Too old for concerts? (rant)

[rutledj]

I took my 22 year old daughter to see Lynryd Skynyrd (with Hank Williams Jr.) last month. Had great seats but the sound was so incredibly loud that you couldn't hear anything!! You couldn't hear any guitar solos or even the words to the songs. And of course everyone had to stand so you couldn't see sitting down. I guess I should have bought cheaper seats and sat near the back where the mixing board was. Surely it sounded good to him??

Tonight my wife and I went to see Michael Mcdonald. Front row seats! Great sound (small venue)! Redneck woman from hell sat behind me and let out a deafening yell during and after each song with a lot of swearing in between. The guy beside me got his shoe covered in beer when a lady setting beside him went to sit down and tipped her beer over. He was irate and very vocal and made a big scene. Another guy further back kept yelling for Michael to take his shirt off or throw his sweat towel (gay maybe?).

At 50 years old I guess I've become too old for concerts. Give me my widescreen and a good concert dvd and I'll be much happier and won't have to pay $10 for parking.

Rut

[sliberty]

I still get a charge ot of live music (if it kcks ass that is). There are elements of the concert "experience" that I could do without (I am 51), but I usually only moan about it if the show wasn't that great. Jeff Beck, The Who, Joe Walsh, Eric Johnson, and others make me forget how old I am and how much I wish I was 23 again.

[Tubetwang]

i started going to school dance shoes around 1963...Fender Blonde Showman Reverb/Echoplex/Tremolo soaked bands playing Jaguar's, Jazzmaster's...mostly instrumentals...stepped added for entertainment...blacklighted for good measured...matching suits...

My friends were eying girls...
Me?
I would be right in front of lead and rythm guitar players trying to decipher them fretting fingers...running home after the show to me Black Stratotone/RCA's 6" B&W TV cab.

No internet or DVD's in them days, learning was a long hardous process.
No slinky strings either.
Remember Black Diamonds strings ?


In 1964 the Brits took over my world big big time...

In 66 my friend got a job in advertizing at the Montreal Star.
He'd pop in with Press Pass every show towing me along...

I peaked with Hendrix!

We had a 4 piece band to shoot the shit on the side...

Around 72, i got in to Country Rock moving down the West Coast.

Then it went real crasy with Lynyrd style down in Florida.

I pulled back in time to survive...

Last shows that i've attended was following Fastball shows 10 years ago...small clubs and outside summer gigs...these guys were a great 3 piece job and they kicked my ass BIG time. Real naturals!

My wife wants to see McCarthney but she'll have to go without me...i've become a loner and do not like crowds anymore. Burnt out.

Got mucho CD's and DVD's and lots-o-gear in my he-man-rig-music-room. All tubes...

I go in, close the door, flick the "do not disturb", and i play along with artists that i like, no "if", no "but", i get to call the shots and i'm on top of my world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Structo]

Yes the days of having somebody shreak into one ear is over for me.
Or the loud whistle.

Small venues are best but there is always the drunk who thinks he/she is the only one there.

Then there's the guy that keeps yelling "Free Bird"!

[skyboltone]

My last cocert was Bob Seeger in about '98. Really good. Sat so far from the stage (at the Rosegarden in Portland, OR) that Seeger looked miniscule. Still, the music was grand. The guy is one heck of a performer (and so are his back up gals) but it was still too loud. I always take ear plugs. You can still feel it even if the highs are cut. The crowd around me was pretty much all geezers. Nobody puked.

Dan

[Structo]

I haven't been to a concert at the Rosegarden but I used to go to the Coliseum in Portland.
The acoustics were always terrible.
One big echo chamber.

The other thing I've noticed over the past decade is the advent of the subwoofer.

I've been to a few concerts at our local armory which was always terrible for acoustics. It's around a 3000 seat venue and if they have subwoofers all you get in your ears is the rumble of the woofers.

