[Disclaimer: This is all my personal opinion and based on my experiences. For all I know, I could be going to the wrong gigs or liking the wrong music, just don't respond like this is a personal affront to your love for gigs because it isn't]
I haven't been to a gig since January. It used to be that I'd roll through to Glasgow on the train once every two weeks, excitedly reading through a music magazine by the window aisle. I had a habit of going to gigs on my own, so it was "me" time, an escape. I'd end up spending about £30-40 but it seemed worth it at the time. This was back in 2005-2006.
It's only recently that I've realised that, in the main, most gigs aren't any fun.
As time goes on, I find I have more money that I could conceivably spend on gigs but what is the point? Most bands have no real energy, the crowds are too full of twats, or people who are only there to be cool, who don't understand their role as part of an audience or how to interact positively with the band, and prices are beyond ridiculous.
I will still go see the Pissed Jeans or the Qui's or the Oxbow's of the world, or any band that excite me enough, but other than that, I can't see myself going to gigs much anymore. When I see most bands, there's no real energy or danger coming off them and I think I would have a better time spending £40 on a load of CDs and listening to them instead. I'm done with gigs, for now!
Sorry for the blogginess of this post, I needed to get this off my chest and telling my friends would be like blasphemy!
I go to gigs alone too.
Mainly cause no one else I know likes the bands I like, or if they do, they are not willing to drive 500 or a 1,000 miles to see them. Even when I lived in Chicago and Portland I mostly went to concerts alone. People can't justify putting up with the costs and the crowds. I myself go through a cycle of anxiety about concerts. At first there is the initial giddy feeling at the prospect of actually seeing a great artist and I get overcome with blind impulsion. Yeah, go ahead get tickets, you can work out all the considerations later. Then I have to break the news to my wife and schedule time off from work and also since my Son started making trips with me, we have to arrange planned absences for him. As the concert date approaches, I start to try and talk mmyself out of it. The money, the drive, staying in cheap hotels (I'm a cancer and I hate being away from home) and that's just getting to the concert. There has been times when I would drive all the way out to Portland and then try to talk myself out of going to the show right up to almost showtime- that's how traumatized I get in crowds. Last summer we drove 950 miles to Portland one day, had a day off with friends then drove up to the Puyalup State Fair near Seattle to see Devo play a 45 minute set, then drove to downtown Tacoma for a scary Devo after party that came off like an Amway meeting, escaped from that and drove back down to Portland, crashed on a friend's guest bed for 2 1/2 hours before being awakend with a phone call from my wife telling me that my Dad had just been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and was in the hospital preparing to begin radiation treatments. Wow, at that moment I really had to ask myself if going through all this craziness was worth it just to see a youngish drummer and four sweaty old guys (who by the way rocked amazingly) play for 45 minutes- that's less than an hour! Plus we still had to drive back to Montana and once we got there rush to my Dad's side in a hospital room (hospitals really get me). The answer was totally YES! Buck-up pilgrim, don't be glum chum, be there or be SQUARE!
I agree with this man ^
but with less anecdotal evidence. live music is pretty much the best thing ever barring peter schmeichel
peter schmeichel?
.
you knows it
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O0lNsBAsb-U
Why do I feel like I need overwhelming proof?
I just had to get that out.
I do agree with you
The number of times I've spent a fair whack of money on a band and then had an "okay" time at best is pretty high.
To be honest I tend to actually find at most gigs all I get out of it is anxiety. My enjoyment of the sets is almost always offset by
a) the constant struggle to get a good view
b) constant distraction from people pushing past you
c) constant distraction from people pushing into you
d) constant distraction from people talking
e) a sudden anxiety as the set starts of "what if I need a piss during the set and then have to fight my way out of the crowd and then find a good spot all over again afterwards?" which inevitably nags away until I do need to go for a piss.
f) the overwhelming question of whether standing in a room full of people staring at 5 figures on a stage actually constitutes "Fun" in the first place.
g) the realisation that I've spent fuckloads of money on this and had better start to have "fun" anytime soon...
And I do end up concluding that, most of the time, I don't really enjoy gigs unless I really, really love the band enough to want to be in that situaton.
