachother and sounding great to a tepid response.. I don’t mind at all. I DONT like having a crappy gig, audience engagement or not.
A fundraiser is not a place I expect much audience interest at all, save for one or two stepdad types who want to tell you how much you’re rocking out. If you felt the environment was conducive, then maybe you guys stink? Lol
none of the other sponsors or donors went without their shout out. at least if it was anything like any fundraiser I’ve been to.
In a similar situation, I had a band leader reach out to an organizer, and point out to them that it was customary to offer food, (or at least be clear whether or not it would be offered), and that one of the small perks of playing a fundraiser for free is the modest and tasteful publicity. Details like this are simply part of an organizations job, and if they want to be good at their job, and do their best for the cause. , they should know these things going forward.
Now… as far as the audience goes.. some shows just stink, it happens, and certainly you weren’t playing at a music festival. Are you guys good? If you’re absolutely killing, in my experience those gigs are fine.. it’s funny and a surreal gig to be on fire and jiving with eachother and sounding great to a tepid response.. I don’t mind at all. I DONT like having a crappy gig, audience engagement or not.
A fundraiser is not a place I expect much audience interest at all, save for one or two stepdad types who want to tell you how much you’re rocking out. If you felt the environment was conducive, then maybe you guys stink? Lol
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This is funny because Psycho Killer is most definitely a 70’s tune, released in 1977 on an album called Talking Heads: 77.
Congrats on having a very salable product.It's the American way!
You right, playing with tracks do require a lot of discipline to stay in your box. But I've worked with lager musical entities all my life. You better not go off the reservation playing in that environment either. I have played with tracks, and frankly as a bassist I don't need them, but I understand them and why they work
BTW, I just saw a show with two guitarists that sang with a girl singer and an upright bassist that was totally captivating, but the reception of the audience=Zzzzzzzzz LOL!!!
That’s frustrating I’m sorry to hear! Was the food very tasty looking?
For fundraisers IMO it’s important to have an MC separate from everything else specifically to encourage the desired audience interaction, drive donations, and make everyone feel appreciated. The front man of the band can’t be the MC because then they’re saying “let’s all give a big thank you to me for being here for freeeeeeeeeee!”
I don’t think microbrewery gigs are ever great for audience interaction. It’s definitely live background music territory, people are there to socialize with a band mostly just covering the awkward silences for them. I think that’s a vastly different energy but still certainly something to take pride in! If you get a lot of audience interaction from certain people maybe take that as a x100 so you feel better.
For all you know your band was the only thing drowning out the annoying sound of their boss, etc.
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And as you pointed out and just hitting the point again for emphasis.
You (the band) having someone in your organization making sure that is something made clear from your end to the promoter/ customer before hand.
D
LOL. Can I like this post twice?
Yep. Like the need for food. If the food is important to you, you can and should make that part of your contract. To show up without negotiating anything and complain that they didn't feed you when you didn't add yourself to their head count by stipulating food for x number of people is a bit of hindsight. In these situations there's always a negotiation and OPs band should be making a list of things that they didn't like so these things can be thought through better next time.
It seems to me that the big problem here is that the band took a gig they shouldn't have done. Why? What's the payoff expected from a gig like this? If you aren't doing it because the cause is important to you, then you need to negotiate better terms or step aside and let someone else have it.
That's darn funny. I barely know what an IPA is and the few I have tried have been terrible.
The more I read about Europe the more I wish I lived over there.
When I was 23 in 1987, I remember seeing Lee Sklar performing with just about every big time band that was popular at the time, and I (and just about all of my friends) thought it was cool that he could still land such premium gigs and play well at such an old age. He was only 40 at the time.
Ahh, another TB thread of old people complaining about young people... I know that's not exactly the OP's original point, but there sure is a lot of that going on here.
