Dear live music audience
SHUT. UP.
I just found this clip of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy reading the riot act to some audience members who chose to talk during an acoustic song. I'm pleased Tweedy wouldn't stand for such rudeness. It reminds me of the time I saw Patti Smith tell a fan who kept keening "Paaaatiiii! I looove you!" to be quiet. "Nobody wants to hear that shit!" she snarled.
Did people talk as much or as loudly during live musical performances twenty years ago as they do now? Maybe my memory fails me, or maybe the concerts I attended back then were too loud to allow conversation. Saturday night, I saw Robyn Hitchcock at the Logan Square Auditorium. The audience skewed toward my age, and most were reverently attentive. Not however, the two Trixies behind me, who were talking non-stop. Instead of acting on homicidal fantasies, I moved to another spot.
When I saw Will Oldham at the Walker Art Center, there was a talker, a young woman, seated on a cushion at the foot of the stage. She must have had a brain injury, or just snorted a line of coke. I mean, there has to be some plausible explanation for the torrent of chatter pouring out of her cake hole. The worst of it was during the opening act. It's a thankless job to open for Bonnie "Prince" Billy, made even more so when forced to listen to this during one's set:
wehavetroublebuyingshirtsforhimbecausehessotallandthinarentyouhoney
ohthisremindsmeofthatbandthatplayedatmysistersweddingdiditellyouthat
theyrepregnantimknittingthecutesthatforthebabyitsgoingtobeaboythis
floorishardishouldhavewornflatstonightidontknowwhatiwasthinkingilove
hishairnowthatitslongerandkindofemolookingidontcareilikeemolookingboys
And so on, for at least 30 minutes, like somebody had put a quarter in her. She finally settled down after Oldham came out and her friends ignored her. I am bewildered by this behavior. Issues of etiquette aside, why would you pay $30 for a concert ticket and then use the time to catch up with your buddies?
I see I'm not the only one puzzled by this.
Dave Herrera. "So what's with all the talk during shows?" Westworld [Link]
