crowds at shows = USA sucks

[Diabolik]

After watching lots of videos of live shows from across the globe. I have to say. The crowds at shows in the US sucks. Every where else people are really into it and seem like they are enjoying the show. Then you come over here and people just stand there looking bored half the time. There are very few shows that I have seen in the past 5 years where people have gone apeshit or even shown enthusiasm at the show.

The best example was when Edguy played with Hammerfall. People were waiting and waiting to see them live in the states other than having to go to ProgPower. In chicago....everyone just stood there. More and more people seem just to go to shows just to go and seem less enthused about being there. Like Sonata at the Metro. People were just text messaging all night long. more people had thier heads down making plans for after the show that actually enjoying the show itself. Or people were calling freinds to say they were at the show.

Even worse are the people who get up front and just look bored. why bother going up front then???

I remember at Testament at the Vic in 90, the place was a powderkeg waiting to go off. That first song hit there were like 3 pits and the whole place was singing along and it was insane. The barracades even broke down from people going crazy.
Blind Guardian at the Metro was nuts too. Not a single person wasnt singing along. It was nuts to see that place going crazy for a band. It generally seemed that people were happy that the band was there.

It seems that even with all the big fest out in europe and stuff, the crowds still go crazy for everyone and seem to be happy to be there. This is just something that I have noticed more and more at shows.

is it lack of quality shows? I dont think so. I think that there is enough of a wide variety of acts on tour.

age? You would think the younger kids would be a little more nuts.

When discussing turnouts at shows....the Sabbat thread, someone made a great point. That there was like 100 die hard fans there really getting into it.
I think I would rather be in a crowd of 50 insane fans that 500 just standing there. Sure it isnt a good thing for the bands but my whole point is that why go to a show if you are just going to be bored and just stand there?

has anyone else noticed this?

 

[wildfyr]

Dude, maybe they just like to enjoy their shows in a more physical manner. What's the big deal? They probably have more potent alcohol in 'em than the poor slobs over here with their Bud and Miller Lights.

Oh by the way, here you are in front of the stage while Saturnus was playing last year at Powerfest Day 2.

That's the back of your head there down in the lower right. It tried to shoot over it. There must not have been any threatening physicality going on down there for me to take a shot like that overhead.

Yeah, different but still enjoyable.

 

[Diabolik]

it seems someone is stalking me!!!!! funny how you knew it was me from the back!!!! I am flattered.

 

[wildfyr]

I knew it was you because I had just taken the fotos of you and Jason after Novembers Doom, or maybe it was before ND. Anyhoo, hadn't meet either of you before that show, or since.

 

[wildfyr]

Here's another overhead attempt. I think I tried to take a shot over/around EricT's head in this one.

Good times.

 

[PowerMetalNerd]

Everyone has there own way of appreciating a band. Whether it be to completely rock the fuck out or stand there enjoying the band and actually pay attention to the musicianship while it's right in front of you.
You could go home, put in a CD and head bang all you want, but you wouldn't get to see the fretwork, the drumming, the stage presence, etc, etc.
I suppose that is what YouTube and DVD's are for, but whatever.

Personally I like it when I can stand up front, close to the stage and not have to worry about getting pummeled by some idiot.
I paid money just like everyone else to attend a concert and see a band...not watch a bunch of idiots run around in a circle and push each other.
I don't care if you are enjoying yourself and expressing your emotion for the band or whatever, but when you "accidentally" run into me, that pisses me off, because a lot of these people (not all of them) don't care that they are being very distracting to other patrons.
I also understand that in the pit, it is possible for people to be courtious and help each other up when they get pushed to the floor.
But in my opinion, I just think it's stupid and childish in the first place.

Plus, it depends on security. The past couple of shows I have been to at the HoB, if you look at them weird they will throw you out.

I also think it depends on what show you go to.
Every Dragonforce show I have been to, the crowd goes crazy. The thing that pisses me off is that there are always a lot of younger kids there, who feel it nesessary to mosh and body surf...to Dragonforce? I don't get it, but whatever. (see my statement about mosh pits above).

 

[Jasonic]

I think it depends on the band..

I agree. I would rather be at a gig of 100 die hards than 1000 people who could not care less.

The issue of Euro / Asian crowd VS US crowd has been the case forever.

Look at how many US bands have their albums released overseas before here in the States?

 

[Saladbar]

Like Sonata at the Metro. People were just text messaging all night long.

I swear this had to hurt your soul cause it's the 10th time you'd mentioned it.
Personally I'm too busy watching the show rather than worrying about what people do with their phones.

 

[skyrefuge]

After watching lots of videos of live shows from across the globe. I have to say. The crowds at shows in the US sucks.

Are you comparing video of foreign shows to video of domestic shows, or video of foreign shows to your personal experience at domestic shows? Obviously if a band is shooting a video, it's going to be filmed and edited in such a way as to convey the maximum level of excitement, and they aren't going to be shot at half-empty venues with bored fans in the first place. And if you're comparing those videos to your personal experience, of course you're going to see it differently, given your unrelenting pessimism, and the fact that you don't have 7 roving cameras for eyes.