I went to a christian concert there a couple years ago and the opening act sounded surpisingly good. Clean, well defined.
Then the headliner came out and the sound guy pushed the sliders to the stops.
You couldn't even make out the lyrics and the subs made my heart feel like it was going to stop.

BTW, I saw ZZ TOP there in about 1972 and there was only about 1000 people there. Nobody knew who they were.......

[CaseyJones]

Tonight my wife and I went to see Michael Mcdonald. Front row seats! Great sound (small venue)! Redneck woman from hell sat behind me and let out a deafening yell during and after each song with a lot of swearing in between. The guy beside me got his shoe covered in beer when a lady setting beside him went to sit down and tipped her beer over. He was irate and very vocal and made a big scene. Another guy further back kept yelling for Michael to take his shirt off or throw his sweat towel (gay maybe?).

Sounds like Redneck Woman needed a good rootin'.

As long as she's not some chain smokin' trailer queen I can deal with it. You should see it at the track, mutant chicks usin' the bassinet as an armrest wif a 150mm ciggy burnin'. Every time the Modifieds go by Junior gets a face full o' ashes. How come the kid is addicted to nicotene by the time he's ten?!!

I can stand Rebel yells, in fact after decades of practice mine is especially piercing. It's a matter of gettin' yer hoot right on frequency and then not havin' yer voice crack on the "haaa!" part. Think Howard Dean then do it different. Nuthin' discredits a redneck wannabe quicker than a weak-ass rebel yell.

The trick wif concerts is to pick and choose wisely. An outdoor venue, general admission bring yer own blankets or seats gets the nod from me. It's tough to push enough power from the P.A. for it to be annoying outdoors unless they rented one o' those pro megawatt rigs. The dodge there is to get there really early and stake out a spot right in front of the stage. If it's a long throw system there may be a relatively dead spot in front of the stage. You're close the the artist but you're not gettin' killed by the P.A..

Outdoor festivals with multiple artists on the same bill are cool, if you're lucky some of the people are there to see the other guy so you might get a little breathin' room durin' "your" artist's set.

The general public goes to shows to get drunk and to get high so you'll have that. They don't hear things the way we hear things, either. All they hear is the vocal and the beat. If they're wasted enough they don't need to hear the vocals.

With the fourteen bazillion talented musicians out there I really don't need to sit two hundred rows back and watch the show on the big screen. Might as well save the money, avoid the hassle and stay home. Nope, I'd just as soon spend fifteen bucks and go see someone you never heard of at a small club. Every so often I'll see a show that's just magic, maybe a couple years later the same act will be playin' stadiums.

When it comes to crowds and payin' too much fer parkin' I'll just go to the beach instead.

[captain_rusty]

I tend to be in the same camp - I practically don't go any more to concerts (except the rare ones I play at ).
Last one I think was Deep Purple last year - terrific, but too loud (and I'd forgotten my earplugs...).
Mumble mutter humbug.... (I'm 50)

[bnwitt]

With concerts it's definitely all about the venue. I have found a couple of small (5,000ppl) theatres that have concerts of 70's and 80's bands that are incredible. These venues are made for stage performances (the thespian kind) and have incredible acoustics. With so few seats the tickets are expensive and this seems to limit the knuckleheads in the audience. The last group I saw at one of them was Kansas. Just amazing! I could hear every note, everyone sat in their seats politely(except when applauding) and it was like hangin' with the band between songs. Large venues cannot replicate that.

[CaseyJones]

I went to a christian concert there a couple years ago and the opening act sounded surpisingly good. Clean, well defined.
Then the headliner came out and the sound guy pushed the sliders to the stops.

Speakin' of big acts at small clubs... I used to frequent the late great CBGB. The Puerto Rican chick who mixed durin' the week used to keep the meters just touchin' the red. The cool thing about that place is that they'd re-set the stage in five mintutes between each band's set, each set was clear and intelligible. Pretty impressive 'cuz some of the music was by design unintelligible..

