Boards
how far is too far?
right, we played this club nme show, fairly full crowd of club nme type people, this one girl is down the front screaming stuff at us. after two songs i gave her the mic and she said "WHY DONT YOU PLAY SOME GOOD MUSIC?". disaster, we all look at each other thinking were sunk and then the crowd start shouting at her and i made some facile comment about her hair and she was boohissed out the hall. not exactly a highlight, but has prompted the argument, what length is socially acceptable for expressing yr displeasure at a gig? ive been at several gigs where i wish id had the nerve to abuse the band down their own microphones, but even at my most drunk ive never gone farther than shout "are you a joke?" at palladium before leaving the room. thoughts plz?
I take a dim view of any heckling really
If you don't like it, don't watch/listen. Waiting for the next band? Tough, you made the decision to wait
agree
..
i dislike heckling.
but one time, i went to see franz ferdinand at glasgow secc and fire engines supported them. fire engines were just absolutely awful and the entire crowd came together in one great unity of displeasure. it was actually pretty beautiful.
it wasn't until i got home
and listened to the free 7" of fire engines doing franz' "jacqueline" that i realised:
fire engines > franz ferdinand
I was just about to mention this.
Why do people stand at the front and heckle?
what happened?
did albini tear him to shreds?
I like constructive heckling and good natured jokes, but bands should have those one liners prepared for annoying twats who feel the need to have everyone's attention on them by shouting "you're shit" etc.
He was just standing at the front shouting "You're shit" during a Q & A
The members of Shellac just took it turns to have a go. Very funny.
funny subject
i don't really know where i stand on this. i heckle my friend's bands all the time and they do the same but if it's not someone i know then i tend to take it easy unless it's just lighthearted banter
although i have been known to shout at portishead to play faster. which was a bit daft
most of the time
the person heckling tends to look like a twat to everyone else anyway, so its pretty much a win-win situation. Unless you really WERE bad and everyone started joining in!
Although I suspected that wouldn't happen at a JF gig.
I wen to see Weezer
at Shepherd's Bush Empire in about 2001. It was the first show they'd played on these shores for a good five years. Some guy down the front heckled Crackout and Jimmy Eat World and then, when Weezer came on, he spent most of the gig heckling Rivers.
Surely if you're at a gig like this you're a fan of the band. Why waste your time and money going if all you're going to do is shout at them?
He was a knob.
Tom Yorke Deals With A Heckler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDT70X31T2c
30 second clip
*Thom
no heckling
if you dont like it go somewhere else
( exceptions can be made in special circumstances)
:D
Brief and effective.
this happens
at almost every single Ryan Adams show :(
weezer dropped out for the manc show.
Jimmy Eat World played the hop and grape - pretty cool.
Crackout had a load of school kids up watching them.
i...
once ate minus the bears rider.
whilst they were on stage.
xxxx
I actively encourage it
and my band are known for given mics to audience members. Getting people angry and riled up is a good thing, let them say what they want, give them a platform to project embarrassing (for them) nonsense at you and fellow crowd members, swear back at them, do guitar solos in their face, push them to make fools of themselves and play your music loud and proudly, safe in the knowledge that one (or, at the very most, a few) measly human(s) can't and never will, for all their half-hearted trying, convince you or anyone around them that what you're doing isn't completely rocking and worthwhile. Plus, it makes gigs way better than the ones where everyone just stands about looking bored.
Heckles are generally only good if their constructive.
One exception though was when I saw Sigur Ros and they played 'Vidrar Vel Til Loftorasa', which, about 6 minutes in, has 45 seconds of silence. The whole band stops, 30 seconds of total silence from band and crowd, and then it is interrupted by one very drunk man shouting out some incomprehensible gibberish. The 'moment' was ruined, but it was fucking funny.
This happened when I saw them too
Even Jonsi going "shhhhh" in his own inimitably Icelandic way wasn't much of a deterrent...
I have sometimes yelled out for the band to play
some U2 staple hit, eg "Play Where The Streets Have No Name!" but have since seen the err of my ways.
Now, I actively encourage bands to play Coldplay songs.
you don't deserve to be heckled
your drummer is amazing! Also, just see the girl as the stoopid little fuckwit she is. Who the fuck heckles bands at gigs?