I've been to six concerts in foreign countries. Only at one of those (Iced Earth's recording of 'Alive in Athens') did I notice the crowd being any different than a domestic crowd.

So I don't think geography has anything to do with it. Audience age, band popularity, freshness, and other intangibles probably have a much larger effect.

And maybe you just haven't been going to the right shows. I just saw Gogol Bordello at one of the most audience-intense shows I've ever been to (almost the whole floor area of the Riv was going nuts for the entire show). Mastodon and Against Me! had a similarly enthused audience. And Rodrigo y Gabriela at the Vic, although they had a much older and less physical crowd, drew the loudest and longest between-song applause that I've ever heard.

I think it's tough for a "professional" Nuclear Blast Euro-metal band who has been around for 10+ years with stagnant popularity growth to really draw an insane crowd.

Oh, and if your real-life persona is anything like your on-line persona, I'd imagine that your simple presence at a venue could bring down the mood of the entire crowd, so that might explain it too!

Neil

 

[Jasonic]

Oh, and if your real-life persona is anything like your on-line persona, I'd imagine that your simple presence at a venue could bring down the mood of the entire crowd, so that might explain it too!

PWNED!

 

[Diabolik]

I swear this had to hurt your soul cause it's the 10th time you'd mentioned it.
Personally I'm too busy watching the show rather than worrying about what people do with their phones.

It was a fact that I used to mention in this thread, if we are going to talk about things mentioned over and over.....lets mention that you are in a band. We all havent heard that one before. zing!

 

[Jasonic]

It was a fact that I used to mention in this thread, if we are going to talk about things mentioned over and over.....lets mention that you are in a band. We all havent heard that one before. zing!

Gotta go with Bob-arino on this one!

Actually, Jose being in a band might be the No 1 repeated statement, now that Joan isn't around anymore (Yes, we know you have a boyfriend named Al)

 

[Diabolik]

Are you comparing video of foreign shows to video of domestic shows, or video of foreign shows to your personal experience at domestic shows? Obviously if a band is shooting a video, it's going to be filmed and edited in such a way as to convey the maximum level of excitement, and they aren't going to be shot at half-empty venues with bored fans in the first place. And if you're comparing those videos to your personal experience, of course you're going to see it differently, given your unrelenting pessimism, and the fact that you don't have 7 roving cameras for eyes.

I've been to six concerts in foreign countries. Only at one of those (Iced Earth's recording of 'Alive in Athens') did I notice the crowd being any different than a domestic crowd.

So I don't think geography has anything to do with it. Audience age, band popularity, freshness, and other intangibles probably have a much larger effect.

And maybe you just haven't been going to the right shows. I just saw Gogol Bordello at one of the most audience-intense shows I've ever been to (almost the whole floor area of the Riv was going nuts for the entire show). Mastodon and Against Me! had a similarly enthused audience. And Rodrigo y Gabriela at the Vic, although they had a much older and less physical crowd, drew the loudest and longest between-song applause that I've ever heard.

I think it's tough for a "professional" Nuclear Blast Euro-metal band who has been around for 10+ years with stagnant popularity growth to really draw an insane crowd.

Oh, and if your real-life persona is anything like your on-line persona, I'd imagine that your simple presence at a venue could bring down the mood of the entire crowd, so that might explain it too!

Neil

No, I am just going off what people have said and things that I have seen from different DVD's, video clips and from other fans. Imagine being in a band and finally getting that chance to come over to the states to play and you have 300 people just standing there doing nothing. That would suck.

I also hate mosh pits. Some shows they are great to have them at....stuff like DRI or Municipal Waste or any thrash show. But like Powermetalnerd said...at Dragonforce or I saw one at Within Temptation....come on.

I wish my presence could change the mood of a crowd. I would be at every metalcore show trying to get them to re-enact Jonestown.

 

[Saladbar]

Hmm....really? I was not aware.

 

[Diabolik]

Hmm....really? I was not aware.

most addicts are not.

 

[Saladbar]

I'm addicted to metal!!!!!!!!

 

[Rycher]

No, I am just going off what people have said and things that I have seen from different DVD's, video clips and from other fans. Imagine being in a band and finally getting that chance to come over to the states to play and you have 300 people just standing there doing nothing. That would suck.

Give the foreign bands and musicians some credit - many of them are intelligent and aware that the crowds may not be the same as the ones that they could be used to in Europe. They understand the situation just fine.

 

[Jasonic]

I'm addicted to metal!!!!!!!!

Yeah, but do you receive benefits for it?????

 

[Saladbar]

Yeah, but do you receive benefits for it?????

We all should.

 

[PowerMetalNerd]

Wasn't there an article recently about a dude whose employer gave him paid leave for attending Metal concerts?
I couldn't find the article, but does anyone know what I'm talking about?