If you're in this crowd, ask yourself when was the last time that you actually hung out with young people IN THEIR ELEMENT so that you understand what they're really like, or are you basing your judgements based on how you see them when they're in YOUR element? Or some fantasy about how you think they are, or things you've seen on line? How many of you barely interact with young people at all?
Because I've ventured in to their territory and what that experience tells me is that most of y'all have no idea what you're talking about. (For the record, I'm in my early 50s, so I'm not exactly young myself.)
Here's an example: this past year my son was a freshman at a large midwestern university, and one weekend I went up to visit him. I told him to take me to what he would normally do in terms of entertainment, because I wanted to get a real sense of how the current college kids play.
So one night we went to a house show. Yes, these still exist, local bands rocking out in some rental house basement walkable from the campus. There was a cover charge, and when we paid it, we got colored marker on the back of our hands to show we paid—you all remember those days, right? Still happening.
They probably could have doubled the cover, since it was wall-to-wall full, everybody pressed against everybody else. I was the oldest person in there by a solid 30 years, unless maybe some slightly older grad student was in there on the other side of the room from me. I stood all the way in the back, first, so I wouldn't get noticed, but more importantly, because there was an open window there and it was a little less sweltering standing next to it.
The first band, called Six Foot Blonde (recent EP on Apple Music or Spotify) absolutely killed it. Super tight, great sound, lead singer with amazing stage presence. The second band, Thin Lines (also on Apple Music and Spotify), I didn't like quite as much but the crowd was definitely in to them, definitely a party vibe kind of band.
The rule for this house is that the bands had to play originals, but they could have a single cover song in their set. Six Foot Blonde did an amazing rendition of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" and this room full of mostly teenagers absolutely ate it up. Remember, this song was released 30 years before they were born but most of them clearly knew the words and were genuinely engaged.
Now, here's the key bit: the whole basement was singing and dancing (to the extent possible given how crowded it was) and totally into it. When the bands did the usual "how's everybody doing tonight?" there were roars. I saw not a single person on a cell phone at any point while either band was playing. Not one. They were, to a person, completely involved and in the moment. In terms of the behavior of the audience, there was no discernible difference between this event in 2023 and when I went to the same kind of shows when I was in college in the late 1980s. None.
At the break between bands there was music on the PA and one of the songs that came on was "Psycho Killer" (incidentally the first song I learned on bass), and much to my surprise, the kids were also into that, many singing along. Yes, a few phones came out briefly in the break between bands, but really only a few. Most of the kids were too busy talking to their buddies to be bothered with their phones. If smart phones are supposed to be turning kids into zombies, they're not doing a very good job of it—at least not when the kids are doing something they actually care about, which as it turns out, still includes live music.
As The Who (you other old folks remember them, right?) once said, the kids are alright.
IMO, it's the old people standing in judgement of them who have lost perspective. Maybe go out and see what they're actually doing instead?
If you're in this crowd, ask yourself when was the last time that you actually hung out with young people IN THEIR ELEMENT so that you understand what they're really like, or are you basing your judgements based on how you see them when they're in YOUR element? Or some fantasy about how you think they are, or things you've seen on line? How many of you barely interact with young people at all?
Because I've ventured in to their territory and what that experience tells me is that most of y'all have no idea what you're talking about. (For the record, I'm in my early 50s, so I'm not exactly young myself.)
Here's an example: this past year my son was a freshman at a large midwestern university, and one weekend I went up to visit him. I told him to take me to what he would normally do in terms of entertainment, because I wanted to get a real sense of how the current college kids play.
So one night we went to a house show. Yes, these still exist, local bands rocking out in some rental house basement walkable from the campus. There was a cover charge, and when we paid it, we got colored marker on the back of our hands to show we paid—you all remember those days, right? Still happening.
They probably could have doubled the cover, since it was wall-to-wall full, everybody pressed against everybody else. I was the oldest person in there by a solid 30 years, unless maybe some slightly older grad student was in there on the other side of the room from me. I stood all the way in the back, first, so I wouldn't get noticed, but more importantly, because there was an open window there and it was a little less sweltering standing next to it.