That said my solution to this tends to be to go to really small-scale 'underground' gigs where the entry's cheap and there aren't fuckloads of people.
I agree on a huge number of points with whats been said
but theguywiththenousername has summed it up for me. It's the constant jostling for a good view and the constant distration of people trying to push past you or in front of you. Thats what spoils gigs for me. Maybe I am getting old and want my moneys worth but I always get seated tickets where possible now cos I cant be bothered to also haveing beer thrown all over me cos of some pissed twat being clever.
theguywithnousername's summation is wise
If you are under the buzz radar you can witness history in the making in roomy comfort. I have been to many shows of great artists and pretty much had them all to myself! But, that said, the roar of the crowd is absent and there is something pathetic about great artists who go onstage and play to virtually no one.
it shames me to say
that I agree with an awful lot of this. Maybe it's my impending oldness, but sometimes I wish there was no one else at gigs except me an my friends. Or that everyone around me would stop moving/talking/shoving/sweating and let me enjoy the music.
I generally tend to find that I enjoy the music being played, but just about hate everyone else around me. Other people, as ever, get in the way but seem to be something of a necessary evil.
which is why
i have started listening to dance music.
hmm
increasingly the more and more gigs i go to the more and more flaws i seem to critique most bands on purely based on The best ones if you see what i mean.
the crowd thing is also a bummer as it doesn't seem to matter what 'genre' or music but each and every crowd just seems to be full of dicks no matter what which is a shame and makes me not want to get quite as 'involved' as i possibly used to.
i dunno, i enjoy festivals because you can see whatever you want and if it's not what you want go somewhere else, and similarly you can go with a bunch of mates, not all be into the same stuff, go off by yourself then meet up later and it's all good.
gigs must fit certin criteria these days;
bands i've never seen before
or
band i've seen who was brilliant who're playing a small-ish venue
or
a festival
or
a free ticket
hmm.
that's all for now i think.
Local gigs are the worst
I used to love them and never enjoyed paying £15-20 to see someone big, but it's the opposite way round now. Most local gigs end up costing about £6-8 now (and then drinks..) and you generally get a bunch of lazy fameseekers who should never have left their bedrooms.
At least if you pay £15 and go and see a bigger band you're going to hear good songs, more than likely have decent sound in the venue and come away with something to remember. I'd rather see someone big once a month then go back to weekly disappointments down the local pubs.
Obviously I've generalised massively here but that's my general gig routine now. Spend the saved money on CDs.
i do agree
i no longer feel a compulsion to go to ever gig that i conceivably can. but i'm sure its been said already, but those 10% really do make it all worthwhile
.
i am a little picky about the gigs i go to. therefore i almost certainly always have a good time. i've only been to one gig i didn't enjoy in the last few years and that was minus the bear in oxford, which was a disappointment.
generally most of the gigs i pick to go to are pretty sweet
sometimes feel like that
But this past week, i went to Portishead at Heammersmith, Los Campensinos Windmill, Elbow Brixton, Deus at Scala, James at Shepherds Bush and Goldfrapp/Maps festival hall.
All of which were great.
So at the mo, gig going is good fun.
I don't think you've been to enough
punk rock concerts.
I perscribe a healthy dose of the bronx, cancer bats, bouncing souls, or any other applicable band live.
Witness the crowd, everyone is friends there, you get picked back up when you're down, you can jump, push, do whatever the fuck you want (within reason) and no-one cares because you're having a good time.
The focus needs to be between you and the band/music, that's what it is to experience a band live, I find gigs to be a rather personal affair, and I forget about my friends/the people around me (unless they fall, they they get picked up again) when I get into the music.
Just go, focus on you, and enjoy it. Also, about the money aspect, you're only young once, and you can't take it with you, so go nuts.
^so so this
I went to see Cancer Bats and it was incredible! Just like you described.
