A WORD ABOUT CONCERT ETIQUETTE

Shane | 16 April 2014 | Reply

A WORD ABOUT CONCERT ETIQUETTE

By Shane Pinnegar

We realise you don’t get out to gigs as much as we do, and it’s a special occasion when you do – right?

But don’t you think you should try to have the dignity and class to not talk loudly through someone’s delicate acoustic performance! If you’re so pissed up you can’t button your lip at the appropriate moments, outside is the best place for you.

When a band is rocking and rolling, the guitars are turned up, and everyone’s whoopin’ and hollerin’ and clapping along, no-one cares if you have a quick aside to your mate about how good the gig is, or how cute the drummer isn’t…

But when it comes time for the singer to tell a heart warming story about lost love, or dedicate a rarely-played song to a friend recently passed, or prop on a stool with an acoustic guitar and play the most tender song they know – something they have practised alone a thousand times to get right in front of hundreds or even thousands of people – is NOT the time for you to start gossipping about who’s seeing who, whinge about your kids (or your parents, if you’re younger), ask detailed questions about your mate’s new hairdo, or start making plans to go to the footy next week.

Have some RESPECT. Talking loudly over the top of these moments is ignorant and obnoxious – yet we have to put up with it all the time.

Believe it or not, whilst you might just be out to get drunk and relive your long past glory days with the One Big Hit they’ll play in the encore, most of the people in the crowd are there to hear ALL the artist’s work: big hits, album tracks, new stuff and classics alike.

To talk over the top of quiet moments in a live performance is not only incredibly disrespectful to the musicians onstage by marginalising their talent and the incredible amount of effort and courage required for them to get up there and bare their soul for your enjoyment, but also to the entire crowd around you.

You wouldn’t want us to do it while you were at the movies, so do us all a favour and shut the fuck up in the quiet bits, or take it outside!