The first band, called Six Foot Blonde (recent EP on Apple Music or Spotify) absolutely killed it. Super tight, great sound, lead singer with amazing stage presence. The second band, Thin Lines (also on Apple Music and Spotify), I didn't like quite as much but the crowd was definitely in to them, definitely a party vibe kind of band.
The rule for this house is that the bands had to play originals, but they could have a single cover song in their set. Six Foot Blonde did an amazing rendition of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" and this room full of mostly teenagers absolutely ate it up. Remember, this song was released 30 years before they were born but most of them clearly knew the words and were genuinely engaged.
Now, here's the key bit: the whole basement was singing and dancing (to the extent possible given how crowded it was) and totally into it. When the bands did the usual "how's everybody doing tonight?" there were roars. I saw not a single person on a cell phone at any point while either band was playing. Not one. They were, to a person, completely involved and in the moment. In terms of the behavior of the audience, there was no discernible difference between this event in 2023 and when I went to the same kind of shows when I was in college in the late 1980s. None.
At the break between bands there was music on the PA and one of the songs that came on was "Psycho Killer" (incidentally the first song I learned on bass), and much to my surprise, the kids were also into that, many singing along. Yes, a few phones came out briefly in the break between bands, but really only a few. Most of the kids were too busy talking to their buddies to be bothered with their phones. If smart phones are supposed to be turning kids into zombies, they're not doing a very good job of it—at least not when the kids are doing something they actually care about, which as it turns out, still includes live music.
As The Who (you other old folks remember them, right?) once said, the kids are alright.
IMO, it's the old people standing in judgement of them who have lost perspective. Maybe go out and see what they're actually doing instead?
Well, there ARE clubs that work to establish a rep for having good live music on a consistent basis and they're usually the ones who pay better. At least in this neck of the woods. They pay better because they understand that people will come out even if they don't know who's playing that night because they always have good quality bands. They establish that rep and build a following/draw understanding that they make more money over the long haul by working to establish that rep, and generally those are the places that have been around a long time and who made it through the pandemic in good shape. They're not as numerous as "back in the day" but they're still out there. It's the clueless bar/club managers who don't get that.
Same here in most of the US it seems. There are pockets where originals are more accepted (mostly in places like LA, NY, large metro areas) but generally if you want to play regularly and for decent pay original music isn't the ticket.
Before the pox, and during the ASCAP/BMI influence over live music play. I saw a lot of yutes doing original music that was pleasurable to listen to and they had their following of other yutes that would follow them from venue to venue. Unfortunately a lot of those venues have closed.
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eh 77 is pretty close to the 80's. and nobody thinks of the Talking heads as a 70's band. but they reworked the song in 82 and rereleased it with more versus so im sticking to that version to keep my timeline correct....
It ain't that funny. I like IPA's...Get off my lawn!
Luckily I am commenting from my perspective.
I played a sub show a couple of years ago with a band that doesn't draw very well. We didn't have very many people there. One table was a few 20 somethings that politely applauded the old blues standards those guys like to play. But that table got up and danced like they were insane for one song:
People who think young people don't like older music are looking through a certain lens. Yes, you're going to find a lot of young people at EDM or hip hop shows and parties with DJs and whatnot, but today's young people have a much broader set of musical exposures than my generation ever did, because the music of my generation's era has never gone away. You still hear it everywhere.
Nobody (well, hardly anyone) in their 20's in 1979 was going to get up and get excited about the big band music from their parents' era. You can't look at the generational thing as though what we did is what today's young people do.
As for the phone thing, I agree. I don't see a bunch of people at my shows looking at their phones for distraction. If phones are out it's because they're engaged enough that they want a video or photo. Mostly they are dancing or sitting and listening.
Concerts are still a thing -- and the people who go to them want to see the bands. But when the band is not the main event, it's often the case that people don't pay much attention.
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