Plus I haggled the singer into selling me the bands album for £6.50 instead of a tenner.
bonus!
good to baggle that
cause $20 + seems alot to get from fans that managed to drag themselves to a show.
i've been to a lot of punk rock shows
and still do attend them, but this is really what i dislike about them.
despite it being my favourite musical form, i'm really not built for it. so, i opt to stand at the back, away from all the pushing and shoving and kicking so that i can enjoy the music free from the worry that i'll be crushed in the melee. i've really tried to hold my own in the crush, but i've given up now and have decided to not get involved. it kinda sucks, because i like to dance and things at gigs, but when you're at the back it's often not appreciated.
despite that, punk rock gigs are usually the best i've seen.
Okay
So there are a bunch of gigs that make you question the point, and I do spend alot of time at every gig thinking that the audience is full of twats, but then I go to gigs like Lightspeed Champion, Willy Mason, the Flaming Lips and the Arcade Fire and I remember for every second that the flaws, the bad sound, the annoying people, the dehydration and getting squished and the dying for a piss for an hour is worth it, because the atmosphere, the connection you get with the people around you and the band make it worthwhile-you're all there for the show and its worth every penny.
Keep at it man, you'll find that amazing gig one day
i went out last night
down to pompey to see Elle Milano. I made the mistake of taking the train (would have driven but don't know the area very well)
Elle were due on at 11.30. our last train left at 11.28. left the venue as soon as we found this out, and spent a long time lurking around at Havant, having missed the 10.28 by five minutes.
Gigs are good, if you get to see the band you want to see. And you don't have to worry about catching the bloody train :(
I'm always excited to go, but often disappointed.
The two things that really get me are the fact that most music (like most art) isn't very good. By which I mean "isn't technically proficient or progressive"; so most gigs will feature people unimaginatively churning out the same old shit.
My main gripe, though- PAs are ALWAYS TOO FUCKING LOUD. What's the point? It's just fucking painful. If you went to the cinema, and the image was so bright that you could barely make out the characters, and you couldn't see properly for two days afterwards, would you think that was a good thing?
Yes! PAs ruin things big time
I can't tell you how many times in house sound has totally screwed up shows I've been to.
Earplugs...gotta have 'em
I forgot mine last week at Xiu Xiu, and the fucking PA ran thru my head like electro-shock therapy. No bueno.
Too loud!
Gogol Bordello a couple of weeks ago was a classic example. My mate still claims to have tinnitus! Ended up jamming tissue into my ears; always good for looking manly at a gig.
Crowds are becoming lacklustre
It all the bloody people holding their mobile phones up that really bug me! :(
I do agree alot of punters are really lacklustre in their participation at gigs just now and intolerant of the few people left who just want to jump about and have a good time to music they love.
Sometimes Iv seen amazing performances with the whole atmosphere being let down by boring crowds.
Yup, most gigs are pretty average.
Everyone seems to think "live music" is some sort of sacred institution, but most bands arn't good in terms of either musical performance or showmanship. They just play the songs... louder.
Then you stand in the same spot for like 2 hours. have to wait while the bands set up... get too hot and crushed at bigger gigs... can't see properly; leave with a sore neck etc
Shame.
You must be fun at parties.
There are loads of crap gigs
Or at least crap in your opinion (everyone likes different stuff), where you wonder is it worth it. Maybe just cut down on seeing a few and only go if you have a real urge to see them. I've had to do that this year more out of money issues than anything else and it has made me really appreciate them more.
Seeing the breeders last week and bjork on thursday was brilliant and certain songs made me have a wonderful feeling inside that nothing else can offer.
I don't know about 90% but it is quite a large number of gigs are rubbish especially smaller ones where half the bands aren't even competent at playing, never mind being any good.
I've been to seven gigs in my life.
iawtt
most of the gigs i've been to have been okay. some of them seem spectacular at the time, but about an hour later i realise they're just good.
there's just too many negatives with gig-going to make them positive for long enough.
I go through phases
I go to a good many ...and in the next few months hardly at all.
Kinda like my attendence on DiS.
I stay away telling myself, "This is not healthy! You are an adult!" and then like a moth to a flame I repeat the cycle.
i spend a fortune going to gigs
cos I live in the middle of nowhere.
easily £30 on travel alone to get to glasgow/edinburgh and then on to my sisters flat as, living on an island, I can't get home at night.
