Re: DON'T GO SEE A LIVE BAND -- YOU'LL BE BORED!!!

[David White <dwhite@arbortext.com>]

The following is a rant. The basic premise is: Respect your audience, do 
your
best to make them happy. If you're playing out live for your own bad self, 
then
you deserve an audience of 1.

I (and all, I repeat ALL of my music loving friends) are in the category of
folks who rarely go see live music anymore (compared to my younger days of 
2-3
nights a week).

I'll happily listen to one or two mediocre bands if I don't have to put up 
with
the BS. My reasons for not going to see music has little to do with how 
good or
bad the music is. My complaints with live music have not changed since my 
very
first show:

Clubs start bands too late: 11:00 - 11:30 is too late to start bands. 
London
starts early and closes early  and the bars still make money and probably 
a good
deal more money then a comparable bar in the U.S.

Local/small acts (or large well known acts for that matter) take too dang 
long
to set up and get started: tune before you go on, and start when you're 
set up.
I absolutely hate (and always have) waiting around for a band to start for 
no
good reason. No one, I REPEAT, NO ONE likes to wait. When your set is 
done, tear
down and get off the stage. Do not get a beer, chat with your friends for 
a half
hour, nip out for a j, pass go or collect two hundred dollars (at least 
not of
my money). If your band is next, then get set up and start playing. You 
are not
God. I've never heard of you before (like most people in the audience), 
and you
have not earned the right to waste my time. I'm not interested in how cool 
you
are. Play your songs and impress me, otherwise I'm leaving.

The Sound sucks (is too loud, bassy, tinny, etc.) Hire the best 
soundperson you
can afford. Don't let your brother run sound just because he's got a four 
track.
A lot of college clubs have decent sound systems and it's not that tough 
to get
an acceptable sound.

If your running sound and someone in the crowd makes a suggestion, at least
consider it. They may be dumber then you, but they are the paying customer 
(they
spoke up which means they care about it)- and sometimes they might be a 
whole
lot smarter then you. I know paying the soundman more then the band makes -
sucks. I've been there. But if the point is to make money then your best 
bet is
to let people hear the music you want them to enjoy so they'll tell two 
friends
.... Then you'll have a big enough audience to pay the band better then the
sound person

Smokers suck. They do, it's just a fact of life. You have to suck to enjoy 
a
cigarette. I'll put up with a little smoke if the person smoking the 
cigarette
doesn't hold the thing in my face when they're not toking. Hey, it's your
cigarette, if you don't want the smoldering hunk of stench in your face 
what
makes you think I want it in mine?

If you got this far, thanks for listening. I don't expect this will have 
any
impact on a single performer, but I feel better.

d/-\\/e


Frank Gerace wrote:

> At 11:05 AM 2/13/98 +0000, you wrote:
> >David Kirkdorffer wrote:
> >>
> >>         I know SO MANY PEOPLE who feel this way.  I think it's part of
> >> why - at least in Boston - live music venues are shrinking or closing.
> >> Less people are going out to see bands - I think they feel they're not
> >> going to see anything new.   They're mostly right.
> >>
>         Another reason clubs are closing is that a lot of people don't 
>feel
> like going to smoke-filled bars to hear their music.  'The sound live 
>isn't
> as nice as the CD on their stereo, blah-blah-blah'.  This also ties into 
>the
> drinking age argument and musicians as liqour salespeople arguments.  
>Many
> people I know, as they get older, (most of my friends get older) are 
>trying
> to quit smoking, stop drinking etc.
>