| Subject: Here's An Idea |
Author:
Tyler
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Date Posted: 16:49:54 10/05/05 Wed
.......how about the band simply book into larger venues, so all of these ridiculous audience territory issues become the non-issues they should be.
Is that so hard?
I would hope the band is not revisiting (and selling out) these woefully under-capacity venues simply for nostalgic reasons (whether theirs or local fans').
How many more tickets would they have sold in a larger venue than the Fox? And for three nights??!! How much more would everyone have enjoyed the shows had they not been crammed into an inadequate, ill-ventilated space, forced to constantly jockey for breathing room? (we have all gone through this from time-to-time and we all know it REALLY detracts from enjoying the music). I was really bummed I could not make the Colorado shows, until I heard how crowded they were.
If a 3 night sell-out isn't enough of an indicator that it is time to move on to larger spaces in that market, I can't think of what is (short of a fan stampede, Lord forbid!). The band would be foolish to play the Fox again, if only for the level of complaints from people about the battles for space. The Colorado fans, of which there seem to be quite a few, should step up and help the band line up better spaces in these markets, rather than complain.
Surely there have to be other options and room for some creativity, within the band's technical and other needs. Better the band undersell a larger venue by 10-15% than oversell a smaller venue at the cost of everyone's physical comfort and probably still to the exclusion of many more willing, but shut-out ticket buyers.
........on a side note, I have to take exception to the East Coast crowd-bashing, simply because it has no basis in any reality I have experienced, living in the East. Out of 100's of shows I have seen over 20 years from many, many bands in many, many venues, coast to coast, ranging from hole-in-the-wall bars to stadiums, I have found the most territorial, pushy, selfish crowds (about space) were in two places : Red Rocks and the Great American Music Hall.......'West Coast' musical meccas, to say the least. I had never seen such aggressive, obnoxious claim-staking in any general admission venues before or since.
I make no sweeping generalizations from this about 'East Coast' or 'West Coast' fans, since they all vary wildly with the venue and the band. To highlight, if GAMH was the worst I have seen, Shoreline (just 15 miles away) is the BEST I have ever seen.
On the whole, I have seen some seriously obnoxious Grateful Dead crowds in the East Coast, but never so with DSO crowds here.
DSO played numerous shows in an insufferably-packed Funk Box in Baltimore, for example, but I never encountered anyone unwilling to yield a little space or let you pass, much less anyone so vicious as to start 'throwing elbows', etc.
DSO has consistently played to an over-heated, packed State Theater in Virginia, but I never experienced the Gestapo tactics about space that I did, for example, at the GAMH.
I had never been to Toad's Place in New Haven until this May, but found an audience willing to go with the flow of the crowd and work with each other in the tight space. Rather than obsess about holding a few square feet (that no GA ticket buyer has any legitimate right to claim, just because they stood there for a few minutes ahead of others), I found that the New Haven crowd (like other DSO East Coasters) did not want such distractions. They wanted their focus on the music and, like many DSO East Coast audiences I have seen, would rather just make some room and dance together, for the few brief shining moments they have.
Philly's Electric Factory has regularly hosted up to nearly 1200-person (even sell-out) DSO crowds, where space was definitely limited, but I found the fans remarkably generous and un-selfish....as opposed to what I regularly find in the Tower Theater, just across town, when seeing other bands.
It is not just about the venue or even the city, but also about whether there is a high enough level of appreciation in the local crowd to not ruin something rare and special, just to hoard a piece of common ground from others.
Even in the stereotypical heart of rudeness, NYC, I have found that DSO crowds, on the whole, are much less concerned about marking their territory than I have seen in Colorado or the West Coast.
At the risk of pissing off the 'West Coasters' or the Rocky Mountain crowds, my travels with DSO around the U.S. of A. have led me to believe that many of these folks must be pretty spoiled when it comes to seeing good music. I have found, ironically, that the people who don't get to see shows as much (such as in relatively spread-out East Coast venues) tend to be less bratty and immature in enforcing nonsensical, ad hoc rules about space ownership.
I guess it comes down to this : kind, generous people act with kindness and generosity while rude, selfish people act with selfish rudeness. There is no in middle ground really.
Being thoughtful of others in a tight, crowded setting means thinking about and acting on more than just the single-minded goal of one's own good time, no matter the cost. I have found that to get a little you have to give a little.
Really it all comes down to whether we, as fans and kindred souls in the music, choose to yield a little ground, risking generosity, or instead choose to covet a little ground, guaranteeing rudeness.
If everyone considers whether others are also enjoying the show and forgets any delusions that a crowd's natural ebb and flow can be controlled to one's own benefit, I think we will all find that any place we find ourselves during the show is a nice place to be.
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