I made the mistake of going to see be your own pet last month and they played for like 20 minutes.. which really put me off going to gigs just for sake of going to gigs..
Hopefully your next gig/ sojourn will make up for Be Your Own Pet
.
ive seen
4 or 5 magicians twice through free will. I dont realy have an opinion on the matter.
The only awful gigs I've been to
would be due to the crowd more than the band I would say. Saw Minus the Bear at Corporation in Sheffield last year and the atmosphere was just ridiculously bad, I'm fairly sure I was the only moving (probably even breathing!) in the whole crowd!!
I totally agree.
Nowadays I only go to the gigs of bands I know that are really fucking special.
Gigs = tired legs, too-loud bad sound quality, full of dickheads, people throwing drinks, and curl-inducing heat.
When I was 15 I loved them more than fucking anything. I'd get about 4 beers with my fake ID and down them and then go and leap around at the front and not care about my hair or CONVERSE.
But not these days.
Dethklok goes rough
on their fans
is this the right thread
for me to state that I got sent 2 tickets to see Cutting Pink With Knives and Agaskodo Teliverek (I only really want to see these guys) on Thursday and that I need to fill the other space with someone who preferably does not hate children yet also is not cool? I hope it is.
another lone gig goer writes
as I get older I find that mine and my friends tastes have diverged so far that there's now hardly any common ground. I'm bored shitless at anything they want to go to, likewise when they go to see my favourite bands.
I'd prefer to go alone than watch a friend yawning and looking fed up, but on the other hand, I wish I had someone to talk to*! Its such a long boring wait between supports and I can't dance with myself either!
I also have a problem with violent gigs and also gigs that are too overcrowded. The very hyped London gigs are usually too stressy to actually be any fun!
Having said all that, there are always some that I really enjoy, eg. Fanfarlo in a warehouse for £1 was fun!
*this is not a personal ad! just to make it clear!
Yeah me too
My wife thinks David Gray is cutting edge and most of my friends think 'sunn O)))' is an exclamation of pleasant suprise you might make when opening curtains.
So I went to London all on my own last week to see A Silver Mt Zion and I absolutely loved it! I actually advertised on here for any other DiSsers who wanted to meet up and I actually got chatting to quite a few people (although not those I'd arranged to meet).
ASMZ were amazing and I didn't have to worry about friends telling me off for diving onstage to grab Efrim's setlist or worry about people who might want to leave early etc. I think if I went to a gig every other day I'd get fed up with the standing and the noise etc too, but because they are few and far between in my life I really cherish them.
I so agree with you all
These days, I only go to gigs if I'm really into the band. I don't enjoy being in the standard London atmosphere - ie: 80% of punters know about a song or two by the performers and only came because their friends asked them too, or got free tickets, or whatever - thus resulting in me singing and shouting while all the people around me stare blanly with their arms folded. And then there's the rush outside, the tube's full, nowhere to pee etc. I definitely like small gigs, and never, ever go to big ones unless it's in a reasonably good location. Small gigs are often fun, big gigs are nothing but endless queues.
I love support bands
It suprises me that support bands don't get more love. What happened to the British love for the underdog? To me, going to a gig is an experience to be enjoyed to the full so I'll always go prepared to give the support a go.
If they're dreadful then you get the fun of slagging them off between songs and they make the act you've paid to see better in comparison. If they are great then that's an added bonus to your night.
i must concur
bands who are apparently pioneers of new sounds and styles or are held up as rebels by the press and what do they do ...exactly the same as every other band out there. they play the same deafeningly awful dreary venues.
it must be something to do with the short career of most bands and maximising profits. fair enough.
most middle to big gigs that are sold out tend to have a certain endurance involved in attending. but what with the 'boom' in live music this doesn't seem like ending anytime soon if at all.
if bands were to use a bit more imagination and not think about the bank balance then i'm sure we would all be better off. in the mean time i'll try and pick and chose and support more adventurous venues/bands.
Frankly,
gigs are social event and if you can't stand to be part of that then maybe you're better off listening to CDs.
