The Great Saiyaman
02-23-2020, 06:29 PM
Well I'm a semi pro musician and seeing how I also attend many shows of other bands I know the ins and outs of what happens to make a show happen and sadly that it isn't a great show every time.
So let's talk about the things that annoy you when you are at a live show, either as a performer or in the audience.
As a performer.
- Soundcrew who know poop from Shinola, I once played a show where the background music was still playing through the stage monitors as we already started playing.
- Roadies who know crap from Shinola, my old metal band Slavantas played a gig in Germany and our roadie went over the knobs of my Marshall with one sweep with a flat hand turning everything down, ruining my settings. And from another time, I use solid state amps and just as we started our first song I noticed that I had no sound from my amp, turns out the roadie had pulled my plug out halfway. On both occasions he clarified his actions as having seen people do that and mistakenly assumed that it was standard practice.
- Musicians who know waste from Shinola, I attended many jam sessions since playing with unfamiliar people forces me to think fast and keep on my toes. But Jam sessions also attract people who own a guitar for fun and have no musical ear or sense of rhythm, there's nothing more frustrating than trying to play with somebody who CAN'T play.
As an audience member.
- People with cell phones trying to film the whole thing, come on, you're AT the damn thing, enjoy it.
- Audience members chatting among each other. No joke I was at a Captain Beefheart tribute concert where a singer with a Tom Waits-like voice was singing an absolutely STUNNING version of "Well" and people were talking right through it, even laughing out loud. SHUT THE HELL UP!
I later learned that it comes from people meeting each other online and seeing each other in the flesh for the first time at the concerts and can't stop babbling to each other.
- Seeing bands who know dump from Shinola. Bands who can't deliver, have no concept of keeping an audience entertained, who wallow in their "greatness" and pose themselves off to be bigger than they are. An audience KNOWS bull$#!* when they see it you know.
So let's talk about the things that annoy you when you are at a live show, either as a performer or in the audience.
As a performer.
- Soundcrew who know poop from Shinola, I once played a show where the background music was still playing through the stage monitors as we already started playing.
- Roadies who know crap from Shinola, my old metal band Slavantas played a gig in Germany and our roadie went over the knobs of my Marshall with one sweep with a flat hand turning everything down, ruining my settings. And from another time, I use solid state amps and just as we started our first song I noticed that I had no sound from my amp, turns out the roadie had pulled my plug out halfway. On both occasions he clarified his actions as having seen people do that and mistakenly assumed that it was standard practice.
- Musicians who know waste from Shinola, I attended many jam sessions since playing with unfamiliar people forces me to think fast and keep on my toes. But Jam sessions also attract people who own a guitar for fun and have no musical ear or sense of rhythm, there's nothing more frustrating than trying to play with somebody who CAN'T play.
As an audience member.
- People with cell phones trying to film the whole thing, come on, you're AT the damn thing, enjoy it.
- Audience members chatting among each other. No joke I was at a Captain Beefheart tribute concert where a singer with a Tom Waits-like voice was singing an absolutely STUNNING version of "Well" and people were talking right through it, even laughing out loud. SHUT THE HELL UP!
I later learned that it comes from people meeting each other online and seeing each other in the flesh for the first time at the concerts and can't stop babbling to each other.
- Seeing bands who know dump from Shinola. Bands who can't deliver, have no concept of keeping an audience entertained, who wallow in their "greatness" and pose themselves off to be bigger than they are. An audience KNOWS bull$#!* when they see it you know.