What's wrong with 2023 audiences?

[brianrost]

11 pages in 12 hours, good work everyone!

 

[dune]

Welcome to “The Matrix.” I went to see my favorite band, Khruangbin, a couple of years ago. The band was fantastic, but even the dancers were videoing the band on their phones the whole time. I’m 63 so I took a few pictures and grooved the rest of the time. It was weird to see people watching the live band on their phones when the real thing was 15 feet away on the stage.

A buddy sent me a couple photos from a Steve Vai concert he attended a couple months ago. Almost everyone else in that crowd also had their phones out and were shooting pics and/or video. Looked as though most of the crowd was our age (60's) as well.

 

[brianrost]

My comment on breweries: I love them. Breweries, farms and farmer's markets have become a real gigging circuit here in New England.

My comment on audience participation: For about 20 years a major portion of my gigs were at dance events. Those dancers wanted live music and I was in bands that obliged. These were not rock bands. Swing dancing, contradancing (related to square dancing), cajun and zydeco dancing, European folk dancing, Texas two-step, etc. These gigs ranged from promoters renting out halls and including dance instruction for curious newbies before the main event all the way to multi-day dance festivals with multiple styles presented in multiple halls.

In my experience, the breweries and dance events pay way better than my local bars.

 

[gln1955]

To be fair, that falls into my qualifier of "playing a spot that has built a reputation for having music/bands as a focal point, created a stage, etc." So I'm not at all implying that they're monoliths.

Even if the one you play at doesn't have consistent, regularly scheduled bands outside, that environment and setup accommodates a variety of people. It's open air, and has less reverb/volume compared to doing that inside. It's maybe larger than their inside space, allowing folks to sit where the volume works for their desired experience. It also allows patrons who don't want that to go inside and be away from it. And their shift to acoustic/lower volume stuff during the colder/inside months speaks to understanding music as ambience when they presumably know some patrons come in just wanting to have a beer & talk.

That's it exactly. They are lucky to have about an acre of open green space where they set our Adirondack chairs, so people can sit as close or far from the band as they like. The band is set up close to the main building with an adjacent covered picnic area, so we can play even if the weather is a bit rainy.

 

[GWGuitar]

Well theres the problem. I'm just going to be honest, here that scene screams "too cool to have fun". I mean c'mon, we all know IPA's are just a way to virtue signal coolness and sophistication...kick me outta here if you must. I'm pretty sure nobody likes them anyway, its just that they taste so horrible the normies won't come in an steal their cool like they did with everything else "hipster"

Plus the IPA crowd doesn't get drunk enough to have fun (how could you, you'd be sick from that crap), especially at 6:30 pm with your family/kids there.

Plus they are just kinda boring and/or miserable people.

In summary:
1) Too early
2) not enough booze
3) too many stuck up people.

Back in the Nineties, I played with a really hot cover band that was super tight and knew how to to put on a party. We got hired for lots of corporate parties. It was funny how they varied. A chain of liquor stores hired us and they were very reserved. They ended their event early and went home before 10 p.m. (Zzzzzz!) However, car dealerships were FUN to play for. The manager of one dealership danced up to our keyboard player and handed her $500 for us to play another set!

 

[Ostie]

electronic hypodermic instant dopamine. Sedation of the masses…

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This. We’re competing with FB, Tinder, SnapChat, YT, streaming, etc for people’s attention. And we’re losing the battle.

 

[Lucas Carioli]

This thread reminds me this:

 

[Corigan]

I just came back from welcome to rockville. Crowd was insane. Pantera set with 100k people there was off the chain. Guess it depends what kind of crowd you talkimg about. Took the crown of a guy's head straight to my cheekbone during hatebreeds pit. Some guy stopped infront of me, bent over, and started throwing elbows. I flying kneed him square in the rump. Insanity. Crowd was super wild.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Here's my simple self-directed question when deciding on crowd appreciation: Who am I to dictate that in others?

From where I sit, attendees, whether it's a wallpaper gig or not, owe me nothing.

And to someone's point earlier, do you really want to use a charity benefit to raise money for terminal disease research as an example of what's wrong with 2023 live music crowds?

The bigger picture sounds like a matter of setting and managing expectations. Did you ask to be comped food and drinks before agreeing to do the benefit? Personally, I get these kind of things settled up front.

As another example of setting expectations, I insist benefit organizers provide professional sound reinforcement and techs. If it's a real charity, they won't have an issue getting donations to cover the cost. More importantly, it creates enough buy-in to qualify whether or not live music is well advised for the event.

To that point, it sounds like the gig was a poor fit. I don't know about you, your trio, or your typical crowd reactions. In my own 45+ years gigging experience, that would've been on me for accepting the gig without better qualifying it through helping set and manage expectations.

Or maybe it would've just been on me because I didn't earn it. Plenty of times in the past where that's been the case.

As far as crowds at your other gigs go, maybe that's a NC thing. Or maybe it's just you. Or maybe not.

I've seen it happen here in N. Texas where I sub and play with multiple bands. Though when it has, it's been 99% band-and-band-crowd-specific and 1% venue-specific. IOW, with one band with whom I work most Fri/Sats, it hasn't happened yet.

And we're old guys with a crowd of mostly 30-40-somethings.

 

[sunbeast]

People these days have the internet on their phones, which simultaneously gives them the illusion of always having everything they need at their fingertips while also sucking away energy, motivation, and tact from the in-person social life we all sorely desire and actually need.