Although I do think it's a little pretentious to label everyone else as "twats only there to be cool", did you consider that, some people might ACTUALLY like the band. Oh you know, it's probably just you.
Just because a gig is a social event for you
doesn't mean it will be for everyone! Although the social aspect of gig going makes up part of the enjoyment, a lot of people get enjoyment out of it which has nothing to do with that social aspect at all.
I agree that you shouldn't judge other peoples motives when you don't really know, but it can be the crowd that makes the gig either enjoyable or not. If the crowd is totally cold and unresponsive it all feels strangely sterile and un-fun, and the band is often thrown by it too, whether they should be or not. At the other end of the spectrum, other gig goers being extremely obnoxious and loud can be very intimidating.
If you object to that I don't think you should be forced to stay home and listen to your records.
this whole thread makes me :*(
i guess i am fortunate enough to live in east london where there are amazing gigs all the time - e.g. utr shows and other diy promoters. i go to at least one a week which i think is GREAT. i love going to gigs more than anything in the world. i love live music, i'd prefer to go to a gig than buy an album. probably the reason why i've seen shedloads of bands and don't own much music. there are so many awesome bands that put on awesome performances around. i mean, perhaps the genres of music i like lend themselves to exciting live shows. if i was going to boring drone shows or folk shows i'd probably hate that. but i'm not so all is good.
my blog (hybridformats.blogspot.com) details shows i go to and why i love them.
I kind of disagree
More and more I've realised the bands I really love (basic guitar bands) aren't necessarily the ones I want to see live
Electro and dancey things are always always fun - don't listen to that stuff so much at home and you get extra dancing space at gigs
With guitar bands...standing around and staring respectfully at the stage while ignoring the giggling twats around you is pretty standard
See Joanna Newsom at the Barbican AND at ATP put it into perspective - ATP, tons of people shouting each other to 'BE QUIET! Lady on stage etc' and basically ruining the atmosphere completely...contrast this to the Barbican - lots of people overawed by her, good sound, appreciative silence, no jostling. Was really really good.
basically
i just don't go to gigs at big venues anymore, i.e. brixton, astoria - those sorts for the reasons that-
1) hard to find a good view
2) too many dickheads in the crowd trying to be violent
3) i had my phone pickpocketed 3 times at different gigs. I can't afford to keep buying a new one! If I did go to a big gig I would never take my phone with me as I am constantly worrying whether it is still in my pocket.
I love small gigs with a few hundred people at most. I normally see bands before they get big in small venues and never see them ever again once they are playin at brixton.
I rarely go to gigs now I'm at uni in warwick though as theres not many decent gigs around coventry and don't really want to go on my own. I look forward to going back to london just so I can go to gigs.
????
Sorry Olliey but have you not seen the line up for Kasbah in Coventry? Theres loads of gigs there including some fairly established bands, that arnt too big that they have to perform in an arena and become dots on a stage. I am going to see supergrass and athelete there in a few weeks. The venue is small and has a good atmosphere however you still get pissed twats bumping into you, not sure you can avoid this unless you are at a festival with loads of space. Anyway if you dont fancy that there are loads of gigs in Birmingham which is 20 mins on a train
All live music is rubbish
and I don't think I've ever enjoyed a gig. I don't see the point in going to gigs, when I could just use the money to buy more albums anyway.
There is actually nothing more depressing than live music.
you've been going
to the wrong ones
this thread is crap
live music, at it's best, is the most transcendent thing in the world. The feeling when one of your favourite bands totally exceeds your expectations, or when you go to some local gig expecting nothing at all and discover something amazing, is worth any disappointments that might come along the way.
It's just music
it's like recordings, but worse. I'd rather go to the zoo.
so like
if you were (or are) in a band, would you actually not tour, and just record instead?
I just think so much of the live experience is about how bands adapt their songs and innovate on stage, the energy they create and the sense of sharing something with a lot of people. Not to mention visual aspects and so on.
I think being in a band
is why I hate live music. But I also hate recording. So if my band ever got up to the point where we had to tour lots or record lots, I think I'd just quit.
so... what do you enjoy about being in a band?