The furball they had mixin' hardcore bands on Sunday never let the meters out of the red. It was still a crisp clear mix.

They have a picture of the place in one of the display cases at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. It's been retouched, those beer signs hangin' from the ceiling never worked!

Just amazing! I could hear every note, everyone sat in their seats politely(except when applauding) and it was like hangin' with the band between songs. Large venues cannot replicate that.

I totally skipped over my statement on The Human Condition.

It's all about the hype, tell the public that it's chocolate ice cream and they'll pay for chocolate ice cream even if it's shit. By shit I mean pay $55.00 for the ticket, $25.00 for parking, stand in line and wait for it then sit in a stadium designed for football a hundred rows back in the rain and watch your idol on the big screen. That, ladies and gentlemen... is shit. It sells because the record companies and promotors make a lot of money off it not because it's a quality product... 'cuz it ain't.

[deiseldave]

Another guy further back kept yelling for Michael to take his shirt off or throw his sweat towel (gay maybe?).
Rut

For Michael McDonald ? That's like being gay for Dan Haggerty (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I recently went to see the Police and Elvis Costello (reluctantly). My drummer's wife had bailed on him, and he would have had to eat the ticket otherwise.
Anyway, since I was not a fan of either act, I became more interested in how pathetically sterile and boring of a culture we have here in central Florida (and probably the entire USA).
I smelled no smoke whatsoever, saw nobody puking, screwing or fighting, heard no vulgarities, no bad behavior at all. When I bought a bottled water, the vendor wouldn't even allow be to have the cap, citing safety. Apparantly a full plastic bottle is a dangerous projectile. Good Lord ! I thought: what kind of over-protected, programmed, namby-pamby society have we become ?
Maybe it's just that Sting, Elvis, and I are old farts, and have to be told what to do. Hopefully the debauchery still happens at a Trivium (or some other kid metal band) show.

[CaseyJones]

I smelled no smoke whatsoever, saw nobody puking, screwing or fighting, heard no vulgarities, no bad behavior at all. I thought: what kind of over-protected, programmed, namby-pamby society have we become?

My sentiments exactly!

It works the way it's always worked. You'll have teenage rebellion 'cuz when you're 18 you know everything there is to know, it's all downhill from there. Me... I get dumber and dumber with every passing year! Even if you're plain old stupid eventually it dawns on you that you ain't gettin' any younger, energy spent throwin' bottles at cop cars would be better utilized makin' money and that money should be put away fer yer retirement. Rebellion against the status quo becomes acceptance of the status quo becomes neurotic fear of change. It's freakin' anti-rock 'n' roll it is!

Oh, if only...

If only we were able to hold on to that youthful exuberance. We wouldn't be sendin' young men to fight old men's wars and I'd still be throwin' bottles at cop cars!

[BBQLS1]

Sometimes the equipment used just stinks as much as the venue.

I've seen Ozzy, ZZ Top, Sepultura, Type O Negative, and Nugent at the Jackson, MS coliseum. The only one who had good sound was Ozzy, the rest sounded awful.

I don't think I'll see another show there.



BTW, I'll still go to whatever concert I can. I just take ear plugs.

[CaseyJones]

Sometimes the equipment used just stinks as much as the venue.

I've seen Ozzy, ZZ Top, Sepultura, Type O Negative, and Nugent at the Jackson, MS coliseum. The only one who had good sound was Ozzy, the rest sounded awful.

I don't think I'll see another show there.

Maybe the room just sucks.

My idea of "good sound" for Ozzy... I can hear the band just fine. Can't hear the vocals at all.

For me that's a perfect Ozzy mix.

[roundmidnight]

I'm through with the big venues. Sound usually sucks and way too loud.

In Portland I really like the Crystal Ballroom and have seen Yo La Tengo, Gillian Welch and Pink Martini all who sounded great with nice crowds. Course, I am a geezer now. My biggest problem is standing up for 3 hours.

RM