"It begins with a blessing, and ends with a curse
making life easy, by making it worse"

 

[markjazzbassist]

Sounds like you are in it for the wrong reasons. The crowd; the dancers, the reaction; the thanks you’s.

play because you love to play live music, who cares who for or where.

 

[LBS-bass]

However, I was engaged in a walk-and-talk at a venue on the subject of older music being appreciated by young people. As we talked my partner pointing to a young guy wearing a Hendrix Tee shirt and said "see, appreciation for older music." I said, maybe and asked the kid if he knew who that was on his Tee. He looked down at it and said "a guitarist I think?" My friend asked him if he was kidding? He said no.

Yeah, I can see that. But I think a table jumping up to dance to a relatively obscure Hendrix song speaks for itself. We played a bunch of obscure blues songs that night, but they knew that one.

 

[Ekulati]

Update. We got a communique from the matriarch of the Leukemia survivor (her mother) that kinda apologized..."wow last night was so great! We were upstairs at the second level talking about how good you guys were! It was so hard to move around or interact. We can't wait to see you at your other engagements!"
Lame. So she couldn't take a trip downstairs and give us a fake society kiss kiss between songs? Also NO FOOD! As a former fat guy this is simply unconscionable. I'm gonna stuff this gig in the hurt locker with all my childhood alcoholic home trauma and concentrate on the hundy I'll make Saturday.
I'll probably feel better by tomorrow after all I'm a relatively healthy person and forgiveness is usually my code...

No. Not lame. IMO, you're way overboard with this. Haven't you played weddings, where there are a million things wrong with the space, setup, whatever, dance floor a mile away. AND the bride, groom, and families are involved in their own stuff and don't come up and tell you how wonderful you are?

I think it was classy for the MOM OF THE KID WHO ALMOST DIED to do that. Off the horse, dude.

 

[LiptonJigglers]

De-evolution is a real thing

 

[JimmyM]

Good for you. I agree. Everyone gets paid but you can’t even get a meal? Uncool.

 

[Ekulati]

Sorry to hear the leukemia survivor stole your thunder at their own benefit.

Yeah, I know I just commented but this is right on. 90 percent of the replies here are talking about the sad state of live music, which we're all fully aware of.

But the point everyone's missing here is the OP whining about playing music for folks who've just been through a major health crisis. Sometimes we all need to take a step back, folks...

 

[E2942]

88% of the humans who can afford to come out like that are figurative slaves to their Android or iPhone device.

It's also the reason why any type of service usually figuratively stinks these days, because when the service personnel are having any free time to improve service, they are staring at their phones.
Today I saw a guy eating lunch with one hand while scrolling his phone with the other.

People look down at their phones while stopped at a traffic light. This should be a punishable offense, but the LEO don't do diddly.

hatebreeds pit

Indeed, the pit is bred & powered by hate.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Sounds like you are in it for the wrong reasons. The crowd; the dancers, the reaction; the thanks you’s.

play because you love to play live music, who cares who for or where.

So you are an authority on the RIGHT reasons to play music? How egocentric...

 

[Spectrum]

I have also talked to many people these days who do not want there to be a band when they go out to a bar or out to eat. They view it as an annoyance, a distraction and a turn off and I've heard it compared to annoying trivia at places, where people will choose to go somewhere else without for their night out.

This applies to me. If I go someplace where I expect to see a band, then I want to see a band. But often if I walk into a restaurant or a tavern / brewery to relax with a beer and be able to hear myself think, that loud band or the trivia guy on the PA makes me want to turn around and walk right out.

Since I am conscious of this, I also don't want to play a gig where live music is not wanted or appreciated. Standing in front of a bunch of indifferent annoyed people is awkward.

 

[retslock]

I've been gigging for about 30 years. I cut my teeth as a super young guy in an oldies band playing doo wop and Motown to upstate NY audiences who danced and clapped and smoked their butts off.
While Boston audiences were more reserved in the oughties and tens, still lots of clapping and dancing.
I've been living in North Carolina for over 8 years. Metro Charlotte. Banking, not that different from Boston.
Lately I've noticed that audiences are going stepford. No clapping. No interaction. No dancing. About half the gigs I'm at are at some level "Wallpaper Gigs"...where the band might as well be a potted plant designed for ambiance.

We are all mostly top players in our 40s and 50s. We play a bit of everything in order to please a wide selection of people from all demographics -rock, pop, disco, country, R&B.
We're not ugly. Sure the singer could use to lose 30 lbs but he wears his soda belly well.
Something happened to society between 1993 and 2023. In 1993 everyone would at least golf clap after a song ended. It's polite.

Last night my trio was asked to play a benefit for leukemia. Someones daughter had actually survived and they were doing a fundraiser. We were all but ignored, they didn't offer us any of the communal food...the family of the girl didn't acknowledge us.
A paid wallpaper gig is one thing. I get a Benjamin to be ignored.
A wallpaper benefit gig is actually unacceptable. I've been honing my singing and playing skills for 40 years! We donated our time, skills, and the use of $10,000 in gear to a good cause.
I'm disgusted. I'm sure I'm just an old man yelling at clouds- but I think I'm done playing benefits unless there's concessions made for the band (FOOD FOOD FOOD!).
I worked half a day at my day job and lost $$$ to be a hothouse flower centerpiece?
I can't wait to make a hundy this Saturday getting ignored. It's so much better than volunteering for it...

Streaming services and downloading have devalued musicians and writers plus the spectacle has taken priority and the music is subordinate to the event.